Gideon looked at me as if I were crazy. The electricity, and the ice slowly faded back down my arm into the gloves. My eyes returned to normal as my mana use settled down to almost nothing. I had less than twenty mana left at the end of it all.
"Less than a year old?" Gideon looked at me funny, "And born on earth?"
I took the gloves off, and tossed them to Gideon.
"Why would I warn you about the electricity if I wanted you dead?" I looked at Ethan, "And I really didn't know that I was messing with your gloves. This time I did it on purpose. Try them out."
Gideon looked at the gloves skeptically for a few seconds before sliding them on. Then he activated the ice skill again. The icicle it formed this time wasn't any bigger than the last one, but the force it generated when launched was much more. It disappeared into the target.
"Holly hell," Gideon rolled his wrist from the backlash, "It's got way more kick now, but you still haven't told me what you are."
"It's better if you don't know," I rubbed the back of my neck, "I'm leaving soon anyways so it doesn't make much of a difference."
"Afraid someone'll figure you out," Gideon sat down at his desk, and started looking over the changes I'd made to the gloves, "Why should I keep quiet?"
"I haven't done anything to hurt anyone," I leaned up against the wall, "Plus I didn't kill you when you saw me. That's got to count for something. Turning me in will get me killed. I just want to live."
"I shouldn't turn you in because you want to live," Gideon glanced up at me.
"Look," I looked around his shop, "I'll enhance a weapon a day while I'm still here, and you can turn me in after I finish the tournament. I won't stop you."
"Enhance a weapon a day?" Gideon looked at me like he was seriously thinking about my proposal, "And I can turn you in."
"Yeah," I looked at Gideon, "Just when I don't come back to enhance a weapon for you."
"I mean," I looked around his shop again, "You'll make a pretty penny off the weapons I enhance for you. More money. More forging. More research you could do."
I could see greed in his eyes once I said more money so listing off more benefits seemed like a good idea to me.
"Fine," Gideon looked at me, "Deal. You come straight here, and make good after every match. If you don't. I turn you in."
"Shake on it," I held my hand out.
Gideon took my hand, and we shook. An electric current ran down my arm, and up Gideon's.
"Ah," Gideon flinched back, "What the hell was that?"
Minor contract formed.
"A contract," I looked at my own hand, "If you break it you'll get a good jolt. It won't kill you, but it will hurt."
"You cast a spell on me?" Gideon looked at his hand as if I'd betrayed him.
"It's a minor contract," I winced, "A slap on the wrist. A little jolt to keep you from breaking the contract. I don't trust you enough to just let you loose. It'll dissipate once I break my end of the deal. Lethal binding contracts require blood."
"You asshole," Gideon looked pissed at me.
"Prefer to stay alive remember," I grabbed the handle of the door, "Turning me in gets me killed remember. Might as well hurt you a little if you betray me."
I opened the door, and left with Ethan. Gideon could be as pissed as he wanted. We headed straight for the hotel. We'd had enough excitement for one day. Gideon didn't know what I was, but he did know that I'm an archaic, and that was too much for me.
Gideon didn't seem like a bad guy to me. I just didn't want him to do anything stupid right now. Not without a little punishment. Then there was the girl who could see astral projections. She didn't have any evidence like Gideon did so I needed to focus on Gideon.
Keeping him happy prevented him from wanting to get shocked for the pathetic reward he might get for finding me. I walked into our hotel room, and did my usual shift routine. My wings shuddered as I looked for a good spot to lay down. I dropped my head, and most of my neck onto a couch in the common area. I relaxed in a comfortable position semi splayed out on the floor.
"He's going to get his money's worth out of you," Ethan smiled at me nervously, "Aren't you worried he's going to turn you in?"
"Then our contract will be terminated," I snorted, "And by the time he wakes up from the electric shock I gave him we'll be long gone."
"That's why you put him under contract?" Ethan flopped on the couch.
Forcing me to move my head so he didn't flop down on my head. I scooted a little so he'd be able to sit comfortably.
"You don't have to do that," Ethan looked down at where I was laying on the couch.
"Do what?" I looked at Ethan.
"Move away from me," Ethan motioned for me to come closer.
"Sorry Ethan," I snorted, "But I'm not comfortable acting like a pet, because I am not a pet."
Ethan looked kind of disappointed with me. I didn't want to be treated like a pet. We watched matches for a while, and then the commentary afterward before falling asleep on the couch. I woke up to an alarm again.
"I hate alarms," I groaned as I shoved Ethan off the couch.
We both needed to be awake anyways. I stood up stretching, and grabbing my clothes before switching forms. I looked over the scars I had from fighting the demon, and was happy to see that they'd already faded a bit. Another couple weeks, and they'd go away without me doing anything at all. Ethan groaned, and grumbled as he got ready to go.