“What do you mean you can’t do anything about it?” Felix yelled.
He gritted his teeth in frustration, and the dim fluorescent lights flickered. Felix could feel his telekinesis shake every object in the room slightly, and it was a good thing that none of the constables had noticed it.
Steady, Felix.
The psychic took a deep breath to calm himself down. The last thing he wanted was to have another outburst and get himself incarcerated in those power nullifiers again. He shuddered internally at the memory of how powerless it had made him feel.
Felix had not lost control of his powers ever since the last time he accidentally tore up his middle school compound in a tantrum. Not like it was entirely his fault, though; who in their right mind would taunt a grieving thirteen-year-old barely a week after losing both his parents?
Ah, that’s right. Stupid people, that’s who.
Much like these constables who were one spell away from making him relapse.
“You heard me,” the constable droned in a bored tone. “This is a simple case of ‘Meta on Meta violence’. Meta neighbourhoods aren’t the safest, and there have been way too many thugs causing trouble recently. We cannot respond to every single gang fight. In any case, you should probably just take it up with your fraternity—”
“I am not a thug!” Felix slammed his hands on the table.
A silver badge burst out violently from his coat pocket, hovering inches away from the constable leader’s face. “I’m a member of the Guardian Council. We’re on the same side, damn it!”
“Impersonating an authority is a crime, boy. The Guardian Council is made up of the most competent Magis in the city. There’s no way someone of your… racial persuasion— could be part of them.”
You little—
“I need to make a phone call,” Felix snapped. “Now. Just you wait. I’ll have Warlock Vulcan remove all of you from your posts. And then you’re done for.”
“Go right ahead. It was he who told us to focus our efforts on the more important things.”
Felix froze. Wait, what?
“Now leave.” The chair creaked as the constable leader stood up and rematerialised his staff. “Before I charge you for disrupting constable duties.”
The cool night breeze greeted Felix’s face once again as the doors swung wide open for him, as if invisible butlers were standing by them. Or to be more specific, abnormally strong butlers with no control over their strength. Felix could have sworn he felt a screw snap off.
He clenched his fists again, and the doors slammed shut behind him. They fell off their hinges this time.
“They rejected your plea?” his best friend’s voice drifted to his ears, barely audible in the storm of frustration flooding his mind.
“What do you think?” Felix said impatiently as he prepared to jump off the ground. “I’m going to find Vulcan for help instead.”
“Wait, I’m coming with you!” Orpheus called out, scurrying to him.
“No, you’re not. Go home, Orpheus. This no longer concerns you.”
The psychic stepped away from his friend and burst off the concrete pavement with an incredible explosion of speed. He disappeared into the clouds within seconds.
~ ~ ~
A figure flipped itself over a metal railing, ducking behind a bookshelf just as light flooded the study room. He held his breath, his heart pounding from how close he had come to being caught. Magic retreated into his body as the orange glow faded from his irises. He peeked out of his hiding place.
A petite girl was rummaging through the study table, completely unaware of his presence. Thankfully, she wasn’t here to stay. The figure heaved an internal sigh of relief as the girl simply picked up a bag of runes and left the room briskly. Darkness embraced him again.
Gaius exhaled slowly, lighting the darkness with two small points of orange once more. He scanned the room for the third time, making sure that he did not miss anything. The boy tutted audibly in frustration. Of all the times, True Vision had nothing to show him?
Unless… there really was nothing in this place.
He almost smacked his head at the minor revelation. Of course. If Vulcan truly had the tome, he must have hidden it somewhere other than his own house. Gaius clenched his jaw. Why did he even think it would have been so easy?
The nimble Sorcerer slipped out of the room and somersaulted onto a ceiling beam before anyone could see him. He leapt across the room silently, taking advantage of the shadows cast by the numerous beams to cover his shadow. It did not take long before he found himself on the ceiling of the living room.
Gaius squatted on a ceiling beam, waiting impatiently for Vulcan to finish another argument with his daughter about her ‘dangerous dream’ of joining the Guardian Council and how she was ‘not ready for its dangerous missions yet’.
Kleopatra Vulcan stormed out of the living room, looking ready to cry any moment. Gaius’s heart tugged in pity for her. Vulcan was already a strict leader in the Guardian Council, but he seemed a lot harder on his daughter for some reason. It was almost as though he didn’t want her to follow in his footsteps.
Gaius had always assumed the higher-class Magis had the freedom to do what they wanted, but it seemed even the Vice President’s daughter had much bigger problems of her own to handle. He wondered what kind of troubles would await him, now that his race had been converted from a Meta to a Magi ever since his childhood accident.
An idea popped into Gaius’s head.
If Vulcan was so difficult to investigate directly, perhaps he might have more luck with his daughter instead. He would have to get close to her, using whatever suave charm he did not know he had, and probably get her to reveal a secret location or something. And with luck, he would also be able to—
The sound of the door knocking jolted Gaius out of his rumination. His heart sank as Vulcan walked back into the living room to open the door. He cursed under his breath. Dammit, he should’ve left this unnecessarily big house when he had the chance.
That’s what I get for nosing into Vulcan’s family issues.
“Pagonis! What’s with that look? I sure hope I haven’t done anything wrong to you.”
Gaius gritted his teeth in frustration. Why did his colleague have to appear now, of all times?
“No, you haven’t. But I need a favour. My family is in trouble.”
His annoyance quickly turned into curiosity as he watched Vulcan usher Felix into his house. There was no way he could leave the house undetected now, so he might as well listen in on Felix’s business as well.
Gaius flattened his body, aligning it perfectly with the beam so that neither he nor his shadow could be seen.
“Your sister was kidnapped by a gang of Metas?” Vulcan’s voice drifted to his ears. “Did they say why? What were their demands?”
“Actually, they were going for me at first. But I shut them down rather quickly. And then those cowards went for my sister instead. Don’t ask me why; it all happened so suddenly.”
“Well, I’m not surprised you defeated all of them easily. Still, good job. But damn those bastards, going for a kid like that.”
“I know this isn’t a Guardian Council issue, but will you help me, sir? The constables won’t take me seriously, and I have no one else to turn to.”
There was a short pause.
“I’m sorry, Felix. I want to help you, I really do. But there’s a bigger threat in Sirius City right now, and my duty lies with the safety of the people. There’s a lot of pressure on me to—”
“I’m in.”
“W— What?”
Gaius could not believe his ears. Did his confident, unfaltering leader just stutter?
“You asked me for my help yesterday, remember? I’m saying that I’ll join you.”
“Now, Felix. Don’t get the wrong idea. Doing this won’t change how busy I am. I can’t guarantee I’ll have time to help you.”
“I know, but I suspect the serial kidnapping of Metas, including my sister, is linked to a much larger conspiracy. I’d be helping myself too if I gave you a hand.”
There was a short sigh.
“If you say so, Felix. Glad to have you on my side.” Vulcan’s voice was filled with an uncharacteristically large amount of relief. “Remember Lucia Angelo? Her brother, Titus Angelo, is suspected to be behind the serial Meta kidnappings. I’m still working on locating him. And until then, we’re garnering support from the constables to apprehend him.”
“The constables need to be involved as well? What’s the big deal about this guy?”
“He’s a Tier Five Meta, just like you. His power level is off the charts, and he isn’t afraid to use it to kill anyone in his way.”
“Sounds like a huge pain in the arse.”
“I’ll contact you when I have more information, Felix. I promise we’ll get your sister back.”
“Oh, and one last thing, sir.”
“Yes?”
“Do you have a guest over tonight?”
Gaius’s blood froze.
“As a matter of fact, I did. Elpis missed last night’s training for Kleo and came over just now to give her a make-up lesson. How did you know?”
“Let’s just say I have a knack for sensing such things,” Felix replied. “Well, I’ll be off now.”
The sound of footsteps announced Felix’s departure, and Gaius heaved a quiet sigh of relief. He waited for Vulcan to leave the living room before slipping out of his hiding spot. The boy leapt gracefully from the ceiling beam, landing on the attic floor without a sound. He peeked out of the window to make sure Felix was gone.
And had to cover his mouth to stifle his gasp.
Felix was staring directly at him, having only taken a few steps out of the house. Gaius froze in fear, but the psychic simply turned around again as though he saw nothing. He watched as Felix leapt off the ground and burst into the clouds with a sonic boom.
A shiver went down Gaius’s spine as he jumped out of the window.260Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntO5WVRkun
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