Page 20 of The Mage on the Hill
Darius lifted the shoulder Arden wasn’t clinging to quite so hard in an awkward shrug. “Home.”
“Not your home, though. Your house.” Arden pulled back, holding him at arm’s length. “I kept checking.”
“Aunt Eva’s. Itismine.”
Arden stared at him. “You said you’d never live in that old pile. You were going to sell it. I would never have thought of looking there.That’swhere you’ve been?”
Darius had to look away.
“Tell me you haven’t been alone all this time. That someone was checking in with you.”
A memory of nursing aides flitted in and out. It might have been an actual memory from the first month. There’d been visits from the guild every six weeks those first couple of years, too, to make certain he was behaving like a good outcast and not doing anything stupid. Eventually, all contact stopped. He couldn’t have said when, which made the back of his brain itch. Aggravating, losing time like that, potentially years’ worth. He shook his head in irritation, unable to explain all of that, especially to someone who had known him so well in his old life and had no understanding of the new.
“Fifteen years. My gods, how did you—” Arden twitched toward the front of the house, raced to the kitchen window, and opened it. He thrust his hands outside, palms outward. “Dar, you have to go. They’re coming.”
No need to ask whotheywere. Darius spun and flung himself toward the back door, bellowing as he built up to a limping run. “Toby! Let’s go!Now!”
Give the boy credit, he moved despite hiswhat the fuckexpression. They hadn’t unpacked anything from the car, so Darius just needed to grab his shoes and jacket, while Toby snagged his backpack. On their way back through the kitchen, Arden had the papers with Toby’s webs and Darius’s account burning in the sink.
Darius stopped for a quick one-armed hug. “I’msorry.”
“Doesn’t help anything now. Go, go.” Arden waved an impatient hand toward the front door. “I’ll cover traces of you best I can. And I haven’t seen you.”
Toby clutched his backpack to his chest. “Will you be all right?”
Smart kid. Figured it out.
“Please. I’ve been handling guildmasters longer than you’ve been alive. Get.”
Darius hooked an arm through Toby’s and pulled, hustling them out the front door. When things had settled again, he’d check in. For now, the question pummeling at his brain was—how had the guild found them so quickly? He went to one knee and put a palm to the ground while Toby scrambled into the truck. They were maybe a half mile out and coming in fast. In a vehicle, then, so the situation hadn’t reached such a dire point that they were closing a circle on foot.
He headed up the side streets, zigzagging in a roughly southwest direction before turning them north again. Anything to throw them off. They could track his outline in the web at this range. Every mage left a signature as they moved through the world, and Toby’s, unchanneled, uncontrolled, would shine like an uncapped oil well on fire. But that was at close range….
“Toby.”
His student still clutched his backpack in both arms, eyes far too wide, complexion far too pale.
“Toby!”
“What? Don’t yell. I’m right here.”
“Guild.” Darius choked on the words as he took a left turn.
Toby let out a hiccoughing sound. “Yeah, I know.”
Darius held up a hand for patience, took a deep breath, and tried again. “In your pack. Anything from them?”
“Oh. Um.” Toby’s hands shook as he held his pack away from his body. “I don’t think—”
“Check.” Darius did his best to smooth out his growl as he added, “Please.”
Pocket by pocket, Toby searched through his sparse belongings. “Pens, no. Tissues, no. Really old pack of gum, no. Oh, there’s a mint from… gods only know. Not guild, though. Sunglasses. Some receipts. Should really clean this thing out. Tablet. Notebook. Oh….”
Darius risked a glance over, dangerous with only one eye, as Toby pulled a folder out of the largest pocket of his pack. “What is it?”
Breaths coming short, Toby pulled out the folder and set it in his lap, smoothing the edges fretfully. “It’s the brochures. For the hospice centers. They… they wouldn’t have tracking on that? Would they? Not on something so, you know….”
Toby trailed off, and Darius pulled over next to a roadside trash can. He held out his hand, waiting for Toby to finish processing this newest betrayal. They were far enough out of reach. Darius could give him the time he needed. With a loud sniff, Toby finally held the folder out, watching with glistening eyes as Darius took it and threw it in the trash.
