I saw the fear enter his eyes the moment he realized just how dangerous my mother was. Well, how dangerous he thought she was. Not that I would tell him that her cws were the least of his worries.

  Slowly he started to edge away from me and my mother. She was too busy reading over his messages to notice as he inched away. Finally reaching the door, he booked it. Getting up and sprinting without hesitation.

  “Christian,” I called after him, startling my mother from the object of her focus. Even with her head jerking up as quick as it did, he was likely already out of her sight. He could run fast.

  “Fuck!” Was all my mother said as she tried to get up. Helping her, we walked out of the house. Stopping on the porch where she lifted her hands. Slowly, wisps of fog fluttered off her hands in an unseen breeze. Seeming to grow as it fell. Spshing against the ground. Rolling outward, it quickly spread across the ground.

  Once the fog met the treeline, my mother slumped against me. “That should at least prevent him from getting too far.”

  “Where exactly did you end up taking us?” I asked as I helped her into one of the deck chairs.

  “The only pce I could think of and the one pce I promised to never return to.” Her face was filled with a mixture of sadness and fear. “I brought you to Avalon.” She pushed me toward the stairs. “You need to go retrieve your friend. There are many things out there that would not take too kindly to a human being in their territory, and I have no clue how things have changed since I left.”

  Knowing she was right didn’t make the decision any easier. She looked weaker than I had ever seen her. The healing potion having sapped most of her energy while the fog maze spell took nearly everything else. Still, she wasn’t without some sort of defense. It was Christian that was on his own in a world he had no knowledge or skills to survive in.

  Turning, I took off in a jog as I wove around trees. The fog nearly transparent for me thanks to my mother. For most other creatures it would cling as close to them as possible. Only the amount of magic in them keeping it back. Which meant that the world would have gone a stark white for Christian. Still, he was too stubborn to give up running just because he couldn’t see. He would keep running.

  It was because I was looking for him moving that I stumbled over something on the ground. Gncing back as I rose, I froze. Christian was lying there. Blood steadily flowing out of a rather rge cut on his forehead. Sighing, I reached down and lifted him up.

  Honestly, it wasn’t what any person should do when confronted with a head wound but out here, there was no choice. I sure as hell wasn’t strong enough to protect him against anything. Hell, I would only be able to run away. With how much bleeding he was doing he would attract everything to us.

  My heart beating as I panted with the effort. Pushing my body to carry him across the uneven terrain back to the house. Seeing it just past a couple of trees, I sighed in relief.

  A sudden set of growls to my left and right had my heart freezing and breath catching. The next moment, my heart thudded hard against my chest as I found a reserve of strength I didn’t know I had. Pushing hard enough that I knew I would never be able to keep the pace up for more than a couple seconds. Hopefully it would be long enough to make it the rest of the distance. Of course, that assumed she was in any state to deal with anything.

  Breaking through the tree line, I felt Christian being pulled from my shoulder. Not willing to let him go, I held on tighter. Course, that meant nothing to a creature that could survive in this pce. My feet kept going even as my body jerked to a stop. Falling toward the ground.

  Fortunately for me, my mother was suddenly next to me. Her hand holding me up as the other gripped onto Christian. She didn’t make any other moves. No sounds escaped her. Still, the sounds of whimpers escaped from whatever was behind me.

  After a few seconds of us standing there. My mother, in a non threatening voice, said, “These two are mine. Go find someone else to eat.”

  It sounded as if the creatures skittered out of the area. Their paws slipping and sliding across the leaves and underbrush as they ran. Between ragged breaths, I got out a “Thank you.”

  She smiled down at me as she took Christian from my shoulder. Moving to carry him in her arms. The ck of air being the only thing keeping me from bursting out ughing at the sight. It wasn’t every day that you saw five-and-a-half-foot woman carrying a six-foot nothing man without an issue.

  “You know that he will be required to train with you now, don’t you?”

  That perked me up as I slowly stood up. My mother waiting for me to get up before returning to the house. “Does that mean I can tell him everything.”

  She shook her head. “Not everything. There are even things you can only ever tell one person other than you parents. You know this.”

  Slightly defted, I nodded. She was right about that, but the thought did bring up another question. “Wait, he doesn’t have any magic, does he? If he did, he wouldn’t have hit his head on a tree trunk after you cast that spell.”

  Her smile was wide. “I never said he didn’t have magic. In fact, he has a respectable amount, for a human. He just has never had the chance, ability or training to tap into it. It will be up to you to help him train. Doing so will even help you learn to use magic better.”

  “But if he can’t access his magic, how is he supposed to learn. I don’t know how to open someone’s center.”

  “Given what has happened, I doubt he would trust me enough to allow me to do so. His only other choice is you. So, I will teach you how and be there in case something happens.”

  “I didn’t have time to check before picking him up to run here. How is his head wound.”

  “Already healing thanks to the healing spell I cast on him. I miss being able to use magic without spending so much time gathering my power.”

  The house didn’t have a guest room and she refused to put him in my room. Instead insisting on him staying on the couch where she could hear him as she went about the pce. I don’t know what she did, but after half an hour the lights came on. Though we both knew it was an excuse to stay next to him, the ck of light was the only reason I had gotten away with not going to change.

  Without that excuse, I hurried upstairs to take a shower and change into some pajamas while my mother returned to the kitchen. Probably attempting to salvage whatever she had been cooking.