Where The Numinous Awaits

Ch. 13: Nixie's Situationship

August 16 | Night

At the cottage, Fitz lay in bed, talking to his girlfriend with a dreamy smile. His low voice added to the hushed stillness of the room. I stood in the doorway, unnoticed. He looked so happy to be alone on the phone with Julissa that I didn't want to interrupt. Yet, Dex's words reverberated in my head. I had roped my best friend into a suicide mission. I had to get Fitz out of here.

He raised on an elbow when he saw me. "Hey, you made it."

"Yeah. When you get a second, we need to talk." I pasted on a smile.

"What's eating you?" He sat up with a perplexed scan of my face. Patting the bedside, he mumbled into the phone, "Let me call you back, Julissa."

"Argh! I told you, 'when you get a second,' not right this second. I didn't come to disturb you." I sighed as I padded into the room and sat next to him.

"Julissa and I can talk anytime. What's going on? Is it that guy, Legend?"

Legend. I had watched him become the storm—lightning bolts in his hair, thunder in his wake, the wind for his skin. His great red scales had shimmered in the sunlight until his swirling dragon had blurred our view of the sky. If not for the concrete walls surrounding us and the amulet's mystical protection, he would have blown Dex and me to pieces.

And I would've gladly submitted to the obliteration.

My vivid imagination had finally been eclipsed by reality. Where I had dreamed of celebrity crushes, book boyfriends, and two-dimensional lovers, fate had delivered up a dragon shifter with diamond eyes to tempt me. A dragon shifter who might not survive our mission.

"No, it's not about Legend." I tried to laugh.

Fitz gave me a look. "Be careful with him. There's something... I dont know. I feel like he's hiding things."

We all are, I thought. "When are you going back to Arizona?" I asked casually.

My friend leaned backward to study me. "I thought we were going back to Arizona. Then on to LA. What about opening the lounge, you being my nightly act?"

"Well, I, uh, kind of figured that it went without saying that this FBI stuff might not be wrapped up in time for our return flight." I stared at my hands in my lap.

"That's fine," Fitz responded. My eyes speared his. "Look, I'm not stupid, Nixie. I know there are things that you can't tell me about this case, but it's obvious you're in deep shit if they've carted you to witness protection in the middle of settling your mother's affairs. I'm not going anywhere until we get that evidence to the authorities.

"I have some money in my savings to live off of until I can resume work," he assured me, "and I've already talked to my parents. In the event I lose my job, they promised to hold down the basement apartment without charging me rent for a few months. I didn't tell them anything, but they intuitively picked up that something's wrong. Truth be told, we're all more concerned about your well-being than mine."

I didn't know how to convince him that I wasn't the one at a disadvantage. "Fitz, you need to return home. Get back to planning your move to Los Angeles. Get back to your happy relationship." Live without the fear of vampires and curses, I'm begging you.

He chuckled as he stroked my locs back from my face. "Don't be silly, Nixie. How could you think I would abandon you with a murderer after you? You stuck by my side throughout my gender transition. When everyone else thought I was crazy, you stood up for me."

"Yeah, but our situations are different, Fitz. I was never in any physical danger—"

"See, that's what I'm talking about. You very well were in physical danger," he cut in. "People get hurt all the time for standing up for what they believe in. It worries me that you don't think about that, and that's why I'm staying. Dex and Legend don't know you like I do. You've lived such a sheltered life that you don't understand how the real world works."