Page 40 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
Within two deep breaths, Nora’s world steadied, even as her skin grew cold and she could taste blood dribbling from her nose onto her lips. She glanced around, still holding the mask to her face with one hand, but nearly fainted all over again as she caught sight of Adam still sprawled on the floor.
She inched towards him, reaching her hand out as far as she could, but her fingertips could just brush his hair while keeping her mask pressed to her face. She took in Adam’s pale face, turned to the side so Nora could just make out his dusty blue lips and the blood trickling from one ear. She took one last bracing breath before letting go of her mask and lunging towards him.
She managed to catch Adam’s limp body under his arms and heaved him towards her. He only moved several inches with the first tug, but she kept yanking at him, pulling so hard that she was surprised his arm didn’t pop right out of its socket.
Her other hand reached towards the dangling mask, still just out of reach, as black spots began forming in front of her vision, but she willed herself to keep moving. Several other passengers, noticing her struggle, reached out to help her, and Adam’s body slid more easily down the aisle. Nora gasped for breath and gave one final heave, moving Adam the final inches. Her fist closed around the mask, and she smashed it to her face, taking deep panting breaths. She snapped the elastic around her head before scooping Adam up into a seated position, silently thanking Ezra for her better developed upper body muscles. As quickly as she could, she grabbed the mask from above Adam’s seat and brought it to his face, working the elastic over his head with trembling fingers.
There was a horrible moment of stillness filled with nothing but the shaking of the plane and Nora’s own panting breaths raking at her throat. It could have been one second, or it could have been a minute.
Adam’s long eyelashes fluttered a few times, and when his eyes opened to meet hers, Nora choked on a sob. She didn’t try to speak to him through her mask, just nodded at him in reassurance. He blinked in understanding. She helped him into the seat as the pilot announced an emergency landing, and the plane started to descend.
* * *
Nora slidinto the seat of the rental car and slammed the door behind her, resting her forehead on the steering wheel in relief. Ever since the airplane had touched down in Cleveland, she’d been holding her breath all over again.
Thankfully, Adam had recovered from his unconsciousness and handled most of the questions from authorities. Nora did her best to play the part of hysterical woman too rattled to remember everything clearly, which was remarkably easy after the harrowing flight. Everybody readily believed that any number of strange hallucinations could be caused by oxygen deprivation and wrote the whole thing off as a freak accident.
As Adam slid into the passenger seat beside her, Nora mumbled into the steering wheel, “You’re remarkably good at explaining impossible happenings away to authorities while simultaneously brushing off the paramedics.”
He tried for a joke as he buckled his seatbelt. “It’s almost like I’ve done it before.”
Nora wasn’t in the mood to laugh and just nodded against the steering wheel.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?” Adam continued more softly. “You’re pretty shaken up, and a nap might do you some good.”
Nora hoisted herself upright and put the key in the ignition as she shook her head.
“No. I’d rather drive. I think I just need to feel…in control for a second. Thus, the renting a car and driving back to Chicago.”
It was dark by the time Nora pulled up to a sleek apartment building in Lincoln Park to drop Adam off, and she had begun to breathe easily again. After grabbing his luggage out of the trunk, Adam stepped up to Nora’s window, and she rolled it down.
They were quiet for a moment longer, and Adam’s throat bobbed in the dim light from the streetlamp behind him.
“I’m sorry about your conference. And…thank you.”
“Any time,” Nora replied, trying to sound casual but failing when her voice cracked.
Adam’s hand gripped the edge of the car window, and Nora chose to examine the gold ring he was wearing instead of meeting his eyes.
“Seriously, I owe you my life today,” he said.
Nora continued to examine his hand as she responded. “The way I see it, I still owe you one. I think you’ve saved me more than once.”
“I wasn’t keeping track.”
When Nora lifted her head to meet Adam’s eyes, they glittered in the streetlights, full of something so heavy that it was hard to look at. Nora’s mind was so preoccupied with the thought that his expression was almost one of longing that she didn’t notice him leaning in until his breath tickled her face. His lips just brushed her cheek, but a shiver still ran through Nora’s body, colliding with the residual adrenaline and causing frizzling sparks to dance across her skin. Before she could recover, Adam turned away and made his way into his building. She shook herself before rolling up the window and pulling away from the curb.
Nora thanked her lucky stars when she managed to find street parking near her apartment, telling herself she could return the rental car tomorrow. However, as she dragged her suitcase towards her apartment door, she found somebody already sitting on her stoop.
“Nora!” Odelle shot to her feet and crashed into her, clutching her so tightly that Nora’s ribs creaked.
“Odelle! What are you doing here?” Nora asked, her voice muffled by her face in Odelle’s hair, which smelled of expensive perfume and roses.
“Oh my gosh, you’re all right! I was at work when we covered the story about the flight to Pittsburgh, and I heard from Irina you were going there for the conference this week. I was so worried it was your flight but I couldn’t get away while we were on the air, so I came here right after work and—”
“I’m okay, Odelle. I’m here now and I’m just fine,” Nora said, trying to sound calm, even as her eyes grew damp.
Odelle took a step back and held Nora at arm’s length as if to inspect her. Odelle seemed to be fighting a case of wet eyes, too, although she was doing a much more admirable job of it, managing to look teary without ruining the thick mascara she still had on from an evening of broadcasting.
