Immortal Tales #Wattys2020

Chapter Forty

Luz

Packing for a trip you don't believe you will return from was incredibly easy.

Luz kept looking at her backpack containing a small portion of food, water and her iron vaporising machine and felt like she was forgetting something. More food maybe? Nah, she probably wouldn't need a powerbar in the afterworld.

That was why she had decided to lock herself in the small room with the scraps of metal that Mat had been left lying about. Everyone else was asleep, ready to leave by plane as soon as the sun came out again, but she was too anxious for that.

At least they still had the plane.

Jane had left it in some adbandoned camp just outside Denver when they had been forced to an emergency landing and Isaac had hidden it with magic. According to Sarah, all a mortal could see there was a giant tractor.

Luz grabbed a screen looking device that she had decided she wanted to take apart and rebuild to keep her hands busy. Her fingers passed right through the screen and she bit her lip to avoid screaming.

This was the third time that the day that her body started to dissolve without her willing it to. She had started to think that there was no coming back from some changes. She had used magic deep within Nature, and she was paying the price.

A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped out of her skin. Luckily, not in a literal sense.

She hadn't heard Mathias entering the room. It was so dark she could barely distinguish his bright green eyes.

-That did not look healthy- he said gesturing to her hands. They were now back to their solid form. -Please do not try to that again. Pulling you back was pretty hard work, not planning to do it again any time soon. -

He said it mockingly, but Luz read the true fear in his heart. Mathias grabbed one her hands, as if to make sure she would not slip away. A tinkling feeling wrapped her body almost instantly. Would she be able to feel such humans emotions for much longer?

-Was it true? - she blurted out. -All that lame stuff about you drawing pictures of me in flames? I'd like to see one, I bet you did not capture all my amazing features. -

Mathias grinned and pulled her hand closer to his chest. She let herself trace the shape of his toned body underneath the thin and scratched T-shirt. It looked like he hadn't had time to change after the battle. Despite his cool exterior, his heart was beating furiously.

-What do you think? - he asked sarcastically. -I either have a very serious heart condition or you are the cause. Pretty annoying really, my body keeps acting like an emotional teenager when you are around. -

His other arm went tentatively around her waist, leaving almost no space between their bodies at all.

Luz felt weightless, but not in the "mind-melting" way of when she dissolved in the darkness. She was painfully aware of every particle in her body close to his. All those emotions that she had kept under control for so long were urging to explode.

Mathias was slightly taller than her, allowing him to look at her straight in the eyes.

-I like that people call you Luz like I do, now - he continued, his fingers tracing the shape of her back, carefully passing over her bandages. -It makes me feel like I managed to make an impression. Which obviously would be a loca idea. You feeling something for me? Unthinkable. - he teased her.

-Unthinkable- she whispered, knowing he could tell she was lying. She hated that he was having that effect on her.

Luz tried to grab her affection and stuff it back into her heart, but her feelings hadn't liked being on a leash and had no intention of going back to being tamed.

Just like with the mist, maybe there was no going back.