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Hours passed with Hale talking about Lynx snuggled between Leo and Cancer, a constellation linked to a man who was supposed to have been a sailor who traveled with Jason and Argonauts and supposedly had the keenest eyesight. And then, of course, there was Gemini found west of Cancer, the tale of the two twins who were technically half brothers. Castor was the son of a Spartan king, while his brother, Pollux, was the son of Zeus. By the time he’d moved on to Canis Major in the southern half of the sky, Baer was up and relieving him of guard duty.
They shambled a bit awkwardly to their shared tent. He should have felt exhausted, but his body was alive with energy. Harrison had hung on his every word, adding bits from the old Greek stories while Hale talked about the various heavenly bodies that comprised each of the constellations. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d talked about stars with someone who wasn’t studying astronomy or physics in a graduate or post-graduate program. He hadn’t even realized how lonely he’d felt in his field until he’d met Harrison.
But tonight, he felt complete in a way that he hadn’t thought possible, and it was absolutely terrifying.
Chapter
Fourteen
“Watch out!” Lucien yelled.
Harrison looked up to see a fireball headed toward Clay, but Calder grinned and hit it with a huge glob of water he pulled from the nearby lake. Clay frowned at Lucien as water dripped from his hair, and he shot his hand up to drop a skinny tree limb on Lucien’s head.
“Watch where you’re shooting that fire!” His yell came with a fond smile.
Baer transformed into a bear and let out a huge roar, then lumbered off into the woods. He’d already been a mountain lion and a ferret. Harrison chuckled as he took another bite of eggs. He hadn’t slept well, so he was late to breakfast while everyone else was practicing their powers. It was certainly amusing to watch.
He bit into a crisp slice of bacon as Hale swooped into the air with incredible speed. He overshot, though, and careened into the top of a tree.
“I’m okay,” he shouted as he took off again, his nearly translucent form picking dried leaves from his hair.
Wiley, who had also been late to breakfast, sat next to him with a plate. He scooped a forkful of eggs into his mouth and hummed his appreciation.
“Why aren’t you out there communing with nature, too?” Harrison asked as he scraped his fork across his plate.
Wiley swallowed before answering. “I can hear the animals just fine from here. They’re all busy being scared of all this chaos. Besides, I’m starving. Oh look, Grey and Cort are doing their creepy talking.”
Harrison followed his pointing finger to see Grey cracking up and Cort shaking his head at Grey. There was a long silence, and then Cort laughed as if Grey had said something, but his lips never moved.
“Telepathy?” Harrison inquired.
“Yeah, sort of. Grey can read Cort’s thoughts and send his own to Cort, while Cort can only read Grey’s emotions and some of his thoughts. Whenever you see them staring and then one reacts, you know they’re talking about something. It’s just creepy.”
Harrison wasn’t sure if he’d categorize it as creepy. Maybe odd. But then, he was simply grateful that Grey couldn’t read his thoughts. He didn’t have anything to hide, but he just didn’t want the man mucking around in his head.
As it was, he was sure the moaning he’d heard last night had come from Grey and Cort’s tent, and that was a hell of a lot louder than their current chat.
In fact, it had been their noises that had made him get up with plans to walk the camp just to get away from the sounds. Luckily, he’d run into Hale. Listening to the man’s wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm had warmed him. Something he was missing on this chilly morning.
He pulled the lapels of his jacket closer together and searched out Hale in the sky again, only to find him making loops in the air.
Harrison was a bundle of contradicting emotions at this point, and he couldn’t make heads or tails of them.
He was attracted to Hale. Very attracted. To the point that he was thinking of little else when he wasn’t researching spells with Wiley. He was also stunned to discover that he enjoyed being around him. There was no telling what was going to come out of his mouth next.
But sleeping in the tent so close to the man had made him lie awake staring into the darkness. The urge to touch Hale had been so strong, he’d fisted his hands. What the fuck was he supposed to do with all these twisted emotions where Hale was concerned?
Hale landed in the clearing, a grin stretching his too-pretty mouth. He sent waves of wind from his fingertips to make the branches sway. It was good that he was getting a handle on his powers. The stronger he became, the better his chances of surviving what was still to come.
