On a Razor's Edge (Darkness #3)(24)

“And the crew that came with you? Is Jonas treating you okay?” Steel crept into his voice, his bearing relaxed but the edge in his words hinting he could turn lethal in the blink of an eye.

“He’s being Jonas. Hovering around, shooting everyone angry glares, and making sure I don’t step out of line. Stefan sent him, so…” I shrugged. Like Charles, I wondered if sending Jonas was the best idea, but Stefan knew what he was doing. I knew he would do everything in his power to protect me, even if he couldn’t be with me. If he thought Jonas would do that, I wouldn’t question.

Besides, there was a huge camp of mean, fighting, potentially furry bodyguards. I’d be fine.

Tim, probably thinking the same thing, said, “Okay. Well, let me know if you need anything. Or if you have any questions. Everyone says you’re really trying to learn our ways and fit in, so I want to help you as much as possible with that. Ignorance is dividing us from Stefan’s crew—I want to combat that any way I can.”

I smiled at him, because it was a really sweet thing to say. Anyone that could help me fit in was A-Okay in my book. “I better try to unravel that spell. Or charm. I still don’t know the difference.”

“Why don’t you ask Toa?” Tim walked me back to the room. “He seems to have a well of knowledge.”

“I did. And he explained it. But he’s so hard to focus on. I find myself nodding off after the first thirty seconds.”

Tim laughed and watched me reenter the room. He continued to watch, probably in fascination, as I frowned at the air and busted my brain trying to figure out how to unravel the spell. After a while of pawing at nothingness, I found the hairline cracks in my spell, and began pulling apart the fibers little by little. Carefully.

Finally, my face drenched with sweat, I plucked the last magical knot and felt the spell disintegrate into nothing.

“Much better,” Toa said, stepping forward as if he hadn’t been frozen for the last fifteen minutes.

“Don’t step out of here when I’m immobile,” Jonas commanded.

I rolled my eyes, then immediately lost focus as Toa started to explain about that spell and how it worked.

A few hours later and I found myself traipsing through the bare halls of the main cabin. Fierce-eyed men and women, gliding with a killer’s grace not unlike Stefan’s clan, passed on their way to their duties, or maybe just after eating and heading to settle in somewhere and relax.

While the Mata weren’t night creatures, they didn’t seem to keep normal hours, either. It seemed like they prowled half the night, slept way late, and started their day near noon. Basically, it was like living with a bunch of bartenders. Being that I got to see the sunlight with that schedule, while still keeping Toa happy, it was the schedule everyone kept.

Jonas grumbled about it constantly.

“Mage.” A stocky shape changer titled his head at me in greeting as he passed.

He just called me mage! I couldn’t help the foolish grin as I sauntered into the large kitchen and dining area. I had no idea why Jonas and Stefan hated these people—they seemed really cool to me.

Three burly men sat at the far end of a large wood table, hunched over their plates with wide smiles. As I entered, their eyes flicked my way. Their bodies straightened up marginally, smiles dwindling. Each gave me a nod hello.

“You guys don’t need to act all serious around me. You’re not on duty or anything,” I mumbled, turning right, toward the worn lime green kitchen island. Unlike Stefan’s mansion, which was kept pristine and refined, these cabins were mostly older and worked in. Clean, but not current. Did the same job, though.

“Don’t mind them,” a pixie-like girl with a shock of bright blue hair said as she strolled in. She scooped a mound of mashed potatoes out of the bowl on the island and dumped it onto her plate. “They think the sun shines out of their asses.”

Without turning around, the men at the table facing us straightened even more. Huge shoulders rolled. “We know the sun shines out of our asses, actually, “the one in the middle said, "and if you’d care to put your money where your mouth is, I’d show you.”

“No, thanks. I don’t like seeing hairy full moons.” The girl winked at me with a smirk. The other two guys at the table huffed out a laugh. One slapped the butt of the joke on the back with a hearty guffaw.

“Hilarious,” he drawled, standing up with his plate in his hands. He flashed the blue-haired girl a glare as he stalked our way.

Magic filled me instantly. I wasn’t sure what this guy would do, but was ready to unleash hell if he got violent.

The man gave me a wide berth as he entered the kitchen area, but veered in close to the blue-haired girl. Lightning-quick he reached toward her, his plate still in his free hand.

A blast of electricity zipped through me as I feared he might strike her. Pure black shot out of my hands, wrapping around his body and squeezing.

“What the fu—?ˮ The word ended in a wheeze.

“What’s happening?” one of the other guys barked, jumping up from the table. The wooden table surface jolted, knocking the remaining two plates to the ground. They crashed to the floor, food and porcelain splashing across linoleum.

“Don’t kill him, Sasha,” the girl said, a grin spreading up her face as she watched the man turn purple. “He was just trying to make me flinch. Haven’t been paying attention to the magical woman you were sent here to guard, have you, Rodge? Didn’t realize she acts first and thinks later when someone she knows is in danger. Not so detailed in your job, hmmm?”