Page 54 of The Human’s Heart

“What the fuck?” Inside my head, I reached out to Hugo, asking, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just at work. You okay?”

“Yes.”

In my ear, Uncle Bas said, “My thoughts exactly. And before you freak out, my dad and pops are both already at the bar with Hugo. Sending them over was the first thing I did as soon as I found the connection. It’s not a strong one, mind you, but it’s there, and we’re not going to risk your viramore or anyone else, okay? I can’t go into more detail about the specifics, but I wanted to warn you, especially because you’re both going to have more protection on you from now until we figure this out.”

I wanted to argue, I wanted to complain about needing extra protection, but I knew I shouldn’t. Not only was I not stupid enough to believe I could take on some crazed assassin or whatever this was, but if I wanted Hugo to allow bodyguards to follow him around, I needed to be willing to do the same. So all I asked was, “Who’s watching over me?”

“Uncle Thay and Uncle Toby.”

That made me relax a little. “Okay. And how are we getting Hugo to and from work?”

“Your grandparents have a very magically shielded car coming straight to them, and you have a second one coming to you. They wouldn’t fit through the portal, obviously, so we’re having to drive them up, but the cars are coming with extra guards and will be there before you finish class and before Hugo’s done at work.

“Your school is well protected already, and the bar is as well, but your grandparents are placing extra protections at the bar now, and as soon as my brother gets to you, he’ll be doing the same at the school, or at least in the areas where your classrooms are and where you walk around often.”

That seemed excessive, but I wasn’t about to complain about it. “Alright. That… that sounds good.”

He paused for a moment. “Look, I know it’s a lot, but we’re going to keep you two safe, okay?”

“Y-yeah. I know.”

“Good. Now, I’ll see you soon.”

“Wait. You’re coming?”

“Uncle Hiro’s already driving the new car up, and with the way he’s speeding, we’ll be there very soon.”

In the background, I heard a grumbly voice but couldn’t make out the words—obviously Uncle Hiro was complaining or whatever.

“Thank you, Uncle Bas.”

“No need to thank me, kiddo. I’ll see you soon. Stay safe. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

We hung up, and I took a deep breath, leaning against the wall for a moment before I steeled myself to go back to class. There was nothing else to do for the moment. Well, almost nothing else.

To Hugo, I asked, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. Why? What’s wrong? You seem stressed.”

I wanted to laugh at that. Stressed didn’t even begin to cover it. “I am. Just… worried about you. About us. I kinda wanna go home and just hunker down for the next few weeks until everything with Phia’s figured out, you know?”

“So someone talked to you?”

That surprised me. “Yeah… did someone talk to you?”

I heard him sigh in my head. “Yeah. Sebastian told me what’s going on, but he doesn’t seem too worried. He said it’s just a precaution and that we’re okay to keep living our lives normally.”

I grimaced a little at that. I was positive Grandpa was simply trying not to worry him, and I didn’t want to burst his bubble. All we needed was for Hugo to start freaking out even more than he already was. I knew he was worried about leaving home after what’d happened, and this was only reinforcing those fears. I didn’t want him scared. But I did want him cautious.

“Yeah, I’m sure everything’s fine. But keep an eye out for anything… weird.”

“Babe, since the day I met you, pretty much everything’s been weird.”

I snorted out a laugh, told him I loved him, and headed back into class.