Page 148

Yeah, that was terrifying. No lie.

Grayson doesn’t like the idea that Nix was there with him, and Grayson hadn’t even known. He needs to understand how this works, so he can make sure that if he ever runs into Withers again, Nix isn’t collateral damage.

There’s a chorus ofew’s, but Jay continues. “Nix had a bad dream, and then he woke me up because you were here…and also not here.”

Grayson is dumbfounded. How can he be here and not here?

“What he means is that you were incorporeal,” Finn says, sitting back up, a bit more color in his face.

“Incorporeal? Like a ghost?”

“Like a freaking ghost, Gray. It was scary,” Luca whispers. “What did it feel like when you were all Casper-like?”

That’s a really good question. He hadn’t done anything on purpose orwith planning. Grayson yearns for the day when he can, because seeing the scared looks on his family’s faces is not on his list of fun things. It hadn’t felt any different from when he was anywhere, all the time, until he’d put his hand through that hedge.

“We couldn’t get your attention when you phased out. We couldn’t feel you at all.”

Finn punches him in the arm again.

“Ow, why are you hitting me? You’re a fucking doctor, you’re supposed to heal me!”

“I have to be able to touch you first, asshole. I could see you, and I couldn’t do a damn thing to help. It scared me, Grayson—so bad.”

Doctors can only heal what they can see and touch. “Oh. I wasn’t doing it on purpose, you know…”

“Yeah, well, in the end only Nimue could help, although I’m not sure it wasn’t a coincidence. Did you feel Nix pulling on the bond?”

“I think so. I was…” He hesitates because it sounds fantastical, but what hasn’t been lately?

“Take your time,” Leo nudges his leg gently with his toe.

“I was asleep, then I was…I thought I was dreaming. But I was outside this big house…more of a weird castle really… pool is custom… gorgeous stone…”

“Are you selling us this place or what?” Rowan interrupts.

“Sorry.” Grayson smiles and closes his eyes to better remember. “Nix was right, Carnell was there, drinking tea and eating a fucking scone. Swimming laps.” Nix shudders in his arms at his shared memory of Carnell in his swimsuit.

He lets the memory of the hot sun and the feel of the cool earth under his feet bring more of the details back. “Then he called out to this skinny guy. Aleksander Withers, he called him. He looked like a walking corpse and smelled about the same. I’d seen him before, though.” Opening his eyes, his gaze locks with Gideon’s, whose jaw is clenched harder than ever.

“They couldn’t see you, though?” Nix asks.

“No, I was standing behind them in the bushes, but I think,like you said, I wasn’t there either. Then Withers said that their contact at the Guild had told him our pack had registered a new magic Apprentice with the Guild.”

Jay growls at the thought of a mole inside the institution that is supposed to govern vulnerable young magic users.

“They couldn’t get any information on me, though, because of the magical protections in place. But they think that means there are two of us. Carnell thinks a second magic user is working for our pack.”

“Two? Like an Apprentice? And you?” Nix asks incredulously. “Are magic users so common that we’re just toting two over state lines? That Carnell is worth the effort of two? Fucking megalomaniac idiot.”

“Withers saw me at the first safe house.” Grayson bites back the part where the Arcanas had found him attractive—no need to risk Nix storming off into the city, nose to the ground, chasing down the few scraps of information he’s managed to gather. Because that’s what this is, right? He’s traveling, if not in body, then in spirit.

“But why would he think there are two of you? It makes no sense,” Rowan says.

Grayson hates this part. “Ugh…he said he could tell I was strong, or some shit.” Grayson is well aware of his strengths and talents, and while he’s no braggart, he is a confident and successful person. But this? This makes his cheeks flush.

“Understatement,” Luca mutters. “So if you’re strong, you can’t be an Apprentice, is the logic?”

“Nimue calls what you did walking The Plain,” Finn says in response. “She doesn’t know of anyone who can do it. She thinks there was one in Germany. She’ll get back to me.”