Wilder Mage (25 page)

In the Midwest, people have a saying that morning comes early. Justus never understood that phrase, since it seemed to him, morning came at the same time every day: when he decided it was time to get up.

The restless night was behind him, and now, with the sun up, it was time to leave. A last inspection gave him the opportunity to say an ephemeral goodbye to this stage of his life.

Familiar steps came down the street. Bert ambled along the sidewalk toward him, his shambling posture typical of the fast-growing, awkward teenager. He dropped onto the gnarled wooden bench by the shop door with an opened bottle of soda in one hand. Bert covered his mouth with the other hand as he yawned.

“Yo, boss, what’s up?” He looked fully at Justus and his face stilled. “Oh, so that’s it,” Bert said.

The teen leaned his elbows on his knees and looked down at the ground. “Why? Just one more time, tell me why.”

“They know where Sable is, and the Imperium won’t risk losing her again. I can’t hide her anymore, not with the ward stone. It’ll shield my magic signature from the other wizards, but if I do it again with Sable, they’ll want to know how she does it. That will lead them to me. Eventually, the magic will bust out of her, and when it does, the bond Tiarra forced on her will make her a servant. She won’t be able to help it; she will obey them. And when that happens, the Imperium will come looking for me. Tiarra will have one of the strongest mages at her side, doing her bidding. I can’t fight that. I can’t fight Sable.”

“So save her.”

Simple words made by the teen struck Justus hard. “I can’t save her, not without fighting the Imperium,” he said.

“So fucking fight them,” Bert said roughly.

“All the Imperium? All the wizards? And Tiarra? Sable?”

Bert subsided, but his face turned stubborn.

Justus rummaged in his front pocket and threw a large set of keys to him. They jangled as Bert made the one-handed catch.

“The other set is for Emmett. It’s upstairs, but they’ll probably give them to Sable,” Justus said.

He looked across the street, rather than at Bert. The teenager’s face cut into him. Frustrations, anger, sorrow; the emotions chased each other across Bert’s features.

The sun was already reflecting off the face of the buildings, making him squint against the glare. The predicted summer storm had not materialized overnight, the system skirting the region, and now the muggy sky pressed down on the town. With no breeze to stir the leaves of the trees, it negated the park-like effect into sultry malaise for the early downtown visitors.

Justus firmed his mouth. “The legalese papers are there also. There shouldn’t be any problems with the transference of the property. All signed and notarized.”

Bert didn’t speak. The keys continued to revolve, clinking as he turned them over again.

“Any questions?” Justus asked.

“No,” Bert said. The keys seemed to hold his full attention. He blew out a puff of air and looked up. “Going by yourself, then?”

“Yes.”

As if to make him into a liar, he felt the familiar shiver on the small hairs of his forearm. “But,” he said, eyeing the approaching red Chevy pickup, “she probably knows about it.”

“Hm,” said Bert. His face brightened. Then he shook his head as he watched the Chevy roll to a stop in front of the shop. “Nah, I think she’s clueless. You keep your secrets so well.”

Sable opened the pickup door, and her eyes flicked between Justus and Bert. She closed the door with a muted thud and came around the pickup.

“Sup?” Bert said.

She flashed a grin at the teen’s greeting, then walked to the sidewalk, twisting her silver bracelet as she did. She froze when she saw the familiar keys in Bert’s hand. Something flashed across her face, but she turned away from him before Justus could see more.

“So, what time are we opening today, Boss?” Her voice was normal.

“Oh, the usual time. Noon on Sunday.”

Bert’s head jerked, but he held still otherwise.

“Anything…” She stopped. “Any special instructions? For our…new window display, I mean?”

He had forgotten about the conversation from the week before about changing the window dressing. He cleared his throat and saw Bert twitch again out of the corner of his eye.

“Fourth of July is coming up.” His voice was still hoarse. “How about something patriotic?” he said to her back.

“Sounds good. I’ll get right on that.”

Bert stirred. “I’ve got the flags left over from Flag Day. I can bring them over.”

She nodded without speaking.

“Got some red, white, and blue tinselly things in the back storage closet too. You might go back there.”

“What about the cellar?” Sable said.

When he didn’t respond, she threw him a sidelong glance. “The cellar,” she said again. “Is there anything down there I need to…know about?”

“I’ll leave…” He stopped when she turned to him fully, her mouth shaped into a firm line. “I wrote down how to get into the cellar. It’s in my rooms.”

Absently, he brushed away a bug that landed on his forearm, the glimmer of her full eyes taking every conscious thought from him. There was no mistaking the sparkle for stars now. Her shoulders slumped, and then she straightened them again. “Okay, it sounds like you have everything covered…for the window display,” she said. The brisk tone didn’t hide the break in her voice.

Another insect crawled on his arm, and he felt the wind begin to pick up. He brushed his forearm again. A distant motor sounded, but he didn’t pay any attention to the thrum of the engine. Sable was pushing the silver charms down to cover the scars on her wrists, turning them as she did. Her sleeveless blouse had a deeply scooped neck in the back, and her collarbones stood out from her shoulder. She had one arm crossed and was holding it with her other hand, her neck slightly bowed. As he watched, she brushed her bare forearm with her hand, and the charms jangled.

A small breath of wind caught his clothes, smelling of cool wetness, and the hairs on his arm crawled as if a thousand bees were humming there. His stomach dropped and he gasped. She whirled to face him with the same mask of fear he knew she saw in him.

“You have to leave. Now,” she said. Panic threatened to control her, and as he watched, she fisted her hands at her side.

“It is too late.” Justus smiled. How strangely calm he felt. His eyes never left hers as he nodded at the approaching car. “They are here.”

Bert stood abruptly, and Justus heard his gasp, but he could do nothing for him. Sable’s mouth trembled, then firmed. She faced the car. Justus stepped to her side. He found it surprising that none of the emotions he thought he should feel, nothing of panic or fear, were a part of this moment. Running was not an option.

To avoid confrontation, unthinkable.

The emotion sifting into him was something different, harder. Resolved. He felt like he was poised on the edge of a high cliff, preparing to jump. Or fly. The choice was his to make. And with that, calm washed over him.

He loved flying.

Justus watched the car slow to a stop, and the two people, a man and a woman, stepped from the vehicle. The woman, he dismissed immediately. She was a mage, but her aura held no alarm for him. The elements of Air and Earth soared around her as she scanned the shop and their postures. A troubled frown appeared on her brow.

The man was a different story. He was the image of authority walking, a man who knew what it was to command, give orders, and expect obedience. This was a man in control. Justus narrowed his eyes as he viewed the roaring elements flashing around the man. Fire was the mage’s talent, in enormous amounts. The hunter glided around the front of the car with no wasted motions, like a supple panther stalking its prey.

This was a dangerous man, lethal in every way.

Even as Justus had done, the man appeared to assess the three people facing him, measuring and then dismissing the wide-eyed teenager who stood frozen by the wooden bench. Those blue-gray eyes brightened when they turned to Sable and appeared satisfied. But when he turned to Justus, the expression changed. His eyes sharpened as they focused on him. With the ward stone protecting Justus, the man could not see the mage standing before him. But something made the face of the man harden. Maybe something of the emotions coursing through Justus at that moment were on his face, the hot bar of anger he felt turning his mind into familiar, but controlled fury.

The Imperium thought they could carve out a section of his world just by being here.

No.

In that moment, Justus formed the anger into adamant and iron will. The rage going through his thoughts turned into icy-cold calm, with fire licking the edges.

The mage’s brow furrowed deeply, alarmed by what he saw when Justus met his gaze without flinching. In the time the couple had exited the car and the first character assessments made, only a few seconds had passed.

Justus waited.

Prepared. And cold with rage.

Softly spoken words broke the invisible effervescence.

“The shop is closed,” Sable said. She stepped in front of Justus.

The open street with the sun reflecting from the buildings across the road, the teenage boy stiff with fright to his left, and the man still facing him; Justus became aware of his surroundings and took a breath. The man facing him also flicked his eyes around as the strange woman laid her fingers on his arm, her face worried. His quick smile steadied her, and he took a deep breath as well.

“The shop is closed,” Sable said again, “but I think you know that already.”

“We aren’t here to shop.” The woman smiled briefly.

“We are here on behalf of your parents,” the man said.

Sable remained quiet.

“I am Dayne Mathon, and this is my wife Macy.”

“Why do they want her?” Justus didn’t realize he’d intended to speak until the words left his mouth. The sound of his low, steady voice sliced through the air.

The adept looked at him with the eye of a man under attack. The mage touched his Fire element, not gathering it, not yet. It was like a finger ready to flip the safety of a gun.

“To find her, to know she is okay,” the man said, his tone low as well.

Justus couldn’t stop his lips from curling away from his teeth, and he took a step to the side away from Sable. He needed more room to act. Glacier cold enveloped his mind, and he automatically prepared to gather his elements. He began to extend his thoughts to pull from the Earth and Air great magnitudes of energies.

A hand on his arm, a soft voice beside him stopped him, and he looked down at Sable. She stood in front of him, looking up into his face, her hands on his chest. The rage he felt, the ice and the lava together, was nothing he had ever felt before. The only things holding him from releasing it against the man were those eyes that spoke silently to him.

To wait. To stop.

He took a calming breath and nodded.

“We aren’t here to take her,” the other hunter said softly. Macy brushed her hair back in a nervous gesture. “We just want to talk to her, make sure she’s okay.”

The words meant nothing to him. Even when tension ebbed from the man standing at the woman’s side, his eyes stayed on Sable’s face.

And she mouthed silently three words.

I love you.

Nothing but her face, her lovely eyes and mouth could hold his attention now, her lashes making a black fringe around her gray eyes.

The emotions washing through him were like nothing he had felt before, no anger, no fear, but a soaring emotion that would rival the fastest bird. Not even the man’s voice could break through the hold on him.

“That’s right. We just want to talk. Let her parents know she is okay. Not to take her back,” Mathon said.

Justus bent to softly kiss her cheek, and then he breathed into her ear, “As I do you.”

He smiled as the tears sprang into her gray eyes. Without breaking from their gaze, Justus said, “That would be a good thing…that you are here for information only.” Justus met the man’s eyes. “A very good thing,” he said to the hunter.

Gently, he pulled Sable from in front of him, his arm around her waist, so they could both face the two mages together. He looked at the wide-eyed woman standing by the grim man and nodded to her.

“Ma’am.”

She stepped back from him, startled by something in his face. For a moment, he thought he saw fear cross her features. Then wonder, as she collected herself and stood silently by the man’s side.

“We just want to talk to her. That’s all. Alone. For her sake, we need to make sure she’s okay. Make sure she’s under no duress,” the hunter said and looked pointedly at Justus’s hand on her waist.

The smile Justus gave the hunter was not pleasant. Sable stopped Justus from moving forward with her hand on his arm.

“It’s okay. I think I can talk to them. Don’t worry,” she said. Her tone was soothing, low.

He released her. The woman called Macy was still staring at him. When Sable patted Justus’s arm and stepped away, Macy smiled and seemed to relax. She motioned for Sable to precede them down the sidewalk. Hesitating, Sable threw one glance over her shoulder and then walked ahead of them. They were almost at the corner when Bert released the air he held in a sharp puff. He looked at Justus, opening his mouth to ask questions.

Justus quickly put one finger in front of his lips, and Bert subsided. Without expending magic or gathering any energy, he augmented his hearing.

He heard a low huff of breath. “I didn’t think he was going to let us leave for a minute,” the hunter called Dayne said.

Chapter Nineteen

“I
didn’t think he was going to let us leave for a minute,” Dayne said.

He tried to shake it off, the battle-sense that had settled over him. It had taken all of the experience and nerve to hold his ground in the face that black-eyed man’s stance. In the back of his mind, he wondered if his Fire element would have been enough to stop the man—a human, no less.

Ridiculous
, he scoffed to himself.

He blew out another breath to pull himself together. “Who was that guy?”