Right. The children.
Marshall did his thing, while Jack stood back and watched or guarded or whatever his job was as support for Marshall. The entire time Marshall worked, Mal stomped around the slip and even stepped down an invisible set of stairs to crouch down and have a staring contest with the water.
Marshall was caught up in searching for Clayton’s boat, so he was completely unaware of Mal’s blatant public use of magic, but Jack took it all in silently.
Clayton was used to the man being chatty and cheerful, so it was definitely out of character in Clayton’s opinion. Jack still seemed to be having the time of his life, though, as he kept oneeye on Marshall and another on Mal, who was nodding and muttering to himself every now and then.
What could Jack see that Clayton couldn’t?
Clayton had never been able to see magic like most members of the Other. He couldn’t smell, feel, or hear it either. It was another one of his oddities. Clayton somehow just knew it was there.
The only exception to that involved Jack. The man’s eyes always blazed with his unique rainbow essence, and even Clayton could see the visual representation of it.
It was odd, but it was just one of those things that made Clayton give a mental shrug when it came to the ever-growing collection of oddities about himself.
When he was old, he’d write a book about himself and publish it in a magical journal for everyone to pick apart.
Clayton was close to dying of old age when Marshall finally came out of his reverie and made his unbelievable announcement that he’d failed at something.
“What do you mean, you can’t find it?” Clayton demanded. “You told Samantha you could sense your shields.”
Marshall gave Clayton an apologetic look and rubbed the back of his neck. “Icansense them. They should be right in front of us, but it also feels like they’re infinitely far away. I can’t explain it.”
Mal gave a loud scoff from the other side of the slip. “You’re giving up already?”
Marshall colored and retorted, “Of course not. It’s just going to take longer than I’d hoped. You don’t need to worry, though, Clayton. I promise you that my shields are fully intact. As long as you have enough food and water on your boat, your family will be safe for the time being.”
Clayton nodded an affirmative.
That was something at least. He’d refilled the water tank only the day before, so they should have at least five days before running out. More if they rationed it properly.
As for food, other than butter and crumpet rings, they had enough staples to survive for a few weeks if necessary. Clayton was an overpreparer, and it seemed like today it was about to pay off.
“Tell these losers to fuck off,” Mal said, coming up to Clayton to sling an arm around him. “We can figure this out on our own.”
Jack seemed absolutely delighted at being called a loser, and when Mal locked eyes with him and tried to stare him down, Clayton thought Jack was going to do something insane like hug Mal or propose.
Clayton took Mal’s clawed hand in his and squeezed, moving to place his body in front of him to block Jack’s view. “Even if we can figure it out ourselves, we still need help. This is about the kids, Mal. Don’t forget, your latest foundling is there too.”
At the word foundling, Clayton felt a subtle shift in the world around him. If he weren’t so in tune with his immediate surroundings out of self-preservation, he wouldn’t have noticed it.
Clayton didn’t know what had happened, but something he’d just said triggered something fundamental in the Real. He just hoped it wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass later.
Chapter
Twenty-One
MAL
Mal glared at the rainbow-eyed monster in front of him, parading himself openly in broad daylight even more shamelessly than Mal did.
Mal had known there was a solid chance that he’d get clocked as a nightmare as soon as Clayton’s little friends showed up, and he’d been prepared to do whatever was necessary. However, he hadn’t been prepared for what had shown up.
The second Mal had laid eyes on Jack, he readied himself to grab Clayton and run, but when Jack hadn’t squashed him on sight, Mal had reined his flight instinct in.
He watched, unbelieving, as a creature far larger and more powerful than it seemed pretended to be a simple, wacky sidekick for one of the most powerful members the Guard had to offer.
Was it toying with them all to amuse itself? Could it be that it was simply playing with its food before eating it? Marshall would certainly make one hell of a meal.
