Chapters (81)
“Look at this,” China said. “Some backbone. I do so admire a man who can resist crying.”
A tear rolled down his cheek.
“Ah,” said China. She turned for the door.
“If I help you,” Tipstaff blurted, “what do I get?”
She turned. “Sorry?”
He looked up at her. “If I tell you what I know, will my sentence be reduced? If my information is valuable enough, I mean? If … if you can offer me immunity, then I’ll help you in whatever way I can.”
China frowned at him, and then laughed. “Oh, no. No, no, no, you poor deluded fool. We’ll find out everything you know anyway, though I can’t imagine it’s very much. You’ll get no deal from me. You betrayed me, little man. I’m going to make sure that you regret that decision for every single moment of the rest of your cold, dark and lonely life. Starting now.”
54
“She looks scary,” said Omen.
“She’s not,” said Valkyrie. “She’s very friendly. Pet her and see.”
After a slight hesitation, Omen held out his hand. Xena sniffed it, then moved her head, allowing him to pet her. Valkyrie watched the smile that spread across the boy’s face, as he hunkered down and the dog sat. It was her second time seeing him in civilian clothes – he wore jeans and trainers and a heavy coat – and she figured he suited it. As stylish as the Corrival uniform was, Omen somehow made it look untidy.
“She likes you,” said Valkyrie.
Omen looked up, grinning. “Really?”
She smiled. Her nose no longer ached when she did that. It was back to its normal size and shape. She looked around as Omen continued to pet Xena. It was Saturday and the school was quiet.
“You have dogs?” she asked.
Omen shook his head. “Mum has never liked them. Me and Auger, we always wanted a pet, but …” He sighed. “Auger needed to focus. We kind of adopted a stray cat once, though, without our parents knowing. It was a tiny little thing and just the friendliest, and it wandered into the garden one day and we fed it and fixed it up with a bed made of blankets in one of the sheds nobody ever used. I’d spend hours in that shed, actually, and Auger would come by whenever he could. It went on for three days before Dad found us. He took the cat away and we never saw it again. My parents … they’re not really animal people.”
Xena rolled on to her back, and Omen rubbed her belly.
“What was it like,” Valkyrie asked, “growing up knowing that all this stuff existed? I was twelve before I found out about magic.”