by Hawke Oakley
Kass was a few years older than me, and generally looked like it - but now I could see the years of depression and stress had taken a toll on his mental health, and therefore, his face. Away from the foxes and no longer wearing his confident facade, in the darkness of the cavern, he looked so lonely and small.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to see him like this.
I walked over to his side and sat down so our legs were touching. He stiffened slightly, then relaxed a moment later. We didn’t speak as we watched the fire crackle and dance.
With a movement so slow I almost didn’t notice, Kass outstretched his palm on his knee. It was meant to be casual, but I knew. I sensed the silent, desperate plea of this tiny action.
He doesn’t want to be alone anymore.
I took his hand in mine. A small, barely audible sigh left Kass’s lips.
Our problems weren’t over. I was still pissed at him, and he was probably still angry with me. A maniac was out there trying to get his hands on me, and I had no idea who was taking care of my daughter.
But right now, feeling Kass’s warmth washed over everything else. This was what we both needed.
This was enough.
9
Kassius
Four hundred years is a long time.
That’s what I’d come to realize as we stepped inside town. Except “town” wasn’t quite the right word anymore - Cinderhollow had grown to the size of a small city.
Many buildings and structures I recognized, unchanged from back then, and others were fixed or changed, or added-on to somehow. It was a surreal experience, to be back again. It was almost like we never left.
Halo and I walked right in, questioned by nobody. I assumed once you were past the barrier, you were free to go as you pleased. Not a single Knight, or anything resembling one, blocked our path.
It was so… free.
We stood now in a square with a fountain in the center. The very same one where I met Halo for the first time. The marble dragon statue on top of the fountain stood, unchanged except for weathering from the elements.
Halo hadn’t spoken a word since we arrived. He was too busy being in awe, taking in the sights and tearing up. The love was crystal clear in his eyes.
He loves Cinderhollow, I thought. Anybody could see that. That’s the reason he created the barrier in the first place. To protect it.
And he created it with the magic we hated so much.
I glanced at Halo, and realized he looked small among the people of present day Cinderhollow. His slender body, small even for most omegas, was nearly lost among the crowd around the fountain.
And nobody was afraid of him.
In my day, not a single person would get too close to him. They were frightened by both his powers and his defiant omega attitude, thinking maybe that associating with him would get them in trouble with the Knights.
But now, nobody even seemed to notice him. His mere presence brought no attention to himself; he was just another member of the tribe.
Halo made eye contact with me, and I could tell by his expression that he was thinking the exact same thing. He threw his hands up in a gesture that said, Isn’t this awesome?
“Are you seeing this?” Halo asked quietly. “Nobody cares about us! I mean, in a good way, like, they’re not chasing us out with pitchforks or anything.”
“No,” I agreed. “I doubt they even know who we are.”
“Well, of course they don’t know you, but I’m famous,” Halo said with a grin. “But I guess it’s been too long for anyone to know what I look like.”
“Yes, that detail must have been lost to time,” I mumbled. Despite the easy atmosphere and the lack of anyone openly trying to attack us, I was still unsure. I wanted to stay on guard, just in case. I glanced over my shoulder, half expecting someone to be staring at us with evil intent. But there was no such person.
“Look, even the money’s the same!” Halo exclaimed, leaning down to pick up a gold coin from the bottom of the fountain.
“Hey, you!”
I froze at the sharp voice. An older woman wearing scrubs and a cross expression stormed over to Halo, and I instantly tensed, ready for a confrontation.
“Huh?” Halo asked. His magic had only returned enough to light a small fire - any involvement in a big fight was far out of the question. I rushed to his side, ready to defend him.
Then, as the woman stopped in front of us, I realized how ridiculous I was being. She was almost elderly, barely taller than Halo, and would have looked kindly if she wasn’t frowning. And she was wearing hospital scrubs. Was I really going to fight her off? I felt embarrassed with myself. Living in a cave for so long apparently caused me to forget how to act civilly.
“What do you kids think you’re doing?” the woman asked, pointing to the coin in-between Halo’s fingers.
“I’m not a kid,” Halo argued.
The woman cocked an eyebrow. “Are you a dragon?”
Halo blinked. “Yes.”
She waved him off. “Bah. The ones who look like you never are more than a few decades hold. I’ll stop calling you a kid once you’re at least one hundred.”
Halo’s temper flared. “Listen, lady, I’ll have you know - ”
I sharply nudged Halo’s side with my elbow, urging him to watch his mouth.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. Does there seem to be a problem?” I said in my best public service voice.
The woman sighed, like she regretted even getting involved. “Look, the coins in the fountain aren’t for taking. I’m surprised you didn’t already know that, unless you’re somehow a dragon from outside Cinderhollow. Are you new here, too?” she asked accusingly.
“I’m not,” Halo said. “I was born here. We both were.” He quickly dropped the coin back in the fountain. “And I wasn’t taking it, I was just… looking.”
She made a face like she didn’t quite believe that, but didn’t comment. “Anyway, there was a new guy here just an hour ago, scooping up all the coins in the fountain like his life depended on it. Said he was from outside the tribe and didn’t know any better. I never saw him put the coins back, so I’m assuming he snuck off with them.” In a mutter, she added, “Like the sly fox he was...”
“Wait, did you say fox?” I asked. “We’re looking for a fox shifter who’s new here. Do you remember where he went?”
A pager went off on the woman’s belt and she groaned. “Hold that thought. It’s supposed to be my break, and I still get paged…” She frowned as she muttered the message out loud to herself. “Dr. Lynden, patient got tongue stuck to icicle in waiting room… And? That’s the big emergency? Ugh.” Exasperated, she clipped the pager back to her waist. “People can’t deal with anything themselves these days.”
“An icicle in the waiting room?” I asked, raising a brow. “Don’t you think that’s an emergency? Albeit a strange one? I mean, something must have gone wrong - how is there ice there?”
The woman - Dr. Lynden - just shrugged, like it was no big deal. “A little magic mishap. Probably a child who can’t quite control their powers yet. Or can, and was just bored with the abacus and the magazines in the waiting room.”
Halo’s eyes lit up. He nearly threw himself onto Dr. Lynden as she prepared to leave. “Wait - did you say magic?”
“Yes.” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you’re not new?”
“No, we just - lived on the outskirts for a while so we’re a bit out of the loop,” I told her quickly.
Dr. Lynden quirked a brow as if that raised more questions than it answered, but she didn’t press for more information. “Anyways, yes, magic. If you want to learn more, there’s a couple magic schools nearby. Hell, you could probably ask someone on the street. I’ve delivered a few babies with mage parents.”
Halo looked like a baby deer taking its first breath. He was awed, joyed, completely overwhelmed. Dr. Lynden cleared her throat when he wouldn’t let go of her in his daze. He quickly backed up and m
uttered an apology.
“Yes, well,” Dr. Lynden said. “I’ll be off now.” She paused and said, “Oh, right, your fox fellow. He ran off towards the restaurant district, right about there.” She pointed to an area I was familiar with - or at least I was, four centuries ago. “Sorry I couldn’t be of more help. Good luck.”
“Well, she was nice,” I commented after she left.
“Did you hear that, Kass?” Halo said, his voice soft with awe. “Magic! She talked about it like it was nothing, like - like it was the weather or something!”
“I heard.”
He frowned. “And you’re not more excited?”
“I can’t judge the state of Cinderhollow from a single person’s information. It might not be the entire truth,” I said.
“She said she delivered babies with parents who know magic!” Halo argued. “Did you conveniently not hear that part?”
“It could have been a lie.”
Halo groaned loudly, throwing his hands up. “Whatever, you’re impossible.” He began to walk away, then stopped and turned around. “Wait a second. You’re just angry because this isn’t what you wanted.”
I balked as if I’d been struck. “Excuse me?”
Halo took an agitated step closer. “You heard me. This Cinderhollow, it’s the opposite of what you wanted. Magic is normal here. Nobody thinks it’s bad, or evil. It’s exactly what you and the Knights didn’t want to happen.”
I realized what he was getting at now and groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. This was not a conversation I wanted to have right now. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No, I’m not. Admit it. I’m right.”
“You’re ridiculous, is what you are.”
“I just want to hear you say it. That the Knights were wrong.”
I stopped and stared at him. “What, exactly, were they wrong about?”
“They thought magic was evil. And look.” He gestured around to present day Cinderhollow. “It’s apparently common enough. And nothing’s wrong. Nothing’s burning down, nobody’s screaming in agony - ”
“How does that make us wrong?” I countered. “Just because none of that isn’t happening right now, doesn’t mean it can’t, or that it won’t.”
Rage flashed on Halo’s face. “You... are so - fucking - impossible.”
“Am I wrong, Halo? Do you, and other shifters with magic, not have the capacity to hurt people?” I lowered my voice. “Have you not hurt someone with your magic before?”
The blistering fury in Halo’s expression flared up, then faded. He turned around. “Whatever. I’m in too good of a mood to fight with you about this. Especially when now, I know I’m right. I’m going to go enjoy this beautiful place.”
“By yourself?” I asked, crossing my arms. “Don’t we have something to do? Something you volunteered us for?”
“We can find Henry faster if we split up,” Halo said with a noncommittal shrug. “I can shift into wolf form and find you after, or something.”
“Halo,” I began warningly.
He shot me a firm glance. “If you’re gonna tell me it’s not safe, don’t bother. Look, everything is fine. Now relax. I’ll see you later, okay? Bye.”
He sauntered off, leaving me alone at the fountain, stewing in my annoyance. I hated when he dodged my questions and arguments. It was one of the many things I didn’t miss about his constant presence.
I stared into the flowing water now that I was alone with my thoughts. Halo’s insistence that he was right and I was wrong infuriated me. He could never accept responsibility for anything - it was always someone else’s fault.
On one hand, I was glad to see that there was no persecution on the streets of Cinderhollow for shifters with magic. Apparently, everything had worked out just fine. But how were we, the Knights of our time, supposed to know that? We didn’t have the ability to see into the future. We were just doing what we thought was right.
So of course Halo has to rub it in.
But Halo wasn’t entirely right, either. His magic made him dangerous. I’d seen him harm someone with my very own eyes. No amount of words or running away would ever wipe away Halo’s responsibility for that incident.
And I guess he still doesn’t have any remorse about it, I thought bitterly. In fact, I’d say he seems pretty pleased with himself.
If he hurt someone once, who was to say he wouldn’t do it again? My chest ached as I remembered the night earlier, when Halo slipped his hand into mine. The warm hand that comforted me last night was the same hand he’d used to kill someone.
I shuddered, feeling grotesque. I resisted the urge to slap my hand down into the fountain water to cleanse it. I didn’t want to make even more of a scene.
Turning away from the water, I tried to focus. My task was to find Henry, then report back to the fox shifters on the outskirts and let them know it was safe to enter town.
For a moment, a tiny voice in the back of my head complained that the foxes couldn’t just deal with this problem on their own. I growled at myself and shook off the annoyance, probably just leftover from my argument with Halo. Luce and the others didn’t deserve my ire just because I was mad at someone else.
I suppose helping Luce is the closest thing to my time in the Knights, I thought with a bittersweet tinge.
I was supposed to serve and protect the people of Cinderhollow, but I’d never felt so useless and unwanted. Sighing heavily, I started in the direction that Dr. Lynden pointed to earlier.
So I’m on the lookout for a shady fox omega who steals coins from the fountain, I thought. That seems simple enough…
I shook my head at myself, wondering if Halo was even looking for Henry after he’d run off on his own, as he was so fond of doing. He promised to meet up with me later, but what was the point? We weren’t mates anymore. He had no more reason to stay by my side, especially now that we made it into Cinderhollow proper and could easily hide from Silas and whatever he was planning.
But we still didn’t know who Silas was working with, and why. That made me the most uneasy.
If only Commander Sterling were still around, I thought. She would know what to do.
With only my task driving me, I entered the restaurant district. Everything was somehow so familiar, yet so different. The world had evolved in my four hundred years of hiding and secrecy, and I’d remained stagnant. I felt a pang of guilt and regret. All that time wasted, doing absolutely nothing but moping and feeling sorry for myself, missing my daughter and sometimes, unfortunately, Halo.
My hands clenched into a fist. Why couldn’t I stop thinking about Halo, even when I was angry at him?
“Oh - Gabe, watch out!”
“Whoa!”
With my eyes focused on the ground and my mind distracted, I didn’t notice the person in front of me until I’d already collided with him. The fall was awkward - I landed on my butt, while the man, who had his back to me and was carrying something in his arms, tried not to fall on top of me. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. The man tumbled back with an embarrassed cry, holding whatever he was holding tight to his chest.
I grunted from the pressure as he fell on top of me. I was mildly annoyed that he didn’t drop whatever he was holding and break his own fall.
“Oh my gods, I am so sorry!” the man cried. I realized now from his scent he was an omega. I supposed that meant the other, taller man running towards us now was his alpha mate.
“Gabriel, are you okay?” he asked, pulling his mate to his feet.
“Yeah, fine, but this poor man…”
I realized now as the alpha helped the omega up that he was carrying two young children in his arms, which is why he couldn’t break his fall, and then I felt guilty for even thinking it.
But as something shimmered in the air, I realized with a start that the older child - the boy - had a loose translucent bubble around himself. He smiled at me through the barrier.
The barrier - just like the one Halo made.
&nbs
p; I withheld my gasp.
That little boy knows magic.
The omega, Gabriel, handed off his kids to the alpha and then turned to me with an outstretched hand and an embarrassed smile.
“I am so, so sorry about that,” Gabriel said. “Totally my fault, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“He tends to do that a lot.”
“Shut up, Dante.”
I took Gabriel’s hand, feeling a brief flash of old, society-induced shame that I was letting an omega help me stand up. I quickly squashed that feeling. Obviously, since the alpha - Dante - didn’t look shocked or horrified, I assumed it was a normal interaction in this day and age.
I suppose that’s a good thing, even if I find it weird, I thought. Then again, I only find it weird because things were just… different in my time.
“Thank you,” I said to Gabriel, bowing my head. “And it’s my fault as well, I should have paid more attention to where I was going.”
“It’s okay, totally not your fault, I’m super clumsy,” Gabriel said with a laugh.
“Cwumsy daddy,” the young boy said, pointing at Gabriel.
“That’s right, Noah. Daddy would trip standing up, wouldn’t he?” Dante encouraged.
Both the kids giggled. I noticed the boy’s magic barrier fading, since he was no longer in danger of falling.
Do children use magic automatically when they’re in danger? Like an instinct?
My mind immediately went to Angel. Halo said she was safe, and I mostly trusted him - but at the same time, I wanted to have her right in front of me, where I could see and know she was truly safe. But if she was a mage, and a powerful one just like Halo, would she use magic to protect herself, just like this little boy?
I must have been staring at Noah, because Dante shifted his kids in his arms and scowled slightly at me. “Problem?”
My brows shot up and I help up my palms. “Oh, no, I’m so sorry. I was just thinking about my own child.”
They both relaxed.
Great, now they probably think I’m some kind of freak because I can’t get my thoughts together…