"Oh my God, what did I do?" Drew gawked, his pallor gone ghostly. He looked as though he might be sick.
"Hmm," Julia found the ring where it had landed behind the desk, examining it before handing it back. "You'd better put this back on. For safety."
He did as he was told, not taking his gaze from Cassie's cheek beginning to seep a faint trace of blood through her fingers holding it against the sting.
Cassie, on the other hand, was seeing Drew in an entirely new light. He didn't need protecting, he needed training.
"Has that ever happened before?" Quan tipped his head and squinted up at him.
"No, never, well, I never made anyone bleed." His voice was hollow. "After our parents died we lived with our aunt here in Tampa. Brandon and I both came even though he was old enough he could have stayed behind. He wanted to stay with me, he's protective." Drew gave a little snort and a wry smile. "Aunt Christine didn't want it, it never sat well with her that he was home when they were killed. She blamed him I suppose. Mom was her only sibling and their parents were both gone so they were all they had left. Like Brandon and me." His gaze was distant. He was with his thoughts, years away.
Drew's story gave their triad way more than he thought. After they left here, Cassie and her partners would be looking into the parents' deaths, that much was certain.
He continued, calm and emotionless. "After a few weeks the police were really leaning hard on Brandon. They thought he was involved or something. Christine told him he had to leave, she didn't want him in her house. They started yelling, really having it out. Christine telling him to get out and he was being seventeen, daring her to call the cops and make him leave. I was only twelve and I didn't want him to go. When she picked up the phone I kind of freaked out." Drew squinted at his hands and Cassie caught their tremor. "I don't remember everything that happened, just that I wanted her to stop yelling and put down the phone. I yelled and grabbed it out of her hands, and then...she fell." His voice cracked.
Cassie saw the frightened boy there in him again. No one could explain to him what had happened and he'd lived with the fear that he was dangerous for fourteen years. Even an amulet couldn't take all of that away.
Julia pressed him gently. "What happened to her honey?"
Shrugging, Drew looked up. The moment was passed and he was coming back to himself, standing with a fixed gaze on the back wall over their heads. "She fell. The paramedics said it was a seizure from the shock and the excitement. She pretty much avoided us both after that. We lived on one side of the house and she lived on the other. The day Brandon turned eighteen he sued for legal custody and we left the day it came through. I haven't seen her since."
The sound of the air conditioner blowing through the ducts was the only noise in the office. Cassie felt compelled to comfort him. She had heard similar stories from clients on other cases, although she'd remained relatively untouched by their sentiments. It wasn't an intentional coldness. Cassie had been too busy trying to figure out how they had come to discover their power and in almost every case she had gone home and tried to replicate it for similar results. Clearly none of those situations had worked. This time was different. And she was oddly grateful to him.
Not knowing really how to be comforting, she wobbled as best she could on her good foot and the toes of the other to reach him. She half expected him to stop her, but he didn't.
"I'm sorry Drew. We're here to help you." For a brief instant she forgot that they were going to use him as bait to catch his brother and Pritchard. Right at that moment she meant it.
"What, you've got some magical way for all of this to go away? For this nut job to leave us alone and weird stuff to stop happening to us?"
His guess was frighteningly close to accurate, giving Cassie hope that he would be receptive to what she was about to say. This was always a tricky conversation even though by the time they were having it the client knew something was different about themselves. She'd seen people overjoyed to learn they had special powers, seeing themselves as a sort of superhero. Some were relatively indifferent and others wanted to know how to make it go away.
There had been one young woman, heartbroken to learn that it had been her uncontrolled magick that had set her house on fire. Her parents and baby sister had gotten out but her grandmother had not. It hadn't been a week after they'd met with her and arranged for her to meet with a "personal trainer" when news reached Veritas that she'd taken her own life.
The price of magick in Drew's family had already been great. It was a safe bet Brandon was responsible for the deaths of their parents. She could only hope that it had been accidental. Brandon might take the news hard as well if he didn't already know.
Drew's eyes searched hers and she saw his apprehension though he tried to keep it hidden. She recognized inquisitiveness in his look. He had it in him to believe. However, the question remained, what would he do with the knowledge once he had it? Could he live with it? Taking a breath and shifting her weight on her feet, Cassie laid it out for him.
"Drew I'm sure you've guessed by now there are things in this world that we can't always see. Ways to manipulate energy that don't always make scientific sense." She paused, letting it sink in. He showed no signs of interrupting. Gambling on his level head, she let the other shoe drop. "Magick is real. And you show signs of having some talent. It tends to run in families, so it's likely your brother is the same." Better not to let him know their guesses at his brother's ability level just yet. "With some guidance we would be happy to arrange, you could both lead relatively normal lives providing you're careful. Working here, it actually sounds like you may be using some of it already."
All three watched him. Waiting.
At first, they saw his impulse to deny it and his mouth opened, lips twisting to make some sort of comment or discount her declaration, then his mouth snapped shut. His inner struggle was visible. Cassie thought he was going to be understanding until the words he finally chose took her by surprise.
"Get out." He took a menacing step, forcing Cassie to hop hurriedly back to avoid bumping into his advancing chest. "Whatever game you're playing, I don't want any part of it. And if Pritchard put you up to it to scare me, tell him I'm not afraid of his little show downstairs. If he wants something from me he can come talk to me like a man, alone." Raising his finger, he pointed at Julia. "You leave Brandon alone, he's got enough on his mind without your nonsense."
"How do you explain what you saw downstairs?" Cassie pressed, willing him to listen to reason. "What about how you feel when people use their magick around you? You said it yourself, it feels like your head's going to explode." He couldn't refute his own words.
"I get migraines." He snapped, chopping a hand through the air before any of them could argue. "And I don't know what that was down there. I'm sure it was some sort of stunt you two worked out to try to get me rattled. Well it won't work. Now get out of here. If I see you in my club again I'll have you thrown out."
Julia spoke softly, forcing him to listen. "The effect you have on people, have you always had that? Have you ever had a woman say no to you?" Julia asked, arms folded and making it clear she was not afraid of him. "Or were you even better before you got that ring?"
Drew blanched though he jerked the door open. His decision stood. "I'm good with people, that's why I do what I do." The door remained open, his arm held out impatiently waiting for them to leave.
"Can you stand there and tell me there's no such thing as magick and yet you see the difference in yourself with that amulet you wear." She took a slow step into his space. "I'm curious if you wear it to block out others or is it to keep yourself locked up." Only that strange effect of a drawl on a northerner kept the words from pushing him over the edge she was sure, yet Cassie watched him bristle as Julia struck the nerve she'd been aiming for.
"I told you three to get out and I meant it. Now leave or I'll be forced to help you out."
Typically closed mouthed, Quan stepped silently around where Drew stood trembling, his rage at the intruders barely contained. Cassie could see his pulse throbbing rapidly in his neck. It matched the pounding she could feel in her entire lower leg above her swollen ankle as she made her unwieldy way past next to where Quan waited, again taking her under his wing. Julia was the last with some parting words for Drew.
"Here's my card honey. Call when you're ready to talk about it. Hopefully it's before anyone else gets hurt."
To a point, they would let him choose the timetable on his initiation into their world. Having gotten a taste of his ability, his place there was certain as was his brother's. However, Brandon's entrance would be more urgent if he was hurting people. Drew, thus far, was relatively harmless.
His answer was the sound of the door slamming shut behind them.