| |
The porch light was on as I climbed the steps, no doubt left on by Rophan.
Instead of going inside, I settled into one of the chairs Dany had gotten for me and stared off into the night.
There was another row of houses across the street, all cookie-cutter of the same style. Behind those houses was a massive field reaching out to the tree line and surrounding mountains.
“Welcome back,” Alto said, walking up the sidewalk.
“Hey, honey,” I said smiling. “Good job today.”
His cheeks turned a little pink, lit up by the street lights. “Thank you. I had a lot of fun. I didn’t realize how good it would feel to teach kids.”
“Yeah.” I pointed to the chair next to me. “Come, sit, relax.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
We were silent for a few minutes, enjoying the peaceful quiet, until I broke it. “How is your brother doing?”
“Good. Niall had a great day, mainly staying in the medical building. He misses you.”
“I miss him too.” I thought about the twenty-nine-year-old man. He was older than me but being with him felt like I was with a younger brother. He was an exact replica of his brother, but with more masculinity to his frame—broader jaw, fuller lips, wider features overall. It was the childish qualities that made him feel younger due to him being locked up like Alto had been. While Alto had more experience from the times he was let out of his room to heal someone, even having to travel to other towns to do it, Niall didn’t have that. If I had to choose his mental age, I’d say it was more like an eight-year-old. He was so curious about everything in life, and sometimes that made it hard to hold him back if he went too far.
“Breakfast.” I nodded. “Yes, tell him we’re doing breakfast in the morning. Are his lessons starting tomorrow?”
“No, the next day. The private tutor was delayed and won’t be here until Wednesday.”
“He’s not, uh, having any issues with the idea of having to learn, right?” I asked, not sure how to approach the subject. Niall didn’t know how to read or write. Alto was in the same situation; he was still learning to read and write, but it wasn’t to the extent of his younger brother. Alto recently reached the point where he could read books by himself and knew how to figure it out when he came across words he didn’t know. Niall knew absolutely none of it.
“He’s excited to finally learn. While waiting to start here, I taught him what I could, but it’s hard when you’re learning yourself. I didn’t want to teach him the wrong thing or bad habits. My only saving grace is that I have a lot of knowledge saved up here.” He tapped his head. “Niall doesn’t even have that. He doesn’t want to feel useless anymore and wants to help.”
“He’ll learn fast.”
Alto grinned, pride filling his expression. “I know. He amazes me every day.”
“The both of you amaze me every day. Don’t discount yourself, Alto.”
“Thanks, Adeelah.”
I reached over and squeezed his arm to let him know I was there and I wasn’t going anywhere. Not even stupid Cael could keep me away from Alto.
“You’re stuck with me for life,” I said.
The sound of Alto’s chuckle was a warm breeze on a cold day. It was free and happy, warming to the core. His happiness filled the sound, making it genuine. I chuckled along with him, unable to stop myself. Alto had a talent for drawing out the best in people. Others wanted to be better when he was around.
“I heard you have a habit of patrolling. Are you doing that tonight?” Alto asked once we settled down.
“I think my guard has a big mouth.”
“We all want to watch over you.”
Raising an eyebrow at that tidbit of news, I asked, “Who are we?”
“Jed, Rorke, and me.”
“Oh, first name basis. When did you guys get so close?” I teased.
He looked down at his lap with a soft smile. “We talked and found out we had similar interests.”
“I think I’m starting to feel jealous. You guys talk more to each other than you do with me. If this keeps up, I may start writing. I’ve been known to right some good erotic scenes. I’ll grow a fanbase among the female population.” I sighed as if doing that would give me everything I needed in the world. “That would be the dream.”
“You know, you should try it, calling them by their first name. You call me Alto.”
“You don’t have a last name.”
“You know that isn’t true.” He gave me a bitter smile and I felt like snarling. Not at him, but at the situation. The butt muncher who kept him prisoner gave him his last name. I didn’t care what Alto said; that was not his last name. No matter how hard he pretended that it didn’t matter, I knew it did. I saw the winces when we first got him freed and people tried to respectfully call out to him. Each time that name was called out, he expected to see that man.
I refused to be part of his misery.
No one in the academy even knew his last name. It wasn’t in the records either.
“As far as anyone knows, you are Alto, you will always be Alto, and I refuse to let them use that other name.”
“Adeelah.”
I shook my head. “Deny thy father, and refuse the name.”
He laughed. “Don’t quote Shakespeare. Especially that play. I saw the movie. It was ridiculous.
Glaring at him, I said, “’Tis but thy name that is my enemy.”
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
I faked gasped at him and put my hand on my chest in mock horror. “You cannot do that. You can’t argue back my Shakespeare quote with another Shakespeare quote.” I fluttered my hand around in fake horror. “That simply isn’t done.”
Alto laughed hard, holding onto his stomach and leaning forward, eyes nearly closed as he tried to get himself under control. I waited him out, trying not to join him. It would have been easy to do so, but I didn’t want to miss this, miss the way his cheeks reddened, how his body shook, the way he looked like a boy and not a man holding a million problems on his shoulders. The scene was priceless, and it felt like an honor to be a witness to it.
“Adeelah, it really is only a name,” he finally said once he got himself back under control.
“I disagree.” I sobered. “He stripped you of your heritage, of who you were as a being, of your past. He and that village took it all away from you for their own gain. He doesn’t get the right to claim you with his last name.”
“I can’t keep going without a last name.”
“Sure you can, plenty of people do.”
Alto snorted. “Who?”
“Cher has a legal mononym. Indonesian and Japanese royalty like Hirohito, Fumihito, Aiko, or even that basketball player, Nenê.”
“What do you know about basketball players?” Alto asked, amusement slipping into his voice.
I didn’t smile. “Nothing at all. But I know research and I know how to do it.”
That sobered him.
I sighed. “There is merit to a last name, it’s a claim to history, to family lines. That was taken away from you. But the way I see it, you can make your own history, start your own family line if you wish. Have little Alto children and let them branch out into the world, taking it over one offspring at a time. Create your own heritage.”
A flurry of movement made me jump until arms wrapped around my waist. I blinked in confusion before looking down. Alto was kneeling on the ground, his head tucked in my lap, and his arms around my waist.
“Uh, is everything okay?” I asked, not sure what to make of the situation. He felt nice there and the locks of his black hair was tempting me to play with it. I touched his hair before, so I knew they felt silky soft and wonderful.
“You’re amazing,” Alto said. “Every day, I’m thankful that it was you who found me in that village. That you’re the one who got me out. You have a bigger heart than anyone I know.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” My face heated at his innocent compliment.
His arms tightened around me. “It’s true.”
The door clicked open and Rophan stepped out onto the porch. He froze as he looked at Alto and me. I gave him wide eyes, having no idea what to do with this intimacy. This was the last thing I expected from Alto.
Rophan’s lips twitched when he realized my predicament. We had a whole conversation with our faces, me expressing need for help, and him too entertained to interrupt. He finally caved when I pulled out the big guns and batted my eyes, sticking out my lip in a pout.
“Alto, I hate to interrupt, but Adeelah wants to do her patrol before she gets some sleep. It’s been a long day for everyone.”
Alto pulled away and jumped up to his feet, like I suddenly had the plague and he didn’t want to catch it. He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”
“No,” I said. “Don’t be. If you ever need my lap, you know where I am.”
That had him turning red. “I’ll see you for breakfast,” he muttered before taking off. I waved at his receding back as he turned down the sidewalk and disappeared down the road to his own place.
“Let’s take a walk,” I said to Rophan and practically jumped off the porch steps to the ground, excited to see how the campus changed at night when the students were there.
“You’re in a good mood.”
“I am. I feel more determined than ever before to make this academy a success.”
My eyes drifted closed as a soft breeze went by. The nightlife was waking up around me.
“Cael is determined to twist this school into something dangerous,” I whispered. Rophan was next to me. I could feel his magic along my right side, running down my arm and leg, all the way to my fingers and toes. It was reassuring.
“You won’t let him.”
I smiled at his simple response. “And you have my back.”
“Always.”
Humming, I marched on, searching for troublemakers.
We didn’t find troublemakers, but it was just as interesting.
“Our intruder really did leave a campsite,” I said, eyeing the small campfire and sleeping bag. There was even a fish on a stick propped up to dangle just out of reach of the flames. The set up was just within the tree line. From the academy, all we could see was a small flickering of the fire and nothing else.
Zen was already there with Gaerlan, scowling as they worked over the scene.
“Is that a hammock?” I asked, eyeing the contraption swinging between two trees.
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Gaerlan asked.
“Sure.” I shrugged. “What did they leave us this time?”
Zen cleared his throat and said, “A sock.”
“A what?”
He pointed over to the sleeping back that was open. Inside, there was a dirty sock lying there. Nothing else.
In a lower voice, I said slowly, “Dobby has got a sock. Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby — Dobby is free.”
“Adeelah.” Gaerlan growled.
I smiled and asked, “What?”
He sighed. “All the magic here is corrupt.”
“Did they leave a note?” I asked.
Zen held out a small piece of paper with a dirty fingerprint on it. It was tucked safely away in a plastic bag so my dirty hands didn’t dirty it further.
“Are you running the fingerprint?” I asked.
“Working on it, nothing so far.”
The words on it were the same, written in clear block letters, taunting me.
Close, but not close enough. Try again.
“Are they bored?” I asked. “No one saw anything?”
“Nothing until after the fire was lit and could be seen through the trees,” Zen responded. “We have something else too.” He pointed at one of the trees supporting the hammock. “They had a ward around the area. They used a sigil.”
I took a closer look. “This is to temporarily hide the area, like a timer.”
“Yes, and harder to feel out compared to if they outright used magic. It draws mainly on nature itself, helping to cloak what is going on,” Zen explained.
“They can use sigils.” I sighed as I traced my finger over part of the sigil. I didn’t dare to do the whole sigil, always running the risk of setting it off again. Whoever made it had carved it into the tree. “Once you’re done, have one of the dryads heal the tree.”
“Someone is already waiting.”
I nodded and patted the damaged tree. “Good.”
“Go to bed,” Zen said. “I’ll have a full report for you in the morning.”
“Hopefully you will also have the nutbag locked up too.”
“Adeelah.” Zen shook his head.
I lifted my hands up. “I know. I know. It takes time, especially since it’s a game to them. They won’t make it so easy.”
“We’ll get them.”
“Before they hurt someone?” I asked.
“We’ll do our best.”
I snorted at his lame assurance. “Goodnight, Zen. Make sure you get sleep too.”
Rophan was over by Gaerlan as they looked over the campfire for any other clues. Our eyes met and I nodded off to the darkness. He straightened, saying something to Gaerlan before heading my way.
“I’ve been ordered to go to sleep,” I said.
“Probably best if you want to have breakfast with Alto and Niall in the morning.”
“Oh, good point. Beauty sleep is important.” I pointed at Zen. “Full report sent to me, ready to look over the moment I open my eyes.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I nodded, happy with that answer and headed home.
My mind kept going in circles, trying to understand why someone was playing a game with us and what they were going to get from it.
Darn them. I wanted to find them so badly to find out why, and I wanted to do it before it was too late and someone got hurt.
