10 #2
“Not my magic. Caspian’s magic,” I surmised.
“He never got the chance to tell me much about it, but he said he acquired it when he refused to die and leave his family behind. It became something … tangible. He could speak to magic, but it didn’t always listen to him.
It was that magic that turned him into a phantom and refused to let him die.
In his final moments, I felt it latching onto me. ”
Alex sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “From what I understand, it’s an incredibly rare type of magic that only appears under extreme circumstances. Most people develop their abilities later in life from past experiences. Mine started before I was even born.”
His gaze dropped to the floor. “The magic made my mother’s pregnancy difficult. The Syndicate convinced her they could help, that they could safely deliver me. She didn’t survive, but I did. I became the first living person born in the underworld.”
His fingers tightened around the hem of his shirt.
“With my mother gone, I was theirs to own. The Syndicate spent years experimenting on me. I was isolated, monitored, treated more like a project than a person. I was terrified of everything around me, and eventually my magic adapted to that fear.” He glanced up at me.
“It started creating barriers. Walls. Safe spaces. Anything that could keep the world out and keep me protected.”
“But it didn't stop there,” Ivy said. “Did it?”
Alex shook his head. “The more it grew, the more it connected to the veil itself. The barrier between life and death is the largest protective barrier in existence. My magic learned from it. Now I can reinforce it, repair it, and shape smaller versions of it into shields, wards, and dimensional boundaries.” He hesitated.
“I don't think the magic chose barriers because that's what it’s supposed to do.
It chose barriers because that's what I needed.”
Alex’s shoulders sagged, his gaze looking past me and outside the window at the evening sun basking the kitchen in an orange glow.
“The Syndicate noticed the changes before I did. They thought because I was young, because my magic was still developing, they could shape it into something useful. Something controllable. It didn’t want to be controlled, so eventually it stopped listening to me, but those chains would corrupt it if it refused to obey.
That’s why I had to use Theo to open the veil.
I could feel he possessed a spark of that magic inside him too, and he wasn’t corrupted like I was. ”
A chill crept down my spine.
“This sounds like it’s going to be a much bigger problem than just fixing the veil,” Stella dramatically sighed. “We just ran off with the Syndicate’s most powerful weapon. Two, actually, if you count the fact they now know Theo’s power amplified Alex’s.”
“Fuck.” Ren shifted in his seat, grunting under his breath. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but couldn’t get the words out.
“What’s wrong, Ren?” I asked carefully, unsettled by the look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Ren shot to his feet so abruptly that the chair screeched across the floor behind him. “What’s wrong is that you keep throwing yourself into danger like you’re invincible!”
The words came out sharp, but underneath them was something rawer. Fear.
His hands clenched at his sides hard enough for his knuckles to pale. “Did you ever stop to think about the consequences of your actions? I went to the underworld to protect you from the Syndicate, Theo, and here you are throwing yourself at them again.”
I opened my mouth, but he cut me off before I could speak.
“You always do this,” he snapped, voice cracking at the edges. “You run toward every disaster, every broken person, every impossible situation like it’s your responsibility to save the world, and one day it’s going to get you killed.”
“Well, gee, sorry for caring about you so much,” I shot back, exhaustion and frustration bleeding into my voice. “You disappeared into the underworld, Ren. What exactly did you expect me to do? Sit around and hope you came back? Forget everything and move on like you never existed?”
“That’s not the point!”
“No, it is the point!” I retaliated, stepping toward him despite the ache tearing through my body. “You don’t get to act like I’m crazy for coming after you when you would’ve done the exact same thing for me.”
Ren’s expression faltered for just a second, guilt flashing across his face before fear swallowed it again.
“You don’t understand,” he said quietly. Something twisted across his expression then, gone almost as quickly as it appeared.
His breathing grew uneven as he dragged a hand through his hair. “You don’t understand,” he repeated, refusing to fully meet my eyes now. “I can’t …” He swallowed hard. “I need to go.”
Ren stormed out of the kitchen, clipping my shoulder as he pushed past me. “Ren, wait!”
Thomas grabbed my wrist. “Let him cool down, Theo.”
I looked toward the archway, then back to Thomas. “I just … I don’t get why he’s mad at me. I thought he’d be happy to be back here, to see me again.”
“I don’t think he’s angry with you,” Thomas said gently, offering me a hesitant smile. “He’s terrified.”
My chest tightened.
“We don’t know what happened to him in the underworld,” Thomas continued softly, “but whatever he went through clearly left a mark. People don’t come back from something like that unchanged.”
His gaze flicked toward the hallway Ren had disappeared down.
“And then he comes home only to find out you followed him into the same nightmare and you nearly died because of it.” Thomas exhaled quietly.
“I think he’s realizing just how close he came to losing you.
You can’t blame him for feeling scared.”
“I … I just wanted to help.” Guilt fluttered in my stomach.
“I know, Theo.” Thomas rubbed my back in comforting circles. “Just give him some space for now. He’ll come around.”
Alex rubbed his eyes, letting out a massive yawn as he leaned against me and rested his head on my shoulder.
“If you’re tired, you can take Stella’s room for the night,” Thomas announced cheerfully.
“Woah, wait? What?” Stella slapped her hands on the table, rattling the plates. “Why does he get my room? Why can’t he take the couch or something?”
“You wouldn’t deny this poor young man the comfort of a soft, luxurious mattress after years of sleeping on a cold concrete floor, would you? And there are no extra bedrooms, so …” The innocent twinkle in Thomas’ eye set Stella on edge.
“H-he can take my room for the night!” Ivy stammered. “I think I saw an air mattress in the attic somewhere. I’ll just sleep in Stella’s room for now.”
Alex looked toward me for approval. “It’s up to you. You can stay here for the night, or if you want some peace and quiet, I’m sure Thomas would let you sleep in the extra bedroom at his place.”
Although they had met each other only a few hours ago, Thomas and Alex bonded closely.
There was a quiet trust between them, maybe because of their Syndicate pasts.
Even knowing Thomas was technically two-hundred-and-something years old and Alex was nineteen, the demon had immediately adopted this young man and taken him under his wing, and Alex had easily latched on.
Those sparkling blue eyes were asking me a question he didn’t know how to answer.
Despite his connection to Thomas, I knew Alex was still attached to me—the man who had protected and rescued him from his captors after years of suffering—so I wasn’t surprised when he eventually spent the night here in Salem.
Stella and Ivy left to prepare the bedroom while Alex and Thomas ventured off to find the air mattress.
I was pretty certain Ren had stormed into my bedroom, his old bedroom before he allowed me to move in. But I wasn’t sure if he was waiting around in there or if he had used the portal beyond the closet door to go to his other home in Boston.
So, I waited downstairs in the living room, idly shuffling through television shows, desperately hoping he’d come back. Excitement fluttered in my chest when, about an hour later, he did.
Unfortunately, that joy immediately deflated when he said, “I’m leaving.”