Chapter One

   I had been seeing the boy for as long as I could remember. And dreaming about him for longer than that.

   The first time I saw him, I was three. And my parents were dead. So it wasn't the best meeting that probably could've happened. But we're going to look over that.

   I was sitting on the porch of what the nice lady said was my new home. The third one that I had since my parents died. She was inside talking to what was supposed to be my new family. And I was staring at woods on the edge of their property, hoping somehow that my parents would walk out.

   Thats when I saw the boy. He was standing at the very edge, looking oddly animal like in the setting sun. He was shirtless and small. He looked alone and lost. I saw myself in him.

   "Hey," I yelled. "Are you lost?"

   The boy turned back to me and froze like a deer caught in headlights. With a jolt, he ran back into the trees.

   When I told my foster mom about it later, she smiled and murmured something about small boys' imaginations. And I would've left it at that, however real he had seemed.

   Except I didn't stop seeing him. He kept showing up over and over. Sometimes it was near the woods. Sometimes I would just see his back across a busy street. Or sometimes he would be close enough that I could reach out and touch him. I never did, afraid that maybe my only friend would disappear.

   As I got older, his visits started to lessen. By the time I hit high school, he stopped coming. I don't know why. But I didn't see him for years.

   Except for when I was sleeping. Thats when I couldn't keep him out if my head.

   There was yelling. And crying. And I was small and scared. Two people, I think they were my parents, were running around the house, shouting and grabbing for things. There was a little boy next to me, holding my hand. He couldn't have been more than two years old . But he was clutching my baby hand like he could protect me.

   "J," the man, my father, said. "We have to take him now." He was big, with red hair and a huge bushy beard.

   The boy shook his head.

   "I know. Hes not old enough. But they're coming. And he has to go."

   The boy squeezed my hand tighter.

   "It's okay, honey," my mother said. "He'll only be gone for a little while. Then you can go get him." She was beautiful. With long blond hair and kind eyes. My tiny hand reached out to touch her. She smiled at me and grabbed my other hand.

   The boy looked back at me and his eyes were so sad. With a nod, he let go of my hand. It sent a shock of sadness through me, and I started to sob.

   The boy surged back at me, but my mother picked me up and held me against her shoulder. "Shhh." I quited.

"Are you ready?" She was directing that question to the man.

   He nodded, and the boy started to cry, and there was suddenly a blinding light.

   I woke up, gasping. It was the same dream, every night. My parents,and the boy. Well, my parents who couldn't be my parents. My parents died in a car crash when I was just a baby. Thats what landed me in my first foster home.

   I shook my head and climbed out of bed. Thats not right now problem. Thats a later problem. The right now problem was using the bathroom.

   After I had gotten that done, I splashed water on my face. The sight in the mirror was unusual, but I still found myself staring at it. Blond hair that was too long, and blue eyes. A jaw that was a little too curved for a boy. Yeah, I was the spitting image of my mother in the dream. Guess I was projecting or something. Whatever, I had never been one for philosophy.

   As I was tramping down the stairs, pulling on a blue T-shirt, my brother called from downstairs.

   "Morning, Sam!"

   I grunted.  

   When I got downstairs, he was standing at the stove, frying eggs. His chef hat was tipped merrily to the side, and his eyes indicated that he hadn't slept a wink.

   I sat down at the table and he sat a plate of pancakes in front of me. "Did you sleep well?"

   "Same as always." I brushed my hair out of my eyes and began stuffing pancake in my mouth. "Did you sleep at all?"

   "Sleep is for the weak." He grinned at me, and his teeth were white enough that it was startling against his dark skin. With dark skin and curly black hair, it was obvious that he and I weren't brothers. Not by birth anyway. His foster mom adopted me when I was a tiny kid. They saved me.

   "Al, you hafta at least try." Al's struggle with sleeping had stressed our mother nearly to death. She said that all the time. It was funny until she actually died of a heart attack a couple of years ago.

   "I know, I know." He rolled his eyes. "Like you're so responsible. It's 10."

   I spit out my mouthful of pancakes. "What?"

   "It's ten, Aurora."

   "Jesus Christ!" I jumped up and grabbed my jacket. "I've got that online lecture at 10:30! I've gotta get to the Café!" Our house hadn't had WiFi. After Ma had died, we hadn't ever started paying for it again. They nearest place with WiFi was the Café, which was 30 minutes away.

   "Alright, alright. Don't forget your laptop."

   "Thanks, Al." I grabbed it and ran out of the house.

   If I ran as fast as I could, maybe I could get there earlier? I was pretty good at running. Running away from my problems, at least.

   Al and I lived in the closest thing to country you can find around the area, and town was far enough away that going there was a hassle.

   I ran through the doors of the Café at 10:25. Perfect timing.

   Inside, it was more crowded than usual. At least ten people milled among the small area, which usually only housed one or two. The aroma of coffee was thick in the air, and I felt like lifting off my feet and floating to the back, where Harry made the drinks.

   I sat down at one of the heavy oak tables and set up my laptop, sliding in my earbuds. The lecture was a had to watch. It was discussing the molecular difference in genetic strains, and that was something I'd been interested since I was in grade school.

   Thats why I felt my brows draw together when someone sat across from me. This was important, and anybody sitting across from me was hitting on me. Because I sure as hell didn't have any friends.

   It took a couple of taps on the table for me to look up. When I did, I stood shock still.

   It was the boy. The boy who I'd seen since I was little. Who I dreamed about every night. They boy who I hadn't seen in five years. He was sitting in front of me, smiling like it was his birthday.

   His chestnut hair was longer now. It spiked up randomly all over his head. He was wearing a thick black long sleeved shirt, and his hands were covered in thick grey gloves.

   He was saying something to me, but I couldn't hear over the monotonous drawl of the professor's voice. I quickly pulled out my earbuds.

   "Huh?" Great job, idiot. The first thing you say to your mystery boy is 'huh.' Great job.

   He tilted his head. "Shouldn't you be at school?" His voice was deeper than I would've anticipated, and gravely despite his age

   "Uh, no actually. I graduated a couple of years ago."

   "You graduated high school? Jeez, Sam. Good for you."

   "Uh, no, actually."

   His eyebrows so clearly formed a question mark that I nearly laughed. I think he could tell, because his mouth quirked up in the corner.

   "College. I have a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering." Without the help of your company, some part of me wanted to say.

   He broke out into a wide smile. God, that was a smile I could fight for. "So you're not busy, today?"

   I glanced at my screen, where the professor was drawing something on the blackboard. On the other hand, this boy was *finally* talking. And I certainly didn't want him to stop. "Not really. Why?"

   "Cmon," he stood up and started walking to the door. I got up and followed without thinking. "Let's go to your house."

   "Wait, what?" I grabbed for his arm before he could walk out the door. He flinched back.

   Okay, who the fuck was this guy? Coming into my life unannounced, and now he didn't want to touch me?

   "I'm not going anywhere with you. Especially my house. What's your problem? You think that because you stalk me for my entire fucking life, you have some kind of hold over me?"

   The boy looked back. "Trust me."

   "Why should I trust you?"

   For a second, there was genuine hurt in his eyes. Guilt, and sadness, and anger.  Thats when I noticed his eyes were a stormy grey. Grey like dark clouds, baked concrete. Grey like armor and reassurances. "I promise."

   I didn't know what he was promising. But I knew whatever it was, he would keep it. "Okay," I whispered.

   He grinned and breezed out the door, leaving me having to jog to catch up.

   He was walking down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets when I managed to catch up to him. God, he was tall.

    "What's your name?" I asked, huffing only a little bit.

   He threw back his shoulders, puffed out his chest like an animal showing off his plumage, and grinned. "My name is Ajax. And I'm your Protector."

   There was a pause of a couple of seconds while he stared expectantly at me. "Uhhhhh. Should I know what that means?"

   "Oh, yeah." Ajax chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "You don't know about any of that yet. You'll learn about all of that later."

   "Are you ever gonna stop being confusing?"

   He smiled. He always seemed to have some sort of smile on his face. "I wouldn't want you to get bored of me."

  Before I knew it, we were standing in front of my house. "Um, I don't really know how to-"

   Before I could finish my sentence, Ajax was striding up to the house, taking the steps two at a time. I had known him for half an hour, and I already felt like all of my time was spent running after him.

   He opened my front door before I could.

   "Hey, little brother. Youre home-" When he turned around, he paused, his eyes jerking between the two of us. "You've brought a friend."

   "This is Ajax."

   Ajax leaned forward and shook Al's hand. "Nice to meet you."

   Al's eyebrows came together for a second. Then his face came crashing back to carefully normal. "Nice to meet you, Ajax."

   Ajax sat down at the counter and started munching on the cookies that Al had set out.

   "Isn't that the boy thats been-"

   "Yeah."

   "Uh, are you okay? Blink twice if you need help."

   I knew that he was only half joking, so I shook my head. "I'm alright."

   Al considered me for a moment, but finally nodded his head. "Okay."

   "I hate to say this now, since you're considering the possibility of me being a serial killer, but do you want to go on a walk in the woods with me?" Ajax's mouth was stuffed with cookies, and he had a cocky tilt to his head. Heaven help me.

   "Sure. But I have a blue belt in karate, so you better not try to kill me."

   Ajax smiled as he stood up. "I make no promises."

   As I followed him out the door, Al grabbed my arm. "Are you sure about this?"

   I glanced towards Ajax and shrugged. "Kind of. Worse comes to worse, I die, and you finally get rid of me."

   His smile was a little too tense to be considered real. "Be careful, little brother." Our code for, 'i love you.'

   "You too." With one last glance back at him, I followed Ajax out the door, hoping to God that I had made the right decision.

   "So," I said as we walked towards the woods where I had first seen him all of those years ago. "What's so special about me?"

   "What do you mean?"

   "Why are you stalking me in particular? I mean, I know I'm pretty good looking, but jeez."

   Ajax laughed. "It's kind of complicated. You'll find out in a minute."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

   "And what did you mean when you said you were my Protector?" My first thought was body guard. But why would I need one of those?

   "You'll find out in a minute."

   "Is there anything I get to know now?"

   "I missed you." His head was low, so I couldn't catch his expression, but his voice was quiet, almost ashamed.

   Some part of me wanted to get angry at him. To tell him that he had left me, damnit. He had been the one to not come back. He had left me all alone. But that was a thought better left unexplored, because I didn't even know why I cared so much.

   Instead, I said, "I missed you too."

   He smiled at me. And this smile was more vulnerable than his other ones. More like his emotions were shining clearly through his face.

   It wasn't until I tripped over a root and fell on my ass that I realized I'd been staring. "Ow."

   Ajax laughed and pulled me up, very careful not to touch my skin, I noticed. What was with this guy?"

   He looked around and nodded. "This is a good spot."

   "Spot for what?" I looked around the wood clearing. Al and I had played here dozens of times as kids. There was nothing special about it. Just a clearing in the middle of the woods, with a couple of trees sprinkled here and there.

   When I turned back, Ajax had his hand out in front of him. "Touch me."

   "Uh... Listen, fella. I just met you, and while I'm flattered, I'm not really ready f-"

   Ajax shook his head. "Touch my hand."

   Without thinking, I held up my hand so it hovered centimeters away from his. "Why?"

   "It'll tell you everything you want to know. But careful, it's probably gonna hurt."

   This kid was definitely insane. But I had heard that you had a greater chance of surviving an encounter with a crazy person if you played along. Plus, some part of me said that this was right. This was the right thing to do.

   So slowly, holding my breath, I bridged the gap.

   And the world turned upside down.

   A bright blue light started to bridge out from our palms, wrapping gently around our wrists like snakes. Slowly, it eased out and up, expanding like some kind of gas. Until soon, I could barely see Ajax through the bright light.

   Thats when the pain started. It shot through my body, like I had been struck by lightning, and I almost screamed. It hurt so bad. It was like fire burning me from the inside out, turning me into something else. I felt like I could feel myself melting away.

   "Hey." Through the chaos, I heard a calm clear voice. A savior. It was Ajax, looking calm, except for his eyes. Thats where the panic lived. "You have to give it all to me. All of the pain. Give it to me."

   I shook my head mutely. I wouldn't wish this on to anyone. Not my worst enemy. I was going to die here.

   "That's exactly right, Sammy. If you don't give it to me, you will die. So hand it over. It's okay. I can take it."

   I tried to stop it. I tried to hold the power inside of me and let it consume me instead of anyone else. But as soon as he said those words, I felt it starting to leave me, flowing out through my arm. When it left, I nearly collapsed.

   But Ajax was across from me. And his jaw was clenched. All of him was clenched, as though he was trying to collapse inside of himself. He threw his head back and roared at the sky. It was the worst sound I had ever heard. It was desperate and painful. And partly triumphant, like he was trying to chase the pain away.

   And sure enough, the blue light suddenly surged towards him, wrapping around his body as he limply fell to the ground.

   I was soon to follow.

   I wasn't out long before I drowsily managed to pick my head up and look where Ajax was laying. The blue light was wrapped around his body like a blanket.

   Thank God, he wasn't dead.

   Oh God, what if he was dead?

   I scrambled on my hands and knees over to him, pausing next to his side. I put my head to his chest, holding my breath.

   Oh thank God, he was breathing. That solved a couple of problems. Except for the biggest problem, which was what the fuck?

   Suddenly, Ajax's body seized and he began coughing, breathing raggedly. His unconscious face was riddled with pain, and he groaned softly.

   What was I supposed to do?

   Grab the light, a voice boomed inside of my head.

   I stumbled back. Jesus Christ. What was that?

   Grab the light to save your Protector

    I hesitantly reached my hands to hover just barely above Ajax's stomach. While the scary voice in my head wasn't exactly reliable, it had more ideas than I did.

   Astoundingly, the light started to gather around my hands, moving towards them like metal to a magnet. After a couple of seconds, my hands were wrapped in the light.

   "Whoa." As I moved my hands, the light moved with me, pooling around my hands.

   Form the portal

   I don't know how to do that.

   Form the portal

   I swore I could hear an audible click, like a phone was being hung up. I sighed. Could the mysterious voice only do so much, then? It couldn't help me through this mystical bullshit.

   Okay. Okay. So a portal is basically a door, right? What if I made a door?

   Carefully, ever so carefully, I brought my hands up. The light followed, flowing like smoke. As soon as it was off Ajax, he sighed and settled down. Thank God. When I separated my hands, the light split in half, it lingered behind them. I moved my hands to form a door shape. It was like using a Wooly Willy.

   The door came into shape. I suddenly knew what to do. With a shaking hand, I tapped on what shouldn't of had any physical essence. But it did. It felt as solid as a real door. The blue light suddenly disappeared, leaving something fantastic behind it.

   It was a meadow. A meadow where the grass was greener than I think anything had a right to be in real life. The flowers were a shade of red and yellow that hurt my eyes to look at. And at the edge there was a huge forest that led to a mountain.

   That definitely wasn't Minnesota. And what right it had appearing in the middle of my hallucination, I had no idea.

   Bring him through. That's the only way to save him

   This was absolutely crazy. Completely bonkers. But that didn't stop me from bending down and lifting Ajax. He was heavy. A lot heavier than he looked.

   I looked back towards the portal, Ajax laying limply in my arms.

   Then I looked back to the woods. To where I thought that if I concentrated, I might be able to see our little house.

   I'd be back. I decided that before I even decided to leave.

   I took a step into the portal.

   I'd be back.

   There was a whooshing sound, and my ears popped with the pressure. When I opened my eyes back up, I was in the meadow. It had actually worked. Dear God. It had actually worked.

   When I turned around, the portal was gone. The light seemed to be wrapped around my hands, pulsing like it was alive. I turned back around. That was definitely a later problem.

   Well, now what? I was in the magical portal world, and Ajax was still just as heavy and unconscious in my arms. What was I supposed to do?

   That's when I saw it. Movement on the edge of the meadow, right next to the forest.

   It was a person. It had to be. With renewed energy, I ran towards them. (With Ajax in my arms, it was more of a speed waddle, but it's the thought that counts.) It wasn't until I was about ten feet away from the forest that the person looked up, and strode briskly towards me.

   She was beautiful. That was plain as day. Her skin was porcelain, and speckled in freckles. Her hair was red and curled in a mass around her head. She wore a purple T-shirt and gloves, along with a black cloak that seemed far too hot for this weather, which was smoking despite it being October.

   "What are you doing?" She gestured down to my hands, a look of slight irritation on her face.

   I almost made an attempt to hide them. "Uh...I...it's not what it-"

   "Can it. Just put them away, alright? Don't want the kids getting any funny ideas."

   "Um, okay. But could you help my friend? He's hurt."

   She tutted and shook her head. "He looks overloaded. What were you thinking?" She reached out towards him, and I flinched back automatically. "Settle down. I'm not going to hurt him." When she turned his face gently to the side so she could see it's features, she gasped. "Jax?"

   "You know him? Can you help him?" I knew that I sounded a little desperate.

   She just looked up at me, something close to awe in her eyes. "You're Sam?"

   "Yeah?"

   "Chip is not going to believe this." She shook her head and let out a quiet little laugh. "How the hell did you overload him?"

   "It was nothing! I was just there. And I touched him. And everything hurt. Like a lot. And then he-"

   "Come on, we gotta get you to the hospice." She pulled on my arm and led me into the trees.

   What was inside was incredible. It was a village of some sort. There were little log buildings spread among it, and people hung out in front of them and ran to and fro between them. Fires lit up the clearing, and people sat around them, laughing and dancing. There had to be two hundred people here, at least. The noise of their life was unwanted in my ears. But I just kept walking where Maura led me, trying to absorb everything.

   A girl suddenly walked up to us, stopping Maura with a gentle hand on her arm. She was wearing a tank top, and I could see a tattoo of some sort across her chest. It was red interlocking diamonds. What an odd tattoo.

   She was tall, almost as tall as me, and her skin was darker than simply tan. Blond hair was wavy and messy around her head. Her muscled arms were clear in her white tank top, and her face was kind.

   "Hey, M. What's up?" Her smile was easy and unforced. Like Ajax's.

   "You're not going to believe it." Maura turned back to me, leading the girl to follow. "This is Sam."

   The girl visibly did a double take. "You're kidding."

   "Nope. He's carrying Ajax, must have overloaded him." Maura's face was smug.

   "I don't understand why it's so hard to believe that I'm me," I said. This was getting a bit irritating. Ajax needed help.

   The girl swept her hair out of her face. "Sorry, sorry. You don't really get anything yet. We've just heard a lot about you." She shook her head. "That's crazy. Anyway, hi, Sam. I'm Chip." She didn't offer a hand to shake, so I didn't. Any touching seemed strange right now.

   "Hi. How have you-"

   Maura was already whisking us towards a slightly bigger wooden building. I was inside the building before I knew what was happening.

   Immediately, there were people in white uniforms swarming us.

   "What happened to him?" One asked.

   I was about to open my mouth when Maura answered for me. "He got overloaded."

  "How the hell did that happen?"

   "I've no idea."

   The woman sighed. "Alright son, sit him in the bed."

   As soon as I let him out of my arms, I felt a spike of panic. I reached out to keep my hand on his arm, but I was pushed away by the people in white uniforms. That made me panic more.

   "Hey! Hey, let me through!" I started trying to fight through them, elbowing and shoving. I couldn't see Jax. I couldn't see Jax.

   "Someone get this kid out of here."

   Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me away, despite my fighting.

   When I whirled around, it was Maura. "Get off me!" I yelled.

   "Newly bondeds are the worst. Chip, get him out of here so we can work."

   Chip pulled on some gloves and grabbed my arm, gently, but firm. With surprising strength, she pulled me out the door. I managed to get one last look over my shoulder. Ajax's shirt was off, and I could see tattoos on his arms.

   Then I was outside. I wrenched myself out of Chip's grip and growled. "I gotta get back in there." I didn't even know why I was being so adamant. They were his friends. They weren't going to hurt him. But I needed to be near him. I needed to-

   Chip interrupted me with a hand on my shoulder. "Hey."

   I flinched away from the contact.

   "Sorry, I forgot." She shook her head. "Listen to me, okay?" Her voice was soft, and I managed to focus on it, despite the panic in my head. "What you're feeling right now? That's because of the bond. It's new, and it's scary to be away from him, right?"

   I nodded mutely.

   "You're panicking, I know. Everybody does at this stage. But they're just taking care of him. Then you'll be able to spend all of your time with him. For now, I want you to take a deep breath. Can you do that?"

   Another nod.

   "All right. Deep breath in."

   My lungs felt tight.

   "Deep breath out."

   Focus on this.

   "Deep breath in."

   It'll be okay."

   "Deep breath out."

   This was okay."

   "Deep breath in."

   They weren't nearly as tight as they were.

   "Deep breath out."

   I let out a huge sigh of air.

   She smiled. "Are you okay?"

   "Yeah, I'm okay." The panic was still there, but it was sleeping. For now.

   "Good." Her grin was wide and toothy. "I remember how hard it was when you're first bonded. Well, I barely remember anyway."

   "I don't... I don't really understand understand what's going on."

   "Yeah, and that's okay! You won't for a while. Maura will catch you up to speed."

   "Is Ajax okay?" My heart ached at his name.

   "He'll be alright. Everyone in there is doing really good work. Especially mine." She winked.

   "Is Maura...yours?"

   She hummed and nodded. She slid down against the wall, until she was sitting against it. I sat down slightly less gracefully beside her.

   "What... What does that mean?"

   Chip shrugged. "I don't really think anybody knows."

   We sat in silence for a while. "Thanks for calming me down earlier."

   "Nah, it was nothing. I have to do it with Maura sometimes. She gets real flustered. I think it's a Poten thing."

   Everything she said created more and more questions. But I had a feeling I wouldn't get any of the answers. So we sat in silence. Chip was humming something. It sounded vaguely like something from the 90s.

   An indeterminate amount of time later, the door opened, and I surged to my feet. Maura was wiping her hands, her cloak was missing.

   "Is he-"

   "He'll be okay. But you can't see him right now."

   "I-"

   "Nope. Later. For now, I need to talk to you."

   "Kitten, maybe you should let him rest." Chip nodded her head at me with a concerned face, and I wondered how bad I looked.

   "It's been long enough. You wanna go inside and look after Jax?"

   Chip nodded and kissed Maura on the cheek. When I gave her a look of panic, she just shrugged and smiled.

   Maura shook her head. "I'm not that bad." There was a tiny trace of a smile on her mouth.

   "I definitely could've meet you in better circumstances."

   Then there was a real smile. "You're probably a bit confused."

   "A bit, yeah." I tried to let as much sarcastic leak into my voice as possible.

   "I can solve a bit of that, though you might want to sit down"

   Ruh roh. I sat against the building hesitantly.

   She stayed standing in front of me. "Okay. So I'm used to telling this story to five year olds, so bear with me." She took a deep breath. "Alright. So when the universe was created, there were massive amounts of energy still floating around. This energy caused animals and people to come into being. These beings came to be on the planet Origin." She gestured around her. "Here."

   "Some of those created by the energy had too much. This meant that they needed to share it with somebody else. The Poten, us by the way, could manipulate the energy around us. That's what the Magicae-er, light, really is. It's just energy. We share our extra energy, we mostly like to think of it as a soul, with the Protectors. They keep us safe, and reap some of the excess energy, making them stronger and faster than most."

   "There's also lots of other beings who have too much soul to carry alone. There's the Dragon Mates and their Dragons, the Ani and the Anilo. There's even the Shifters, who share their souls with the world around them."

   "However, there were also beings created who didn't have too much energy. They had just enough to contain within themselves. Those were the humans. They had no special abilities like the others, and we're bonded to no other. Soon they grew jealous of those who did have those abilities."

   "They hatched a dark plan. A secret ritual to be done, to steal energy from the world and give it to themselves. Not all of human kind participated in this, but enough to do serious damage to our world."

   "But the ritual went wrong. Instead of the energy living within them, it corrupted them from the inside out. Their souls and their bodies became rotted and evil. This bred a race called the Drai. They were single minded monsters, dedicated to killing all of those who had what they so wanted."

   "This especially meant the Poten and their Protectors, who were the most human. The Drai forced the Poten to do what they could to save themselves. They banished the humans into another world, one that would come to be called Earth. Some of the humans tried to stay, pretending to be Protectors. This caused the Poten to mark their Protectors, with colorful marks across their skin.

   "Banishing the humans had an interesting result. Apparently, the humans had an essential affect on the Poten. Without sending the Poten to live among humans for a time, they would die. So the Poten sent their young to live with the humans. Until the Potens designated Protector felt the pull that let them know it was time to retrieve them."

   "Banishing the remaining humans didn't stop the Drai. They hunted and hunted and hunted. Until they finally forced the Poten and their Protectors into hiding. And that's how we found ourselves in this secret magic protected forest," Maura finished with a sigh.

   I sat silently for a moment. That was a lot to take in. "So you're saying I'm secretly from a magical race?"

   "Yes."

   "And that I'm magically bonded to Ajax."

   "Yup."

   "And humans came from this magical world?"

   "Mhmm."

   "You're crazy." I got up and brushed myself off. "This whole thing is on crack."

   "Did you or did you not come through a magical portal?"

   I paused. "I did."

   "How did you know how to do that, by the way? Your Protector is supposed to show you."

   "Uh..." Admitting to the voice in my head seemed like a bad plan. "I just knew, I guess."

   "Huh. Anyway. You spouted magic from your hands. And made a portal with it. How does this still seem impossible to you?"

   I groaned. She was making a lot of sense. "Cause I'm a reasonable person, I guess?" I rubbed my face. "Are you being entirely serious right now?"

   She created a small ball of purple light, or Magicae, I guess, in her hand. "Entirely."

   "Well...shit. What am I supposed to do now?" I threw my hands up. "Am I just supposed to go home and forgot that it happened?"

   Maura winced. "Not exactly. You can't leave."

   I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean I can't leave?"

   "Too much time on Earth, and your Protector dies. That's why he only visited. He'd stay with you all of the time." She looked up, and I saw that she was trying to convince me. "Really. He would've stayed. He's always loved you."

   Uh. Moving past that bit of information. He couldn't stay on Earth. Couldn't I just stay on Earth? I mean, Ajax was great. But was I willing to give up everything? The part of me that said yes was quickly silenced.

   "I know what you're thinking, wise guy. Now that you two are bonded, if you spend too much time away from him, you die."

   I rolled my eyes. Great. Whatever happened, someone died. "So I'm stuck here?"

   "You can visit Earth. But not for very long. You wouldn't want to anyway. Now that you've been Awakened, people know that there's something...off. they treat you differently."

   My brain wasn't really absorbing this information.

   "So, I'm not human, bonded to Ajax, and stuck here forever?'

   "That's about right."

   Great. This was going to be a blast.