Page 23 of The Mage on the Hill
“Elias.”
“Does Elias know we’re coming?”
Darius shaking his head didn’t make Toby feel any better. The fact that he sat drumming on the steering wheel and chewing on his lower lip added nicely to the uneasy ambience. Finally, he sighed and pulled the rearview mirror over to resettle his eye patch and do a quick finger comb of his hair.
“He hasn’t seen you since Pittsburgh either, has he?” Toby took a stab at the reason behind his distress. He waited for Darius to turn and glare. “Look, you don’t look the same, but you’re still gorgeous.”
That one eyebrow went up, and damn if that didn’t look all roguish and rakish over the eye patch.
Toby pulled his backpack onto his lap and dug out his brush. “Don’t look at me like that. You are. Want me to put your hair back? Make you look like a presentable hermit?”
When Darius fished a hair elastic out of his shirt pocket, handed it over, and turned his back, Toby was almost shocked into dropping the brush. He took careful strokes, trying his best to concentrate on making a neat tail instead of on how soft Darius’s hair was, and managed without his hands shaking too badly.
“All set. Stop worrying.” Toby shouldered his pack as they stepped out into the chill spring night. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
Forehead creased, Darius stared at him over the truck’s hood. “Don’t… say that. Ever.”
Light flooded the front porch and flowed down into empty flower boxes.Probably not warm enough for flowers yet. It’s a nice cabin, at least. Looks co—
The door flew open to reveal a shotgun aimed at them. “Stop where you are! Who are you and what are you doing here? I’ve got the sheriff on speed dial and can have her up here in five minutes.”
Darius took a cautious step closer to the light, both hands raised. “Elias? It’s me.”
“Me?” The person in the doorway clomped onto the porch. “Who’s…? Fucking hells. Valstad?”
“Yes. I’m—”
“I heard you were dead.” The shotgun wavered before the man held it out and to the side.
A strangled sound came from Darius. “I keep… hearing that.”
“Who’s with you?”
“Student. Toby.”
Toby managed a shaky wave. “Um. Hi?”
“Student. Fuck me sideways.” Elias backed into the house, gesturing for them to follow. “Come in, come in. Dammit, I’m sorry. I’ve had poachers up here sometimes and kids with nothing but bad on their minds.”
Something about the way Elias walked struck Toby as different until he looked down so he wouldn’t stumble over the threshold and caught sight of Elias’s lower legs. “Oh, cool.”
“You like those? They’re my new running legs.” Elias’s expression softened into a smile as he stuck out a leg ending in a curved blade. “Carbon fiber and everything. Not cheap, but totally worth it.”
“They’re fantastic. Are they fast?”
“So fast I’ve passed myself leaving the house when I was on my way back.” Elias winked as he shut the door. “But enough about me. Darius Valstad, my gods. It’s like seeing a ghost.”
“Elias… I…. We’re….”
“Okay, don’t hurt yourself.” Elias frowned up at Darius. “I get it. Past Darius isn’t Present Darius. Go have a seat. I’ll get us some beers and we’ll piece together why you’re up here in Ass End of Podunk.”
The front room was a spacious kitchen-dining-room-living-room combination, and while the furniture looked comfy, none of it had legs or sat more than a couple of inches off the ground. Darius sank down onto a bright red cushion beside a table with not much more than a foot-high pedestal. Toby chose one of the floor chairs with a wooden back and a sheepskin cushion. All the floor furniture puzzled him, but not for long.
Three bottles of beer held in one hand, bottle opener in the other, Elias joined them, settled himself on a floor cushion, and took off his prosthetics. “There we go. I’d just gotten all comfy for the evening when I heard your truck. Now.” He uncapped the beers in quick succession and passed them around. “What the fuck, teach?”
Darius grimaced and took a pull on his beer instead of answering.
“You know it’ll only get better if you keep trying, right?” Toby waited until he got a nod, but Darius still didn’t put any effort into explaining. He bumped a knee against his mentor’s, but turned to Elias. “I’m apologizing for both of us for just showing up like this since he’s not. He’s kinda at the end of things today, though, and it’s been a long, weird day. Tobias Jones, unplaceable. Darius’s student even though he’s not supposed to have students.”
