Bound Together by Corinn Heathers Page A

man's arms and legs tightly.
    “S-stay away!”
    Misaki gave him a sad smile. “Don't worry; you won't remember any of this.”
    Her fingers traced a long series of jumbled, chaotic symbols in the air near the bound man's head. I had a pretty good idea what she was going to do, because the spell was potent enough that simply staring too intently at the runes she inscribed was causing my thoughts to muddle and my focus to fray.
    The worker's eyes fluttered closed as Misaki finished her invocation. She dismissed the spell-flame, the fiery rope winking out as if it had never been. My head cleared instantly and I was astonished to discover that the man's coveralls showed no sign of damage.
    “He's only asleep,” Misaki explained as she eased the sleeping man down, propping him up against the wall of the corridor. She took a moment and placed two fingers against the inside of his wrist, checking his pulse.
    I released the Relic's physical form. “How did you—no, what did you do? With the fire and everything. For a second there I was worried you were going to kill him!”
    Misaki shook her head. “The spell-flame is completely under my control. It will only burn what I wish it to burn. I only wished to restrain him long enough to erase a portion of his memory.”
    “So that's why you told me to cut him if he ran,” I reasoned.
    “Yes. I wasn't sure I'd be able to stop him without injury if he attempted to flee. In a few minutes, he will awaken with no memory of his encounter with us.”
    Satisfied that the man was unhurt, Misaki stood and walked back to my side. She motioned toward the elevator door. I met her eyes, my expression grim, only to see the same sort of expression on her own face.
    “They're not going to give up,” I murmured, certain that I was right. “They're just going to keep throwing these fucking things at us, and they only need to get lucky once.”
    “I know. I'm sorry, Karin.”
    I patted Misaki's shoulder lightly. “There's nothing for you to apologize about.”
    “But I allowed you to be bound to the Relic—”
    “Which I picked up of my own free will,” I cut her off. “ I made the choice and now I have to live with the consequences. I could have run, I could have just left you there to die. I chose to protect you, knowing that I might die in the process.”
    Misaki turned away. “You didn't know. There was no way you could have known about any of this, that I wasn't just some human bystander who had been inadvertently caught in a dangerous situation.”
    “It didn't matter. You were in trouble.”
    “House Tsukimura will continue to send specters to try and recover it.” Misaki's tone was ominous. “They will not stop until they have the Relic again. Without the sword, they are at a significant disadvantage. Lord Isao will make the recovery of the Relic the entire clan's top priority.”
    I took Misaki's hands into mine and gave them a reassuring squeeze. The despairing look in her eyes seemed to melt away as I gazed into them. She seemed to gain strength from my confident expression, even if it was mostly feigned.
    “Then we will make it our top priority to ensure they fail.”

the white
     
    By the time we made it back out of the mall, the clear sky had been replaced with a dull gray pall. It was much colder as well. I shivered slightly despite my heavy leather jacket, but Misaki seemed to be taking the cold weather in stride.
    I glanced over at her. I really did miss the ears when she hid them. “It looks like we're going to be getting some snow soon. Do you want to head back home?”
    Misaki was silent for a few moments, apparently considering her options. A smile played across her lips and she turned to me. “Can we stay out and see the snow? It's been... well, it's been a very long time since I last saw it snow.”
    “It snows almost every year here,” I pointed out. “You said you've been awake for eight years, and it's snowed in the winter six out of those