Page 50 of Magic Claimed
“We’ll be careful,” I promised. I was just planning to go have another chat with Monique, and take a second look around Jeremiah’s room. Wait to hear about the fingerprints, and try not to check my phone a million times while waiting for Draven or Rath to send news. “And we can take Logan and drop him off on our way.”
For once,I was grateful that we didn’t own much. Our essentials were easy to pack and would probably take only a few trips to sneak out in the form of a school backpack, overstuffed pillows, a couple of random shipping boxes, and a gym bag.
We moved the living room furniture into one of the bedrooms, watered the plants, and then Kes left with Ari. Kira, Logan, and I locked up a few minutes later—only after checkingthe hallway for any more irate neighbors—and then headed up to the rooftop for Ethan.
We found him sitting on the floor, his lean body wedged into a corner, chin tilted down, his shaggy dark hair covering most of his face. Just in front of him, a black and white cat skittered back and forth, her ears pinned back and her tail twitching madly as she batted at something on the ground.
It was a beanbag of sorts, made out of the same fabric as Ethan’s ragged, dark shirt. It had a string for a tail and buttons for ears, and it moved despite the fact that no one was touching it—an incredible display of perfectly controlled air magic.
But then Logan accidentally kicked one of the chairs. Ethan’s chin jerked up, the mouse disappeared into one of his pockets, and he stood up.
The cat looked offended and stalked off, tail still twitching.
Ethan wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“I never wanted you to feel like you aren’t allowed to use your magic,” I assured him.
His hands slid into his pockets. “You know it never actually goes away,” he mumbled defensively. “Not completely. It just gets quiet enough I don’t have to listen to it anymore.”
Concerning, but there was nothing I could do about it now. Nothing but give him something else to focus on instead.
“I’ve got something I was hoping you could help me with.”
His head tilted, his pose suddenly alert and slightly wary. “Like what?”
I hesitated. I hadn’t thought about whether this case might trigger his own bad memories. Even now, I knew so little about what his life had been like before we met in the fae prison.
“You don’t have to,” I added. “I understand if it feels too risky. But a human boy is missing, and… it looks like magic was involved. I thought you might be up for joining the search.”
His chin came up so fast, I almost took a step back. His hair parted, and I saw his eyes gleaming behind the strands—dark and intense, glimmering with hints of power. “Why would you trust me with that?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
He regarded me intently, as if wondering what I was hoping to gain. As if he could somehow see through me and decipher my motives. Read my mind. Determine my endgame.
“Everyone wants to use me,” he said softly. “Or control me. Keep me safe. Keep others safe from me. It’s always about the magic, whether they need it or fear it. So what is ityouwant?”
He’d been exploited for so long, he wasn’t yet ready to believe that we wouldn’t do the same, and I didn’t blame him. We were going to have toshowhim our intentions, one day at a time.
“I want you to have the chance to choose a life for yourself,” I told him. “Now we both know that won’t be fully possible until we find a solution for controlling your magic. I hate it, I knowyouhate it, but it’s reality and we can’t just pretend it doesn’t exist. But in the meantime, I want you to have choices, even if they’re small ones. I want you to see what the world can be like when we have family who actually gives a crap. And I want you to know what it feels like to have a purpose. Even if it’s something small.” I stuffed my hands in my pockets and shrugged. “I know I don’t have a lot to offer you right now. We’re still being hunted, most of the courts are pissed at me, andI was in the middle of an incident at work last night that shut the whole place down.”
He wasn’t giving me much of a reaction, but I could tell he was still listening, so I kept going.
“But we also have people who care about us. We have a place to live, and I have a boss who didn’t fire me because he knew the incident wasn’t my fault. And it’s those things I want you to know you’re a part of.”
“All that and you’re going to go looking for some dumb kid?” he demanded. “Why?”
“Because that kid doesn’t have anyone else. His mom loves him, but she’s human. She can’t do anything about this magical world we live in. But we… we can.”
Perhaps better than anyone else, because we’d been on both sides of that divide.
“No one came looking forme,” Ethan said savagely. “Why should I care?”
“You don’t have to care,” I said calmly. “And I’m not going to judge you if you decide you don’t want to get involved.”
“Iwould,” Logan muttered under his breath. “Iwantto help, but they never let me do anything.”
I threw him a side-eye. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Iletyou do the dishes almost every night.”
