Of course she did.
Great. Instead of delving into Winston’s mind to find answers, I had the pleasure of spending the next several hours locating and disarming all the traps the divination squad missed.
By the time I’d finished scouring every fragment of his mind for threats, I only had time to delve into one memory.
Electricity surged through me, knocking me out of Winston’s head.
“Son of a bitch.” I snarled.
That prick used his sizemorphic ability to shrink down some of the traps so that I wouldn’t detect them. Dealing with broken sigils was one thing, but now I had to go through his entire mind again, searching more thoroughly.
“Wadsworth be damned,” I said to the guards stationed on either side of me. “I’ll find him some intel tomorrow.”
With that, I exited the cloaked detainment facility. Either their security measures had improved, or my magic was truly drained because all traces of thoughts vanished entirely the second I left. No faint whispers. Just utter silence. The noisy city confirmed it was the Global Guild warding that’d improved.
I barely kept my eyes open on the drive home. Delving deep into Winston’s thoughts, evading those traps, searching for intel, all while maintaining my telepathy throughout Chicago and channeling magic into the threads that extended to my manifestations across the world. It was grueling. Not that I uncovered much of anything.
All I wanted to do when I got home was pass out and sync with Milo’s thoughts to help keep the rest of the world at bay for a few hours. His mind was buzzing from the field trip. Ben’s mind was lost on all the animals they’d seen. I would’ve liked to join them. It was nice that Milo got to step in and do the whole chaperone thing, but admittedly, I looked forward to the trip. Less so for the learning opportunity on familiar havens and more so at the chance of a little nostalgia for all the ridiculous field trips Gemini organized over the years.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Milo immediately greeted me at the door, taking my jacket and sort of trapping me in the foyer. “How was your interrogation?”
“It wasn’t an interrogation. More of a one-sided investigation,” I explained. “I’ve got Winston locked in a daydream of destruction. The creep’s content slaughtering imaginary people, and it makes it easier to search his past without interference.”
“Clever. God, you’re so clever.” Milo smiled, though there was a tight pull at his cheeks. A tiny nervous tremble. “You’re the smartest man I know. Brilliant really. And kind. Considerate. Loving.”
“What the fuck did you do?” I slapped a hand on Milo’s forehead, delving right past his lyrical distraction, and found his blatant secret floating at the top of his thoughts. “You son of a bitch.”
“It’s not my fault,” Milo pleaded. “You weren’t there. You don’t understand how difficult—”
“It’s not hard to say no.” I glared. “You’re gonna be hearing it a lot from me in the future.”
Milo gulped. “I’m sorry. But I think you’re going to love Sheamus.”
“Absolutely not. Take him back.”
“Oh, no.” Milo shook his head. “That’d break Ben’s heart. I’m not a monster. You tell him no.”
“And be the villain, yet again.” I dragged myself further into the penthouse and found Ben playing in the living room with his new dog.
A black and gray Pitbull with a floppy right ear sat next to Ben, wagging his tail back and forth. A jagged scar ran down thedog’s face, going from his missing left ear down to his strong jaw. It kept his left eye closed and showed the patchy fur that’d never grown back.
“Did you even consider how Charlie or Carlie would react?”
“I did,” Milo said. “The vet tech said Sheamus worked exceptionally well with other animals. Apparently, it’s a quality many familiars possess.”
Right on cue, Charlie ran into the room and nuzzled against my leg before abandoning me to cuddle up with this damn dog. Carlie, on the other hand, merely lay on the couch, curiously observing. Neither seemed to have a problem with the new addition. Of course, I had to be the jerk in the situation.
“Dorian,” Ben shouted, finally noticing my arrival. “This is Sheamus. He’s an American Pit Bull Terri-w-er. Isn’t he the cutest?”
I nodded.
“Did you know three out of ten familiars become untethered?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Did you know untethered means they lost their witch partner?”
“I inferred as much.” I fought off a sour frown. Ben had a whole slew of statistics planned to divulge. Apparently, Milo had prepared him, and Ben paid very close attention during the field trip. If I said no now, I’d be an absolute monster.
