Page 141 of Scales ’N’ Spells: Volume Two

“Yeah. I realized that, eventually. At least, I knew no dragon could detect me, not because of…scent. Really, you can smell mages?”

“You’re like the ozone smell before a strong lightning storm. That’s what magic smells like to us.”

Nikki blinked, those purple eyes expressive with interest. “Yeah? That’s interesting. I guess I never really thought of how dragons perceived mages.”

“Bundles of intellect, power, and mischief is my general take on all of you,” Gunter drawled. To his delight, Nikki snickered. He did prefer being around people who could take some teasing and had a sense of humor. Even if Gunter generally sucked at cracking jokes.

Pointing a finger at themself, Nikki protested, “But I’m not like that, right? I’m sitting here calmly.”

“You, I think, are the calm before a storm. You have no formal training and still made a magical explosion, so I trust you the least.”

Nikki appeared delighted by this evaluation. “I do like explosions. That one was my first, but it had so much power and spark. I want to make more.”

“Oh god,” Gunter said, sighing. “Not another one.”

“Another one? Wait, there’s someone else here who likes explosions?”

“Too many, in my opinion. Cassie and Cameron both aren’t to be trusted, although they’ll claim the explosions are for research purposes. Ravi just likes to see things go boom, so he’s—wait, I shouldn’t be telling you any of this. I don’t need you to know who your accomplices are.”

“Aww.” Nikki openly pouted.

Gunter shook his head. How did he almost slip so badly? “Anyway, my point is, you’re just like the rest of them. But not. You haven’t made any noise about leaving the clan, so do you intend to stay?”

Nikki’s answer was firm and without any hesitation. “I do.”

Gunter had expected as much. “Then you should start working on all the things you’ll need to properly come into the clan: visa, driver’s license, magic lessons, all of that.”

Nikki nodded, but hesitation was clear in their expression and body language. “I don’t know…how to do any of that, though.”

Oh. Maybe it wasn’t lack of desire but lack of direction that kept Nikki here with Gunter? Now, why hadn’t he thought of that sooner? With Nikki growing up in an environment where everything was provided for them—but without any of the freedoms to grow into a proper adult—of course they wouldn’t have all the right tools or knowledge to know what to do next.

Well, he was happy to give Nikki the direction the mage needed so he stopped lurking in Gunter’s library.

“Cassie is the one who generally handles the paperwork. Mostly because she’s good at it. And of course Lisette is in charge of teaching magic.”

Nikki hesitated even stronger this time, the words coming out slowly as they eyed Gunter sideways. “I’m not…comfortable with them.”

Gunter blinked, not understanding. “Why not?”

“The dragons, I can trust. They have no way of stealing magic from me, and they don’t want to, anyway. A dragon will protect a mage. You and Ravi proved that to me. But other mages are…well, I don’t know if I can trust them. They seem to have their own agendas.”

Once again, Gunter kicked himself for not realizing the obvious. Duh, of course Nikki would be wary of other mages. They’d had no positive experiences with mages. Trust would not come easy there.

Feeling mostly out of his depth with this conversation, Gunter forged ahead anyway. “But you are choosing to stay here anyway? Because of the dragons?”

“Well, yeah. And I trust you.” Nikki’s expression was the epitome of artless innocence.

Gunter looked at that expression and felt a little bad about trying to foist Nikki off on someone else. Nikki might have imprinted on Gunter because of what happened on the battlefield. But that, too, was understandable. With everything shifting in Nikki’s world, of course they’d latch onto something. Gunter just happened to be the something.

If Gunter could get them started on a path, let them gain confidence on their own, then they’d naturally stop hiding down here.

Not that Gunter hid down here. His work was here, that was all. And he worked long hours. It wasn’t hiding.

Why was he arguing with himself?

Anyway. Nikki. Confidence. Focus.

“For the record, I trust every mage in this clan with my life. That’s no exaggeration, either—it’s been put to the test multiple times through the years. I know it might take you a while to warm up to them, and that’s fine. There’s no rush on this. But I don’t want you sitting here because you don’t know what to do next.”