“He’s busy.” The sneer on her face spoke volumes. She clearly had a crush on my frustrating friend.
“Okay, well he asked me to come here, and I just drove, like, fourteen hours, so I think you can move your scrawny ass, go back there, and tell him Kit’s here.” I paused. “Christina. I mean, tell him Christina is here.” The girl glared at me with a look that could fucking murder, and I snarled at her, “Go!”
Okay, so that probably wasn’t the most polite I had ever been, but she scurried off her stool and into the back of the shop, so whatever. It got the job done.
“You’re Kit?” A handsome man, covered in tattoos, asked. He’d just come through from the back of the shop, where the buzzing of tattoo guns could be heard, and I looked at him with suspicion.
“Yeah, and you are?” My arms remained firmly crossed, and I didn’t take the hand he offered to me to shake. His ink was stunning but interspersed with runes and symbols as well as the usual animals, flowers, and so on.
“I’m Yoshi; I own Ink Bats,” the guy said with a smile that reminded me a bit of a shark.
“Yoshi?” I repeated. “Master Yoshi?”
“Ah yes, that’s what they call me around here because I’m considered an Ink Master. You’re here looking for Austin?” His smile didn’t waver for a second, but it also didn’t reach his eyes. Something... wasn’t right.
“Yeah, he texted me to come and meet him here? You know, I was expecting someone older... Austin mentioned you’d had a stroke?” I narrowed my eyes at the guy who couldn’t have been a day over twenty-five, and a cold chill ran down my spine. I should know, better than most, that appearance was no indication of age when it came to supernaturals.
“Silly misunderstanding.” The guy, Yoshi, smiled his shark-like smile. “Austin’s in the back. If you’ll follow me?”
“Sure... um, just one sec?” I held up a finger and slipped my phone from my pocket. As quickly as possible, I copy-pasted the address from Austin’s message and sent it in a group text to all of the guys, Vali included. If nothing else, it’d give them a starting point when looking for my body.
“So, I don’t think Austin ever mentioned you until a couple of days ago,” I said, following the tattooed man through his busy shop. There had to have been at least twelve artists all at work on clients, and the art they were producing was simply divine. That certainly answered my question on where the guys had all gotten their ink done.
“He didn’t? I’m offended!” Yoshi chuckled. “I’ve known Austin and Caleb since they were about twelve years old. Caleb was never much interested in tattooing, but Austin... Well, that boy just has a natural-born talent for it, don’t you think?”
“Uh, he does?” I questioned, and Yoshi paused, looking back at me.
“Surely you’ve seen his work? I thought you were close with his team?” He raised his eyebrows at me, and I nodded slowly.
“Right, yeah, of course. I never realized...” Well, now that it had been pointed out, it was pretty damn obvious. The flawless artistry on all of them, the way the boys caged up when I asked about the tattoos, Wesley’s smug grin when he suggested I get one from the same artist. “He surely didn’t tattoo himself though?”
“No, his are mostly my own work. He was my apprentice for a number of years, you know.” Yoshi looked genuinely proud of the fact, and I didn’t blame him. Business was clearly booming, too, based on how busy his shop was.
“So... I’m confused why I’m here,” I admitted as I followed behind him down a corridor to a short flight of stairs leading up at the back. “Austin sent me a kind of odd message asking me to come here. But it really doesn’t look like he’s in trouble...” My words trailed off as I entered the room at the top of the stairs, and Yoshi closed the door behind me.
“Well, fuck,” I cursed. “I stand corrected.”
In the middle of the studio apartment, tied to a chair and looking severely pissed off, was Austin. Beneath his chair, a circle of runes dusted the floor with what looked like glitter glue but was probably some magical, mystical shit.
The solid click of the door locking behind me tore my gaze from Austin’s, and I edged away from Yoshi.
“What exactly is going on here?” I asked cautiously, maintaining a safe distance between myself and the man who, I was fairly certain, was responsible for tying my friend to a chair. “Aus?”
Caleb’s identical twin glared at me, fury sparking behind his emerald green eyes, but he said nothing. A faded gold design on the side of his neck grabbed my attention though, and I frowned.
“Austin won’t answer; I apologize. I needed him to be quiet while I called Caleb and got your number.” Yoshi grinned again, like he wanted congratulations on his brilliant plan.
“What the hell are you planning on doing to us?” I demanded, keeping my weight evenly spread into a fighter’s stance. Fucking no one was catching me unaware this time.
“To you? Absolutely nothing. To harm the only Ban Dia with access to restorative magic would be... well, stupid doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what that’d be.” Yoshi shook his head like he hadn’t just lured me into a room and locked the door. Or like he didn’t currently have my friend tied to a chair and most likely spelled somehow.
“Okay, so...” I glanced at Austin, who still just looked pissed off. Not scared or hurt, just furious. Strangely, I found this a comforting emotion from him. “What are we doing here, then?”
“You’re going to repair Austin’s ties to the magic.” Yoshi said this so matter-of-factly it was almost laughable. “He was one of the unfortunate ones born to a plagued family, already severed from the magical world despite being a pure-blooded Mage. I need you to fix that so I can retire.”
“Mage?” I squawked, shocked as all get-out. I had just wrapped my brain around the whole Cole-and-Vali-as-dragons thing and really hadn’t taken the time to consider what the rest of my dianoch might turn out to be. I didn’t even fully comprehend which species of supernaturals really existed and which were fairytales, so to find Austin—and I assumed Caleb, too—were Mages... Stunned was one word for it.
Meeting Austin’s angry green eyes again, I frowned. He knew. He clearly knew what he was. For how long?
“No,” I replied to Yoshi, not taking my eyes from Austin but steeling my spine in anger. Austin’s eyes softened for a moment, almost in sadness, or regret, but I knew him better than that.
“No?” Yoshi repeated, like he’d heard me incorrectly.
“You heard me. No. I get the feeling Austin has known about his heritage for a while now?” I snapped the words out, still holding Austin’s clear green gaze and seeing no apology in it.
Motherfucker.
“Yes, of course. I did just tell you he’s been my apprentice since he was twelve, did I not?” Yoshi sounded vexed. Like I gave a shit.