“What does that mean?” he snapped.
“It means that you have to be two different people, because one moment you’re sweetness and light and you’re cooking perfect pancakes. The next—” I didn’t bother to finish the sentence. I gestured to him with a quick, dismissive flick of my hand.
I crammed my hands in my pockets and stalked off down the street. Problem was, I had no idea where I was going. As I scanned the street, I realized I hadn’t been here before – which wasn’t saying much, as this entire city was pretty new to me. So, I quickly ticked my head from left-to-right and surmised we were probably heading for the shady-looking supply store two doors down.
I didn’t reach it. Max suddenly put on one of his characteristic blinding bursts of speed and crossed several meters between us in half a second. He reached out, placed a hand on my shoulder, and drew me to a halting stop. I imagined Max could reach a hand out, place it on a speeding car, and draw it to a halt with that exact same move. Heck, the look in his eye could probably stop a jet plane.
“Hey,” I began.
“You don’t know where you’re going,” he replied. Then, his hand still locked on my shoulder, his palm weighing heavily against the crinkled wool of my turtleneck, he turned me around.
When I’d stalked past these two buildings, heading to the shady supply store, I hadn’t noticed there was a significant gap between them. It wasn’t large enough to be an alley – you wouldn’t be able to fit a vehicle down there. And yet, it was plenty big enough to fit a human.
I frowned. Had that been there several seconds ago? Was I so distracted—
“Whatever you do, you follow my lead. You speak only if I tell you to. And, Chi—” he leaned in, practically bending in half as he brought his face close to mine.
My stomach kicked as a pulse of nerves seesawed into my heart. It wasn’t fear. Oh no, it was the exact opposite. Exhilaration. For my confused, pathetic little heart told me Max was about to kiss me. Which of course he wasn’t.
He smoothed that same sneer over his face. “You stay by my side, got it? Doesn’t matter what happens. It doesn’t matter what shiny things distract you. Stay by my side.” He brought up a finger and pointed it next to him as if I were a dog and he was asking me to heel.
I just stopped myself from sticking my tongue out at him. I was an adult, after all. I could not stop myself, however, from curling my hands into fists and stiffening my lips until they were two white, bloodless lines. “I’ve got it. Where are we going, anyway? You haven’t told me anything.”
It soon became clear that he had zero intention of telling me anything. He just grumbled at me to follow, and he pushed off down the small laneway.
Now, though I understood magic was a thing, my brain hadn’t really gotten used to it yet. It was still very much rooted in the real world. And in the real world, buildings and laneways and cars and trees tended to stay the same size. From moment to moment, unless there was an earthquake or a roving demolition ball, buildings didn’t move.
Well, that wasn’t the case right now. I swear as we pushed off down that tiny little alleyway, it got all the smaller. It wasn’t perspective or anything. It wasn’t the fact that as the laneway wound out of sight, I couldn’t see where it led from the mouth. Nope – because I heard the bricks creaking. They pushed in towards us, this echoing groan filtering down the laneway, sounding like a tree growing all around us.
“Ah, Max?” I began.
“Relax,” he said in a bored, monotone voice. “It’s just a security precaution.”
“A security precaution?”
“So no non-magical creature can make it to the bar.”
“Bar?” My nose scrunched up. “It’s 9:30 in the morning. Isn’t it a little early for alcohol?”
He snorted and shot me a look that told me I was truly pathetic. “We’re not out on a date, Chi. We’re here to investigate something.”
I blushed. I mean truly blushed. My cheeks felt like they became iridescent as all the blood in my body pumped through my face.
Why the heck would he phrase it like that? I hadn’t suggested we were out on a date—
Before I could finish that truculent thought, Max stopped.
There wasn’t anything around us – just the same drab brown brick walls covered in mildew and coated in years of grime. They were still creaking, sounding like old bones as they shifted in and out.
Max looked as if he were concentrating as he brought a hand up and paused, fingers several centimeters from one of the chipped bricks. “Now, which one is it?” he muttered under his breath.
Though I wanted to ask what the hell he was doing, I now knew enough about Max to appreciate he wasn’t going to answer. So I crossed my arms and just waited.
Though I could appreciate that Max was my magical bodyguard, and, considering recent adventures, I knew just how much I needed him – I also couldn’t deny that a lot of my problems were created by him. I couldn’t help feeling that this would be no different. It was probably some test, or at least that would be how he explained it to himself. By not pausing to fill me in on what was happening, he could see how I reacted in the real world. He could measure me up against some impossible
