A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps by Kit Bryan

I wake up feeling stiff and uncomfortable from sleeping in the office chair. It's dark in here and the only light is coming through a gap in the door which dad must have left open. I turn to check on Ashton and I'm startled to see that his eyes are open and he's watching me. I bolt upright. "You're awake!" I flick on the lamp and look him over, searching for signs that he's in pain or that something is wrong.

"I am. Have... Did you stay with me this whole time?" He asks sort of nervously. I roll my eyes at him.

"Of course I did! And what was all that. Telling me not to worry then just passing out! Unconsciousness is not fine! Then I had to call my dad and tell him everything that happened and make sure that the imp was locked away properly and find a way to get you home. Plus you were all burned and beat up and my first aid skills are seriously limited. What if you didn't wake up? What if you were actually more hurt than you thought? What would I do? Who would I even call for that? And you KNEW you knew you were going to pass out, so it's clearly happened before. Why wouldn't you warn me that something like that could happen? And... Why are you smiling at me? I'm lecturing you here!" I ask defensively. Ashton is quietly listening to my complaints with a faint smile on his face. He isn't supposed to ENJOY being lectured. It makes me completely lose my train of thought so I fall silent.

"Are you finished yelling at me?" He asks calmly.

"I wasn't yelling." I answer sulkily.

"Of course not." He agrees easily to placate me and I glare at him which just makes his smile grow. Jerk. he had me so worried and now he's all relaxed and smiles. You would think I'm the one freaking out over nothing! "If I may speak now?" He reaches out and takes my hand gently in his.

"I apologise for frightening you. I did not intend to scare or upset you. I did know that it was a possibility that I could be forced to unconsciousness but I did not think it was likely or I promise I would have warned you. Thank you for taking care of me while I was sleeping and for seeing to my injuries.” He flushes a little as he glances down at his half dressed state. Since he had no trouble walking around half dressed before, I'm going to go ahead and assume it has more to do with how he got to be that way than of the actual lack of clothing. I stare him down and practically dare him to complain or object. I refuse to be embarrassed. He was hurt, what else was I supposed to do? He wisely changes the topic, narrowing his eyes as he looks into mine closely.

"Have you been crying?" He demands. I doubt there is any point in denying it. My eyes feel swollen from my little crying episode earlier and if I can feel it he can definitely see it.

"Yeah, I was feeling a little emotional.” I answer defensively. Not that I need to defend it. There's nothing wrong with having a good cry. I was just expressing my emotions. That's all. Not that he would know since he has apparently been completely hiding his. There's no way he's been feeling as cheerful as he's been acting these last couple days. I mean, his dad was just murdered. Is he judging me for not doing a better job of hiding my emotions? I examine his face but all I can see is genuine concern.

"Were you feeling emotional because of what happened today? Is this my fault?" He asks guiltily and he places his other hand over mine so now he is cradling my hand between both of his. "No." I immediately deny it, then rethink my answer.

“Well, maybe sort of. But not really. I was just thinking how much I love my dad...” I trail off. Well shoot, my answer might be honest, but it is kind of insensitive. Ashton freezes in place and his expression goes blank.

"I didn't mean to upset you, I wasn't trying to be rude. I was just... Dad came to check in on me and I was thinking how you must be feeling and I got a little emotional." I try to explain myself. This is still sounding incredibly shallow and selfish of me. HE has suffered a loss and I'm crying about it? I'm surprised when he does that formal bow thing over my hand again and kisses it gently.

"Thank you for crying on my behalf, and thank you for worrying about me." He says quietly. Oh, so he does understand. That's a relief.

Feeling awkward, I pull my hand away from him and tuck it into my lap. I clear my throat.

"So, you promised me some answers." I pointedly change the topic and he is polite enough to go along with it.

"I did. What do you want to know first?" He seems wary when asking what I want to know and I am really not sure why.

"Well, for starters I want to know why you passed out." I prompt and he nods and answers easily.

"Of course. I may need to explain a little about what my particular type of magic is for it to make sense, but I will do my best. Much like the imp has control over fire, I can take control of a person's energy. Usually just my own. I can choose to use more of my own energy than would generally be possible and in doing so I can be temporarily faster or stronger than my physical form would actually allow.” He explains. Well, now I know how he was dodging and moving around so fast while fighting the assassin. I was right that it wasn't quite normal.

"Does using your magic make your marking, tattoo things glow? Also none of that explains why you passed out afterwards.” I'm being nosy, but after having to literally carry him home and patch him up, I think I've earned the right to ask a few nosy questions, right?

"You are right that it can make my markings glow. They get brighter the more magic I am using, at least when it comes to my own personal magic. I can also do a few basic spells like glamour and such which do not seem to affect them. As for why I passed out... It is one of the downfalls of my magic. I can use huge amounts of energy all at once to accomplish my goals, but I still only have a normal amount of energy inside me. So if I use it all up in a single moment, afterwards I collapse until my body can rebuild enough energy for me to function at a normal level again." He answers. I suppose that makes sense. I wish I had known that earlier, I wouldn't have been so worried. He really was essentially just super tired. "What did you do to the imp to make him suddenly stop fighting? And what was that necklace thing? I reckon my dad will want more information about that. The cops were asking questions and I couldn't really answer them.” I sigh. "Well, it is not just my own energy that I can influence. If I can get ahold of someone, I can take their energy from them. Although I cannot use the energy I take from someone else. It simply dissipates. That is what I did to the assassin. I drained his energy to the point where he could not truly fight back any longer. He did not have the strength remaining to summon his fire, not even in fear. As for the necklace, it is a charm that I created using my magic. It is a little bit like a glamour charm that someone might buy, but instead of using a person's natural magic to fuel a glamour spell, it stops the person from building new energy. He will remain in his exhausted state until it is removed which should prevent him from causing too much trouble. The necklace is not an actual object, it is created with my magic and I based it off of something I was already wearing since it is easier than trying to create something from memory or imagination. When it is eventually removed from him, it will vanish and he will recover quickly." Huh, well that explains why he was so adamant that it not be removed. I still have a few more questions for him, this conversation is far from over.