“Give me your hand.”
I do as she says, holding my left hand out. She takes it, her hands rough and cool to the touch as she runs a finger over my palm. I watch her face, noting it when her expression hardens and her eyes narrow.
“Who else have you dabbled with?”
“No one. Why?”
“Do not lie to me, gargoyle.”
“My name is Atlas and I’m not lying. I have a team of coworkers, friends, but none are magic users.”
“Then why do you have this?” She presses her finger into my palm and light blue light shoots from my fingertips, startling me. My chest tightens and warms at the same time, and the distinct feeling of knowing exactly where it came from spreads through me.
But how?
“Tell me the truth or leave. Don’t waste my time. If you have your own magic, why do you need me?”
“I… I don’t have magic. I don’t know where this is coming from.”
She tilts her head. “Interesting. I do sense the truth in your words. You must have interacted with magic users.”
“Yes. In New Orleans, to get a sleeping potion.”
She shakes her head. “No. This isn’t that magic. It’s different. Unique.”
I blink several times, wondering how to redirect and save this conversation. “I took the potion for sleep. Could that be it?”
Kallis steps closer, still holding my hand and smelling of the forest itself after a cleansing rain—earthy and green. “No.” She blinks slowly. “It’s familiar to me.”
Shit, shit, shit. Rune very specifically told me not to bring him up if I didn’t have to, and now I don’t know if admission or omission is the better play.
That question becomes moot, however, as Kallis visibly pulls away and drops my hand. “I know it now. How dare you come to me with that…that chaos gremlin’s magic in your veins. Go.”
“Wait. I don’t know what you mean. I didn’t do anything to take on anyone’s magic.”
“Don’t insult my intelligence. What is his name? Ruin, is it?”
“Rune,” I mumble, no longer able to hide the truth. “But I didn’t… His magic…” I shake my head, at a loss for words.
“What is he to you?”
“A friend. Sort of. Not really, actually. I got the sense that he needed help, and he does. Someone has captured him and disabled most of his magic.”
“Good. Are we done now?”
“No, Kallis, please. I just need a lead on where he might be. Physically. I ask for no other intervention. Just a lead.”
She continues to gaze at me with a look of contempt on her face. “Locked up is likely the safest place for him. Besides, I don’t like to interfere in events that are none of my concern.”
This isn’t going well. I rub my forehead, searching my mind for anything that might win her over. All I’ve got is empathy. Maybe this will work.
“Kallis, what if something like this happened to you? What if you were stolen in the night, your magic disabled, your friends and family having no idea where you were or how to help? Wouldn’t you hope that they’d move heaven and earth to find you?”
“Perhaps, but I would not expect it from my enemy.”
“Maybe you wouldn’t, but if that was the only thing that could help, wouldn’t you hope they tried?”
She scowls but doesn’t object, so I continue.
