“Come on.” Trevor steered Nick towards the yacht.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
They gathered on the deck seating, and Connor pulled across a tarp cover for shade as they ate. Nick devoured his plate of lasagne, delighted to discover that Laurence had put together two trays: one vegetarian, one with meat. Trevor made tea for everyone, and while sipping the warm reminder of home, they filled each other in.
Nick lightened up his end of things. The only injuries he admitted to were the ones they could currently see; aside from them, as far as his family were concerned, he hadn’t suffered so much as a splinter, and Kit was a beacon of innocence. Nick’s voice caught when he mentioned what Desre could do, and he couldn’t bring himself to unwrap the full horror of what Kit had experienced at her hands, but he mentioned his parents and the fate they’d met. He told them that he’d gone through that and somehow come through with the determination to protect and nurture those more vulnerable than himself.
Trevor went still as Nick hesitantly spoke. Laurence looked horrified, grasping Connor’s arm.
Connor was the one who picked up the thread of conversation, sharing their side of things. They had gonethrough weeks of frustration as everyone they questioned pointed out what ship Nick was on, yet they could never catch sight of them, no matter how close they allegedly were—something that still confused them.
Nick cringed as he explainedwhythe spell had stopped Adonis and the other mermen from finding him. Misplaced blame and fear. Unlike in the letter, where he’d dodged the issue, he was honest with them.
Laurence’s guilty look grew as the story went on, especially when he heard the reason Nick was kidnapped was the duplication symbol he’d drawn onto his arm.
“This translation one’s great, though,” Nick followed up quickly, tapping where the symbol was hidden beneath a clean white bandage. “I’d have been completely lost without it.”
Connor rubbed his mouth, hiding a grin. Laurence shot Connor an irritated look, as if sensing his amusement.
“What?” Nick asked.
“So,” Trevor ventured when neither Nick nor Laurence answered, “Turns out me and Laurence aren’t particularly good at using spells.”
“What do you mean ‘use’? They just work on their own.”
Connor was full-on smiling now.
Laurence folded his arms and fixed Nick with a cross look. “No, they don’t just ‘work’ on their own. You have to know how to channel energy into them to activate them.”
Nick blinked. He cast a look at his arms, remembering the fiery feeling of the protection symbols when they worked, the burn of his translation spell when it struggled over a particularly difficult word. “Maybe the way you drew them on me…?” Nick trailed off. He had definitely never consciously activated any of them. Half the time, they acted in ways that hedidn’twant them to.
Laurence scowled. “This is so unfair. You’re not even interested in magic!”
“Vi did say that some people were naturally more adept than others. Nick’s a natural.” Connor shrugged.
“It’s not even meant to be a translation spell,” Laurence muttered at Nick. “The book I copied it out of said it’s supposed to help you learn languages faster.”
Nick wasn’t certain that any of the spells really functioned the way they were meant to. It wouldn’t hurt to quiz Laurence later and find out exactly what all of them did. Or better yet, talk to Vi about them. He owed her thanks for trying to find him. They’d told him that she’d done a lot too, Jasper being sent from dock to dock searching ships and questioning captains, dock masters and sailors. The letter that had finally led them to Nick had been, as he’d suspected, delivered by one of Valor’s men. It detailed Desre’s crimes, laying the entire plot of Nick’s abduction at her feet.
Nick turned his attention to Trevor, catching him as he snapped his gaze up from his bandaged arm. Their eyes met, and Trevor’s lips slid into a smile. He reached out, cupping the back of Nick’s neck and squeezing. Hand in place, he glanced at Connor and Laurence. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m just about ready for this particular adventure to be over.”
Laurence nodded, though Connor met Nick’s eyes before inclining his head towards Trevor. “It’ll be a fast trip downriver. A day to the ocean, I’d bet, and then, depending on the wind, a week to The Tear.”
“That’s all?” Nick felt as though he’d traversed a continent, not gone for a little summer jaunt.
“Now that we’re not criss-crossing the ocean and searching every ship we come across…” Connor raised a brow. “It’s a fast ship.”
Connor rose to his feet, nudging Laurence’s shoulder. “We’ll clean up,” he said. The two of them gathered the dishes and went below deck, shutting the door behind them. A second later, the deck lights flicked on, brightening the seating area as the light faded from the sky.
“I thought you’d be eager to go home.” Trevor didn’t say it with any judgement. Nick was sure that Trevor had twigged something about Kit during Nick’s recount of the journey, be it because Nick went out of his way to present only the good parts—emphasising the teas, the regrets, the lessons, the adoration of those at the camp—or because there was something in his voice, his expression maybe, that gave him away. Trevor’s question was very pointedly about Kit, though he left it open to Nick to answer or not.
“I’m going to come back and spend the summer here after final exams,” Nick said. He paused to let Trevor absorb that. “I figure the few weeks apart will give us both the chance to figure out if it was just because of the situation, or if it’s something more. But to be honest, I already know. I’ve never felt for anyone what I do for him.”
“Just checking, but he can’t do what Desre could?”
Nick shivered. “Even if he could, he wouldn’t ever do that. To anybody.”
Trevor leaned back, and Nick peered at his face, trying to read his thoughts. He suspected his dad wouldn’t be pleased to learn about Kit, not given the situation, but it wasn’t exactly unhappiness in his expression. He looked more puzzled than anything. And tired. The blue lights exacerbated the dark circles under his eyes, making him look older than his years.
