“Right…” I sank down slowly, trying to piece it together, but everything after that point was blank. Just… gone.
Rack shifted closer, and I reacted instantly.
Back on my feet, I put some space between us.
His hands came up again, slower this time, but his expression changed. Something tightened in his features, like the distance had landed harder than I intended.
“I need to explain some things,” he said carefully. “Things that are… different now.” He gestured toward the bed. “Can you sit?”
I didn’t move.
Instead, my eyes darted to the chair in the corner. I crossed the room and grabbed it without thinking, only to pause when it effortlessly lifted in my hands.
Too easily. It should’ve been heavier than this, but it wasn’t.
I brought it over anyway, setting it down in front of him. I sat down and motioned for him to talk. It took everything inside me to force my body to keep still.
“Start explaining.”
Rack took a breath, his hands clasping together loosely in front of him before he spoke.
“Lark and Nathan brought you here in bad shape,” he said steadily. “You were about thirty minutes from?—”
His voice broke for a second before he continued.
“—from dying.”
I stared at him, trying to process that.
“Okay,” I said slowly, pushing to my feet again. “So you saved me. Magic. That’s why I’m fine now.”
I nodded toward him, speaking aloud my thoughts as I tried to make sense of this.
“Thank you for saving me. A life debt is not something I’ll take for granted. Please let me know how I can make it up to you.”
His gaze dropped, then shifted away completely. When he looked back, something had changed. Something heavier sat behind his eyes.
“It wasn’t me,” he said.
I blinked.
“What?”
“I couldn’t,” he added, quieter now.
Confusion pulled at my thoughts, and something half-remembered brushed the edges of my mind. Something about magic, about limits, but it wouldn’t fully surface.
“Then what?” I pressed. “Did you bring in someone else? Another mage?”
He shook his head. Slow. Final. His attention dropped to his hands again like he was bracing himself. Something about him felt… off. different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
The Rack I had met didn’t hesitate like this. Didn’t stumble.
My thoughts brought back the memory of him in front of the garage, his dry comments, those sharp eyes, and?—
Calix.
The memory hit hard. The warning. The look on his face. My pulse spiked, my heart slamming against my ribs as everything shifted all over again.
