Elias actually sighed in relief.
“Thank you, Mr. Montague,” Elias said. “Have a good afternoon. I’ll be right outside if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Elias,” Monty said and closed the door before turning to me. “He means well, but he’s a bit high-strung. Obliterate a building or two, really?”
“Seems like he knows you pretty well, actually.” I said. “Have you been going out for walks or random acts of destruction?”
“Absolutely not,” Monty said. “I’ve had matters to attend to. Things I couldn’t do while confined to this room.”
“Right, I’m sure there’s a building in need of dire renovation somewhere in the city,” I said. “It’s just waiting for you to put it out of its misery.”
“Rubbish,” Monty said, waving my words away. “Every bit of destruction I’ve caused has been in service to this city and its populace. It was absolutely necessary.”
“I know a few agencies that would disagree with that statement,” I said. “Is Elias going to be okay?”
“Without a doubt,” Monty said. “As I mentioned earlier, he has the best of intentions, but is a bit excitable.”
“You’re going to give him a heart attack, really,” I said, grabbing my jacket off the chair where it hung. “Listen, I’m glad you’re feeling better and even leveled up to wiggle-less casting. For the record, the mini-sun you just created was amazing and scary as hell. Can you not do that again…ever?”
“It was a small demonstration to let you know I’m fine.”
“That’s just it,” I countered. “The Monty I know wouldn’t do that. I think you still need to recover. “
“Do you, now?” Monty said. “Refresh my memory. How many schisms have you dealt with?”
“Outside of yours?”
“Hmm?” he said with a nod. “Outside of mine, yes.”
“None—and no, I’m not a mage,” I said before he could remind me. “I also know enough to know that if you leave this room, we’ll have Bunyan and his crew in addition to an extremely heated Roxanne after us…mostly me. Pass.”
“You’re missing the point, Simon,” Monty said. “Why did I cast the nullifier?”
“You mean besides giving me a minor heart attack and burning my retinas?”
“Yes, obviously. Think.”
It took a few seconds. My synapses were still dealing with the fact that Monty was able to cast without a gesture and the fact that Elias, a pretty kickass sorcerer, was actually scared of the mage he was tasked with watching.
“You bought us time,” I said after a few seconds. “If their abilities are nullified they can’t sense if you’re gone…Wait, no, you shouldn’t be going anywhere. What about Roxanne? She’s not nullified.”
“Roxanne is”—he looked up for a moment—“in her office,” he said after a few seconds. “Her office is the most secure room in this entire building including the Detention Area. I should know, as I secured it myself.”
“You can sense where she is? Even through the null zone?”
“Yes,” he said. “The runes of this null zone are strong, but easily circumvented when you know how.”
“Roxanne is going to lose her mind if she finds you gone, you know this, right?”
“I’ll deal with Roxanne,” Monty said. “As for Elias, he won’t even know I’m gone until it’s too late. Now, tell me how much time before you need to make that call?”
“Twenty minutes on the outside.”
“Excellent, plenty of time to do what we need to do.”
“Need to do?” I asked, confused. “What do we need to do?”
“We need to get travel insurance,” Monty said as he began gesturing. “It’s for our safety.”
“Travel insurance? What are you talking about? Shadow Company is in the city.”
“Yes, but their targets aren’t,” Monty said. “I have an idea what your friends at Shadow Company want. It’s not pleasant or located in our city.”
“How could you possibly?” I asked, my voice growing serious. “And, for the record, they aren’t my friends.”
“No, they aren’t,” he agreed with a nod. “That’s why we need travel insurance. Get ready.”
“Get ready?” I asked. “For what? You’re not making any sense.”
A large, green teleportation circle appeared on the floor in front of us. My stomach clenched reflexively at the sight.
“One more thing,” Monty said, looking around the room. He gestured and a small golden orb floated over to the bed, hovering there for a few seconds before fading from sight. “Now we can go.”
“That”—I pointed to the bed—“feels like your energy signature. How?”
“I’ve been practicing,” Monty said as he stepped over to the circle. “Are you coming? Or do you want to be here when Elias and his team check in on why you’ve been in here so long, only to find you’ve absconded with their charge?”
“What? There’s no way they’re going to think I kidnapped you out of a null zone.”
“True,” Monty said. “Elias knows you’re not a mage but Roxanne will be livid and place the blame squarely on your shoulders—shieldbearer.”
“Roxanne is so going to kill us,” I said, staring and pointing in the direction of the orb that disappeared. It still read like Monty’s energy signature. “Will they sense that?”
“They’re supposed to,” Monty answered. “It should read like I’m in bed.”
“And when they realize you aren’t in bed, but AWOL? Then what?”
“We’ll be long gone before they realize that. Ready?”
“If I say no, will you get back into bed?”
“No,” he answered with a slight smile. “You need to make a call and we’re running out of time. Let’s go.”
I stepped into the circle next to Monty and waited for Peaches to saunter in next to me. He padded over quietly and gave me a low chuff.
<The angry man smells good. Do you think he can make me some meat?>
<He may smell good, but he’s acting strange. Let’s wait on the meat>
<You act strange all the time. I’m still part of your pack, even if you are strange.>
I was getting an assessment on my strangeness from a plane-walking, laser-beam-shooting, sonic- barrier-breaking, virtually indestructible hellhound. I shook my head in disbelief.
“I’m so going to regret this,” I said as the circle began to glow. “I’m going to make sure Roxanne kills you first.”
“Will never happen,”
