Fallen Star

Fallen Star Chapter 14

The poem Erik quotes is by Carol Robe.

LLLLL

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"If only

If only I could have been yours
Been your rapport and yours to adore
If only

If only I would have said yes
Forgotten the rest

Oh, I could have said yes
If only..."

-Into the Blue

Jane jerked awake. The piercing jangle of a telephone ring jolted through her. She gasped, blinking and squinting, and pressing a hand to her face.

"What? What is it?" came a groggy voice right next to her. She glanced to her right to see Fenris, sitting up from the back of the couch and frowning hard—he'd just woken up too. Jane looked out the windows. The gray dawn was just lighting the sky.

"It can't even be five in the morning," Jane croaked, getting up and stumbling to the telephone on the desk. She hit the speakerphone button and bent over the phone, brushing her hair out of her face. "Hello?"

"Miss Foster? Is that you?"

She straightened.

"Fury?"

"Yes," he answered. "We have a situation."

Jane suddenly woke up.

"What is it? What happened?"

"We're sending a car for you. It should be there in about an hour, and it'll take you to the hospital in Santa Fe."

"The hospital?" Jane repeated, gripping the table with both hands. She sensed Fenris get up off the couch and step close to her.

"Erik has been injured," Fury said. "It's not serious, but he—"

"Erik?" Jane cried, standing up straight. "Why is Erik with you?"

"We'd like to debrief you in the car—"

"No," Jane shot back. "No, you tell me what's going on right now."

Fury sighed.

"Last night, while we were moving the Cube, we came across a large patterned circle in the ground—one that looked very much like the ones that appeared when we were receiving visitors from Asgard," he explained. "We stopped the convoy to search for whoever might have landed. We called Erik to come take a look."

"Why didn't you call me?" Jane demanded.

"We came and got him," Fury answered. "We didn't have a lot of time."

Jane let it go, worry quickening her pulse.

"How did Erik get hurt?"

"While we were investigating," Fury went on. "A purple cloud descended on us—completely swallowed the convoy. It was full of lightning and wind, and sounds like screaming and tearing. We all lost track of each other. The wind tipped one of our trucks over. Erik's leg got caught beneath it."

Jane clamped her teeth, her eyes screwing shut. Fenris pressed softly up to her from behind. She took a gasping breath.

"What happened then?"

"It cleared off," Nick said. "And when we could see again, one of our armored trucks—the one with the Cube in it—had had a hole punched in it the size of a car. The Cube was gone."

Jane's eyes flew open. She stared down at the phone.

"Gone?" she cried. "How?"

"We don't know," Fury admitted. "We have theories—"