Page 94 of Echoes of the Banshee

“It’s okay,” she tells me. Tapping my arm again and stepping to stand beside me. “I’m fine.”

He looks around. “Not as bad as last time?”

“Yeah, I controlled it to mostly wind.”

The radio crackles and a warped voice comes through, “Everything good Ollin? You find her?”

“All good,” he replies. Redness spreads on his face. I turn to look at Thea and raise an eyebrow in question.

“Not my first explosion this month,” she admits shyly. She gestures towards the guard. “This is Officer Ollin, Ollin, this is my friend Benson.”

I shake his hand. Shifter, not a wolf. Something else.

“Can you get her back to her dorm?” he asks me and I nod.

He grabs her bag from right off the path as we walk and passes it to me. When we get by the goblin building he surveys her in the light.

“Make sure she eats something.” Once I agree he turns and leaves, pulling out his radio as he walks.

Thea walks slowly and I quickly text Zair, he beats us to her dorm with a bag of food. His eyes widen when he sees her and he rushes to help me get her into her room.

She collapses on the bed and curls up. Zair tries to coax her to eat but her eyes don’t open.

“Can you heal her? Give her some of your magic?” I ask. I don’t like leaving her defenseless.

“No, she would probably kill me if I tried,” he says. “Sharing magic is very intimate, and also dangerous. And with as weak as she is, she wouldn’t be able to stop.”

He quickly casts a few spells to protect her as she sleeps. We walk in silence back to our dorms.

“What happened?” he finally asks me.

“She melted down.”

“I got that.” He opens his door and gestures for me to follow him inside. He runs his hand down his face.

“Did something happen with her boyfriend?”

My stomach drops and I fight to control my face.

“I didn’t know she had one,” I tell him honestly.

“I’m not sure she does.” He exhales slowly, turning and digging in his drawer for something. “When I tried to kiss her, that was her excuse for rejecting me.”

The walls close in. I know he’s hiding his face, but damn if I don’t appreciate it.

“I—I thought you said you didn’t like her.”

He turns and looks at me then away again.

Fuck. I’m an idiot.

Mavrik

The Life Changing Magic of Being a Creep

The training yard is empty as I practice my dance. I’ve been at it for hours and can’t get the moves right. I should go, it’s past the time Thea agreed to meet. I should’ve known it wouldn’t last. Letting myself hope was a stupid mistake.

I screw up the dance again.