“That’s what’ssupposedto happen when you match, dufus,” he said shoulder bumping me.
“No, this was seriously weird. It was like we were both hit by lightning. It threw us across the room!”
Dag looked thoughtfully from me to Luke and back.
“How did he respond?”
I could see the caution written on my friend’s face. He had helped me through being rejected three previous times by Mageia I had matched. His caution was warranted.
“He seemed… nice,” I ended lamely.
“Nice?” he teased. “It threw you across the room and he seemednice?”
I laughed quietly at his teasing, shushing him.
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” he said.
“Where is Deliah?” I asked.
“She and the other new Mageia were pretty shaken up by the attack and concerned about some folks who are missing. I told her I would check out the infirmary and see if anyone was here.”
“Pretty sure Luke is one of the people she is looking for. I hope everyone else is okay. Do you know if anyone else was hurt?”
“The damage was pretty bad but seemed to be contained to the administrative offices. I saw a few folks with scrapes and bruises, but nothing too serious.”
I awkwardly signed to him the story of how Luke had protected us and gotten us out of the destroyed building. I was confident that no one else knew sign so our conversation would be kept private.
Damn. He must be pretty fuckin’ powerful to do that. No wonder he’s drained, though.
I nodded. I started to ask him another question when a small, wiry man stormed into the room. He was lean, like Luke, but quite a bit shorter. If he was five feet five I would be surprised, but thoughts of his size were quickly discarded when his eyes locked onto where I held Luke’s hand. He charged toward me, the smell of ozone preceding him, as though he brought lightning with him.
“Get your fucking hands off my brother!” He said, slamming into me and pushing me away from Luke.
“Whoa!” I could see Dagan exclaim as he scrambled to his feet, the other man grabbing me by the shoulders and forcing me against the wall.
I saw Dagan reaching for him.
“Stop, Dag! He’s just worried about Luke!” I said.
I looked at the man pinning me against the wall. He had black, curly hair with a single thick streak of white. I could see the resemblance to Luke, but where Luke’s eyes were green, this man’s eyes were a stormy blue.
“How do you know his name? What thefuckdid you do to him?” he demanded.
“N-nothing! I swear to the goddess! He saved us from the explosion.” I stammered. The fierce glare of the man in front of me left me with no doubt that my lifespan would be significantly shortened if I had harmed a hair on his brother’s head.
Just then another man ran in to the room. He was taller than me, with blond hair several shades paler than Lukes flying around his face, as though he had been running his fingers through it.
“Elex! Calm down! It’s okay!” I saw him say. His words seemed to have little effect on Luke’s brother as he continued to glare at me ferociously.
“He had his hands on Luke,” he growled.
I saw a look pass between the tall man and Dagan.
“Not like that! I was just holding his hand!”
Elex tightened his grip on me and something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw coils of power wrapping the man’s hands, ribbons of earth, air, fire and water twining around his forearms. Shit! He was a Tesseris Mageia!
“I swear to the Goddess, I just didn’t want him to think he was alone,” I insisted.
