Page 65 of Soulmates

“So what now?” Carter said. “Santiago and Cricket filled in where Forrester left off. This is some crazy shit we need to hear more about, but we’ve also got to get you back to Reinhold before your families lose it. The rest of the students aren’t faring much better.”

“Well, they can’t return like that,” Santiago said, gesturing at Jake and Maddox.

“What?” Maddox said.

“Probably your eyes, babe,” Jake said.

“Oh. That.”

“And the light,” Cricket said. “You have to be able to control the way the light bends around you. People will notice. And they’ll ask questions you can’t answer without putting yourselves in serious danger. This magic you have is a mystery to the entire magic community, and they’ll try to figure it out. They’ll want to control it. People covet what they cannot have. And they seek to destroy what they don’t understand.”

Maddox tilted his head back on Jake’s arm, leaning into him. “I can’t control what the light does, Cricket.”

“You can. And you can control how people see the light.”

Jake stopped the conversation before it could become an academic dissertation on the various uses of elemental magic. “Let’s take a break. And eat.” Jake was starving. Their adventures in the swamp followed by a night of incredible sex had left his energy stores seriously low.

“I got groceries while we were in Everglades City. I’ll start cooking,” Santiago said.

Carter got up. “I’ll help.”

Cricket began shuffling through books, which seemed to be his default for both entertainment and to get people not to talk to him.

Lizzie halted Maddox and Jake before they could leave the room. “I talked a bunch to Professor Hooper before we left. Jake, when you and Santiago call your families. Let them know you’re alive, but don’t tell them where you are. Tell them you’ll be back at school soon. Say whatever you have to, but keep them away.” Lizzie turned to Maddox. “I don’t know who you should call, if anyone. I don’t know how to explain the way your father looked. He was menacing in a way I’ve never seen him. I don’t think you should tell him where you are until you’re back behind the school wards.” Lizzie bit her lip and looked uncharacteristically worried. “It wasn’t normal, Maddox. Nothing about the way he was acting was normal. Even for him.”

Maddox nodded but said nothing.

Jake knew Maddox’s thoughts on his father. Jonathan St. James, heir to the St. James empire, had seemed almost like a normal dad when they were young. He doted on his wife, he went to school events, he smiled at the right times and said the right things. But even then, there was something off-putting about him. Like a veil you couldn’t quite see through. Then, about a year after Clarissa was born, something changed. Maddox and Jake had been twelve and thirteen when Maddox’s dad stopped coming to events. He barely looked at his kids. Julie smiled less. The St. James house grew quieter. Maddox spent more and more time at Jake’s house, and now that Jake thought about it, so did Julie, Clarissa in tow.

“Jake, can you tell your mom to tell my mom I’m fine? Just get a message to her somehow, but don’t let him know. She needs to be careful until we can figure out…”

“Yeah, of course.” He leaned over and kissed Maddox’s hair.

Chapter 37

As everyone separated to make calls and eat, Cricket pulled Maddox aside. “I know of your father,” he said.

Maddox startled. “Of? What do you mean of my father?”

“He’s known in most magic circles. He makes sure of it. He’s egotistical and power-hungry. Remember the story of the rabbits? Fuck with nature and nature might fuck back?”

“Yes.”

“Your father is like that. He doesn’t respect the natural order of things, so he draws attention. I only know rumors.”

“Jake always said when we were kids that my dad was a comic book villain,” Maddox said. “It was something we laughed about even though neither of us was joking.”

“Maddox, your father…” Cricket hesitated.

“It’s fine. Whatever it is, you can say it.”

“All magic comes from the same place insofar as we understand its origins. Even the different types of magic are all coming from the same basic source. And each mage has a level of power they can use at a time and in total before they’re drained.”

“Right, we have what we can do in short bursts and what we can expend until it’s gone and needs to recharge.”

“Exactly,” Cricket said. “Your father seeks to add to his mass of magic. He wants more than a person should be able to hold. He would do cooperative magic by himself.”

“How do you know all this?”

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