Chapter 9 #4
Even without a manifestation attached, I knew the reason she’d gone there.
She was a mere short flight from King Liberty’s base of operations, and despite her best efforts to hide it from others and herself, the attraction she had for the masked vigilante was palpable when in his presence.
I wagered she’d decided to handle this so-called global threat more so for an opportunity to flirt with her international crush than she had to bolster her international acclaim, despite what her entourage suggested.
“All right.” Carter clapped his hands, drawing my attention from myself momentarily and back to my telepathy, which observed him. “Let’s get this show started.”
“Do we have to?” Vik cringed, already dreading a camera on their face.
“Relax,” Zoya said, fluffing her dark brown curls. “If you get overwhelmed, just follow my lead.”
With that, Zoya zipped ahead with her super speed and practiced poses in the staged room the entourage had acquired.
Multitasking had taken on a whole new level thanks to the upgrade in my branch. I did my best to continue searching through Winston’s memories while putting away my phone and also placing Carter on the back burner of my thoughts.
As I tiptoed through Winston’s mind, I found the grayscale of his thoughts alarming.
Familiar to another mind I’d delved into before.
Only, Winston didn’t see the world in black and white.
There weren’t absolutes clawing at his developing psyche to hide away childhood traumas.
No. It was more like the color, the depth, the emotion in his mind had been drained away.
Perhaps a failsafe of the Celestial Coven or an illusion meant to lure psychics into a trap.
In either case, I remained on guard, anchoring my mind far outside the cell of the Global Guild. In fact, I let my telepathy drift far and wide across Chicago until it found the familiar mind from before.
“These dumb fuckers can’t ever show up on time. How am I ever supposed to get anything done when I have to wait on these morons?” Kenzo scowled at his mentor, making it crystal clear he resented her for saddling him with such chumps.
His irritation would keep me grounded and alert.
And while Kenzo’s inner core still held strong to his black and white mentality, his absolutes meant to shield him from pain, there were areas of color blossoming.
Orange cheer that’d invaded his daily thoughts thanks to his exhausting boyfriend.
The one currently texting him good morning with way too many emojis.
Still, Kenzo welcomed the distraction and replied.
If only to distract from the fact that his fellow interns were running late.
There were also shades of gray growing where Kenzo had locked away his childhood memories.
Gray everywhere a memory of Caleb stood.
It seemed the pair had finally moved beyond their animosity.
Well, beyond Kenzo’s animosity. He’d buried his anger for Caleb and made quick work of closing the rift between them.
“Hey.” Caleb waved, flying ahead of his mentor and cutting the street corner to meet Kenzo. “Sorry we’re late. You wouldn’t believe—”
“Don’t give me whatever dumbass excuse Hayden’s come up with today,” Lena quickly interrupted. Her harsh glare intimidated Caleb more than any of Kenzo’s menacing expressions, so he quickly clammed up. “I swear, he should’ve never been promoted to enchanter.”
I scoffed. As if she were anywhere near ready herself.
Name: Lena Novak
Branch: Arcane (Bubble Burst)
Jamie’s sister had grown since the loss of her brother, and I didn’t merely mean in maturity.
Her muscle definition had become quite noticeable, so much so that Milo begged her to change her stage name to Muscle Mommy, to which she threatened to throw him out a window.
Still, I didn’t think she was ready for the intensity of enchanter work or the mentoring role that came with it.
Though while Kenzo found it grueling to be stuck with a team of enchanters opposed to one, I very much respected how Milo advocated that his former acolytes needed to be teamed together.
I chose to believe Milo did that because he wanted to look out for everyone’s well-being; however, as Hayden turned the corner and flew down the street with a trail of glitter shimmering his path, the belief dissipated.
Hayden’s thoughts were abuzz with his romantic entanglements of last night, and it took all my power to bury the floating images of Lena and Ellie’s naked bodies in his mind.
Ugh. His thoughts were as annoying as his glittery magics.
Name: Hayden Russo
Branch: Cosmic (Teleportation)
Branch: Cosmic (Glitter)
While Milo denied it again and again, I had a sinking suspicion he’d always planned for Lena, Ellie, and Hayden to work as his acolytes, sort of as his own way of reliving our glory years.
The tragic throuple who lost their footing when taking on too much guild work.
The three meant to be, who lost one along the way, and then each other for more than a decade.
Though that was mostly my fault. Like most things.
Still, Milo’s attempts to baby his former acolytes and steer them onto a happy pathway were rather obvious, even if he hid the actual thoughts themselves.
“You guys wouldn’t believe what happened,” Hayden let out an exasperated breath as he brushed his long bangs out of his face, bracing for Lena’s rage and Ellie’s disbelief when he realized one of them was missing. “Wait a second. I’m not the last one here. Today’s not my fault.”
“It is your fault,” Lena said. “You’re clearly infectious.”
“Oooooh, maybe my smile’s infectious too.” Hayden went to playfully boop Lena until a bubble burst on his hand, burning him just enough to remind the young man that while she enjoyed rolling in bed with him, she didn’t do PDA or touching of any kind in a public setting. “Or not.”
“Can we just get started?” Kenzo folded his arms.
“I don’t know why you’re in such a rush,” Lena said with a snide smile. “You that eager to take observation notes?”
Kenzo glared.
Lena’s approach was very much to my liking.
Despite Kenzo’s vocal protests and loud beratement, his mentor didn’t concede to his demands.
In fact, she kept him on the sidelines in any and all cases they worked.
She bullied Hayden and Ellie into doing the same with their interns.
Basically, everyone here worked for Lena Novak, and Lena believed interns shouldn’t step into combat until they understood all the basics of guild work.
Ideally, this would be how all internships worked. Sadly, most enchanters overestimated their interns’ skills, deluded themselves into thinking they could react fast enough to assist in any situation, and were, quite frankly, idiots with no understanding of educational practices.
“What I wouldn’t give to have a different mentor.” Kenzo eyed up Caleb, who had his face buried in a book. “You know, while we’re sitting here playing secretary, others get to actually face off against Celestial witches.”
“A Celestial witch,” Caleb replied, still reading. “And didn’t they all land in the hospital? Alongside like forty enchanters?”
“Forty-three,” Kenzo corrected. “And that’s only because they’re weaklings.”
Kenzo’s mind whirled with his interpretation of how Yaritza, Jamius, and Melanie fought against Winston Cobalt.
Despite his mental flair for the dramatics, his theories weren’t far off.
Kenzo had a mind for strategic combat, seeing the moves everyone around him would make, and since he knew his homeroom coven members so well, he gauged a pretty accurate assessment of what they did in the battle.
Even though Yaritza had never demonstrated her giant star shower strike, Kenzo predicted it.
He also hypothesized Melanie could control the black and white flames of her mentor, and he suspected Jamius would reveal his secret duplication technique soon enough.
Honestly, Kenzo had a better grasp of his peers’ magical abilities than I did.
Which was utterly depressing on my part.
“Oh, there’s Tara.” Caleb pointed.
Enchanter Reed and Tara flew side-by-side, their long blonde locks blowing furiously through the wind as they raced down the street.