Kaleth ignored everyone's stare and sat there silently contemplating something. Alexa glanced around the room where she could hear several hushed conversations as the rest of the guild was shooting them worried glances. She almost didn't hear Logan ask Kaleth about his dragon form.
"That's a neat trick with the wings and tail. What kind of spell is it?" Kaleth didn't even react so Alexa tried to think quick of a logical explanation and was stumped. Pitch rubbed up against her leg under the table and poked his head up to stare curiously at Kaleth. Nik moved to look at where Kaleth's wings had protruded from his back. No holes had been left in his shirt as you would think would happen. Instead, his shirt was fine. Alexa had noticed this on other occasions and had come to the conclusion that where he summoned his clothing and it was technically an illusion or made of magic that when he hid his wings he merely restored the illusion. There was nothing to repair because his clothes weren't physical but magical just like him. Gavin moved a little closer too. Alexa couldn't hear what the rest of the room was saying but she figured that by listening to Gavin, Nik and Logan's opinions she would get a little bit of an idea.
"He didn't mean to." She said quietly. Nik tilted his head to the side while looking at her.
"It's reflex magic?" he asked. Alexa had learned a little bit about reflex magic. Hers being the lightning zap when she was threatened. She considered showing up as big bad dragon monster thing. It would have benefits when you were angry or wanted to scare someone. Alexa merely shrugged. She didn't want to commit one way or the other. Kaleth was still deep in thought. Alexa gave him a nudge and he looked up. He didn't register that there had even been questions asked and glanced at Alexa to try to figure out what was going on. She frowned at him seriously.
"They are asking about the wings and tail thing." She clarified quietly. Kaleth looked confused for a moment before his eyes grew wide and he finally realized the entire room had seen his semi dragon form.
"They were thinking that is might be a form of reflex magic." She said with an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle. Kaleth nodded.
"Oops," he said quietly which made Gavin laugh with a slightly hysterical note.
"So is it only when you are angry, or?" Nik asked. Kaleth nodded.
"Yeah." He agreed. Letting them explain away his wings and tail. Logan looked a little doubtful. Maybe because he recognized the form from their first meeting. Maybe because he knew Pitch had a human form. Alexa could tell he would have a few more questions about it when they weren't surrounded by the entire guild. The snotty girl had left, either for the night or to hide in the bathroom and her friends had followed.
"That's pretty sweet, can you fly?" Nik asked. Kaleth chuckled a little.
"There are a ton of flight spells, it isn't that big of a deal." He said quietly. Nik kind of looked at him incredulously and sat back in his chair realizing he wasn't going to get a lot of details. The entire room was still murmuring.
Alexa nodded to both Logan and Nik to hint that they were going to head out. She didn't want to give people a chance to ask her the millions of questions going through their heads right now. Logan and Nik followed them out the door.
"Hey," Logan said nervously as they headed down the steps. Alexa cringed, noticing Kaleth's annoyed look.
"I decided to trust you from the beginning and I'm not big on changing my mind. I do need to know how powerful you are. Clearly, we've been underestimating you." he continued. Alexa sighed.
"Can we talk in the car," she asked. Logan nodded and followed them nervously to the car. Kaleth took the front seat and Logan seemed a little less concerned about his safety when he got to sit in the back with Pitch and Patrick.
"I'm not stupid, that isn't reflex magic. You can fool everyone else but I need to know to keep the guild safe," he said. Kaleth glared at him, but there wasn't a lot of heat to this glare. Alexa cleared her throat and struggled with where to begin. They hadn't actually left the parking lot but it felt kind of private sealed in her car.
"He's not human..." she started and trailed off trying to think of how to explain it. Kaleth hunched his shoulders and stared out the window. Clearly, he wasn't happy about letting the cat out of the bag.
"Well I doubt he's a leprechaun," Logan said sarcastically. He was obviously impatient to find out. Patrick chucked a little.
"Nope, he's a dragon," he said, pleased with the confused look that Logan gave him.
"A what?!?!" he asked. Alexa grinned a little.
"More specifically a dragon familiar," she said. Logan raised his eyebrow obviously doubting what he was hearing.
"Who's?" he asked. Alexa paused for a moment, Pitch could tell Kaleth had noticed.
"Mine," she said. Logan laughed.
"I thought Pitch was your familiar," he said. Alexa shrugged blushing slightly.
"They both are." she explained and Logan shook his head.
"The cat that can transform into a human was enough to believe. But for you to also have a dragon that transforms into a human makes no sense. How do you have any mana? How do you summon a dragon?" he said exasperatedly.
"I didn't actually summon Pitch and Kaleth was kind of an accident. I'm not their first master..." she trailed off. Logan's eyes widened as he obviously sensed the danger department.
"Who was their previous master?" he asked. Kaleth finally cut into the conversation.
"Alistair," he hissed. Logan eyed him warily. Obviously, Kaleth being Alistair's familiar did not seem as far-fetched.
"Yes, Alistair had Kaleth as his familiar for many years. Pitch too but at the time Pitch was only the size of a house cat and not as useful to Alistair." she started, "Kaleth was around before Alistair too. He's been around a long long time." she said.
"How long?" Logan asked. Kaleth gave a self-deprecating chuckle but didn't say anything. Alexa shook her head.
"Ancient Greece," she said with an awkward half grin. Logan shook his head laughing.
"No way," he said.
"Eímai prágmati tóso paliá óso léo. eísai apló paidí se sýnkrisi me ména." Kaleth muttered with a grin. Logan looked at him doubtfully. Obviously, the gibberish didn't make sense to any of them but Kaleth. Logan shook his head.
"How did you get them from Alistair if he was still alive?" A shadow fell over Kaleth's face and he turned back to the window so he didn't have to answer. Alexa sighed.
"With Pitch where Alistair didn't spend any time with him, he made a stronger magical bond to me. Kaleth.... was a little more difficult because he had been with Alistair longer. Pitch managed to end Alistair and Kaleth almost went with him." she replied with a frown. Obviously leaving out the more difficult to explain details. Logan noticed but didn't push further. He glanced towards the building, the rest of the guild were starting to exit now.
"So he is your familiar? That's why he is always at your place and nearby?" he asked. Alexa nodded.
"We'd rather keep it quiet though. There are others like Alistar that would like to get their hands on a familiar like him and I would rather have them just think he was gone," she said. Logan nodded quietly obviously contemplating.
"If they did know they would attempt to kill you and take him wouldn't they?" he asked. Kaleth scoffed with a little bit of a grin.
"Attempt, they wouldn't get past me." He clarified darkly. Logan stared at him for a minute, gears turning and obviously, a few lights flickering on as he worked out their very unique arrangement.
"I'll keep quiet," he said. Alexa nodded and they cracked the doors open to let Logan out and stretch before the drive home. Pitch climbed in first, changing to his human form. He had continued to stay in his panther form for the meetings. Mostly to avoid questions from people that didn't need to know.
