“That is why you would make the best spy,” Slash says with a shrug. “No one would fear you, and since we were forced to have you amongst us, we’d likely write you off as harmless. That would be a good gambit—if they’d never met you, little demon.”
His smirk makes me blush this time, and I squirm in place. “Aw, Slash. Youdolove me.”
“What does that mean, Scrum?” The Keeper looks at him in confusion and the shark demon laughs.
“Kit is not compliant, vocal as fuck, and has zero sense of self-preservation. The amount of times he’s gone nose-to-nose with the Prince despite the enormous imbalance between them is impressive. He would not have faded into the shadows, as those like Oriel do to cover their tracks.”
“Hey! I didn’t shove the grape up his nose; Dottie did.”
“You have told him to go fuck himself more than any other demon in Hell, though. And without a single mark to show for it,” Salem interjects. “Plus, you’ve kicked him out of places, insulted him, and somehow threw food in his face.”
I guess that’s true; I have been pretty harsh to him in return.
“It’s fine,” Jasper says, shaking his head in irritation. “I saw no need for violence in response because he’s so tiny. I’d feel like I was beating up the skinny nerd and that’s beneath me.”
“Uh-huh,” Zavida mutters as he hides in his tails. “That’s definitely why.”
Slash snorts, his icy eyes glittering as they meet mine. “He be little but fierce. Do not count Kit out, Prince. The practice field would disagree with your biased assessment.”
I groan, slapping my hand over my eyes. “I keep telling you guys I don’t know what happened there.”
The Keeper pours himself another cup of tea, then looks at us expectantly. “What, pray tell, happened on the field? Perhaps I can use that to reference my knowledge of those who fell after the coup.”
Great, now they’re going to spill my ridiculous, uncontrolled power spike. I’ll never live this shit down.
“So you all shifted,and many of you lost your grip on your animals?” Arces muses as he strokes his rough hands over the bird now perched on the arm of the chair. I don’t know how he’s doing it without slicing his palm open, but I guess he’s lived with the damn thing long enough to know how. “Very interesting indeed. Others felt the call?”
“We managed to get some texts out once Zav and X were secured. They were injured, and I think between that and Kit’s injury, the animals had too much control of our brains.” Salem looks chagrined and I know he hates that he was so violent. He prefers this calm, laid back guise to that, but as the guys have all explained, your animal knows what it needs to do. Sometimes, you have to let it go.
And sometimes, it tells you to fuck off, like that day.
“I was too deep in the shadows and the dragon to tell you anything.” Jasper scowls, but I know that’s only because he despises being sidelined. He wasn’t the leader at that moment, only an infuriated dragon looking to take shit out.
Slash grins toothily. “I brought him back once I arrived. It was difficult, but with the help of Oriel and Anton, I got to the sky. However, when I came down, it was very messy. We had to help calm Kit and guard the injured until Jasper returned to himself. All the other demons were… bloodthirsty.”
“An accidental death in combat class would pass muster,” the Keeper mutters. “Yes, it could have been an attempt on someone’s life. Which, I am unsure, but your theory holds.”
I open my mouth, but I see Slash tapping his wrist pointedly out of the corner of his eye. That’s a symbol for a watch or the time, but I don’t—Oh.The corner of his mouth quirks when he knows what dawned on me, and he shakes his head slightly. He doesn’t want me to mention the time bending thing to Arces. I don’t know why, but I trust Slash a lot, so when I speak, I say, “They think I had some empathetic, emotion pushing powers or something. I can’t really describe how it felt, except that I was definitelynotat the wheel.”
“Hmmm.” Arces strokes his beard, then leans back in his chair with his hands clasped. “I believe you, Kit. But I will have to consult my journals to be certain of my theories. Will you allow me to request your HumanHistory class be swapped for Familiar Training 101 after the holiday? I don’t know when they will start the first Games trials, of course, but in the meantime… I think you’ve seen enough of that history from their point of view—ours isn’t necessary.”
“Uh, yeah, I’d be fine with that. Guys?” I look at them, knowing that class is one that I don’t have them with me. “Does that seem like a good plan?”
“Yes.” Jasper steeples his fingers in front of him as he nods. “I think finding out what your rat can do besides assault me with fruit is helpful.”
That makes Salem laugh, then Oriel, and before I know it, they’re all snickering at the beleaguered grumpy dragon. “She was only trying to protect me, Jasper. You know that.”
“I do, which is why I didn’t skin her for a hat.”
His threat makes Dottie get up from her comfortable position, stalking to the edge of the table and shaking her little fist again. The bird near the Keeper looks at her for a moment, then turns to send a blast of ice-dagger filled air at the prince. He yelps, leaping up as they embed in the chair where he was sitting a moment ago.
“Fucking hell, Arces!”
The Keeper throws back his head to howl, and I cover my mouth as a pissy prince plucks the icy projectiles out of the material. “Rook has been working on manipulating water through our bond. I have a wee bit of skill with it, and he obviously decided to practice on you. I suppose it was in camaraderie with your wee rodent, Kit.”
I snicker again, then look at the odd metal bird. “Thanks, dude. I appreciate the support. I’m sure Dottie does, too.”
My kinkajou moves away from the edge so she can wave at the bird. I think she’s being friendly, so I don’t worry about it. Jasper, however, finally finishes dusting his seat off and growls as he plops down. That makes Dottie turn and blow a raspberry at him—which is when I lose it.
