"Hey, Luka. Some guy is looking for you," Darren called, coming into the room.

Luka looked up and his eyes followed the direction of Darren's thumb, pointing towards the door. Initial confusion turned into a dreadful resignation. Outside the door was a ghost of his past, and while Luka had always expected the phantom to reappear, he had hoped it would take longer. At least ten more years would be good. Twenty would be better.

He sighed, and pushed himself up from his work station. The centrifuge still had about five minutes left, before he could continue to analyze the blood sample, which meant that unfortunately he had about five minutes to talk. He dragged himself away from his work, towards the hallway and a conversation he didn't want to have.

Hadley Thomas was pacing back and forth in the narrow hallway, and missed Luka walking through the door.

"Thomas," Luka said, keeping his voice flat.

Hadley spun around to face him. His eyes were wide, startled, and his breath unsteady. Luka was just as much a ghost to him, and it didn't look like he had been all the way prepared to face him. His breath didn't immediately slow, not until he forced it deep into his lungs. Luka watched him calm himself, and as much as he wanted to tell him to get on with it, he didn't.

"Lavrin." Hadley tried to match the flatness of Luka's tone, but it was far too late for him to pretend he was cool with this. Luka also caught the small, but distinct crack in his voice, no matter how much he was trying to suppress it.

Hadley cleared his throat. "I need five minutes," he said, already defensive. Even more so, because he had to know Luka saw his weakness. He hadn't quite figured out what it was yet, but it was there. Hadley had always been a big fan of control, and right now, he was not in control. Not of the situation, but more importantly, not of himself.

"I'm working," Luka said, "but I bet you also know where I live. Find me when I'm not busy."

"I thought this would be the best way not to get a door slammed in my face," Hadley countered. The way he quivered, like he was on the edge of a fight or flight reaction, was distracting, but once Luka saw beyond that, he had to admit that he was not wrong. He considered his options for slamming the door to the lab in his face, but it wouldn't have quite the same effect.

"I really don't have time for whatever this is." Luka took a step back towards the door.

"Lavrin." Hadley stepped forward and grabbed his arm. Luka's hand was already curled into a fist, when he suppressed the urge to hit him. Instead, he pulled himself free, and pushed Hadley back out of reach. Hadley stumbled back, wide eyed, and had to take another moment to settle his breathing. His hand twitched towards his bag, before his brain caught up and he placed his hand in his pocket instead — had he been worried enough about this meeting to bring a suppressor? Or maybe he was simply hoping to stab him with a pen. Luka read these impressions, but pushed them to the back of his mind. He wasn't interested in Hadley's scars. He wasn't going to wonder what caused them. He wasn't going to let himself think that he already knew.

"I'm not interested, Thomas. I don't care what the case is."

Hadley stayed back, even increasing the distance between them, but his voice gained a harder edge. "You don't know why I'm here."

"No, but I know that you don't want to be here, and I can see that you're desperate. Which means you need my help. Or, should I say, the Council needs my help? Either way, I'm not doing it."

Hadley looked at the door, and inclined his head for Luka to follow, as he walked further back. Luka didn't really care if anyone heard them, but he followed him to a dark corner of the hallway.

"We know you're a Rogue. So, you can either help or you can get arrested."

Luka shook his head. He wasn't surprised, but he had to admit he was disappointed. It was too early for threats. They hadn't even started negotiating yet.

"Right. Come back when you can prove it. In the meantime, I actually have a real job." He made an sweeping gesture at the lab behind him. "I don't have the time or the inclination to solve your problems."

"Really. So you weren't the one who left a Stray on our doorstep back in April?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Luka leaned into the wall, and folded his arms across his chest.

"No," Hadley said, and his voice was finally finding its way to emotionless exasperation. "Of course you don't."

They watched each other, arms crossed in mirrored displeasure. Luka waited for further threats, but suspected Hadley might actually decide to return with a group of Agents to arrest him.

"Fine," he said. "Pitch it." The quicker he could get this over with, the quicker he could get back to work.

"What?" Hadley asked. "You know I can't actually tell you anything unless you accept. It's classified."

"Nothing? You came here with something other than threats, Thomas. Or you wouldn't have bothered asking."

"I was hoping that coming here, asking you in person, would be enough."

"No," Luka said. "Tell me what you're authorized to offer me."

Hadley looked him in the eyes, the first time he had made direct eye-contact. "Nothing."

"Nothing," Luka repeated. Of course. The Council were too proud and too cheap for incentives at the best of times, and they were arrogant enough to think they could still command him.

"They didn't want me to do this at all, but I'm here anyway. Sticking my neck out, because I know you can fix this."

Luka wished he would stop it with the evasive bullshit. "Fix what?"

Hadley didn't answer, but continued to stare at him.

"Fuck you, Thomas. That's my final answer. If you want to arrest me to secure my help, go right ahead. See where that gets you."

Stolen novel; please report.

He pushed off the wall, but he didn't expect that to be the end of it.

"Wait," Hadley said. "Okay, just. Wait." He rubbed at his eyes, as he caved. Luka waited for him to decide how much information was just enough. "It's some sort of disease, and we don't know how to stop it. We think it's a spell."

He searched Luka's face for some kind of change, but he remained expressionless. "It's been spreading among the students. We're pretty sure it's killing them."

"Fuck," Luka muttered.

"Yeah," Hadley said, misunderstanding the expletive.

"You realize you could have saved us both some time by leading with that."

He shook his head. "It's classified. I shouldn't have..." said Hadley Thomas, stickler for the rules.

"Whatever. I accept the fucking job, but I expect to at least get paid."

Hadley looked at him with something close to relief. "If you even think about thanking me right now," Luka said, "I will punch you in the face."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Hadley said, but for a second he was almost smiling. Before Luka could really read a change in his mood, he bend down to the bag hanging at his hip, digging his hands into it. He emerged with a stack of papers and deposited them heavily into Luka's hands. He dug further and handed Luka a pen, despite the pen that was visibly tugged into the pocket of his lab coat. Providing the pen was probably protocol, and protocol would not be breached.

He flipped through the pile of papers, but Hadley flipped to the back.

"Contract and confidentiality agreement. Sign here and here." He said, pointing to two lines on the paper. "It's pretty standard," he continued, as Luka flipped back to the beginning. "As soon as you sign, I'll go away."

Luka glanced at him. If he was being honest, he didn't really care what the contract said, but Hadley wanted him so badly not to read it that he started to care. The thing had to be at least 50 pages, though, and he didn't have that kind of time.

"You'll go away as soon as I sign this?"

Hadley nodded. "Yes."

Luka flipped to the back, signed on both lines, and held out the pen to Hadley. Hadley reached for the papers, but Luka moved them out of his reach.

"Where is my copy?"

"Your copy?" Hadley asked, like he didn't know exactly what Luka was talking about.

"Of the contract," he said. "You must have a copy."

"I don't," he said. He still had his hand out, expecting Luka to return the contract.

"No. I'm keeping this until I've read it."

"You can't," Hadley protested.

Luka shrugged. "Too bad." He held the contract close to his chest and walked away.

He heard Hadley sigh behind him, but he didn't say anything else. Luka returned to the lab, and closed the door firmly behind him, before strolling back to his station, where he dumped the stack of papers on his desk. He was aware that he should put them away, since it was littered with terms like independent mage, the Council of Mages and probably also had a couple of magic’s thrown in there. There was no easy way to explain why he was holding on to a contract, that labeled him as an independent mage, but he didn't care. No one was likely to take a second look at it, and even if they did, it would save him the trouble of making up a convincing excuse for disappearing suddenly and for an extended period of time, if they all thought he had lost his mind.

"Darren," he said to the man sitting next to him. "If that guy ever asks for me again, tell him I'm not here."

The rest of the day seemed determined to hold out as long as possible, once the conversation got stuck in his head, and ran on an endless loop. He needed to say it out loud to dispel it, but he couldn't track down Quinn. Not while they were at work. Quinn was supposed to save lives, and Luka needed to run more tests and write more reports than his distracted brain would allow.

After work, Luka had managed to convince his boss that a family emergency required his immediate presence in Russia, and that he needed a couple of weeks off. He was now waiting in the parking garage, leaning against a black Audi that was far too expensive for a medical student, but just the right amount of expensive for a trust fund kid. While he waited, he ran over the details of the conversation with Hadley in his head, though there weren't many. If he was being honest, he already regretted taking the job. He knew exactly what it was going to be like. The politics and paranoia working together to make the most impossible work environment imaginable. Even though he had signed the contract and the confidentiality agreement, he couldn't expect information to suddenly be readily available.

When he left the Academy ten years ago, the Council had been a ridiculous collection of old mages from older families, who were both stubbornly set in their ways and willing to go to great lengths to stay that way, and he expected absolutely nothing to have changed.

He heard steps coming towards him, and glanced up.

"So, I had a fascinating meeting today," Luka complained. He exhaled smoke, and threw his cigarette to the ground.

The lights on the car flashed as it was unlocked, and Luka stepped around the car to the passenger side and opened the door.

"What kind of meeting?" Quinn asked, still approaching.

"The worst possible kind," Luka said. "A job offer."

He got in the car and waited for Quinn to join him inside. It only took a second for him to take the driver’s seat and close the door behind him.

"So, the Academy?" It was just barely a question. The answer was obvious enough.

"The Academy," Luka confirmed. "I should have known he wouldn't have come unless he knew I'd agree. Three simple words was all it took for him to ruin my life, and he knew it," Luka said, barely needing Quinn there to complete his rant, but feeling better to have someone listen to him. He realized now that Hadley had been manipulating him, and while he was sure the intention was to withhold the information entirely — hence the threats and the pleas — he had always known what to say to get Luka to fold.

"Tell me I made a mistake," he said. "I can still change my mind, if you convince me."

"What are the three words?" Quinn asked.

Luka closed his eyes and leaned back against the headrest.

"People are dying."

The words were followed by a pause, long enough to become palpable between them. Quinn exhaled slowly.

"You didn't make a mistake."

"I know," Luka said.

Quinn quieted, concentrating on navigating the rush hour traffic. Luka still found it strange, that Quinn insisted on driving, when he could cut 20 minutes off his commute by jumping. When Quinn had walked away from the Academy, he had walked away from his magic, too. He only started using it again, when Luka had nearly died on him. He still wouldn't use it for anything else, and he claimed to like driving, so Luka no longer brought it up.

"Quinn?" He wasn't one to break silences, but he needed to know what he was thinking.

"Sorry," he said. "I wish I could tell you to walk away."

"Yeah," Luka said. Quinn didn't want him back at the Academy either. He didn't want him to be a Rogue, but getting dragged back into the Academy somehow seemed like the worse option. He had struggled to avoid their attention and just like that, he was back in plain sight.

"I'll burn the contract," Luka said, gesturing to the stack of paper on his lap. "Just say the word."

Quinn smiled, but then he shook his head. "What kind of assholes would we be then?"

Luka shrugged. "I'm already an asshole."

"Yeah," Quinn said, "but I'm not."

Luka smiled and leaned further into the seat. The city crawled by outside, while the afternoon sun made everything hazy and Luka was grateful for the air conditioned car.

"It's some kind of spell?" Quinn asked.

Luka didn't take his eyes off the city. "They think so, since they can't figure it out, but I don't know. I'll have to see it myself."

They arrived in the parking garage of Quinn's building, and Luka walked up with him. He had created a gate between their apartments a long time ago, so it didn't make much of a difference to him. Once inside, Quinn reached for him. His fingers brushed the back of his neck and slid into his hair.

“Luka—” He hesitated, then asked: "Do you have to go home?"

Luka had a feeling it wasn’t the real question.

"I should," he said, but he leaned into the touch. "I assume Thomas wants me to start tomorrow, and I should be prepared." By which he meant, that he was going to snoop on the magic community's network for clues.

"Okay," Quinn said and pulled him into a quick kiss. "You know I have a 24 hour shift tomorrow, but call if you need me."

Luka kissed him back, slower, hands wrapped around his waist. He wasn't in that much of a hurry to go home. "I will," he said, knowing he wouldn't.

The moment was interrupted by his phone buzzing with a text from Hadley, giving him a time and a place. The time being noon and the place being his office. Two texts followed.

The first text read: "Don't be late."

The second: "And bring the contract."