Marcus could not move from the table, captivated by everything Geoff told him. He had never known how many things he could do without thinking about it, had never known how much he had truly been missing. His lack of knowledge was partly Max’s fault because the man had been such a louse when it came to showing Marcus anything about power. Marcus had to admit it was partly his own as well. Had he really wanted to know he could have asked Max to show him?
Marcus shook his head inwardly. He would never have asked Max for anything, no matter how much he had wanted to know. The memory of those children from yesterday came back to him then. Max had corrupted this town, like he had Marcus’ own mind. Could freeing this place help him to free himself? Or would trying to free them damn them? Geoff must have sensed him wandering because he had stopped talking. Marcus looked up and could see concern drifting through his teacher’s eyes.
“What is going on with you?”
Marcus paused. Geoff had been lenient so far, but it would not last if his attention kept drifting. Knowing Geoff expected an answer, Marcus shrugged. “I don’t know. I can feel Max’s taint on this town; I saw it as we were walking through the alleyways. But I don’t think it’s him.”
“Who is it then?”
Marcus shook his head, “I don’t know. But I think I’ve brought him here.”
“How could you have brought him here if you don’t know who he is?”
“Because Max would have noticed my magick by now and would have come after me. He doesn’t like it when I disobey his orders. If he’s busy, it’s often one of his main henchmen, but I’ve not met this one before.”
“It’s as I thought, Geoffrey Nathaniel, the boy should not be here. It‘s not safe for him to stay. You need to leave before that idiot gets to him.”
Both Geoff and Marcus looked up at the doorway. Emé stood with Sam, Robert and a boy about Marcus’ age behind her. She moved from the door and pointed her finger at Geoff. “You set a ward up without me permission bringing all sorts of unwanted attention to me doorstep. This young man has no idea what is following him here and you are pressuring the boy to give you information about his past, when you possibly bring Max’s death to me door. I think you better be doing the talking Geoffrey Nathaniel, not him.”
“Max’s death?”
Marcus choked out the words, he knew Geoff heard him, Marcus saw him stiffen as he scowled at Emé. “I know what I’m doing Emé, trust me. The wards are for protection and I know you can sense that, so don’t start on me.”
“The boy don’t need to be here. He should be learning his power not apologizing for trying to adjust.”
“I know that Emé. But he is safer here at your inn than he could possibly be anywhere else unless of course you and the others have decided to leave our side.”
“Geoffrey Nathaniel, you know that isn’t true. I just think it would be better for him if he were not around so many people. He’s not comfortable around you, and you’re forcing him on a larger group of you followers.”
Marcus watched Geoff narrow his eyes. When that happened it meant only one thing, Geoff knew the innkeeper was holding something back. Marcus watched her face, how could he see that when she never showed emotion?
“What do you know that I don’t Emé?”
Instead of answering, she turned around ushering the others back behind the door. When it closed, she turned to face them. Marcus could see the woman’s fear, but only in her eyes and for less than a second. She stared at Geoff waiting.
“Answer me Emé. What do you know that I do not?”
“One of Max’s henchmen has begun feeding on this town. They guessed your next move Geoffrey Nathaniel. That traitor wants the child you are hiding from him, wants him very badly. I’m surprised the boy’s outburst last night had not created more of a stir than those guards. He needs to hide in an area that is more covered.”
“Emé, you know as well as I that it won’t be that easy. How do you expect me to hide someone so inexperienced with the simplest spells?”
“Hey I’m still here ya’ know.” Anger rushed through him replacing the fear at Max’s name. He hated being talked about, especially when he was still in the room.
Emé’s eyes widened at Marcus’ tone. The boy had not sounded like that when he had first woken up, what had Geoffrey Nathaniel done to him?
“Nothing Emé, I’ve done nothing to him. He did it all to himself. Didn’t you Marcus?”
Marcus mumbled something no one could hear. Geoff stood still watching him, waiting for him to make the proper response. Emé took his mumble as agreement and opened her mouth to retort to Geoff’s high-handedness.
“It was my fault for a lot of the things that have happened to me,” Marcus said sullenly. Emé closed her mouth, knowing that he would be sharing more information than Geoff would be expecting. “I caused a lot of problems when I was younger, it’s the whole reason I’m in this mess to begin with. But I didn’t cause Max to come looking for me.”
Marcus stood up, knocking the chair over. He glared at both of them waiting for a challenge that he was wrong. “I won’t take responsibility for the victims Max claims everyday because this town lives in fear. It isn’t my fault that they’re all scared. It’s not my fault that I can hear their pain. I don’t want to know how much he’s hurting them because I know he’s only doing it to get to me. This is for my benefit, to get me back to his side, so that he can blame me for everyone else’s torture and make it so I can’t leave him again.”
Marcus bolted out of the room running over the youngest of the three people outside the door. He made a comment, but Marcus ignored him as he kept moving to the staircase. He felt someone grab his right shoulder and without thinking quickly fisted his left hand and made the person let go. He was up the stairs and in the inn room before anyone else could stop him.
Emé gasped as the other three came in, Robert and Sam held up the boy Derek, blood streaming from the boy’s nose. “What the hell happened?”
Derek glared at Geoff, “You’re apprentice ran me over and never apologized. I tried to stop him and he punched me! He’s the one being stupid and I get hit.”
Geoff shook his head, “Let me remind you again, since you obviously don’t remember from the last time. Do not try to grab someone’s attention by grabbing onto him; you’re lucky you only got a bloody nose this time.”
Derek’s face turned bright red remembering the last time he had grabbed onto someone’s arm. Geoff nodded when the boy looked at him, “I heard all about it Derek. And once again, you’re stupidity has led to a broken nose.”
He left the kitchen fully aware that the group believed he would take the boy and leave. However, Marcus owed both Emé and Derek an apology and a few days working in the stables or in the inn under Emé’s supervision would remind him how he should behave whenever around other people. Geoff made it to the room just as Marcus locked the door. Guessing the boy’s plans, Geoff went into the next room and walked through the doorway that connected them. He watched as Marcus opened the window, studying the escape route and was hit with another reminder of himself. He had done the exact same thing when Daniel had locked him in this room.
“I wouldn’t try that exit if I were you. The drop could kill you.”
Marcus spun around, closing the window quickly. “It won’t kill me. Besides once I go out through there, I’ll be out of your way. That is what you want right? For me to be out of your way so that you can hang out with your people without worrying about whether or not someone is going to embarrass you or something?”
“Hang out with my people? Marcus I think you had better sit down.”
“No way, I’m not listening to one of your stupid lectures on how I have to follow your orders. I’m not going back to apologize to those people and I’m not staying here any longer. The sooner I’m out of here, the sooner you all can go back to your normal lives.”
Geoff concentrated on Marcus’ tone and facial features. “You’re running.”
“Well congratulations Mr. Obvious,” Marcus retorted. “Welcome to the program.”
“Sit down Marcus.”
“No. You can’t tell me what to do. I don’t even know why I’ve listened to you. Nothing can keep me away from that psycho unless I do it myself. I’ve got nothing to gain staying here listening to whatever crap you’re going to try to shove down my throat. Just leave me alone.”
Marcus tried to push past him, but Geoff didn’t budge. Marcus tried going around him, but Geoff just moved with him. Frustrated, Marcus stepped back, glaring. The glare widened when Marcus felt weaves of power wrapping around him and trapping his limbs. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“My job.” Geoff said dryly.
“But you’re not my teacher yet. You can’t do this to me!”
Geoff barred off the room. “First off, you are an unclaimed student. Any teacher has the authority to secure you under their wing until your true teacher comes to claim you. Until you decide who you want to learn under you are stuck with me.
“Second, I’ve told you before to lose the attitude. If you cannot do that on your own, I will help you lose it and I assure you my methods will not be pleasant. I gave you leeway in the beginning, knowing you were adjusting to a new situation. You have been with me for almost three months now, by now I expect you to respect me and those we come across whether you trust us or not. Max crouching down on you does not excuse your childish behavior downstairs or now. If you want respect, you need to show it to others first.
“Third, when I give you an order, you follow it no questions asked.”
“You told me that part of being an apprentice was questioning what the teacher did.”
“Not when dealing with other people. In public, you will follow my directions whether or not you agree with them. You’ll also have to control your reactions, the boy has been warned about it before, but you should not have hit him. You owe him and the others an apology for your outburst this morning.”
“Why should I apologize? I didn’t do anything. She was the one blaming me for everything. And he had grabbed me, not the other way around. They should be the ones to apologize to me!”
“Marcus, no one likes being talked over. However, there are better ways of going about getting your point across. You were in the wrong and will apologize if you wish to leave this town.”
“No I won’t. I can leave this town anytime I want. I don’t have to rely on you to show me around. I’ve lived in cities all my life. I’ll make it out of here alone.”
Geoff’s eyebrows rose, “Really? I’d like to see that. Since you seem to believe you can leave without apologizing, I’ll give you an hour. When I come back, if you are gone, I will leave you to your fate. However, if I return and you are still here, you will go downstairs, apologize to both Emé and Derek, and then meet me in the yard.”
“I don’t need an hour. I’ll be gone before the door clicks shut.”
Geoff studied him carefully, “We shall see.”
He turned, unlocking the door as he moved towards it. As the door clicked home behind him, Marcus’ eyes widened farther.
“Son of a b***h!”
Downstairs, Emé pounced on Geoff the moment he walked into the back room. “What did you do to him?”
“Nothing.” He refused to have anyone else question his teaching techniques. He could see she didn’t believe him.
“Geoffrey Nathaniel, he’s terrified of this man that has come here on Max’s request. I could see it in his eyes when he swept past me.”
“I know that, but I will not allow his fear to drown out his common sense. Max will win if the boy does not recognize his own power.”
“And in order to do that he must be forced to comply to the rules? Oh Geoffrey Nathaniel, you of all people should know that that strategy does not work.”
“I’m not forcing him to do anything except apologize. He has an hour up in our room alone to think about everything he’s done. I think that should be ample time for him to think about his options. If he really believes that being on his own will provide better protection for him, then he will be allowed to leave. I will not hold him against his will.”
“Then what do you call what you’re doing now?”
“I’m giving him the chance to think things through. Besides weren’t you the one to suggest we leave?”
“Yes, but he would have been going with you, not alone. You are suggesting that the poor boy be thrown out into this world, alone, with that madman on the loose after him. I cannot believe you would even consider that I would mean anything else!”
“Emé, I never said you meant anything else. However, you know I cannot leave here when something threatens this area. Nor will I allow Marcus to run around here on his own with that maniac’s minions loose. He will understand after he has had a chance to cool down and think about what has happened. We will be safe here and we will help you loose the taint, this town already has enough problems to deal with without adding Max and his stupidity into it. Now, do you know who has taken control of our people?”
“We know Geoffrey Nathaniel, but you can not be the one to take him on.”
“I will decide that Emé, who is he?”
“The reason you had to free Darian from Max to begin with. Serrano Evans has come back to aide his master in finding the key to our undoing. Evans is after your apprentice and will stop at nothing to gain him back for Max.”
“Do you know why?”
Emé shook her head, “If we knew, none of us would be so stressed. Geoffrey Nathaniel your apprentice needs to learn manners I agree with that decision and he also needs to learn to listen to you and trust that you will not be like the other one. It’s just, now is not the time nor the place to make him start thinking. If that man catches any hint that either one of you are here, this town will lose everything.”
“Which is exactly why we are staying, Evans is not one to pick up the small details. He would assume that my apprentice, the one that his master wants so badly, would have levels of power higher than any other.”
“But the boy does, I have seen it.”
“Yes, but did you realize that before you saw it?
Emé’s eyes widened. “He can mask himself from others? Not something a mage like Evans would expect from the boy. That does not guarantee his safety, he is angry with you Geoffrey Nathaniel. He will want nothing to do with you. He will run right into Evans, please get out of here.”
“Who says the boy will run? He may be angry with me now, but when he uses his head, Marcus does alright.”
“So I can not convince you to leave with the boy?”
“No Emé, I am sorry.”
She sighed, “I had to try. What do you plan on doing while the boy remains a prisoner for the next hour?”
“Talk to the others, find out what happened at the meeting last night that I missed. Wander around town a bit and get a feel for where things are located.”
“See if you can locate Evans yourself, so you know where to stay away from. Geoffrey Nathaniel, I can read you easier than you seem to think. If you’re going to be that stupid, bring the boy with you. I do not want him stuck upstairs throwing things around that room I gave you and you nowhere around to remedy any destruction.”
Geoff laughed, “I won’t be looking for Evans until Marcus is with me Emé. I promise you that. If he destroys anything, he will pay you back for it. Just let me know if he does anything else.”
“I will not. You will not do anything to that boy if you are going to be leaving him here. If he messes up, you will have to ask him yourself.” Emé turned on her heel and left Geoff standing by the back room.
His eyes followed her, laughing. So many people of the rebels wanted nothing to do with Marcus and yet when Geoff tried any type of discipline, they all sided with the boy. Marcus’ honesty won people over without him realizing it. How had he gone through life without noticing the change in people? Geoff shook his head, just one more question to add to the pile. Until Marcus trusted him none of those kinds of questions could be answered and if the loud thud upstairs was any indication that trust would not be forming anytime soon. Sighing, Geoff stepped into the backroom, shutting off the noise Marcus was creating.
Marcus flung his other shoe against the door. His magick still worked, at least the spells he dared to try. He just could not move his arms or legs to leave the room.
“Which sucks,” Marcus muttered to himself. He would still be here when Geoff got back, which meant he would have to apologize to the innkeeper and that kid from downstairs, even though he had done nothing to deserve the reactions he had gotten from them. Marcus sighed, “Who am I kidding? I was being just as obnoxious.”
“Obnoxious about what?”
Marcus looked at the door and blinked. The kid from downstairs had pushed it open and walked in, closing it behind him. “What do you want?”
“What did you do to the room?”
“It doesn’t matter, I asked you a question. What do you want?”
“My name’s Derek by the way.”
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?!”
Derek blinked, “I wanted to apologize for getting in your way. I overreact when people ignore me, and you weren’t the only one with that reaction. I’ve been punched in the nose before and I’ve been told I need to watch what I do to other people if I don’t want a violent ending.”
Marcus stared at him. Geoff had told him he would have to apologize. He never said anything about the others apologizing to him. He took a deep breath. If Derek was willing to go through with the apology, he might as well too. “I’m sorry too. I should have never hit you. I’ve just not been myself lately and lost it. I’m Marcus.”
“What did you do to the room?”
“I’ve been trying to find out what I could and could not do being stuck as I am.”
“D’ya figure it out yet?”
“Yeah, I can do pretty much everything except move.”
“That sounds like Geoff. He uses that whenever someone doesn’t cooperate with him.”
“How do you know?”
“He’s done it to me a few times, before Robert took over my training.”
“You were once Geoff’s apprentice?”
“Sort of.”
“What do you mean sort of?”
“Well, Geoff’s like a transition between having to do things yourself and finding your real teacher.”
“Real teacher?”
“Yeah, see since Geoff travels a lot more than other mages, and since he is more powerful than the others, he can usually pick out those who have a glimpse of talent, no matter what it is. And he usually hangs on to the person until the meeting where they go on to their real teacher.”
“Meeting?”
“Yeah the counsel meeting. Don’t you know anything?”
“None of this existed where I’m from.”
“Oh. Well, than maybe I better explain some things. No matter what your talent, if you have a talent to do something, you are taken in as an apprentice until you’re deemed ready to do it on your own, usually around 22 or something. Anyway, usually a temporary mage who can detect faint glimmers of power travels around to pick up those that need training. When there is enough gathered and they haven’t already been transferred to the right teacher, the counsel finds someone more suited.”
“Geoff’s always been the transfer teacher?”
“For as long as I’ve known him. ‘Tween you and me, I don’t think the council trusts him to take on an apprentice alone, ‘gardless of what his father says.”
“Why not? And why does it matter what his father says?”
“Well see his father is the King, or at least he was until he lost his youngest son and went psycho on everyone. He’s gotten better now since he’s gotten away from Max the Mad. Still the counsel don’t trust Geoff with his own apprentice. They think he’s a little too wild still and that his disregard of their guidelines proves that he can’t handle the responsibility of an apprentice fulltime. Plus, he goes a little overboard on the protection stuff.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s said that Geoff blames himself for his brother’s death.”
“Why?”
“Well, he is the oldest. Supposedly he was supposed to be watching his brother, but he didn’t. He had left his brother alone and when he went back his brother was gone. Ever since then when anyone is in his care, he watches them like a hawk, making sure they don’t disappear on him too.”
“They think he’ll make his apprentices disappear?”
“No, they think that he’ll find something else that interests him and he’ll leave his apprentices alone somewhere and forget about them.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Don’t know, but they say that he is forgetting stuff all the time. Cause he forgot to pay attention and got trapped by Max a few years ago, he only just got out and he’s already in trouble with everyone.”
“Derek!”
Both boys looked up at the door. Emé stood there with her hands on her hips, glaring at both of them. “What are you doing?”
Derek shrugged, “Nothing. Just talking to Marcus.”
“What are you supposed to be doing?”
Looking guilty, Derek mumbled, “I was waiting on Robert. He said I needed to apologize to Marcus than when he called I would go help him.”
“He’s been searching everywhere for you. If I ever catch you spreading rumors again, I’m going to tell Robert what you are doing with your free time.”
“No!” Derek turned white, “I promise I won’t say anything. Don’t tell him about this. I was just trying to help.”
“If you go downstairs now, I won’t say anything. But if anyone asks, I will not lie for you.”
“Yes ma’am.” Derek ran out of the room. Marcus could hear his footsteps down the hall.
Emé glanced around the room, “Re-decorating I see.” Marcus turned his eyes to her. “Don’t worry I won’t say anything to him about this. However, I would suggest you clean this up before he gets back. I promise Derek will stay out of your way.”
She started to close the door when Marcus called to her. She turned back, closing it behind her. “Yes?”
“I wanted to apology for earlier. You were kind enough to give us a place to stay and I have been anything but grateful. If anyone has arrived because of me, I’m very sorry. As soon as I can figure out this spell, I won’t bother you anymore. I promise.”
“Marcus, I don’t want you leaving here because you think you are in the way. My concern this morning was for quite the opposite reason. I do not want you hurt because Max and his cronies know I am a sympathizer with the rebels. I only stay open because I am the only clean inn in town. I was rather rude myself, excluding you from the conversation as I did, and for that, I apologize. Do not worry about the problems, if there are any you might have unknowingly caused, your teacher has caused me far more problems over the years than you have so far and I still let him come back.”
His lips turned upward slightly and he nodded.
She looked around again, “Still, you might want to clean this room. I do not know how happy Geoffrey Nathaniel will be when he returns, and I would not want this mess to set him off on you.”
“It’ll be clean before he gets back, I promise. Thank you.”
Emé nodded, opened the door and closed it as she left. Marcus heard the lock click, knowing she did so in order to keep Derek away from him. Marcus glanced around him, he had a lot to pick up, but his mind kept wandering to what he had learned. Geoff never kept apprentices, why was he so intent on keeping him? What had happened to his brother? Why did Geoff blame himself if his brother had been kidnapped? Was his brother dead? Was that why Geoff didn’t want to talk about it? But wouldn’t Derek and Emé know if the boy was dead? Why had his father remained King if he went crazy? What had happened to Geoff while his father was labeled insane? Would he be transferred to another teacher once they got to the council meeting? Is that why Geoff didn’t want him to know much about it because he didn’t want him to know he was being traded? Was taking him on to prove to the council that he could in fact handle an apprentice? Was he someone’s guinea pig again?
Marcus shook his head. Geoff promised he wasn’t going to be that again. But did Geoff lie to him? Did Geoff want to give him the makings of a future, just to make him overlook the part where Geoff was just using him to make himself look good? Geoff had mentioned something about being in his temporary care until a real teacher could be assigned to him later when they got to the meeting. Did that mean he had just spent the last three months getting used to being around Geoff only to have those months wasted by having to get used to another person after the meeting?
Marcus ran his hand through his hair, frustrated with all the questions and no way to answer them. He could never ask Geoff, he wasn’t supposed to know about it to begin with. Why hadn’t he just made Derek leave like he wanted to in the beginning?
“Because you’re stupid Marcus, that’s why. You like to make things complicated for yourself.”
He sighed as he shoved the last bit of clutter into the bag on the floor with his stocking foot on his way to the window. He leaned his head against the glass wondering if he would be able to see Geoff on his way back up to relea…Marcus backed away from the window. He was free. How had he gotten free? He knew how the room got clean, he had done it twice now without thinking about it, but he was sure he would have realized he had released himself from a new spell. And if he hadn’t done it that meant…
Marcus turned quickly away from the window, putting his back against the nearby wall. The door hadn’t been unlocked, but leaning against it, arms folded, legs crossed, a dark scowl flitting across his tightened jaw; Geoff pinned him with metallic pools holding him prisoner far better than any spell had.
How much had Geoff seen? How much had he overheard? How much trouble was he in now?