Chapter 17

The air in the hotel room had suddenly chilled, as if someone had cast a powerful Grey Buster spell. Amelia looked nervously to Gourry, then turned back to the bed as she heard movement.

Zelgadis had sat up, clearly halfway between confusion and panic, a combination that Amelia hardly ever (if ever) saw in Zelgadis. As he blinked to clear his awareness, Amelia approached hesitantly.

“Mister Zelgadis…?”

He looked to her and took a deep breath. “I’m all right.” He wasn’t really… he was exhausted and annoyed that Lina had pulled such a stunt… and Lina! He looked to the still sorceress, who was oddly enough, lying beside him… on the bed. A tinge of a blush crept its way to his cheeks and he turned to look flatly at Amelia.

The girl blanched, stammering. “Um… it made sense to keep you two near each other… if you were under the same… spell… um… Why isn’t Miss Lina awake?”

He managed to glower as she stammered, but her question echoed his own unasked question, and he looked back to Lina, wondering what she was doing.

Lina was hovering in the air, looking out over the now-frozen town. While she had managed to also freeze the demonic chimera, he was far from defeated, and she knew it. “That’s it,” she snarled at the demon-chimera, her patience gone. “You’re staying right there until I decide what to do about you. I’ve had it with this whole ‘let’s drag Zelgadis down until he thinks nothing of himself’ routine, and if you’re hiding one of the keys that I need to help free him, then I’ll take it away by any means necessary. You got me?”

Something flickered within the wild red eyes, but nothing else was offered, so she turned and flew away, willing herself back out of the Astral Plain.

She opened her eyes to find herself lying on a bed, looking up at Zelgadis… who was on the bed beside her. Unaware that Amelia and Gourry were in the room, she stared back up at him, a blush creeping over her cheeks. “Uh… Zel…?” She became aware of Amelia’s presence near the bed, and Lina scrambled backwards out of the bed to glare hotly, a firey blush burning in her cheeks. “Hey! What’s the meaning of this!”

Zelgadis closed his eyes, lowering his head with a sigh, which left Amelia to be the one to explain. “Well… Miss Lina… You see…” the girl’s voice trailed off as she blushed.

“The villagers found you two outside, and we brought you in here because if you were under the same spell, it wouldn’t have been a good idea to separate you,” Gourry said, helpfully. “Right, Amelia?”

“Er… that is…” She turned gratefully to the swordsman. “Right, Mister Gourry!” She peeked back at Lina, who looked a lot less angry now, and more just embarrassed.

The redheaded sorceress curbed her temper and sighed. This was just too much. She was too tired to deal with it, and she sat back down on the bed, shaking her head slowly. “Whatever, Amelia. I’m too tired to argue the point. I need some sleep… and food… but I’m too tired to eat right now, so I’m just going to go to bed, okay?” I’m too tired to stand up and walk to my room… Lina thought as she leaned over and curled up on the edge of the bed. If anyone says anything, I’ll fireball them later…

Amelia swallowed, watching Lina curl up and immediately fall asleep. Poor Miss Lina… her gaze settled on Zelgadis and she blinked. He’s tired too… He’s half asleep just sitting there… She wrestled with herself for just a moment, then turned to look at Gourry. Walking forward and grabbing him by the arm, she started out the door, with Gourry in tow.

“Come on, Mister Gourry. Let’s see what there is in the way of supplies in this town…” she said, closing the door behind them.

Gourry looked at her, completely confused. “But…”

Amelia let go of the swordsman, turning and putting her hands on her hips. “But what, Mister Gourry? They’ve been up all night, and they need to sleep. Miss Lina isn’t carrying all of the money, you know.”

Gourry looked at Amelia, then shook his head. “You’re right, Amelia. Someone’s gotta get supplies.” He brightened up. “Hey, I know! Maybe there’s a store in this town that sells things useful on the Astral Plane.”

Zelgadis was only half-aware that the door had closed behind Amelia and Gourry. All he knew was that a wave of exhaustion had hit him, and he was sitting on a bed. He was too tired to be picky, and Lina could kill him for it later…

Lina awoke, some hours later, to discover the disadvantage of rolling over by her current bedpartner: Zelgadis’ hair was sharp. Having thusly been poked, a crimson eye opened to focus on the bluish and tan blur beside her.

Several hearbeats passed, then the hotel (as well as that side of town) was ‘treated’ to a very loud soprano scream.

It was purely a reflex action, as Lina screaming like that could not mean anything good. Zelgadis rolled sideways and backwards out of the bed, landing in a crouch, one hand out for spell-casting, and the other reaching for the sword that was lying beside the bed and not at his hip.

First he realized where the sword was. Then he realized that Lina was sitting up in the very same bed that he had just vacated, screaming, assumably, at him. Or, rather, his presence in the room, let alone the same bed.

He lowered his hand, looking at her. “Lina… it’s not what it looked like… Will you stop screaming and let me explain?”

“Explain? What is there to explain, Zelgadis! I wake up, and you’re sleeping in the bed beside me!” Lina hollered, blushing a brilliant scarlet.

He paused, an unidentifiable emotion flickering across his face, then he stood and retrieved his sword. “I’ll leave now,” He turned and moved silently to the door, opening it, then closing it behind him.

Gourry and Amelia came running up just in time to see Zelgadis close the door behind him quietly, and fasten his sword at his side.

“Mister… Zelgadis?” Amelia asked, eyes wide.

Stone blue eyes looked to the petite girl for a moment. “Lina woke up. I’m going out,” He stepped past them, without further comment, and left the hotel.

Gourry looked at Amelia. “You get to explain it to her, not me. I’m going to go put this stuff up.” He hefted the bag of supplies over his shoulder, and walked down the hall towards his room, whistling.

Amelia watched him for a moment, then sighed. May as well knock… even though she’s in my room… She reached up and knocked on the door. “Miss Lina?”

When Lina didn’t answer, Amelia turned the handle and gently pushed open the door, poking her head in to look.

Lina was sitting in the bed, crumpled against herself. She looked up as Amelia tiptoed into the room, and towards the bed.

“I’m sorry, Miss Lina… but you two were exhausted after coming back from the Astral Plane… and I didn’t see anything wrong with you two just sleeping where you were… It’s all my fault, please don’t blame Mister Zelgadis…” Amelia said softly, looking to the shaking sorceress.

Lina sighed, shaking her head and fumbling with her hands to try to stop them from shaking. “It’s not that, Amelia… I… I screamed… at him. I saw him there and… and I screamed… at Zelgadis…” her voice trailed off as she hugged herself. “Oh, Lina… what have you done…?”

Amelia sat on the edge of the bed and looked to the redheaded sorceress who sat there and shook. “You were only reacting to finding someone in bed with you, Miss Lina… I probably would have done the same thing.”

Lina’s eyes were bright with tears as she shook her head. “But that’s not how he’ll see it. You know how sensitive he is, Amelia. I… screamed…” She stood up, tugging at her cloak to twist it right. “Did he go to his room?”

“No… I…” Amelia sighed. “He said that he was going out… Miss Lina…?”

Lina fussed with her hair for a moment, then looked at Amelia. “What?”

The girl shook her head slowly, looking at the blanket, and a stray silvery wire hair left behind. Picking it up, she smiled faintly. “We only ever hurt the ones we love…” She watched as Lina gave her an odd little look, then grabbed her sword and left the room.

Outside the hotel, Lina scanned the busy evening streets. It wouldn’t be hard for someone to lose themselves in this. But she had an idea of where he went, and she turned, heading back to the little grove of trees.