Back to the present, Max looked at Juin wryly.
"I don't know what happened back then, but I heard Logan yelling after that. He sounded scared… And when my dad returned, he saw Ashton hitting Logan." She then frowned and said, "My dad took Ashton and Logan to his room after that… But I don't know what he told them. And when I asked about it, he said that it had nothing to do with me. Even Logan refused to tell me about it."
She then looked at Juin's hands and said, "Have you ever realized that you have never gotten any scar even though you used to get injured quite often?"
Juin looked down at his hands. "I… haven't noticed…"
Max was right. He did not have that many scars… which was weird, given how often he hurt himself when he was young.
"You know… I think my dad was somewhat afraid of Ashton…" Max said. She then laughed softly. "I know, it's silly. But after he sent you guys back that day, he told me to stay clear of Ashton… And not long after, he told me to stay away from you as well."
"Why?" Juin asked curiously.
Max shrugged. "At first, I thought he was mad because Ashton hurt his favorite nephew, but I think I might be wrong… Still, I don't know why."
Juin knew why. He had a feeling that Mr. Thompson might be a supernatural being… But then, why didn't Lucifer say anything? And Max… Shouldn't she display some symptoms?
"She's not a supernatural…" A voice appeared in Juin's mind. It was Lucifer's voice. The guy was too lazy to float around, so he stayed within Juin's mind. "Neither is her father… At least I don't sense anything from him."
Juin thought for a moment before asking, "Max, can I come over to talk to your dad tonight?"
Max thought about it and nodded. "I can ask him, but there's no guarantee…"
"Tell him I know about the keychain…"
"Keychain?"
"The one he made you wear… The one in your backpack. He would know what I'm talking about."
Max raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's with the keychain?"
To her, it was just something that she had been carrying around since she was a child. So why would it help Juin get an audience with her father?
Juin smiled but did not say anything about that. Instead, he diverted her attention by asking her about her swim meet.
"Hey, don't change the subject!" Max said with a pout.
"No, I really want to know. Did you make the first team?"
Knowing that Juin did not want to talk more about their original discussion, Max relented and talked about the swim team instead.
…
That night, after dinner, Juin received a message from Max.
[ Dad's free now. You can come over. ]
Juin was working on the homework that Warlock assigned today when he saw the message. He quickly put on a hoodie and ran out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Wesley asked, but Juin was already down the stairs.
"I'm going to Max's place for a while," Juin yelled when he walked past the living room.
His voice startled Mrs. Martin. "Wait, what…"
Juin went straight to Max's house, and when he arrived, the one who waited at the door was not who he expected to see.
"Mr. Thompson," Juin greeted respectfully as he stopped right in front of him.
"I've expected this day to come…" Mr. Thompson said. His normally perfectly combed hair was let loose, giving him a more relaxed vibe and making him less scary. Even so, his stern expression was still on his face as he said, "Let's go to my study room."
Juin nodded and walked behind Mr. Thompson. When they walked past Max, Mr. Thompson said before she could even say anything, "No, you can't join us, Max. Go watch TV with your mother…"
Max pouted, but her mother persuaded her to go with her instead of pestering her father. With a disgruntled sigh, she turned and walked away with her mother.
"Come in…" Mr. Thompson said as he stepped into a study room with walls that were covered with shelves of books. When Juin stepped in, he could sense a weird pressure. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was noticeable. In fact, he noticed it from the moment he stepped into Max's house.
"A ward…" Juin mumbled.
"You're right," Mr. Thompson said as he closed the door behind him, not at all bothered that Juin could sense them. He then took a seat at his desk before saying, "Don't worry about it. It's just a ward… You were never bothered by it before, so I guess your realization was semi-recent."
He then gestured Juin to sit down, and the moment Juin sat down, Mr. Thompson placed his elbows on the table, leaned forward, and placed his chin on his interlinked fingers before asking, "So, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"Ashton…"
"What do you want to know?"
"Do you know who… or what Ashton was?"
Mr. Thompson placed his hands down and thought about it. He then tapped his desk with his fingers, creating a rhythmic sound, and it took him a while before he asked, "Why are you asking me about this all of a sudden? Why would I know anything about Ashton? He's your best friend. You should know more about him."
"I… I know about supernatural beings… And I know that you're not just a normal human. That pattern on the keychain that you gave Max, that has a protective ward on it. If it's the only one, then it can be a coincidence, but you have the same keychain for your car key. And I saw other diagrams in different corners of your house when I walked in earlier..."
Mr. Thompson scoffed, "You aren't as stupid as you used to be."
"I've grown up, Mr. Thompson."
"Sure you did…" Mr. Thompson said. He thought about how Juin used to hide behind Ashton the whole time and the Juin now. "Perhaps him being gone was good for you."
"Mr. Thompson?"
"To answer your question… Yes, I have a vague idea of what Ashton was…"
"And?"
"He's a mage… And a strong one." Mr. Thompson thought back to the day that he found out. He returned home and saw Ashton beating the sh*t out of Logan, while Logan did not resist at all. In fact, Logan was cowering. Mr. Thompson found it weird because his nephew Logan was a mage as well, and when he rushed forward, he realized why… There was a strong spell on Logan, one that made him see the things he was most terrified of.
After pulling Ashton away from Logan, Mr. Thompson immediately dispelled the spell that was cast on his nephew before bringing the boys to the very same study room to talk.
"When I talked to Ashton, he told me not to mention anything to you since you weren't from the same world…" Mr. Thompson said after he told Juin about his conversation with Ashton. "And I agreed, provided that he stayed away from my house and Max. I couldn't have someone like him near Max."
Juin hesitated for a moment before asking, "What are you, Mr. Thompson?"
"I'm a seer…"
"Like Ashton?"
"I can see things, but my ability to use magic is limited. I cannot wield magic freely."
"Are you afraid of Ashton, sir? Is that why you don't want him, or me, to play with Max?" Juin asked, having wondered about this for a while.
"I wasn't afraid of him; I was... wary." Mr. Thompson frowned as he thought about Ashton. "He's not human… At least, he's not fully Earth human. When he attacked Logan, I could sense his magic, and the moment I touched him, I saw another world."
He saw a lot of things in that brief seconds--death, blood, and demons rampaging--and he had a feeling that Ashton showed it to him on purpose.
"It was a world that I have only ever seen in books, and it took me by surprise. You see, that wasn't the first time I had contact with Ashton, but that was the first time I saw the other world… That was a unique ability of his, I presumed, that he could show what he wanted to show and that he could turn it off at will, like a TV."
"Is that abnormal?" Juin asked, wondering if he could do it as well.
"Not really… But that's not a common skill… I only know of one other person who could do so." Mr. Thompson thought of a guy with bloody fangs and shivered. "But that's an old b*stard…"
Juin sighed. "I heard from Max… You told her to stay away from me as well back then…"
"That's right…" Mr. Thompson sighed and nodded. "Ashton was a very powerful mage… But why was he protecting you?"
He raised an eyebrow and continued, "I couldn't see anything from you. Nothing at all, which doesn't make sense because you are a human boy, through and through… But it made no sense that someone as strong as Ashton would stay by a human boy's side. He must have seen something that I couldn't see, which makes you as dangerous as him."