Sleight of Hand

Chapter 18

Aivilo had watched in amazement as Trebor stepped into the shade that Kurtis created and simply disap­peared. Kurtis had handed her one part of the rope, and he gripped onto it, too, in case Trebor couldn't get out.

The thought scared her. How had he been able to travel and disappear without hesitation for so long without getting stuck? How was he so... unafraid of the danger?

He must have a crazy good amount of control, Aivilo thought. It had no sooner left her mind when she felt the rope in her hands go taut. Her head shot up, and her alarmed expres­sion met Kurtis's.

"He can't get out," he said gravely, and another, slightly stronger tug on the rope made Aivilo's stomach drop.

Kurtis instructed her to pull, and she did. She had the vague sense of playing tug-of-war, but her opponent was the air in front of her where the rope led and disappeared without a trace. She pushed away the queasiness that threat­ened to take her strength.

She couldn't lose someone else, she couldn't—

Suddenly Trebor appeared as if they'd pulled him out of thin air—which Aivilo supposed was true. He collapsed on the ground of the warehouse, his chest heaving with each gasp of breath.

A thought slammed into Aivilo. She remembered back to when they'd first met. They'd shown their abilities to each other. She remembered how Trebor explained that travel­ing through shadows was like being in water. He couldn't see or breathe, and could barely hear.

Aivilo kneeled beside Trebor as he slowly pushed him­self up on his hands and knees. "Trebor," she said, reaching out to touch him, to reas­sure herself that he was actually there.

She was shocked to feel him shaking uncontrollably under her fingertips. He lifted his gaze to her, and his expression alone was like a punch to the gut. His face was pale and slack, his lips slightly parted so he could suck in breath. There was such raw fear in his eyes that Aivilo almost looked away.

Tamping down her own mingled relief and terror, she said, "You're okay."

She scooted closer to Trebor as he shifted into a sitting position. "You're okay," she soothed again as he wordlessly rested his head on her shoulder, breathing still labored. His forehead felt feverish on her bare skin, his tousled hair tick­ling her neck. He still trembled, so Aivilo just stroked his head idly until he calmed down. Kurtis approached them and kneeled in front of Trebor.

"Are you all right?" he asked. Trebor swallowed, but he nodded.

"I got stuck, and I panicked because when I went to use my power to get back out, I couldn't find it," he explained weakly, a small tremor in his voice.

"We can stop for today—"

"No," Trebor said, and pulled out of Aivilo's touch. He pushed himself to his feet, and staggered, clutching his head. Kurtis looked at him disapprovingly.

"Trebor, you don't look well. We can do something else." But Trebor shook his head.

"We know the worse that can happen. I can get into the shadows easily. It's getting out I need to remem­ber."

Aivilo stood, silently marveling at his words.

How had he gone from the terror she'd seen to this? How was he so ready to tackle that fear again? She wanted to tell him then and there what was really bugging her, what was keeping her from using her power. That she feared—

"Aivilo," Kurtis called, bringing her back to the present. Kurtis stood ready with the rope in his hands. Trebor had disappeared again. She hurriedly picked up the rope.