Chapter 8
I sluggishly prepared to return and examine Winston’s mind while Milo and Ben prepared for the field trip.
Ben didn’t even miss my absence; he was too wound up about all the animals they had on their roster.
His teacher had shared the website and gave them a project before and after the field trip.
Ben had made a pamphlet of all the animals he could squeeze onto the paper, along with a sentence about each one.
Some of his words were bigger than his actual drawings.
We needed to work more on his penmanship.
“Have fun,” I said as they raced out of the house.
After finishing my coffee, I returned to the Global Guild detainment facility and sat alone in the secured room where they held Winston.
Thanks to my mind shatter, he remained unconscious. They kept him strapped to a bed surrounded by enchantments all the same. Despite all that, a small patrol of guards remained close, ready in case Winston attempted anything.
I dove into his mind, searching for names and faces of other members of the Celestial Coven. I searched for intel on The True Witch. I hunted down information about their hideouts. Anything and everything Winston kept locked in his memories.
“There we go.” I stepped through the muck of his inner core, a place in ruins. That was my doing. I had no idea how the witch originally envisioned his mind, but I’d shattered such representations, leaving floating debris in every direction.
His mind was rocky islands filled with broken memories. I merely needed to find the correct pieces and stitch them back together.
I telekinetically dragged two zigzagged hunks of rock closer to one another, preparing to reunite the memories. A silhouette of a woman in a witch’s hat stood tall on one rock while a blurry version of Winston stood on the other.
“This must be your recruitment.” I felt the truth in that. An itch from the cloaked memory, the whispers right on the edge of his thoughts, but I couldn’t put the rocks together. “Dammit.”
Just beneath the memory lay a broken sigil. A hidden trap missed by the divination squad.
“Oh, come on.” I huffed.
I grabbed hold of other broken memories locked on rocky debris, only to find more shattered traps waiting to be activated.
It turned out that the witches Wadsworth sent to disarm any pesky enchantments only found active ones.
There were still plenty of traps awaiting someone to trigger them.
These broken sigils weren’t nullified when shattered.
They had parameters in place to reactivate when pieced together.
“So, Amara planned for my investigation.”
Of course she did.
Great. Instead of delving into Winston’s mind to find answers, I had the pleasure of spending the next several hours locating and disarming all the traps the divination squad missed.
By the time I’d finished scouring every fragment of his mind for threats, I only had time to delve into one memory.
Electricity surged through me, knocking me out of Winston’s head.
“Son of a bitch.” I snarled.
That prick used his sizemorphic ability to shrink down some of the traps so that I wouldn’t detect them. Dealing with broken sigils was one thing, but now I had to go through his entire mind again, searching more thoroughly.
“Wadsworth be damned,” I said to the guards stationed on either side of me. “I’ll find him some intel tomorrow.”
With that, I exited the cloaked detainment facility.
Either their security measures had improved, or my magic was truly drained because all traces of thoughts vanished entirely the second I left.
No faint whispers. Just utter silence. The noisy city confirmed it was the Global Guild warding that’d improved.
I barely kept my eyes open on the drive home.
Delving deep into Winston’s thoughts, evading those traps, searching for intel, all while maintaining my telepathy throughout Chicago and channeling magic into the threads that extended to my manifestations across the world.
It was grueling. Not that I uncovered much of anything.
All I wanted to do when I got home was pass out and sync with Milo’s thoughts to help keep the rest of the world at bay for a few hours.
His mind was buzzing from the field trip.
Ben’s mind was lost on all the animals they’d seen.
I would’ve liked to join them. It was nice that Milo got to step in and do the whole chaperone thing, but admittedly, I looked forward to the trip.
Less so for the learning opportunity on familiar havens and more so at the chance of a little nostalgia for all the ridiculous field trips Gemini organized over the years.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Milo immediately greeted me at the door, taking my jacket and sort of trapping me in the foyer. “How was your interrogation?”
“It wasn’t an interrogation. More of a one-sided investigation,” I explained. “I’ve got Winston locked in a daydream of destruction. The creep’s content slaughtering imaginary people, and it makes it easier to search his past without interference.”
“Clever. God, you’re so clever.” Milo smiled, though there was a tight pull at his cheeks. A tiny nervous tremble. “You’re the smartest man I know. Brilliant really. And kind. Considerate. Loving.”
“What the fuck did you do?” I slapped a hand on Milo’s forehead, delving right past his lyrical distraction, and found his blatant secret floating at the top of his thoughts. “You son of a bitch.”
“It’s not my fault,” Milo pleaded. “You weren’t there. You don’t understand how difficult—”
“It’s not hard to say no.” I glared. “You’re gonna be hearing it a lot from me in the future.”
Milo gulped. “I’m sorry. But I think you’re going to love Sheamus.”
“Absolutely not. Take him back.”
“Oh, no.” Milo shook his head. “That’d break Ben’s heart. I’m not a monster. You tell him no.”
“And be the villain, yet again.” I dragged myself further into the penthouse and found Ben playing in the living room with his new dog.
A black and gray Pitbull with a floppy right ear sat next to Ben, wagging his tail back and forth. A jagged scar ran down the dog’s face, going from his missing left ear down to his strong jaw. It kept his left eye closed and showed the patchy fur that’d never grown back.
“Did you even consider how Charlie or Carlie would react?”
“I did,” Milo said. “The vet tech said Sheamus worked exceptionally well with other animals. Apparently, it’s a quality many familiars possess.”
Right on cue, Charlie ran into the room and nuzzled against my leg before abandoning me to cuddle up with this damn dog. Carlie, on the other hand, merely lay on the couch, curiously observing. Neither seemed to have a problem with the new addition. Of course, I had to be the jerk in the situation.
“Dorian,” Ben shouted, finally noticing my arrival. “This is Sheamus. He’s an American Pit Bull Terri-w-er. Isn’t he the cutest?”
I nodded.
“Did you know three out of ten familiars become untethered?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Did you know untethered means they lost their witch partner?”
“I inferred as much.” I fought off a sour frown. Ben had a whole slew of statistics planned to divulge. Apparently, Milo had prepared him, and Ben paid very close attention during the field trip. If I said no now, I’d be an absolute monster.
“Only one out of ten untethered familiars gets fostered or adopted.” Ben hugged Sheamus’ neck, holding the dog close as the old hound licked Ben’s face. “We’re like brothers.”
Oh, dammit. I rolled my eyes up. That was a dirty tactic. Bringing up Ben’s foster status, how he’d lost his family, how we gave him a second chance. Milo and Ben were brilliant and vile.
“Look what cool tricks he can do.” Ben held out his arms, and the dog barked, casting telekinesis which hurled Ben into the air, sending him flying around the living room.
That answered part of the question on why so few untethered familiars were adopted. Most people could barely afford a license to cover their magic practice, but to pay fees for a familiar that couldn’t bond with another witch? Unlikely.
Thankfully, Milo had those absurdly high vaulted ceilings, but still not what I wanted for a six-year-old.
“Well, that’s a safe little trick.” I turned to Milo, who kept his blue eyes locked on Ben.
“No worries.” Milo’s fingers moved ever so slightly. At least he was latching his telekinesis onto Ben, too. “Remember, Sheamus. None of that unless me or Dorian are home, right?”
The dog sat at attention and nodded.
Okay, at least if they had to adopt a pet, they picked a familiar. They were almost as smart as the average person, which made them smarter than most people in general.
I plopped onto the couch and watched Ben play with Sheamus and Charlie for another hour or so, all while he rambled about the things he learned at the familiar haven.
While I knew the haven worked to find homes for familiars who’d lost their witch partners, I didn’t realize they did same-day adoptions.
Milo tensed when he caught my gaze shifting back to him. Of course they let him do a same-day adoption.
“Anything for Enchanter fucking Evergreen, huh?”
Milo grinned. “I mean, can you blame them?”
I rolled my eyes.
“But you should’ve seen how overcrowded the haven was.
They were maxed out on kennels; they’re undersupplied on toys and equipment.
All their funds go to food and magical warding and habitats.
Just be glad Ben didn’t want the cheetah or viper or giraffe.
Where would Lenny the giraffe have fit? I didn’t expect Ben to fall in love with the pup.
But look how happy he is. It means a lot for him to have another friend. ”
I sighed. “Fine. We can keep the dog.”
Sheamus looked back at me the moment I sent the thought to Milo.
He gave me a very gruff ‘as if I was leaving’ expression.
I shook it away. Too many years dealing with King Clucks.
It wasn’t like this dog could read my mind.
Then the little bastard tilted his head like he planned to prove me wrong.
This was what annoyed me about animals. I couldn’t read their minds, understand them, know for certain just how much they did or didn’t know.
“I’m going to take a shower,” I said. “Mind making sure Ben gets ready for bed?”
“Absolutely.” Milo smiled.
With that, I unwound while Milo, Ben, and the dog goofed around for the better part of the evening before bedtime rituals started up.
Sleep came surprisingly easy. The one benefit to the new dog was that Ben cuddled up to him right away and passed out in his own bed for a change.
I was so drained that I dozed off quickly, and thanks to Milo’s presence, I synced to his thoughts.
They blocked out the city, silencing everyone nearby.
Milo’s mind danced in memories, swam through fantasies, and drifted between visions.
Eventually, the beauty of Milo’s subconscious faded as the weight of the world he carried returned.
Too often, he was burdened by visions, by nightmares, but the shadows that soon swirled around us were unfamiliar to me.
A young version of Milo, not much older than Ben, appeared in the darkness.
It stretched out infinitely, reminding me of the horrors from the chimera’s inner core.
There was something demonic and unsettling about this nightmare.
Soon, humanoid shadows sprang forth from the depths of the bleak black void surrounding us.
“No,” Milo’s high-pitched voice cried out.
I wanted to soothe this version of him, wanted to shake him free of this nightmare, but I lay asleep and locked in this fiendish hell.
One by one, they emerged from the shadows with piercing red eyes.
Ten horrifying figures, each locked onto Milo.
Each taking steps toward him, carrying a menacing weight of unspeakable terror in their wake.
I couldn’t place it, couldn’t form the words to describe it, but I knew these unseen entities held truly devastating force.
They would end the world. They would ruin everything.
Milo gasped, springing forward in the bed.
His jostling movement shook me free from my own slumber. I sat up, pressing a hand to his chest. His heart pounded, his skin was clammy, and his face was covered in a sheen of sweat.
“Are you okay?”
“Just a nightmare.”
“I saw. What was that?”
“An OG vision,” Milo said with a shudder. “Pretty sure it doesn’t exist anymore; you know some possibilities just aren’t possible. But it resurfaces occasionally.”
“I thought your branch didn’t kick in until middle school.”
“Mostly,” Milo said with a shrug. “Some triggered earlier. Well, you know. Your branch was weird during those early years, too.”
I thought back to my imaginary friend who’d basically been a manifestation of a persona meant to serve as a buffer for the exhausting noises of the world. Now, he mostly checked in on Ben when he needed, which thankfully had become less and less with each passing day.
“What was the vision of?”
“You saw it. Beats the hell out of me.”
“Hell being the operative word,” I said, gently rubbing my hand over Milo’s chest. “Did you get demonic vibes from it?”
I couldn’t put it in clearer words than that, couldn’t form much of a concrete explanation in my head, but the sensation held this eerie, demonic pulse.
Maybe it had to do with how much of the vision remained veiled.
Branch magic struggled against demons, and they often showed resistance to it.
Many of Milo’s visions had been warped in the past due to demonic influence.
“Don’t know, don’t care.” Milo slid back under the covers and pulled me along. “It’s an expired vision. Don’t we have current problems to focus on?”
“That we do.” I scooted against Milo, playing the small spoon and letting him wrap me up in a hug. “Speaking of, you wouldn’t believe how incompetent Wadsworth’s divination team was. I have half a mind to say something.”
“You know he’d just blame it on the fact they’re”—Milo cleared his throat and made his voice surly—“phony psychics who don’t belong in the angry old American guild I founded. Back in my day, psychics weren’t even a branch. They were a twig.”
I chuckled. “Dammit. You’re right.”
“Always am. It’s my phony psychic gift.” Milo nuzzled my neck. “But I do want to hear all about your day. Don’t leave out one incompetent detail.”
I lay in Milo’s arms, wide awake and sharing my day with him into the late hours of the night.