UnFamiliar

Chapter 22

Val waited until we got to our room before he said, "We are not going to the fae realm."

I turned on him. "Do you have a better plan?"

"We'll just have to find a different lead." 

I sighed. "We've only got two options, Val, and both of them suck."

Val had come with in reach of me, but had left his hands dangling at his side. He was leaving it to me whether we comfort or confront each other. "What do you mean two options? I thought--"

"We either go searching for Elka Cane in the fae realm or we separate me from my magic."

Val bared his teeth in an animalistic way that I wouldn't have thought he could do. "We are not separating you from your magic. Didn't you hear them? You'll die."

I gave him a grim smile. "So the price you're willing to pay for your freedom doesn't include my life? How gracious of a Prince of Hell to think of my life so highly."

He stared at me. Then he stepped closer. Close enough I had to crane my head to look up at him. "Do you want to know what I think?" 

Too quietly for him to hear, I breathed out, "No." I didn't want to hear whatever he had to say. I didn't want him devaluing his own freedom for my poultry life. Worse, I knew he didn't fully understand what the teachers were telling us about the magic users who lost their powers. They didn't did of some weakness you contract from losing their magic. They died because they decided a vessel without the capacity to cast spells wasn't one they wanted to live in.

"You are either the daftest person on the planet or you're playing stupid." He reached up and cupped my face with his hand. "I care about you, Ambrose. If you die, I will be distraught and inconsolable, so it isn't an option. Do you understand?"

I gritted my teeth. "You said you'd stay with me even when our bond is broken, yes?"

He dropped his hand from my face, and I thought that was it. He was going to tell me that in truth, he was pretending to like me or that he was sure his feelings were being manipulated by the bond. But then he grabbed me, pulled me into his chest, practically crushed me. "I would do everything in my power to stay.

"Then you wouldn't have to worry about me dying after losing me magic." 

Val stilled. "What do you mean?"

"Those...those who die from separation from their magic usually take their own lives. I could never...do that when I'm finally not alone anymore." 

Val pulled me away from him, holding me at arm's length. "Why are you crying?"

"I'm not--"

Val wiped under my eyes and his finger came back wet. I stared at it. Why was I crying? 

"Well," Val said when it was clear I wasn't going to say anything, "it doesn't matter what you promise, we aren't separating you from your magic."

"Then we're going to the fae realm." I wasn't going to let him dither about this any longer. We finally has a lead and I was going to make sure we followed it.

"Fine. But," Val grabbed my shoulders to force me to look at him, "if it gets too dangerous, we comeback. You have to let me bring you back." 

I nodded. 

We took a few minutes to gather things like granola bars, an extra set of clothes, and a first aid kit. Once we were done and I'd shoved it into my backpack, we stood in the center of the room, holding hands. My hand was tingling, and by now we'd figured out it wasn't simply because I was excited to be holding hands. Well, at least not entirely. 

Val gave me a smile and held his other hand up. "Charleston, Oregon."

I nodded. 

As Val snapped his fingers, the door to our room flung open and the last glimpse I got was Nina's surprised face.

The air smelled of salt and sea creatures. It wasn't all that different from where we'd left. The brightness of the sun caught me off guard though and I was temporarily blind. After I blinked a few times, I saw we were standing on the corner of a street. Val was looking up at the sign, which read "Seven Devils Rd."

"I think," he paused, "my power has a nasty sense of humor."

I pointed to the sign across the street, it said Charleston then under it Coosbay with an arrow pointing us the road. "It also doesn't seem all that accurate."

Val shrugged and began walking in the direction it pointed. "If you think it's a problem now, I  want you to know it'll be ten times worse in the fae realm."

A car passed us by, and it sort of swerved, that's when I realized I'd forgotten a crucial detail about Val. "You're a demon," I whispered. 

He glanced back at me. "Uh, yes. That's kind of what happens when your father is the King of Hell."

"No. No. Right NOW you're a demon."

Val paused. "I'm always a demon, Ambrose."

"We need a cloaking spell."

Val's face lit up with understanding. "Oh."

"Hang on." I'd brought my spell kit with me. My cloaking spells were nothing compared to Nina's but we'd have to make do. I grabbed a rock from the side of the road to act as an anchor and scribbled a few runes. 

Val came up behind me, and put his hand on my shoulder. I thought it was for comfort, but as soon as I said the spell, I understood. He was creating the circumstances where our magic was magnified. 

I handed him the rock. "Don't lose--this." Midway through my sentence, I'd caught sight of Val.

Val was...not Val. Val suddenly looked like an average high-school teenager. His skin was still dark, but african-american coloring rather that straight up coal. His hair was about the same length but curly. His glowing red eyes cooled until they were almost brown. 

The thing was cloaking spells should work on anyone who already knows you're using them. Without  his clothes--an orange t-shirt that had "Resting Witch Face" plastered across it that clashed with his bright red cargo pants and green crocs--I wouldn't have believed it was still him.

"Val?" I asked.

He frowned at me. "Shouldn't we head into town?"

"I...uh, sure."

We walked up the road. When we got into town, I realized that we'd completely neglected to come up with a plan to find the fae realm or Elka Crane. Our whole plan was to come here and I'd assumed it'd solve our problems. 

However, a town with a handful of seafood restaurants and a general store didn't seem like all that helpful. Even though it was a small town, it was still too big for us to search everywhere when we had no idea where she'd lived. Also, asking anyone if they knew her was probably out. She'd disappeared twenty years ago. 

Val must've seen me panicking because he grabbed my hand and said, "Let's start with lunch."