These were not Cerberus standard, but a fringe benefit to Enchanter Evergreen being so highly sought after.
“You didn’t make coffee.” Hayden pouted, tapping the empty pot. “No caffeine. Wwwwwwwwhy?”
“You could’ve been here on time and made your own.”
“Boo,” Hayden whined. “I’m technically an hour and forty minutes early.”
“And yet you’re still twenty minutes late for our training.”
Caleb muffled a laugh, surface thoughts revealing this was pretty typical. Since his Cerberus badge as an intern didn’t work outside of standard office hours, he always had to wait on Enchanter Russo to swipe him in late.
“All righty,” Milo said, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s start with some basic stretches and get our breathing synced up.”
Hayden grumbled, following Caleb and Milo’s lead as they started a yoga routine. This was quite unexpected. Glossing through their minds, it seemed they did this three days a week since the internship began. According to Hayden’s exhausted morning mind, he’d been doing this since Milo hired him as an acolyte.
“It’s important to remember your breathing,” Milo said, demonstrating the transition into the next pose. “Our breathing connects us to our roots. The stronger our connection, the more likely we’ll feel the chamber click when casting.”
“Right,” Caleb said, jotting a mental note.
It turned out Milo had been working with Caleb and Hayden on perfecting their root magics. Despite not having a full grasp of a perfected root magic himself, Milo took the pair under his wing. It made sense he’d work with the pair. Caleb had already demonstrated perfected banishment, even if he lacked the ability to fully control it, and Hayden possessed infinity draw, which meant his magic technically didn’t have a limit. Though his body certainly did, and it seemed he didn’t do his best work this early.
Not that I could blame the guy. I wrapped myself tighter in my blanket, enjoying the comfort of sinking into my mattress, while Hayden suffered with those two morning guys chipperly making their way through their yoga routine.
Black tar erupted into a flurry of white wisps that funneled around the corner, attempting to escape the pulse of banishment surging through the streets.
“Sloppy as usual, branchless.” Kenzo weaved past Caleb, smirk on his face, and gray static in his palm. “Leave it to me.”
“Not happening.” Caleb flew faster, too fast for the corner.
A bolt of static zapped him just enough to lessen his telekinesis and make it easier for Caleb to pivot. With a lock on the wisps, he banished the cluster and cleared the area of demonic energy.
“Not bad.” Kenzo shrugged.
“You didn’t have to help,” Caleb said. “I had it under control.”
“Yeah, I know. Just trying out that whole teamwork bullshit thing that Novak keeps running her mouth about.”
“What’ve I said about reporting in before flying off?” Enchanter Novak shouted from above, scouting the sky for any wisps floating away.
“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Kenzo shouted back. “You’re not my mother, you clingy psycho.”
“Thank God for small miracles,” Novak thought.
“See, that’s what I mean.” Caleb gestured. “It seems less like you wanna follow Novak’s advice and more like you wanna, I dunno know…”
“You clearly think you know something.” Kenzo furrowed his brow. “Spit it out, branchless.”
“It just seems like you’re being overprotective. Well, not that. Um… Overhelpful, maybe? Like you are—hmmm, I dunno know—making up for being not the nicest or most helpful person in the past, and now you’re like helpful overdrive. Just a little bit. Not like a lot lot. But with the static, you altered my trajectory just enough so I could finish the case. And last week, you used your hex to enhance my banishment on that fiend, so I don’t know. Just a random, silly, weird little kind of observation I made. Maybe. I might be wrong.”
“Oh, shut up, branchless.” Kenzo shoulder bumped Caleb, leading him to follow, so they could make their way back to their mentors. “You’re definitely overthinking it.”
He wasn’t, though, and that sent a cold rush of anxiety coursing through Kenzo. All the years he’d spent resenting Caleb, bullying his former best friend, belittling him, breakinghim—it’d finally come to a head, and somehow the boys resolved their differences. In doing so, it left a huge weight of guilt consuming Kenzo from the inside out. It didn’t help that Caleb didn’t have a chip on his shoulder for Kenzo’s many hateful antics. Nope, Caleb was simply grateful to have his friend back. It drove Kenzo mad. He needed to rectify his wrongs, needed to help Caleb.
So, Kenzo completely overcompensated by making Caleb his personal training project, ensuring that his branchless best friend would succeed. It also meant, occasionally, Kenzo helped Caleb achieve a task. Always something small and innocuous in Kenzo’s mind. He didn’t want Caleb getting a big ego over sloppy moves, but he hadn’t realized that Caleb had noticed Kenzo’s helpful little assists.
When the boys reached the rest of their group, Enchanter Russo called Caleb over, and the pair led the others down a few streets.
“Where are we going?” Novak asked, faintly recognizing the neighborhood they passed through.
