Page 87 of Monster's Pet

“I trustyou,” he said. “And if you trust her, then I will, too.”

“Good enough.”

At the approximate center of the cavern, based on how little I could see the walls, the manducare had created a circle around a naked man lying on his side, facing away from us.

I paused hesitantly, not wanting to leave the protection of the warm bodies around me.

Moonbeam chirped and nudged the man’s arm with her nose. It flopped and he rolled onto his back with a groan.

“Not sure how I feel about you seeing another man’s junk,” Aiden grumbled.

I created a blanket with a flick of my fingers and draped it over the man on the ground. “Better?” I asked, cocking my eyebrow up at my mate.

“Be careful. He could be faking.”

“Moonbeam wouldn’t get close if he was.”

“How would she know? She’s a baby!”

I sighed heavily and changed the spell on my vision. First, I used the one to see inside his body. His heart was beating, but it was very slow. His chest was rising and falling with each breath. “He’s alive,” I announced. After removing that spell, I cast the spell to see magic, doing the calculations to avoid the ley lines, because I didn’t want to be blinded.

The manducare around me blazed with power, which I had expected. Aiden was also showing bright levels of magic, which made me sigh with relief. Moonbeam hadn’t taken too much. Finally, I looked at the not-so-giant.

There was no magical power within him at all.

My jaw dropped. “What did youdo?” I gasped. My interest in the magical abilities of the manducare pushed me to walk closer to the giant, examining him from the other side. “Did you drain him completely? Will he regenerate his magical potential, or is it gone forever?”

I didn’t get an answer, which didn’t surprise me.

The professors and Grandfather landed beside me, having used hovering charms to join us in the center. I told them what I had discovered.

“You can’t be serious!” Professor Dunlop said, giving the manducare a wide berth.

Professor Akhtar knelt next to the giant and examined him with several spells that I didn’t quite follow. Grandfather performed his own examinations on the other side.

“He’s alive, unconscious, and completely mortal,” Professor Akhtar said at last.

“He won’t sleep for longer than a few hours,” Grandfather added.

“What do we do with him?” Aiden asked. “We can’t just leave him here!”

“Professor,” I said tentatively. “We should probably keep an eye on him.”

“There are prisons under magical supervision,” Professor Dunlop began.

“Not what I meant,” I said with a wince. “I was thinking that maybe we could bring him back to the academy.”

“We don’t have the infrastructure to contain him,” Professor Akhtar said mildly.

“I mean as a janitor, or something,” I finished weakly. “Maybe even as an ancient history professor. Or ethics?”

“Are you serious?” Paige, who had joined their group, asked in a hiss. “You know what he’s capable of! What he planned to do!”

“I also know that he’s now mortal but with the knowledge of an ancient scholar,” I retorted. “If he wants to make a difference, which is what it seemed like was his intent, what better place than at a school? At the very least, he should be given a choice.”

Grandfather beamed with pride.

“Very well,” Professor Dunlop said slowly. “We will bring Gràineileachd back to the school with us under sedation. He shall have to undergo a trial, but since it seems like he didn’t do any harm inthismillennia, he should be able to live as a free man.”

---