Razed by Magic

Chapter 7

"It's about damn time. School got out almost two hours ago, where the hell have you been?" Amon's voice rang out from the living room before Eli even got the front door fully open. He sighed.

"Sorry, dear, "Eli said, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "Didn't mean to keep you up with worry. Just had something to take care of."

Walking into the living room he saw Amon scowling at him. He was sprawled out on the couch; laptop open in front of him, fingers tapping impatiently. Eli fell into the chair opposite him and said nothing, pretending to examine his fingernails as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

Amon sighed with the frustration of an overworked parent. "Are you going to tell me, or do I have to threaten to start selling your belongings on eBay again? Some of your first edition books would go for enough to keep me in booze money for months."

"Don't go threatening my books, they haven't done anything to you."

"Tell me and nothing will happen to them." There was a gleam in Amon's dark eyes that spoke of him only half kidding on his threats.

Eli grinned, but relented. Messing with Amon was always fun, but he knew to not push him too far. He had a vindictive side and was far too clever in his revenge. He winced at the memory of Amon hiding all his clothes and replacing them with nothing but Ed Hardy. That had been a rough day.

Eli told Amon everything. He sat quietly, not interrupting once, although his eyes got wide and his mouth fell open when he mentioned Francis being the Dean. Amon had never met Eli's former tutor, but he knew all about him. Eli had been directly under his tutelage when he first began summoning Amon from the Void. Despite Eli's father blaming Francis for the whole incident, he'd had no idea what his student was up to. Eli was mostly self-teaching by that point, scouring books and experimenting to push his spells to their limits. He had just pushed those experiments too far.

"Two insane days in a row. It's like you're trying to break the record for number of shocking events in the shortest time span." Amon said, forced lightness in his voice. He could see the stress stacked on Eli's shoulders, weighing him down.

"I'm kinda becoming numb to it. If I found out tomorrow that my father was a guest speaker in Maddie's class, I feel like I wouldn't even bat an eye."

"You'd just punch him in the face."

"Exactly."

Amon stood up abruptly. "Let's go get some food. I get the feeling you're not in the mood to cook, and I doubt either of us want me to attempt that again."

"Yeah, the fire department wouldn't be happy about having to come back out here." Eli snorted.

"I don't know, I think some of the firefighters would be very happy to see me again." Amon said, a wicked grin across his face. Eli rolled his eyes. It was probably true, but that didn't mean he would give Amon the satisfaction or boost to his ego. Any bigger and his head would explode.

"Just go get your medallion so we can go eat without the angry mob with pitchforks."

Amon came back into the living room a minute later, silver medallion around his neck. It was flashy enough that if Eli had worn it the only way to describe it would be douchey and gaudy. Amon managed to make it look unique and stylish, which just proved how unfair life really was. The necklace wasn't just an odd fashion choice though, it was the only way that Amon could leave the house without causing mass panic and having people try to kill him. It was a construct, a rare type that created a detailed illusion around the wearer. When Amon put on the medallion his midnight black, Voidling eyes, turned a boring human blue. Well not boring, it made him look even more like a damned model, but the attention was far better than the alternative.