The Protection of Ren Crown (51 page)

“What? Who?” I asked, alarmed.

Camille glared at me and I shut up. I quickly looked Set-whoever up on my bracelet. Some epic Fourth Layer berserking creature hybrid with three forms—one of them terrifying enough to make me blanch thinking about it—him—bulldozing the Magiaduct in a relentless fury with the torn limbs of his enemies surrounding him.

We were all going to die.

Thankfully, the Combat Squad demonstrations were next, and they were captivating enough to take my mind off our imminent demise. Even watching the combat mages teach the Troop the individual operations for security measures proved interesting.

But two hours later, I was gritting my teeth as I went through really pedantic verbal exercises with Peters in front of the squads. Reciting all of the Justice Codes? Not my idea of fun or the way to use memory slots. Time to get out of here and do something
useful.

“And that is the procedure for taking care of an unknown item,” Peters finished, thank God. “Yes, Mr. Norr, you have a question?”

Emrys stepped forward, his leaf-green eyes bright. “I found this amazing thing on my last trip through the Midlands. Odd and alarming.”

My breath caught as he held up a papered dragon's wing. I managed to stop myself from looking at Dare by keeping my gaze pinned to the wing. It was from one of my map dragons, a wing burned off during our first exercise.

“As opposed to containment,” Emrys said, “why couldn't we, say, just do this?”

His hand flicked and the paper caught fire.

Everything around me went abruptly static—the people around me slowing to a time-warped stillness. It was the opposite of Raphael's leeching—I was now the one moving at a faster rate than could be perceived by the others around me. Agony rolled my magic inward, then thrust out toward my dying creation. Unhindered by the control cuff that had been failing me more and more, my magic shot out in a coil to strike the one who dared to hurt it. In the distance, slowed screams shuddered in the air and the ground shook.

Magic edged in ultramarine suddenly, and aggressively, clamped the bared teeth of my subconscious strike and jerked it back. Immediately, the jerk was followed by a sense of calm washing through me, cooling the fire. Dare's magic reached from the back pocket of my jeans—from the cloth he had given me—and took over all my systems. An outside force reining my magic in bit by bit, he took control from me and used my own magic to forcefully soothe the edge of my agony and anger.

I took a deep breath, then another, letting my body relax as he exerted the good decision making that I presently lacked. A strange feeling released from me as he did it—like one of a series of hooks in me had been detached and set free.

Dare's magic let go of me in a puff of air, and the world righted to a normal pace as the group looked at Emrys expectantly while the dragon's wing burned.

Fully under control once more, I realized that no one else had noticed what had just happened in their slowed landscape, and that the screaming and ground shaking had been a forewarning heard only in my own mind—and that such results would have occurred a moment later in that exact way, had Dare not taken control.

But instead, the rest of the group was staring at Emrys, waiting. He had created a loaded silence with his words, and they were waiting for the punchline that hadn't yet been delivered.

Peters looked around, mystified, when nothing happened. “I suppose you
can
just do that, Mr. Norr?”

Emrys's expression was strange, and his smile was far too tight—almost on the edge of pained. Pained, but at the same time...satisfied?

Emrys smiled and blew the dust from his palm. “Ah, well, then, no issue.”

It was a big issue. Huge. I could have done something
horrible.
And Emrys had wanted...something to happen, though he couldn't have known
what.
If Dare hadn't taken control of my magic...

I tensely spent the next few hours ignoring Emrys and woodenly emulating Peters. I caught more than one gaze of a combat mage looking at me, then at Dare, in bafflement. As if they'd expected Dare's shadow to do something noteworthy.

When the squads were finally excused, I tripped away to our normal meeting spot to wait for Dare. I perched on a rock and watched the skiers making tracks down the Seventh Circle, going through the bottom arches and emerging from different top arches in an unending run. I pulled the cloth out of my back pocket and ran it through my fingers, shaking.

“You okay?” Dare said when he appeared at my side a few minutes later, expression carefully blank.

“Yes. Other than realizing we are all going to die when you leave, I'm great.”

He didn't say anything for a long moment. “I put a lot of pressure on you,” he said finally. “But there are a lot of mages on this campus who will help, should something go really wrong. You are strong and have good instincts. You will do fine.”

“Like with Emrys and whatever stunt that was? Hardly.” He sat next to me and I shakily handed him the ripped strip of cloth he had given to me. “Thank you. I don't know... How did you...” I shook my head. “Thank you for giving me that.”

The cloth burst into flame in his hand. The fire burned atop his open palm, but his expression was inscrutable as he watched the skiers. “I don't know what you mean. Give you what?”

“Yes, thanks for that part too,” I said. I didn't know what else to say about that expression of trust, about the obviously excessively guarded secret he had just revealed to me.

I wanted to ask how he had stayed unfrozen during my magical tantrum, unlike the others around us. Because of the strip maybe?

But I stayed quiet, and he remained silent as well. There was a last wisp of smoke, then his fist closed over the ashes in his palm. When his fingers opened, his palm was bare.

“Why didn't the Justice Magic on campus charge you?” I asked softly. Dare had exerted control over me and made my magic do what he wanted it to do. Delia never got away with anything half as big as that, and Constantine, Will, and I had talked about how someone would have to take the judicial hit when it came time to test our leech.

“The intention of a caster and acceptance by the person being spelled matters. The Justice Magic takes both into account.”

“But you couldn't have known I'd... Okay.”

My own level of trust had obviously already been made quite clear.

On the leech front...my mind was spinning. That hook that had detached inside of me? The one that had been in a long line of them? All those hooks were
Raphael's leash
. And one small piece had been detached by Dare's maneuver.

Dare's eyes narrowed as he looked at the edges of my body, gaze following the outline all the way around. “Where did you get your shield set? I've been meaning to ask you.”

“Marsgrove.”

“Dean Marsgrove gave you a shield set?”

I grimaced. “He was kind of forced to.”

“It's one of the strongest I've encountered in a non-combat mage,” he said, his tone giving away nothing of what he was thinking.

“Yeah. It kind of sucks at the same time that it rocks.” I shakily met his gaze. “Do you recognize the magic within the shields, at the base?”

Please, no, please, no...

He shook his head slowly. “No. And that is...abnormal...for a set so strong. I can see Marsgrove's fingers in there, now that you say it, but they are like oil in water. Who made the underlying part of the set?”

“Marsgrove knows.” That was both true and sounded like I didn't know. Marsgrove was contractually obligated not to say anything about me for another month.

I trusted Dare. With my life. But people got all weird about Raphael. And it would force things I'd rather not discuss out into the open.

“I saw you with Marsgrove, the first day back,” Dare said.

“He was escorting his cousin,” I said. “She's my roommate.”

All true. Just slightly misleading. Marsgrove had been mostly using Olivia as the reason for his escort while he dragged me across campus, but that was better left unsaid as well.

“Hmmm. Come on, the Troop is going to do their 'rounds.' The monster of the hour should come stomping through at any moment. We can hide with popcorn and watch them 'handle' it.”

The Troop coordinated their own movements a few hours a day while “on call.” Usually, we observed them joking with each other or working casual magic at the edges of their checkpoints—doing little that would be called work. I understood
why
a little more now.

Aside from Emrys...who always had his head together with students like the Junior Department stooges or the female half of Excelsine's administrative staff. He was always madly flirting around Top Circle—extracting nefarious information about criminals like me, no doubt.

“No.” I shook my head. “Pass today.”

Dare nudged me toward the nearest Ninth Circle arch. “To Kratos to get rid of your jitters then.”

I nodded and rubbed my back pocket absently as we walked to the Battle Building. The emptiness in my back pocket almost felt
heavy
, now that the cloth was gone. I gave a full body shiver, trying to shake off the feeling that I had lost something I needed.

It had to be the edginess I always experienced after being leeched. That was all.

I rubbed my empty pocket again.

Chapter Twenty-eight: Speaking of Disaster

Mike and Delia were doing something with the ski club, so Olivia, Will, Neph, and I met in our dorm room late that night for a power dinner and planning session. Magi Mart wrappers and containers were soon spread out around us.

It was far better than braving the cafeteria with Mike and Delia's empty seats at our table. We'd always been an open and welcoming table, but ever since the cafeteria “incident,” strangers had been sitting with us to ask questions about Dare.

Why does he ignore everyone who tries to meet him?

What is he like?

What does he like?

Who does he like?

Does he like me, maybe?

Those were easy. The harder, more insidious ones were about what he was plotting, controlling, destroying, subjugating, conquering, etc.

“Bliss,” Olivia said into the companionable silence in our room.

I smiled. Whether she was aware of it or not, she was automatically including Neph and Will more and more in her increasing serenity.

“I know, sorry about the whole cafeteria craziness. That will end soon, though, right?” I asked.

The three of them exchanged looks, then Will and Neph busied themselves with their food.

“What, no? It has to,” I stressed. “It was just a novelty, so people are asking questions.”

“It was a very concerning novelty to some people, Ren,” Olivia said delicately. She had been really putting some effort into thinking about the tone of her words, and I appreciated that at the moment. “Anything to do with the Dares is.”

“Ugh. People can be stupid. Dare told me about his mom. Stupid prejudices. Why can't—?” I took in the suddenly blank faces staring back at me. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Olivia put her container down and folded her fingers together. “Axer Dare told you about his mother?”

“Sure. And I looked some things up on her too. She's a great role model. Strong, but warm; powerful, but kind—”

“Ren.”

“Yes?”

“When you say that he told you about his mother, what do you mean?”

“He told me what type of mage she is and some of the things she goes through.”

Olivia took a deep breath, then decided to take another. “How did you get on the subject of such a topic?”

“Oh, it was during a session last weekend. When he found out. About me. That I'm a...” I curled my fingers in the air and gave a growl.

“That you're a werewolf?” Will looked amused, even as his amusement overlaid deep alarm.

“Hey, yeah, how come we never see werewolves in the Midlands?” I was going to have to ask Dare that.

“Intelligent magical creatures and beasts can overcome the chaotic pull to the Midlands, if they want,” Will said, his desire to discuss knowledge overwhelming his concern, as usual. “And unless you are a student or registered as a guest, foreign entities can't leave the Midlands once they are there. And nothing intelligent would want to suffer that consequence. Horrible for—”

“If we could get back on
topic
, William.” Olivia sounded irate.

“Yup,” Will said, chastised.

“Now, Ren,” Olivia said, overly calm. “Axer Dare. His mother. What he
found out
about you.
Why you were discussing these things at all
?” Her words ended in a rushed hiss.

“Oh, he gave me these awesome papers.” I shuffled through my things and held them up. “And then he died, then I brought him back, then I tried to blow up campus, then he told me these belonged to Kinsky and were mine now, and talked a little about rare magehood, and yeah...” I shrugged. “Without him spelling out the word 'origin,' I'd bet all on black.”

A strangled expletive issued from Will at the same time that Neph threw both hands down and channeled an incredible stream of calming energy into everyone.

“Ren, you can have nothing to do with him anymore,” Olivia shrieked. All of the room's magic and my connection to her were filled with her sudden, extreme anxiety, completely overcoming any attempt by Neph to calm her.

I stared at her, shocked. “Wait, you were just fine two minutes ago. And you said I should learn as much as possible from him when we started working together. Become 'not a stranger.'” I held up my fingers in air quotes.

“That was before he started sharing things and knowing things and pretending to
befriend you
.”

“Hey, why does it have to be pretend? I'm not so bad once I stop being awkward!”

“She doesn't want you to be used,” Neph said soothingly. “She is saying these things out of concern.”

“
Concern
?” Olivia said. “This is far worse than
concern,
Nephthys.”

“Because of his mom? But there is nothing different today versus yesterday on that subject. And just because someone's a rock, doesn't mean she's a weapon.” I looked at Olivia pointedly, using her words.