Chapter 21
Matt
When we get back to the mansion, the Medusa, a short woman with long snakes instead of hair that hang to her waist, and pink eyes, waits for us under the colonnade. I don’t park the SUV in the garage, figuring I’ll be taking it back out soon, instead I roll to a stop behind the Medusa’s car.
Everyone piles out and Deejay greets the woman as he comes to stand in front of the courier. “Thank you for coming, knowing the danger,”
he says, holding out his hand to her.
She grins up at him, shaking his hand. “I get the hard jobs because I’m trained for this kind of thing,”
she assures him then pulls out a thick manila envelope and holds it out to him. “Your package.”
Deejay takes it from her amusement passing across his aura. “Would you like to come in for a drink, wait for an escort back?”
She glanced at the crew that escorted her in. “Am I still in danger?”
“Unlikely,”
Solomon answers.
She shrugs. “Then I’m heading out. However, you owe my sister a tip? She said she put the letter in the Triton King’s hand.”
Deejay grins and opens the front door. “I’ll have you courier it to her, if I can?”
“Yes, sir.”
He leads the way inside, and I follow behind our guests. As he heads toward his office, I break off to see how Robbie and the littles are. The door to the media room is open, so I step in, shutting it, seeing Robbie on the floor playing with the babies while Cary sits with a snack of cheese crackers on one of the couches.
“Matt!”
Cary greets me, exuberant in his happiness to see me. He hops up on the couch, holding up his arms so I’ll pick him up.
I grant his wordless request, propping him on my hip, kissing his cheek and accepting his return kiss. “I wasn’t gone that long,”
I laugh. This kid brings me so much joy.
“I missed you when I couldn’t see you,”
he explains, innocent and guileless.
“Well, I’m back, and I’m going to spend all day with you and the babies,”
I assure him before looking at Robbie, who’s gotten better about jumping to his feet every time I’m in the room. The anti-anxiety meds are really helping. “Deejay is conducting some business with some employees of the Hub, then I think he’s going to take you to the school to get you enrolled. You might want to go get the paperwork you need for that ready. I got the littles now. Thank you for watching them.”
Robbie gives me a tentative smile, but it also kind of looks like a grimace. “You’re welcome. Not exactly excited about school,” he sighs.
“It’ll be fine, I’m sure. I’ll be there to help you find your classes.”
He nods as he stands. “Yeah. Thank you.”
He leaves me with the littles, so I get down on the floor with the babies and Cary and spend the next hour or so playing with them until the babies start squawking for their mid-morning snack.
Robbie starts school on Wednesday, but the week ends up so busy for everyone that I don’t get much chance to check in with him until Friday morning when he doesn’t hop out of the SUV as soon as I park on campus. I usually sit in my vehicle until the warning bell, which I intend to do today, closing my eyes as I lean the seat back.
“Matt,”
he murmurs softly.
“Yeah?”
I know when it’s just the two of us, he responds better if I don’t look directly at him, so I keep my eyes closed as I lean back in my seat.
“Um, can you come to my class at lunch? I have class with—”
Darius. “Deejay told me. I can grab you from that class. Just stay in your seat until I get there, ok?”
He had a run in with Darius that left him a little trampled on Wednesday. I don’t mind playing guard dog, especially when Darius’ problem started and should have ended with me.
“Thanks. See you, then.”
He sounds relieved as he unbuckles and opens his door to leave, but I wonder if he needs me to take him to class this morning too.
“You ok now?”
I ask, looking him over.
“Yeah, I’m just going to sit in the hall until the classroom opens.”
I frown, but nod. I can’t force him to be around me just to protect him. That would unravel the tenuous friendship we’ve started. “Ok. Text me if you need me.”
After second period, I walk across the campus to Robbie’s English class, catching sight of Darius waiting outside the classroom. I shoot him a warning glare before poking my head in Robbie’s class.
He sits at his desk copying notes from the whiteboard. “Ready?”
I call to him.
Robbie jumps up and shoves his stuff in his backpack, coming over to me. As we get in the hall, he puts me between him and Darius, which is what I’m here for, so I’m glad he didn’t make me do the shuffle myself.
“I’m heading up to my Humanities class, can you take me there?”
Robbie asks, much steadier about talking to me now especially in open spaces.
“We could just eat in the cafeteria,”
I suggest. It’s not like he needs to skip lunch and I know for a fact that he didn’t pack one today.
“You can. Just walk me to the stairwell,”
he refuses.
Nah, he hasn’t noticed, but fucking Darius is following us. “I’ll take you to the classroom.”
“Thank you,”
he appreciates sincerely.
I shoot a look over my shoulder as we enter the stairwell. Robbie doesn’t say anything about going up first. I’ve noticed he doesn’t like anyone walking behind him, so I consider it a personal win that he trusts me enough to go up ahead of me. Darius glares at me beneath narrowed, angry brows, so I flip him off, smiling to myself, and follow Robbie upstairs.
The door to the classroom is open and a shining non-human man sits at the teacher’s desk where a nameplate stands telling me he’s Chanda Marduke. He looks young for a young teacher, maybe twenty-four years old, sporting a twisted up afro that makes him look tall, though when he stands, he is nearly as tall as I am, three or so inches shorter than me, without the extra seven inches of hair. His aura shines bright orange and blue, tinged at the edge with magenta when he looks at Robbie, just like Deejay’s when he looks at me.
Interesting.
“Hey Robbie and step-cousin,”
he greets us, with a smile.
“Matt Blank. Unrelated,”
I correct, shaking his hand.
“I thought you were one of the D’Aquino boys,”
he comments, curious.
“We are, but I’m not related. Deejay is adopting my little brother, though,”
I explain evenly. I don’t want anyone to mistake me for a son of Deejay’s, especially not now that I know the attraction between us is mutual.
I’ve given both of us time and space because when I talk to him about our attraction, I don’t want any excuses for why we can’t explore it coming up between us. I won’t even broach the subject until Saturday, but the day I turn eighteen, he and I are going to have a chat. Fortunately, the week has been busy for both of us, though there haven't been any more threats to the Demesne D’Aquino or me in particular. We haven’t figured out what is going on with that, but some things take time to investigate. We haven’t seen the Chaos Eater again to ask what he’s doing in Houston, and no one at the Hub can find him.
“I see. I haven’t met him yet, though the Aquino’s are rather infamous. I heard about one of the brothers while I was at A&M. The D’Aquino reputation precedes you all,”
Chanda chuckles, wrenching me back from my thoughts.
“Must’ve been Monet you went to college with,”
I note as a secondary aura catches my attention from his keychain. It looks like he’s carrying someone around with him, but all I see is a little statuette of a human figure with a spear. “What is that?”
I wonder aloud.
His hand brushes the statuette familiarly. “This is a nkisi fetish.”
It takes me a second to place where I know that word from, then I remember. “I see. You’re a Diviner.”
He smiles surprised. “I am. How did you know? Not many people are familiar with what a nkisi is.”
“I memorized the non-human species encyclopedia. Diviners footnoted to nkisi, which also footnoted back to Diviners. I’m an Obsidite,”
I explain, recalling that a Diviner’s nkisi houses a spirit, also called a nkisi, that helps them with reading the strings of Fate.
“Wait. Are you the Obsidite that obliterated the cage fights on Saturday?”
he questions with an excited gleam in his eyes.
I can tell I’m going to get along with this guy. “It was fun. I’m going back tomorrow,”
I nod, hoping he’s as much of a fighter as he looks.
“I heard you were amazing. I was planning on contending in the next rounds, but I can’t fight a student,”
he laughs, slightly disappointed.
I smirk. “I won’t tell if you won’t,”
I tempt him, hoping he’ll take me up on it.
Chanda considers this for a moment, thick eyebrows raised in surprise. “I may come watch—who knows what will happen after that.”
I grin at that. “See you there,”
I say, holding out my hand again.
He squeezes my hand testing my grip strength with his, which makes me anticipate tomorrow. He’s strong enough to give me a run for my money, I think.
I smirk at Robbie, ready to get my lunch. “Later,”
I nod at him then leave, looking forward to a good fight with someone familiar-ish.