Chapter Six.

"You're all sweaty," Jess made a face as Greyson landed in front of her after his second flight.

"Of course I am," he gave her a look that called her stupid. "Flying is the same as any other form of exercise. There are muscles in both the wings and my back that control my flight. It would be like practicing punches in martial arts."

"It's not magic?" Jess's eyes widened. "But it's freezing out!"

"Yeah," Greyson rolled his eyes. "It's freezing out. Because you can go for a half-hour run in the freezing temps and not end up sweaty. A workout is a workout. Just because it's cold out doesn't mean your body doesn't warm up. And there's some magic involved, but I mostly don't use the natural flight magics. It feels cooler to fly without."

Jess stared at his wings for several long moments.

"They're so beautiful," she breathed. "Can I touch them?"

"Sure," Greyson tucked them behind himself.

He stood stiff as he realized what he'd just said she could do, watching as Jess walked over and gently placed a hand on one of his rings. Immediately, he jumped, jerking away from her.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I, uh, I've never had someone else touch them before, other than when they were broken, and that was to heal them. And, uh, yeah. They weren't someone like you."

"Someone like me?" Jess asked as Greyson's face flushed.

"Someone I like," he said. "I told you I liked you. You can touch them again."

Jess gently reached out and touched Greyson's wing again, and he stiffened up once more, acutely aware of her hand gently touching his feathers and the top of the wing, her hand sliding down and brushing his back for a moment. She apologized as she continued feeling his wing.

"It feels amazing," she said after several minutes, stepping around so that she was in front of him. His face was redder than she had ever seen it before, and his body was tense. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said. "So, uh, did you want to register? The mages are here to help you learn the basics if you wanted to. I'm not actually registered, so they don't teach me. Dad has to use his leverage within the department to allow me to fly around out here. He tells them that it's that or have a nephilim stretching his wings with a risk of getting caught."

"You're unregistered?" She asked. "But your dad works for the government!"

"It's not required," Lucas informed her. "And he's found himself a private magic tutor somewhere."

"You don't know?" She raised an eyebrow, looking at her classmate's father.

"Erm," Greyson said. "I wasn't sick when I was gone. I'd run away from home. I found her while I was gone. My parents didn't know I knew magic existed in reality until one of his agents saw me at an underground mage arena."

"You do mage fighting?" Jess quickly turned her gaze to him, eyes wide with horror.

"No!" He exclaimed. "I mean, I can, I learned how to use blood and water as a weapon, but I've never participated in the fights. My root magic, like most nephilim, is healing. For me, it's specifically self-healing. I was healing a werewolf who fought in the brawling section of it up until-he doesn't go there anymore. Now, I just watch."

"Why doesn't he go there anymore?" Jess asked.

"So do you want to register?" Greyson asked. "They can help you learn how to use your magic properly."

"Not if you aren't registered," Jess answered, and Greyson sighed. "What?"

"The only other thing," he said. "Is to try to learn on your own. There's no way you'll be able to learn how."

"You can't help me?" She asked.

"No," Greyson shook his head. "I don't know force magic. I know blood, water, and enchant magics."

"Enchant?" Lucas asked, and Greyson realized he'd never told his father all of the magics he knew. "You know enchant magics, too?"

"Yeah," Greyson admitted. "I use it to enhance my sense of smell. I can already smell blood pretty easily, but when I enhance it, I can detect traces of it in the air. More if someone's injured. It's easier for me to tell the difference between people by the smell of their blood when I enhance my sense of smell."

"I think," Jess hesitated for a moment, and Greyson looked back at her. "I think I'm going to try to figure it out on my own. My parents wouldn't be able to afford the lessons even if I did. I don't want to register with the government, if it's not required."

"It's not," Lucas informed her. "However, it's already been recorded that you're a magician, and once I give you the rules you need to remember, that will be recorded as well."

"The rules?" She asked.

"Primary one," Greyson said. "Don't reveal it to the mundies – the people who don't know magic is real. Don't try to be a superhero, either. The government tends to frown on that. Don't use your magic to deal with a mundie problem unless it's absolutely necessary and there's no other way to save yourself. Basically, don't do anything that can break the primary one. Other than that, standard laws apply."

"So the mage arena," she said. "That doesn't count as an illegal fight ring?"

"It does," Lucas informed her. "But it's run by an extremely powerful mage we'd rather not upset, and its main purpose is keeping those mages from fighting each other on the streets, so we let things like that slide as long as they aren't a problem."

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"How powerful?" She asked. "The guy who runs it, I mean."

"Let's put it this way," Greyson said. "Fairy Kings and Queens were among the most powerful magical creatures under things like dragons, phoenixes, and gods. There were four of them. He toyed with one of them and twenty Fairy Lords during the Fae Forest Fight a week ago. Toyed with one of them. And he helped to kill the Fairy Emperor, a godlike being. He's one of the five most powerful mages on the planet."

"Indeed," Lucas ruffled his son's hair. "His name is Adam Leosvar, and he's a natural shift mage – he can change his form at will. It only takes him a few minutes to become a completely different person, and anytime his current identity is revealed, he takes on a new one. He runs the arena for the reason I mentioned before, though it also helps them train themselves and their abilities. Most of the arena's regulars participated in the Battle of the Fae Forest, and had a large contribution in taking out the lesser fae around."

Jess took that all in. She wasn't sure how powerful that was overall, since she was new to the magical world, but the way they talked made her wonder just how powerful this mage really was.

"Since I'm not registering," she decided to ask. "Am I allowed to be here?"

"Just until we leave," Lucas answered. "Which should probably be soon, the slot I pulled for Greyson's flight is almost up."

He didn't mention that Greyson would have had a lot more time had they not decided to approach her. Greyson had willingly sacrificed half an hour or more of flight time just to help Jess.

Greyson nodded, then took off running, extending his wings and taking off into the sky to show off his flight abilities to Jess a little bit more. Once it was time to come down, he did so, unmanifesting his wings and pulling his hoodie back on.

Lucas drove his son and his son's friend to a restaurant for dinner, and while they were eating, Greyson told his father he was going to the arena that night, and if it was okay to bring Jess.

"No," his father said. "There's always the risk she'd get hurt there, and I'm not taking responsibility for that."

"The fairies are dealt with," Greyson said. "And Adam's always there. Plus, I'll be there, and Eden, and Cam, and the new challenger who's been kicking ass this last week. And all the other strong fighters. It's literally one of the most secure places in all of Tejina, Father. At least, while the fights are going on. And Cam said that Adam enchanted the warehouse further to prevent something like the fairies' attack from happening again. It's pretty much a fortress, now."

"Greyson-"

"No, seriously," Greyson pulled out his phone to show his father the text. "He actually said 'the warehouse is a fortress now! It even has attack wards!' See!"

"I'm… not sure how I feel about Leosvar putting attack wards on his warehouse," Lucas said.

"What's an attack ward?" Jess asked.

"If someone attacks the warehouse," Greyson explained. "Like, the actual building itself, the wards will attack back. Cam said that the warehouse will also form a protective bubble if it comes under attack, to make it harder to get inside."

"That sounds cool," she said.

"Yeah," Greyson's expression turned grim. "Adam hadn't thought such protections were necessary, since only a moron would attack a place like that. Fairies weren't exactly known for their brains, and they did. A lot of supernats died."

"Supernats?"

"The general term," Lucas explained. "For someone in the magical world. Mage, supernatural creature, person who knows but doesn't have magic yet participates anyway – anything like that. The three of us are supernats, since you and I are mages and Greyson's a nephilim."

"What kind of powers do you have?" Jess asked him.

"I don't reveal it to many," he answered, then looked at Greyson. "You said Cam was going to be there tonight? He hasn't been since he was rescued, we thought he would be traumatized for a lot longer. Too much so to attend."

"Yeah," Greyson nodded. "Apparently, he got reunited with a friend from before he ran away from home, and the friend turned out to be an illusion mage and has been since before Cam ran away. They went to the arena to spar against each other."

"How often do you text Cam?" Lucas asked.

"All the time," Greyson answered as his phone beeped. "I like to keep in touch with him."

Greyson checked his phone, then looked at his father, his face and ears crimson.

"According to Cam, he'll only talk to me at the arena tonight if I bring Jess there as if we're on a date."

"A date?" Jess asked.

"He probably figured out I liked you somehow?" Greyson asked. "I guess I have mentioned you a lot since we started texting? He just sent me another text. He said that I have to bring him mozzarella sticks, too."

Lucas snorted, and reluctantly agreed to bring Jess there after checking to see if her parents were okay with it. They weren't fond of their daughter attending a mage arena, but Lucas promised that he and one other agent would be present, and that several powerful mages regularly protected the place. After that, they agreed to it, so the trio left the restaurant after buying some mozzarella sticks and two drinks to-go.

Half an hour later, Lucas pulled up to the warehouse, and watched as his son practically dragged Jess out to introduce her to his friends. He followed closely behind, carrying the food and drinks.

"No outside refreshments," the bouncer at the door stopped him after letting Greyson and Jess inside.

"DoSS," Adam flashed his badge at the bouncer. "You're not stopping me from entering when my son's in there."

The bouncer eyed the badge, then let him inside. Lucas entered the arena and approached the ring, where a fourteen-year-old and two figures dressed in hoodies, gloves, and masks were talking with Greyson and Jess, who had charged over.

"Adam?" Lucas asked the teen.

"No," the shorter of the two masked figures, whose mask was a dark pink, looked at him.

There were no eyeholes, which disturbed Lucas. They were enchanted masks, which allowed the wearers to see out of them. Almost illegal, but not quite. It was something Cam and Eden wore from their first fights.

"This is Kris," the shorter mage said. "He's my nephew."

"Hello, Cam," Lucas held out the food, and the young mage took them and gave the sticks to his nephew. "You're not going to eat them?"

"Hard to do that with a mask on," came the annoyed response. "Why are you here? Greyson might have forgiven you, but I'm not so quick to forgive, and the voices say I shouldn't forgive you for what you did to my friend, either."

"He's here to make sure Jess is fine," Greyson answered. "Are you fighting tonight? You're wearing your mask."

"We're not fighting tonight," the taller masked figure, Eden, answered. "We're just wearing the masks because Cam's weird."

Because he feels more comfortable wearing it right now when he's around others, Lucas thought. Especially after what happened to him. Everyone will probably want to approach him about the fight and his accomplishment, and that will scare him. When he puts the mask on, it creates an extra layer of protection for him, mentally.

Thinking about the fight reminded Lucas of Cam's overwhelming divine aura, something he couldn't sense a single trace of.

"Cam?" He asked. "What happened to your divinity?"

"I'm wearing an amulet that conceals it," Cam responded. "My uncle makes them. Callum, no peeing on the agent."

Lucas turned and looked at the dog that had walked up to him. It looked like a German shepherd and chow mix, and had just begun to lift its leg up. The dog huffed, then walked over to Cam's side, and the young teen placed his hand on the dog's head.

The agent only then remembered that the young mage had an ancient demigod cousin guarding him at all times. That warehouse probably was the safest place in the country at the moment.

And the most dangerous.

Please don't let this be a long night.