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This magic should be handled like fragile eggshells. Put too much force, and it’ll crack. Plus, he’d likely realize he’d been under my influence. I pressed my magic a little harder. A bit deeper. “Tell me what you want to tell me, Nate,” I coaxed with the softest voice I could muster.
His shoulders drooped first. Then, his mouth softened. “I was buying stimulants from Benjamin.”
Ah. Interesting.
Nodding thoughtfully, I replied, “Oh. I was wondering who his clients were.”
The shock on his face was pure gold. “You knew?”
Shrugging and trying to act casual while my brain’s engine screamed and smoked with Nate’s openness, I said, “Yeah. I mean I just recently learned he was selling. The performance drugs, right? Helps you work a little longer? Study better?”
He nodded, stricken. “Boosts everything actually. Physical, magical, and mental.”
“I see. Well, why did you need them?”
“My grades were slipping,” he replied quietly, staring at his hands. “I just needed a little bit of help. Benjamin was assisting in Professor Clave’s class, and when I asked him for tutoring, he studied with me. Stayed up with me. He supported me so much. I’ve never had anyone who was there for me like that. He didn’t judge my weaknesses or use them against me at all. He was genuine. Kind. It’s hard to find people like that in this city.”
Ben gets more and more interesting as this case goes on. A golden boy dealing drugs who seems to have been as kind as everyone says. Still, I know I’m missing something. There are more puzzle pieces to find.
Nate wiped his eyes. Grief clogged the air like fog.
This boy needed to get out more. Finding genuine people in this city wasn’t hard unless you were surrounded by archangels. Shoving my eye roll away for later, I prodded, “He sounds incredible. Like a real friend.”
Nate insisted, “He was! He really was! And when I was at my worst, when I considered dropping out because the pressure was too much, he told me about his… business.”
My magic grew sluggish and thick like cold molasses. And was Nate’s skin looking extra pale?
He wants to tell me, but his own shame is holding him back.
I had to know more, though. “So, you accepted his offer. What happened after?”
His breath came out in pants now. Nate really had a hard time saying this. “I used for two months or so. I passed. Everything was fine and I started to wean off, and then… the attack. I… I remember seeing my car burning in the woods.” His brows yanked together. “I didn’t park it there. That wasn’t me. I don’t think, at least… but it was there, and it was burning, and all I had to do was put water on the flames. I felt like my head was filled with clouds, but I knew how to save it with water, and so I poured water on it. But when my focus returned… I…” He gasped, trying to get more air into his lungs.
Just a little more. A little more…
I increased my pressure.
He placed a hand on his throat, almost as if to stop the words from coming out. His whole body trembled. “I stood in front of my burning car with gasoline drenching my hands. I’d poured the gasoline on my own car. I could’ve used my damned air magic to suffocate the flames, for fuck’s sake. Why hadn’t I just stopped to think for a moment? But it was done. Over with. And so, I just ran.”
My magic fizzled and snapped, eager to keep going. It’s like the power sensed Nate was seconds from breaking.
I have to be done.
Reeling my magic back in was tougher this time. That eager bitch wanted to stay inside Nathaniel and start putting up some decorations or something. Strange didn’t begin to cover it. Still, the power coiled back inside me, safe and contained.
I patted Nate’s shoulder while he stared dumbstruck at the table. His chest heaved.
“Clearly, that was hard for you to share,” I said. “You’re very brave, you know. So do you think your hallucination was because of the drug withdrawal? Seems like the most valid explanation to me.”
He jolted to a stand. “I don’t… I think I have to leave.” Without another word, Nate strode into the rain. Seconds later, the wind returned, swirling my hair into my face again.
I went too far, didn’t I?
Forcing myself to sit and finish my coffee, keeping up the pretense of an unbothered state of mind, I wondered what would happen next. I’d never used my truth-pulling magic on anyone that much before. It seemed like the more someone wanted to keep a secret, the harder it would be to make them reveal it.
Fucking bothersome if you asked me.
I downed the last bit of the drink and walked toward the faculty housing, mulling the mystery over. Nate’s hallucination had to have been from the drugs. Clearly, he thinks that he’s the one who set his own car on fire. I’d be asking Razai if there were any known side effects to the drugs. And after that?
