Page 31 of Silver
And then we slept.
“He’s here?” I asked, looking outside and seeing nothing but warehouses.
“According to the locket, yes,” Niam replied, sounding unsure.
It was dark outside and all we could see were abandoned warehouses. No cars or any security. Why would he be here?
“Let’s go out and look,” Xarius said, jumping out of the RV, calling Leon and Snowflake. I followed and called King and Shamus, too.
“Maybe we should leave Leon and King outside the RV to protect Julie, just in case,” I suggested.
“Great idea,” Niam said, giving Leon his new orders.
Niam walked ahead and the rest of us, except for Julie, followed. The locket glowed brightly in his hand, guiding us down the side of a warehouse to what looked like dumpsters.
We stopped outside one of the dumpsters and shrugged. The locket seemed to think Altair was inside the dumpster, so we had to try.
“Altair?” Xarius asked softly, not wanting to startle the guy. Since Xarius could feel emotions, it was best that he was the one to talk to Altair first.
The dumpster opened, revealing a mop of dirty blond hair and then brown eyes. Altair smiled shyly at us and waved. “Hi?”
“Hi,” Xarius grinned. “We’re shunned mages, too.”
His eyes widened. “You are?”
We nodded. “We’re sorry it took us so long to find you, but we’re here now so you’ll be safe,” Xarius said.
“Really? I can come with you?” he seemed truly thankful and from the look of his “home” I completely understood him.
“Of course. We have an RV we all live in. But we need to move on from here and get somewhere safe. Do you have anything you want to take with you?”
Altair nodded and quickly grabbed his backpack, then hoisted himself up from the dumpster. He waved awkwardly at us and we grinned at him in return. We only needed Tino now.
We walked back to the RV silently creating his ward without him noticing it. We needed him safe and untraceable as soon as possible. If the leaders had any tracking on him, they’d know we had him now. We really needed to move.
Altair looked somewhat healthy. His hair was dirty and so were his clothes, but he’d likely not showered since before he’d been shunned. He was on the shorter side and seemed really sweet and innocent. I couldn’t wait to befriend him and see his true personality. I just hoped his upbringing hadn’t been as horrible as the rest of us. Even Xarius had a tough time being without magic, even with his loving mothers.
His eyes got so big and full of awe when he saw the RV. “I get to go with you, in that?” he asked, sounding both happy and confused.
Xarius stepped up beside him and gave him a pat on his shoulder. “Of course! You’re one of us, Altair.”
I could tell that affected Altair, but he tried to hide his emotions. Damn, he’d had a rough life, too, it seemed. Lucky for him he now had us.
Chapter 26
Silver
“Did you have a nice shower?” I asked Altair when he exited our small bathroom.
He nodded with a shy smile. “I did! Thank you for letting me borrow your clothes.”
He’d had nothing but the clothes on his body. Everything in his bag had been stuff he’d had an emotional attachment to, like photos and journals. I didn’t fault him for that. Memories were a true treasure and if he had good ones, he should keep something to remember them by.
“I’m glad to see they fit you,” I replied, giving him a warm smile. “I don’t mind us sharing my clothes, we all like to share what little we have on the road; it makes things easier.”
“I like that,” he said, sitting down next to me on the couch. We were driving somewhere farther away before getting a more permanent ward in place. We needed to stay somewhere and practice making portals.
Niam and Xari sat up front, chatting amongst themselves while Julie and Wilston napped. I wasn’t a fan of Wilston napping without me, but the others thought I should explain the stuff to Altair while they each did their own thing, and if he had further questions, Niam and Xari were right there to help. We’d decided all of this while Altair took his shower. It was the first thing we offered him, knowing how much a fresh shower could help him out. Luckily, with our water magic, we had a full tank at all times.
