“Fight?” I asked.
“Yes, if something is important, it’s worth fighting for,” Tina protested.
“What if there’s no chance you’ll win?” I asked.
“There’s always a chance,” Tina said with a strange look on her face. “Are we actually talking about university here?”
“Of course,” Sarah replied quickly – too quickly.
“Only it seems, from the way you and Tony keep glancing at each other, that there’s something else going on here,” Tina commented shrewdly.
Sarah and Tony shared another covert glance.
“Glances like that?” I chuckled.
“Yeah.” Tina grunted darkly..
“I have no idea.”
“Thanks, Dev, that’s very helpful.” Sarah said, not so subtly flashing me a look of annoyance.
Her look was very clear. It said without a doubt ‘we’re trying to help you. You could at least help us in return. She was right. I shrugged slightly in an apologetic fashion. Fortunately Tina was distracted with talk of formal dresses, which I suspect had been Sarah’s intention. Talk soon turned to the formal, which the girls were very much looking forward to.
“You’re bringing Renee, right?” Tony asked before catching a warning glance from Sarah and trailing off.
Sarah and I were looking at Tina, waiting for her reaction.
“What?” Tina asked, glancing at us. “I’d like to meet her actually.”
“Oh? Why so?” Garry grinned. “Going to take out the competition, eh?”
Both Sarah and I punched him from opposite sides.
“No fair! No ganging up on me!” Garry grumbled, rubbing both his arms.
“Yeah,” Tony mumbled sympathetically, “they do that to me too.”
“Only when you’re being an idiot,” Sarah shot back, “and you deserved it Garry!”
“Well, I want to see what kind of woman she is,” Tina continued, answering Garry’s question even though it really wasn’t required.
The conversation eventually returned to talk of the formal and I was kind of glad that I wasn’t paying attention.
“Good God, Devon!” Tina hissed. “Are you okay?”
“He’s gone white!” Sarah commented, glancing around.
Standing on the opposite side of the food court leaning casually against a railing and looking back at me was Vin. He had a smirk on his face and a knowing look in his eye.
“Give me a minute,” I grunted as I pushed my food tray away and got to my feet. Tony moved to stand up but I waved him down.
“I’ll be okay,” I assured him, hoping like hell that this was in fact the case.
Vin watched me make my way across the food court, which wasn’t an easy task as the court was quite busy. This was a mixed blessing as there were surely far too many witnesses for Vin to try anything funny. Which raised a further question, what the hell was he doing here? And why reveal himself to me now? I vaguely thought about ringing Renee but I doubted she’d be able to do much more than I could here – it was too open. Besides, there were plenty of people here, and I was safe for the moment. I’d call Renee as soon as I could. Her motel was only five minutes’ walk from this food court and I didn’t want Vin knowing she was so close. Vin didn’t say anything as I approached.
“What are you doing here?” I accused when we got close enough to talk privately.
“At the moment, nothing,” Vin replied, “at the moment...”
“Is that a threat?” I snapped coldly.
“Listen boy, I don’t make threats,” Vin retorted, his face twisting in a savage distortion of his features as he sneered down at me. “You know damn well why I’m here.”
I didn’t respond.
“Where is she?” he asked. “I’m not interested in you. Tell me where she is and I’ll leave you alone.”
“Like I believe that,” I scoffed.
“Believe what you want.” He nodded. “I’ve really got no reason to bother myself with the likes of you.”
I contemplated his offer but I wasn’t tempted for a second.
“She’s not at her apartment and it looks like she isn’t planning on coming back,” Vin continued. “So where is she?”
“I don’t know,” I lied. “She called me several days ago and said she was going away. She told me to watch out for you.”
Vin grinned darkly but his eyes did not reflect the mirth.
“You’re lying,” he accused.
I didn’t respond.
“I’ll find her, one way or the other,” he promised.
“You go do that,” I replied, turning to go.
I doubted he’d just let me go, but he made no move to follow me.
“Are those your friends?” Vin called as I got several steps away. “Nice school uniform, by the way.”
I didn’t reply. I just kept walking and by the time I returned to the table, he’d gone.
“Everything okay?” Sarah asked delicately as I resumed my seat.
“Yeah.” I nodded as I started fishing through my backpack for my phone.
I took a quick look around the area for Vin, but I was pretty sure he’d gone – it wasn’t like he could be hiding amongst the crowd. The mana would give him away far too easily. I rang Renee’s phone, but it rang out. This was odd as she was normally pretty good at picking up calls. I shrugged a little and figured she’d ring me back.
“Who was that guy?” Tina asked once I hung up the phone.
“An old friend,” I grunted, “and someone I didn’t particularly want to see.”
“He didn’t look very friendly,” Tina continued.
“He’s not.”
“Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“No, I’m fine.” I grinned disarmingly. I wished that this was actually the case.
I had a dark sense of foreboding at this whole situation and couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Renee hadn’t answered my call again. I put down the phone in frustration. She hadn’t returned the subsequent two calls that I’d made the following day either. Paranoid theories ran through my head. Maybe she’d gone to confront Vin by herself or maybe she had come to the conclusion that I’d be better off out of all this and had left without me. Despite my paranoid musings I wasn’t overly worried about her. The last time we had spoken she had indicated that she might be unavailable for some time. She hadn’t given me any more details, and I hadn’t pressed her. She hadn’t exactly been easy to deal with while she was undergoing mana withdrawals.
I stopped by her motel room in the morning before school, but there was no answer. I tried peeking through the windows and could see her suitcase and stuff still on the floor by her bed. I took that as a good sign. It meant that she was planning on returning here at some point. Unless it meant that she hadn’t planned on going and had had to leave in a hurry. The nervous unease in the pit of my stomach was quickly turning into a rising terror.
I didn’t know what to do now. Should I start looking for her? Setting off an awareness blast would only call Vin back and give away my location and I definitely didn’t want to do that. Maybe that wasn’t such a concern. After all he’d found me yesterday. I was still running wild theories through my head as I wandered through the school gates. No matter which way I played this – I really had no idea what to do now. I had vague plans of confronting Vin and demanding to know what he had done with her, but I wasn’t sure that that would be a good idea. After my last confrontation with him, it was clear that I was outmatched.
Fortunately school wasn’t that stressful any longer. I’d already completed the assignments I’d needed to complete and as long as no-one asked too much about the quality of those assignments I’d be okay. I tried ringing Renee again during lunch but again it rang out.
During the afternoon classes I began pondering exactly what Vin meant by ‘Nice school uniform’ and ‘Are those your friends?’
Aside f
rom the obvious threat, it was clear that he was going to attempt to strike at me through my friends, unless of course he was simply playing mind games with me which I grudgingly conceded was possible.
“Walk home together?” Sarah interjected from my reverie. “Tony’s got himself into detention again.”
“Um, I’m not sure that’s a particularly good idea,” I replied darkly.
“That guy yesterday, at the food court – he was the guy, right?” Sarah guessed.
“Yeah.”
“Well, that’s not good,” Sarah reflected. “And you’re afraid he’s going to come after you?”
I nodded grimly.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“You could go to the police.”
“That’s a possibility,” I replied, my hand caressing the policeman’s business card in my pocket. I’d already had the same thought.
“I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do. I get the feeling that that would just lead to a massacre.”
“As much as I hate to ask, what does Renee think?” Sarah asked darkly.
“I can’t get hold of her,” I replied.
“What – you think she’s done a runner?” Sarah exclaimed, stating my darkest fears.
“No, her stuff is still at the motel, but she’s not answering her phone.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I simply don’t know.”
“Well, I think you should walk me home anyway,” Sarah replied promptly.
“Okay,” I replied cautiously, getting a strange sense of déjà vu. “But, if I say run, you run, okay?”
“Okay,” Sarah agreed readily.
“Thanks, Sarah.”
“I wasn’t going to leave you on your own in this mood,” Sarah added.
Vin didn’t come after us on our way home, but it was a strangely quiet walk home. I kept jumping at shadows and to be honest I think Sarah was as relieved as I was when we reached her house. She didn’t invite me in, and frankly I didn’t blame her. She didn’t need to be involved in any of this and the less time she spent with me, the better. The next day was the day of the formal. The school had graciously given a half day to the final year students but it was expected that we attend in the morning. I hadn’t slept at all that night. I’d sat perched in my window frame, watching the street outside, waiting, watching, and slowly going insane through lack of sleep and dread. I was almost at the point where I actually wanted something to happen, anything to happen just to stop this infernal waiting game.
I could almost feel Vin out there watching me, judging me. It felt like he was waiting for a moment of weakness to strike. The only upside was that fear for one’s life just happens to be one of those factors that makes the school day appear to go much quicker. Before I realised it the half day was over.
I tried ringing Renee again, hoping against hope that she had just been busy the previous times I’d called. As usual the phone rang out. I walked over to Renee’s motel room, no change there. On a hunch I tried the phone again. Listening carefully I could clearly make out the sound of Renee’s phone ringing inside. Her mobile phone was in her room! Shit! She might be hurt!
Why hadn’t I thought that sooner?
The mana came to my hand far quicker than expected and with a directed flick caused the lock on the door to almost implode into fragments. I stalked into the room, half fearing to find Renee unconscious on the ground. The apartment looked untidy. Her phone was lying on the floor by the bed, next to a glass of water which was half-finished on the stand. Her suitcases were still fully packed and from a cursory inspection I couldn’t see anything that was obviously missing. Why was her phone on the floor?
Had she fled the apartment in a rush? No – her keys were on the mantle by the doorway. She’d left without her keys and phone? What the hell was going on here?
With a deepening sense of fear, I noticed that Renee’s hand bag was thrown haphazardly over one of the arm chairs. A quick inspection revealed that her purse was still in the handbag. She’d left the apartment without any of her personal effects. There was only one conclusion to be drawn from this – she’d left against her will.
No, that wasn’t right. There didn’t appear to be any sign of a fight or disturbance. if a fight had happened here then there’d be something. The more I thought about it the more I came to the conclusion that something unexpected had happened. If a Mage fight had happened here the whole motel would be in ruins. I had just about calmed myself back down when there was knock on the door, and a voice calling out. I quietly cursed and threw an invisibility field around myself. Someone from the motel wandered into the room from outside. She entered the room tentatively. I could see from her expression that she was obviously worried about the damage to the door and of the possibility of a robbery. It was one of the maid staff. As she glanced around the room she obviously came to the conclusion that the room was empty. She checked the bathroom and kitchen areas looking for intruders. Once she entered the bathroom I took the opportunity to slip out the front door. I had what I wanted anyway. Renee wasn’t here. The first trick would be to find Renee, I wasn’t sure even where to begin with the second, but I was sure once I had found Renee, together we could deal with the problem. Making my way back home I had to force myself to prepare my clothes for tonight. I thought about skipping the formal tonight, but thought against it. Renee had promised to go – it was possible that she still might turn up. My optimism aside, I was also considering where I could set off an awareness blast that would give me the most ground, probably from the top of one of the larger buildings. Glen Waverley wasn’t exactly an inner suburb, but it did have several large buildings that would suit the need. If I waited until it was dark, I’d be able to spot Renee’s mana signature from a far greater distance.
I made plan after plan after plan, until I had pretty much discounted all of my available options and then I started again from scratch.
“You’re pacing,” a quiet voice interjected into my brooding plotting.
I don’t know if Mum realised that I was quietly simmering away into a pit of anger and fear or simply assumed that I was nervous about the formal tonight, either way I needed a break. I threw myself onto the couch and attempted to calm myself down. Watching the mana particles pulse up and down my forearm gave me a strange sense of peace and assurance. it would all work out, Renee was okay, she’d meet me later tonight. It would all be all right.
“Does Renee need to be picked up?” Mum asked. She’d offered to drive me to the formal. I had refused as Tina would be picking us all up in her car and we’d all go in together.
“No, we’re meeting there,” I lied.
“Oh, that’s unusual, it’s more traditional for the gentleman to pick up the lady,” Mum commented.
“I don’t have my full driver’s licence,” I scoffed. “That’d look really traditional – with the gentleman’s mother in the passenger seat correcting his drifting.”
“Well, you do tend to drift,” Mum reminded me.
“And besides, it’s your fault you don’t have your licence – I offered to pay for the test.”
“I didn’t have time,” I replied.
To be honest I’d avoided the test because I wasn’t sure that I’d pass and wasn’t sure that I could handle the mocking I’d get from Tony.
“If you say so.” Mum smiled.
She knew as well as I did that I really was quite full of it at times, but she let it pass.
“Mum, I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen tonight,” I began, “but, thanks – for everything.”
She turned to look at me, a quizzical expression on her face.
“What’s all this about?”
“Well, nothing really,” I coughed, trying to avoid making eye contact. “Just wanted to thank you is all – you know … for school and stuff.” I was a horrible liar.
“Well, you’re welcome,” Mum said,
still giving me that strange look.
I chose not to push the subject any further; however, by way of punishment Mum made me pose for photos in what I considered to be an overly decorative monkey suit, rather than a formal dress suit. However, I think I owed it to her and the photos seemed to make her happy. Some of the photos hadn’t turned out that bad either, considering I’m not an easy person to take a good photo of. A few hours later Tina’s car pulled up in my drive. Mum called out and I answered the door and went outside to meet them. Tina had already picked up Sarah and Tony.
“You guys look amazing,” I gushed as I got into the seat.
The advanced cosmetics practical that had been going on at Sarah’s house this afternoon had paid off. Tina and Sarah had chosen to spend the remainder of the day getting ready at Sarah’s house.
“Why thank you, kind sir, I do believe we look appropriate for the event,” Sarah snickered, doing her best impersonation of an eighteenth century southern woman and mocking a curtsey. This was actually kind of impressive considering that she was currently seated in the front seat of a car.
“Tony, you look as trashy as ever,” I grinned, nodding to him. just being around my friends brought an immediately sense of relief and comfort as I fell back into our old routines. The world could be crumbling around us, and we would still be ragging on each other about mindless crap.
“And you too, sir.” Tony smirked. “You look like a hobo that’s really decided to let himself go and start dressing in casual.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
“Well, I think you guys look good too. It’s nice to see you dressed up for once!” Tina piped in from the front.
Tony and I grinned to each other.
“Don’t encourage them,” Sarah scoffed. “They know they’re all dressed up and looking good, they’re just being idiots.”
“Why, ma’am, I do believe that was a compliment, most untoward from a lady of unmarried virtue,” I replied.
I was talking utter garbage and doing my best Colonel Sanders impression, in actual fact it was more Foghorn Leghorn but I think the gist came across.
Mage Catalyst Page 34
