“And you were going to tell us you were a human exactly when?” Maverick asked, arms crossed.

  After the near accident, Dimitri and I barely evaded half a dozen people eager to check if we were okay. He had given me his jacket to cover my iced-over hands that people insisted I should remove so they could inspect whether or not my hands were broken. With our unfortunate luck, one of the bystanders happened to be a doctor. The driver and several others hounded Dimitri about when he had gotten there, as nobody had seen him until after I was nearly hit. One annoyingly perceptive bystander mentioned something about a dog and a flash of light, but thankfully, nobody believed him.

  I had to practically drag Dimitri back with me. Now that he had shifted, he said something about it being hours before he could shift again and insisted we wait until then. I wasn’t having any of that. I was nearly hit by a car, harassed by an eccentric doctor, and my pet dog turned into an admittedly handsome guy who saved my life. I needed to go home to my mindreader and stalker for comfort, and he was coming with me.

  “The subject never came up,” Dimitri answered coolly. He slipped his hands into his pant pockets and bounced between his heels and toes.

  “You should have been able to read his mind, shifted or not.” Maverick turned to Finn, who shook his head.

  “I couldn’t read his mind then and can’t now. Are you an Ethereal?” Finn asked.

  “No.” Dimitri smiled. “With enough ether, you can conceal your thoughts from others. It’s quite handy in the case of mindreaders and telepaths.” He paused, his gaze shifting to Zephyr. “You should be capable of this with an ether supply as great as yours. Him, not so much.” He turned to Aidan at the end.

  “Cut it out! You’re an Ethereal! You have to be!” Finn snapped, taking a step closer to Dimitri.

  Maverick held out an arm, stopping Finn in his tracks before glaring at him. “Easy. As much as I also want nothing more than to slug this bastard, we need him alive.”

  “Ouch.” Dimitri winced.

  “I’ve never heard of a non-Ethereal who can—”

  “Finn, can you hear my thoughts now?” Zephyr interrupted the conversation.

  To my surprise, Finn’s eyes widened. “…No. I can’t.” He slowly closed his eyes and took a step back. “But why wouldn’t—”

  “Did your master forget to tell you? For what reason would she have chosen to hide such valuable information from her pupils? Or perhaps Finn is privy to information the rest of you don’t know. A secret mission, by chance?” Dimitri smirked. He looked perfectly poised—his tone was elegant, yet confident, as if he wasn’t speaking to some of the most deadly people to ever exist. Maybe he was just as deadly.

  “O-of course not!” Finn shook with anger. “Even if she asked, I wouldn’t—”

  “You’re from the Magus of Historia, aren’t you?” Zephyr asked.

  I froze. The very person we had been looking for all this time had been spying on us since day one? Day two? What frightened me even more was how calm everyone else looked, as if they knew ever since Dimitri stepped foot into our apartment in his human form, that he was our enemy.

  “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not,” he answered cryptically. “Or perhaps I was and I’m not any longer.”

  “This is getting us nowhere,” Maverick snapped.

  “J-just tell us the truth!” Aidan also snapped. “W-we already know what you are! There’s no use in hiding it!”

  “You may think you know what I am, but I assure you, the truth is much more complicated,” Dimitri answered.

  “Please do explain,” Maverick goaded.

  “E-explain?!” Dimitri sputtered. “Do you know how long that would take?—” He sighed. “To put it simply, I wish to part with that organization. At least, for the time being. Your institution seemed quite promising at a glance. And then I saw how you treat sweet Ella with such disrespect! A lady of her caliber should be treated with naught but kindness and respect.”

  I blinked, and Maverick snorted.

  “Then how about showing me some respect as well, as an Ethereal?” Maverick asked.

  “I was speaking of her lineage, not her ether reserve.”

  “L-lineage?” Aidan asked. Oh crap, I forgot to tell him…

  “Your former master seems to be well informed,” Zephyr noted.

  “Has your master really told you nothing of her?” Dimitri seemed amused by this. More than that, there seemed to be something he knew that we didn’t—but I supposed that was obvious.

  “She doesn’t speak of her often, no,” Maverick answered.

  “Surely she’s told you at least something?”

  Maverick shook his head. “Perhaps you could be so kind as to enlighten me?”

  “The Master's secrets are not mine to tell. While I am no longer bound by the organization's rules, I do not seek to betray them either.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Then you won’t help us?” I asked. “I know you already know what we're here for.”

  “I won’t help you, but I won’t stop you either.” He smiled at me fondly, with warmth to rival those whom I lived with.

  “And just where do you expect to stay in the meantime?” Maverick crossed his arms. “Surely you don’t expect to—”

  A flash of light enveloped Dimitri, and the next thing I knew, he was a Shiba Inu again.

  “Son of a wharrack,” Finn rolled his eyes before leaving. I stared at the others who looked indifferent, save for Aidan, who looked confused. I muttered an apology to Aidan and quickly chased after Finn to his bedroom.

  The room was dark, save for the light coming from Finn’s phone screen and what was left of the sunlight peering through the window. Both sides of the room were equally messy, unlike their counterparts in Meridia. Clothes, board games, and papers littered the room, as well as a couple of dishes on Aidan’s side.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, closing the door behind me. I immediately tripped over a pair of shoes, and Finn quickly teleported beside me, catching my arm and leading me to the edge of his bed. His side was admittedly the cleaner one.

  “I don’t like any of this,” he answered, running his fingers through his hair.

  “Dimitri?” I asked.

  “Dimitri, the fact I can’t read his thoughts, the fact I can’t read Zephyr’s thoughts anymore thanks to that asshole... the fact that you would have died if it weren’t for him…”

  “I also wouldn’t have been out to begin with if it weren’t for him.”

  “Yes, you would have. Don’t play dumb with me.” He frowned at me. “I know you can’t stand living with us—that, more than anything, you want your own space. And if you didn’t have Dimitri as an excuse to leave, you would have found another.”

  I pursed my lips and fumbled with the sheets beneath my fingers. He was right—not that it was possible for me to keep any of this to myself.

  “Do you… Hate me, by chance?” His words caught me off guard. I glanced up at him, his expression hard to read due to the lack of adequate lighting.

  “What? Why would I hate you?” I asked, my tone a mix of shock and hurt.

  “Because I can read your mind. Maybe this is selfish and manipulative of me, but I want to know what you really think of me. I want you to think of what you think of me.”

  “Where is this coming from?” I tried to hide my impatience and discomfort, but that was impossible with a mindreader. He was right—I wouldn’t have my thoughts manipulated by him. But I also didn’t hate or dislike him in any way.

  “Thank you. And… I’m sorry.” His voice was quiet, tinged with hurt. “For just now, and for all of this. You went from living a normal life to being confined to a manor in another world full of strangers, to sharing a house with four magical beings set on protecting you, even if it means denying you any freedom or privacy.”

  “Well… I do still have my bedroom,” I tried to make light of the situation.

  “But it’s not enough. I know it’s not enough. You had a whole house to explore when you pleased, and times throughout the day when you had that house to yourself. You got to make your own choices, see the people who were close to you, didn’t have to hide magic you couldn’t control…”

  “Where are you going with this?” I frowned, the topic not being something I liked to think about.

  “I don’t know.” He messed with his hair again. “I was trying to say the situation isn’t fair for you. And as much as I hate it, there’s nothing I can do about it. You’re not safe in your own world anymore, and we have to protect you.”

  “I know. I’m… I’m sorry for running off on my own twice today. I understand now that until I’m able to control my emotions, I shouldn’t be out in public by myself, without someone there to help cover up my mistakes,” I paused. “I… I think I understand now why Sylvis wouldn’t let me come back. But enough about me. What are we going to do about Dimitri?”

  Finn sighed. “I have a feeling Maverick will decide for us.”

  When I left Finn’s room, I was surprised to see Maverick leaning against the wall.

  “Were you eavesdropping?!” I snapped.

  His eyes, which were half closed—likely dropping from exhaustion—flashed open. “We’re going to work on your magic tomorrow.”

  “Huh?” I blinked before rapidly shaking my head. “You didn’t answer my question!”

  “So what if I did?” He smirked. “If you can’t be left on your own until you master control over the connection between your magic and emotions, then we should work on that.”

  Was… he being sympathetic? I never got the impression he enjoyed training me, besides the handful of times he got to torment me, but now he was willfully volunteering to train me.

  “Just you and me?” I asked.

  “Oh?” His smirk widened. “I was thinking we could invite Zephyr along, but if you’d rather have me to yourself—”

  “Zephyr can come,” I quickly added, my cheeks and hands both flaming.

  “Aw, how disappointing.”

  “A-anyway, what are we going to do about Dimitri?” I changed the subject, not wanting to be teased any further.

  Maverick sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “He’s fine for now. If he had wanted to kill us, he would’ve done so by now. Besides, if he’s a spy, then we want to keep our eyes on him. The less chance he has to report back to his Master, the safer we are.”

  “S-so I shouldn’t worry about waking up to a knife impaling my chest?” I chuckled nervously.

  “I’d be very surprised if that was the case.”

  I sighed in relief.

  “Asphyxiation is much more effective.”

  I slapped him. Hard. This only caused him to laugh. Asshole.

  “You should get some sleep. We’re going to train first thing tomorrow morning.” He cleared his throat.

  I took a quick peek into the living room. Dimitri’s dog form was on one side of the couch and Aidan was on the other. The latter occasionally gave the former a pointed look before returning to his game. Zephyr was at the table, scribbling down something on several sheets of paper. “What is he—” I was cut off.

  “Theorizing the amount of ether needed to block thoughts,” Maverick answered. “He’s tried asking Dimitri for some pointers, but the dude just barks.”

  “Is he capable of talking in that form?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. I haven’t spent much time around shifters.”

  “Why didn’t Sylvis tell anyone about being able to block out thoughts? Besides being able to have the privacy of your thoughts, it would have greatly benefited Finn as well.”

  “I don’t know.” Maverick’s fists tightened. “For as much as she tells me, there’s a lot she doesn’t tell me.”

  “Why is that?” I asked.

  “Because she doesn’t trust me.” With that, he walked away. I thought back to the vision I saw of Zephyr and the members of the Magus of Historia, who correctly theorized that Maverick wouldn’t know the location of the chamber.

  It frustrated me even more knowing that I was trusted even less.