“Jack’s teaching Charlie to utilize talismans and seals and stones to power his magic.”
Her beautiful features tightened instantly, her eyes darkening as they dropped to the table, to Jack, and then to Charlie. Ari's lashes lowered as she eyed the necklace he wore. She tensed, and Charlie could almost taste her fear. Guilt trickled into his conscience and he shifted uneasily. This wasn’t easy on her. He knew that.
But then, as if she shrugged the upset out of her, Ari’s limbs loosened and her expression smoothed out so that when she finally met his gaze, there was nothing in her stunning eyes. A knot of apprehension formed in Charlie’s gut. That was the second time Ari had looked at him like that. Like she didn’t care anymore.
“Do what you want.” And with that one sentence, she stepped back into the peripatos, the flames engulfing her and hissing at her departure just as Fallon hurtled down the staircase. She stared at Jai and then Charlie, her cute pixie face alight with excitement. Fallon was forever complaining about boredom.
“What? What did I miss?”
Looking just as confused as Charlie, Jai rubbed the back of his neck. “Apparently nothing.” He sighed and glanced over at Jack. “Make sure he’s alright.”
“I’m teaching him control,” Jack assured him.
With another heavy sigh, Jai turned and tread silently upstairs. Charlie frowned at the guardian’s light-footedness. That’s how they didn’t hear him creep up on them.
Fallon stared after Jai with a look of bafflement on her face and then skipped down the last few steps, her short, dark hair dancing up and down with her movement. She walked toward Charlie with a quiet sensuality that appealed to him. Fallon was one of those girls that tried hard not to be, but was innately graceful and feminine. She was the type of girl Charlie would have been all over during his pre-Ari epiphany phase. Except there was something about her that would have made it hard for Charlie to walk away. He liked her quick, smartass comments and her dry outlook on life. She didn’t take things too seriously like Ari did sometimes and she didn’t make Charlie feel bad about the whole sorcerer thing. It was also kind of nice that she hadn’t known Charlie before Mike. Always flirting with him and making him laugh, Fallon seemed to like who Charlie was now, and wasn’t always comparing him to who he had been before.
“Ah, I see.” Fallon’s eyes washed over the table. “Jack’s teaching you how it’s done.”
Charlie sighed. Fallon had also become pretty close to Ari over the last week. “You going to rag on me about it?”
The young guild hunter’s dark eyes widened. “Hell no.” She grabbed up a chunk of lapis lazuli. “I’m joining in.”
Charlie grinned, watching as Fallon cast an enchantment with the rock, turning everything in the room the color of the stone, including herself. Only Jack and Charlie remained normal. The air was thick with the smell of wet paint.
“Where did she go?” Charlie asked Jack, his eyes straining to find her. Suddenly, he laughed as her eyes popped open against the forever blue. She had blended into the staircase.
“This really has no purpose.” Fallon chuckled. “It’s just fun.”
Jack exhaled heavily. “Fallon, I’m trying to teach him real things, not stupid parlor tricks. Not to mention you just drained who knows how many pots of paint of that color from every hardware store in the vicinity.”
The blue dripped from everything, flooding to the floor in a river that bubbled and popped until it was completely gone. Fallon stood before them, blue-free. “Yeah, but the parlor tricks are a riot. And it’s only a little paint. It’s not like I stole gold or anything.”
Her smile was infectious and Charlie’s blood heated with the excitement of having so much power in his control he could just use it to mess around when his revenge was over. A little voice in the back of his head whispered the words ‘consequences’. He pushed it back, not wanting anything to dampen his spirits.
Together, he and Fallon put their heads over the table, listening as Jack taught him as much as he could. All thoughts of Ari’s earlier cold indifference melted out of existence, the knot in his stomach transforming into little butterflies of anticipation.
Hours later, Ari stared into the fire as summer rainfall battered against the windows. The room was dark from the bleak sky outside and Ari had been drawn to the fire in the fireplace. It really wasn't needed. It was still warm outside, but Matt had decided a fire would be cozy. The twins were on the sofa playing video games. Ari was in the room with them, but her mind was downstairs in the basement, where Fallon and Jack were teaching Charlie to harness his gifts. She felt sick with worry and was exhausted pretending she didn’t. Fallon had assured her that teaching Charlie to control his gift was the best thing for him, but all Ari could think about was what the power and its addictive properties in a half-breed had done to someone like Dalí.