Page 67 of Soulmates

“Wait. Ask the light? What does that mean?” Carter asked.

“That is a much longer discussion, Mr. Randall. One we can table for the moment.” Cricket turned back to Maddox. “Ask it like you asked the flames to cool.”

Maddox closed his eyes. He pictured the way the light bent. He imagined his eyes like lanterns. He cast his inner senses to Jake and felt his strength. He felt the light, felt its edges, its intentions, its desires. He greeted it, and it seemed to him to flare. The sounds coming from his friends confirmed that it did flare. He asked it to hide, to bend back, not permanently, just in front of others. He welcomed it as a part of his bond with Jake. He felt its pleasure at that. He marveled at the give-and-take he hadn’t experienced before meeting Cricket.

The moment was suspended in time for Maddox. The others were still around him, but only the light and Jake invaded his senses. He understood the light. It wasn’t sentient, but it still had things it accomplished, and it was, if not happy in the way humans experience emotion, content with doing those things. He could create a give-and-take with it by creating space inside himself and inside Jake for it to thrive. He knew the moment the light bent back to normal. Even with his eyes closed, he knew. There was a shift in his chest that said, Okay, I can look like this for now. He knew it would be the same with his eyes. This was the kind of magic he had only dreamed of in school. He took a moment to thank the light and the air around him. And then he opened his eyes.

Epilogue

Maddox stared at his reflection in Jake’s bathroom mirror. He’d let down the glamour spell hiding the light in his eyes since he was alone. He needed a break from it. It didn’t take a ton of energy to maintain it on both him and Jake, but it was nice to let it go when he could, with Jake, or with their friends and who he had come to think of as allies. Though, the thought of allies made him think of war in a way he wasn’t sure he was ready for.

Since returning from the swamp six weeks earlier, he’d spent every night in Jake’s room. Being apart for more than a few hours was intolerable. Cricket, who they were still in daily contact with via secured cell phones, thought it might always be that way but hoped it would either settle on its own or they could find a solution. Jake had the better bed, so it was an easy choice as to where they’d stay.

They had spent hours upon hours strengthening their bond through meditation and intimacy—including sex, obviously. They also spent a lot of time in nature since Maddox was more able to connect while outside, though they avoided the part of campus where Jake had chased Maddox that awful night.

They had visited the spot at Maddox’s insistence but hadn’t made it long before Jake couldn’t be there anymore and begged Maddox to leave. Jake had tears in his eyes when he tugged on Maddox’s arm to lead him away. They hadn’t been back.

Maddox straightened his cap and pulled at the collar of his gown. A graduation ceremony at this point felt empty. They’d discovered so much truth about the magic taught and not taught at the school, about magic itself. Now they had to walk across a stage in front of their friends and families and get a meaningless piece of paper declaring them fit to go take over the world. Maddox wasn’t interested. But he had to do it. His mom, grandmother, and sister were all here. His father too, of course, but Maddox had avoided him so far. The fact that he could avoid him without much effort was even more evidence against Jonathan. It seemed he was avoiding Maddox as much as Maddox was avoiding him.

Santiago, Jake, and Maddox had reappeared at the school as planned, all claiming no memory of the events past the challenge. Santiago made a call to Maggie from a reasonable distance away, and Maggie went and “got her” in her jeep. Maddox and Jake stumbled out of the woods a few days later in torn clothing. All the parents (besides Maddox’s father) rushed back to the school to see for themselves that their children were okay. There was a mix of relief and indignation by each parent—demanding answers the school didn’t have.

Lizzie and Carter played their parts well. Nonchalant about their missing friends’ return and excited about their engagement. Diego acted incensed over the whole thing, and honestly, Maddox feared for the world based off all their acting abilities. Everyone seemed to buy each of their respective stories and reactions. Almost everyone.

One glimpse of his father told Maddox he wasn’t fooled. His father had arrived with the rest of the families for graduation. Maddox’s mom threw her arms around him and nearly strangled him with a hug, and Clarissa stood by, going up and down on her toes until Maddox kneeled and hugged the life out of her. But Maddox’s father had stood back and watched coolly before approaching.

“Son,” Jonathan said.

“Dad.”

“Good to see you safe and…sound.”

“Thanks.”

“Maddox! Maddox!” Clarissa interrupted with her usual lack of patience.

“What, squirt?” Maddox replied.

“Oh, do not start,” she replied with her nose in the air but recovered enough to beg him to see her favorite people. “Can we go see Jake and Santiago and Diego and Lizzie?”

By the time Maddox settled her back on the ground with a promise to go meet his friends, Jonathan was gone.

His father’s actions and reactions were going a long way toward confirming their suspicions that he had more to do with the challenge than any of them had guessed. Even Forrester was worried, and nothing truly seemed to scare him. They’d spent a good amount of time with both Forrester and Maggie since they’d returned.

The door opening pulled Maddox from his thoughts. Jake came into view holding two large coffees, and Maddox sighed in relief—for Jake’s presence, for the coffee, for being able to let go of the other glamour he’d had going in the back of his consciousness, asking the light to hide its actions around Jake. Like with Maddox’s eyes, the light had not stopped bending toward him and Jake at all times. Jake had tried with minimal success to help Maddox with the light spells, but Cricket insisted he’d eventually be able to do it. Maddox dropped the glamour and turned to rest his head against Jake’s chest.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“I’m glad you’re back. I missed you,” Maddox said.

“I was only gone twenty minutes,” Jake said. “But I know what you mean.”

“You better get dressed,” Maddox said, but his words were undercut by wrapping his arms tightly around Jake’s middle.

“Not sure how I’m going to do that with you attached, but I’m willing to be late.”

“Ugh, no. Let’s get this over with.” Maddox pried himself off Jake. It was harder and harder to do. He wanted to touch Jake all the time, and Jake was no better.

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