Darron turned his attention back to the apartment building across the two-lane street from the park. He and Zoran had now visited the homes of Ryan, Anna, Eric, and Matt, but not gone inside. Each time Zoran arrived at a location, the memories of Matt in his head coalesced into something more understandable, making entering unnecessary. From news reports, Darron now knew what the four looked like. His time lurking at the hospital had resulted in seeing a young man and middle-aged blonde woman exiting Anna’s room separately. Not knowing their identities, he had followed the man for a time, turning himself into a raven once outside to more easily track his car from above. On describing the man to Zoran, his master unceremoniously cast the Mind Trust spell on him long enough to see for himself, announcing the identity of Jack.
“What of the woman?” Darron had asked.
Zoran waved him off. “I didn’t look. A middle-aged woman is of no importance to me.”
“It’s probably his mother,” Darron had mused, but he hadn’t cared then or now. Still, Jack and the woman had gone into the apartment he stood watching, so perhaps Darron was right. Zoran’s order to follow Jack had proven fruitful, but that came as no surprise, as his master was wiser than anyone he knew. Anna’s location at the hospital since returning to Earth had been known, but there had been little sign of the others, though the news confirmed that Ryan had been arrested and released. They hadn’t been able to locate him since, and Matt and Eric had also disappeared…
Until Darron’s spying on Jack had revealed all but Anna were at Jack’s apartment. Zoran would be pleased, once Darron informed him. The master had cast himself to England to visit some place called Stonehenge, the significance of which Darron did not know. But he had googled it when Zoran was otherwise preoccupied and noticed that pictures of it bore a resemblance to the infamous Quest Rings the Ellorian Champions had used. Since then, he’d been wondering if that’s what all of this was about. But he knew better than to ask. Zoran didn’t appreciate questions. Not for the first time, Darron wished he had the nerve to immobile his master and cast the Mind Trust spell on him. What extraordinary knowledge must be inside that man.
Like everyone, he had heard that the Ellorian Champions had returned, but that they never went home, unless this place was a new home after their long absence. He had never heard of Earth, nor seen anywhere anything like it. He wondered how Zoran knew of it, but it was clear his master had never been here before either. These four they were following didn’t seem like any sort of champions. They didn’t dress like them, or act like them. And the police were always after them, so they seemed more like fugitives than renowned heroes. Was that the problem? Had they been imprisoned on Earth all this time?
The bigger question was why Zoran cared about them at all. His master had seemed preoccupied since returning from Honyn with burn marks on him and a singed robe. It had taken an effort not to ask what had happened. He had never seen the master wounded before, however briefly. A healing potion had taken care of it. Surely these feeble Earth humans hadn’t been involved in that, or had they? Like everyone else here, they didn’t even seem to have magic, but then maybe it was just diminished. Zoran had said as much when cautioning him to never be seen using it on Earth, but the master seemed unaffected. Or maybe he was just so prodigiously strong that he could do things Darron could not. Not here anyway. Turning himself into that raven had been surprisingly challenging when it normally came easily, and yet Zoran could cast himself far away with little trouble. Perhaps the master held an enormous advantage over everyone else here. But then that was true, regardless of what planet they were on.
As he stood musing, trying and failing to not look conspicuous in his shorts, t-shirt, and Washington Nationals baseball hat, a pink, round, plastic disc some children had been throwing to each other landed near him. A little girl about eight-years-old ran toward him to get it but stopped short on seeing him turn to her. Darron smirked at her wariness. She was right to be afraid, but he stepped up his charade of civility. He stepped to the disc and bent to pick it up, the motion causing his hat to tip forward. He repositioned it with one hand while extending the disc to the girl, who did not try to take it. Instead, she was staring wide-eyed at him.
The girl excitedly noted, “Hey, you have pointed ears! Are you a Vulcan?”
Moving the hat must have made his ears emerge from under his hair, he realized. He didn’t know what a Vulcan was and wasn’t inclined to answer, anyway. Instead, he leaned forward, dropped the disc, and pulled the sunglasses away from his red eyes.
“Run away,” he snarled.
The girl screamed and took a step back so suddenly that she fell on her butt. For a moment, Darron wanted to laugh. But then a man yelled something and began approaching aggressively, followed by other men. Kids stopped what they were doing, and women began holding up their phones, pointing them at him. Making videos, he knew. Zoran would not be pleased. Darron sighed, stifling the desire to just kill everyone as a crowd began to form. One man in a Star Trek shirt lifted the crying girl to her feet as another stepped closer to Darron than was wise.
“Did you push her?” he demanded.
“No,” Darron answered, but then couldn’t help adding, “but I wish I had.”
“Well, why don’t you pick on someone your own size, asshole?”
“Are
