“But why didn’t you stay with them?”
“I’m not leaving. I can’t leave you or the others behind,” Laric said.
“I’m glad you didn’t,” she said. “If you hadn’t come back…”
“We don’t know what would’ve happened if I hadn’t come back, but I think we can agree that it wouldn’t have been good.”
She breathed in heavily before letting it out and looking around. “We can wait until it gets darker outside.”
“That was what I was thinking. I’ve been using a little bit of my concealment to do that. I thought we could hide and then make our way over to the school, assuming that we can’t find Malcolm and the others there.”
“Malcolm has gone somewhere else,” she said. “I thought he was leaving with his father.”
“He was, but I don’t think he was able to go, partly because I think Xavier has been hiding things.” Laric filled her in on that as well.
“Oh,” she said, shaking her head. “So interesting. Think about how much he knew, and how much he might’ve been able to help us with.”
“I don’t know that he was quite as certain that he could try to keep us involved.”
They started up the stairs, and once outside, they saw that it was darker, but it didn’t take long before Laric had them surrounded by power and concealed. It was necessary to do so, mostly so that they could move carefully and quickly as they navigated toward the school. He also found himself testing for any sign of the others, but he couldn’t pick up on anything.
“Are you using your detection spellcraft form as well?” Rowan whispered.
“I’m trying, but I haven’t been able to find anything.”
“I’ve been trying too, but I haven’t felt anything,” she said. “I know that there has to be something there, but it’s been quiet. I don’t really understand it.”
“Maybe it’s because of what Xavier has done, and the connection between the different powers that he placed around town, and the glyphs that my grandmother helped him form.”
“Do you think that’s what it is?” Rowan said.
“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. I can feel something, but I really don’t know what it is, nor do I know if there’s going to be any way that I will be able to tell anything more. Not until we get further. But right now, I’m not picking up on anything that suggests that there is power around us.”
“So you don’t detect anything from Malcolm or your sister.”
“Or yours,” he said.
As they neared the school, Laric began to feel something strange, but for the most part he thought that it was just tied to the fact that he was holding on to a spellslip here. Even as he did that, though, he didn’t know what that was, nor did he know why he was picking up on something. He found a bit of smoke or fog drifting around the street, and he realized that it had to be another type of concealment.
Interesting. If somebody else was using some sort of concealment, then it was a person with skill. And considering what he had seen of and heard about those who lived in their town, he had not expected that to be the case. There had been no real sign of anybody with powerful magic at the school. The headmaster had some potential, and several of the instructors had ability, but what he detected now struck him as something altogether different.
It was potent magic.
At first, he thought he understood where the potency was coming from, that maybe it was something that Xavier had done, but increasingly, Laric began to think that was less and less likely.
Rowan stayed close. He felt her warmth up against him, he felt the stiffness of her posture, and he was aware of the tension that seemed to linger in her entire being. He felt it, because he understood it.
“Relax,” he said.
“Are you sure that we should do this?” she asked.
“No.”
“What is—”
Neither of them had a chance to continue, because a darkened figure was striding toward them, parting the shadows around them.
Laric tried to maintain that concealment, but it seemed to fade. Every bit of energy that he had went into trying to hold on to it, to the point where he was even calling out to Sashaak, asking for more help but finding nothing in return.
“I’m sorry,” he said to Rowan.
If it was Talia, he knew that they were in trouble. But it didn’t feel like her.
Talia was capable, he knew, but would she be able to part his power quite like that? Laric didn’t think so. Not with him drawing upon the spellcraft form like he was and using the potential from Sashaak.
“Who’s there?” the figure called. There was a deep, familiar quality to the voice.
“Mr. Galinar?” Laric asked.
That surprised him. What would he be doing out here?
“Yes, yes,” he said, waving his hand. “And it’s… Laric Mason and Rowan Adams.” He stepped closer. “Do you know how long we’ve been looking for you?”
Laric leaned close to Rowan. “We might need to knock him out,” he whispered.
“Are you really talking about taking out one of our instructors?” she hissed.
“Not ours. Not any longer.”
