32. Reconciliation

When Ray returned home, I saw him stop, look at Zeeta who had fallen asleep on the sofa, exhausted, then at me… He swallowed hard and stuttered something… I rushed at him.

“What happened to your face?” I asked, alarmed. “Did Kaspar did this to you?”

Ray looked perplexed as if just noticing his lips were bleeding.

“Oh, this,” Zeeta said, waking up. “I punched him last night. Sorry for that. I was angry.”

“What?!”

“But I’m not mad at him anymore.” Zeeta stood up, yawning. “So? Is everything settled with that Kaspar? Did he do something bad to Armen or not?”

“He…” Ray shook his head. “He didn’t, I think. Armen should be fine.”

“So your cousin is a good guy, after all, I’m glad!” Zeeta clapped my shoulder, then added, yawning again: “I’m gonna sleep upstairs now. Good night.”

It was already morning, though. Ray snorted quietly as Zeeta disappeared upstairs. I smiled, embarrassed.

“I hope Zeeta doesn’t bother you too much…”

Ray sighed.

“He’s not. I had never received a punch in my life, though. It damn hurts.”

“That jerk, I’ll tell him—”

“But I deserved it.” His words made me fall silent. Ray took a deep breath and stepped forward. “Armen, I’m sorry!”

“You should, you didn’t take off your shoes, and I just cleaned the floor the other day.”

“Ooh! I’m sorry!!”

Ray stepped backwards to take off his shoes. His face of repentance was priceless. I chuckled.

“It’s all right.”

Ray was sweating.

“It’s not all right, Armen. I didn’t want you to go away. I didn’t want you to leave me alone. I’m sorry I compared you to my parents—”

“I know. That’s why it’s all right.”

Ray’s lips trembled.

“It’s not.”

I threw a bored look at him, took a step forward, pinched his cheeks, and articulated:

“Ar-men-says-it’s-all-right. Ops, your wound, I forgot. Sorry. I’ll get you something to stop the bleeding.”

“…”

“There, there. The boo boo is gone.”

“Sometimes I’ve got the impression you’re acting like a mom, Armen. Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“Haha… Maybe I should.”

“It’s true that sometimes I’m such a child… But I’m done with that. You were right. I should learn how to control my shadows, not because my mom told me to, not because I have to become a Hero, but because it’s a part of myself I can’t ignore. Not being able to go out at night is a pain too.”

We were sitting on the sofa while the morning sunlight was sneaking through the windows. Ray’s words soothed my worries. He had finally taken his decision. That was great.

He broke the silence.

“Did you really learn how to resist orders?”

“Ah, yeah! About that, I was taking a look at your aunts’ book, you know, that Five hundred funny things to try with your familiar, and I’m quite relieved you’re not like them. Necromancy can be a very dark art, huh.”

“It is a dark art, Armen. That’s why I didn’t want to touch it.”

“But you did. Because of me.”

Ray widened his eyes, then affirmed:

“Yes, I did. And I don’t regret it. Not in the least. Don’t ever doubt that, Armen.”

Whoa, he had read my thought, there. I smiled, moved.

“I won’t ever doubt it again, Ray.” I put my arms behind my head and asked: “Did you get mad at your cousin?”

“Er… Quite a bit,” Ray confessed. “But when I called you and you told me you were all right… Well, I guess he’s serious about helping me get out of the Styxer family.”

“…” I suddenly frowned. “What? What do you mean?”

Ray grimaced.

“From what Kaspar has told me, all the things he knows about electronic necromancy, he learned them in Starland, with the Vod group. That is, Makler Vod’s group.”

“The one who wrote the book Uncle Adrian gave you for Christmas?”

“Yep. I’m not sure about the goals of that group, but they’re well-known by the necromancers in the whole world. They’re quite influential. Since Kaspar joined them, he was able to free himself from the Necro-Haven’s grip. And he offered me to do the same.”

Huh. So Kaspar did have ulterior motives, after all…

“Did you accept?”

Ray shook his head.

“Honestly, I don’t like to be part of any big group. Even if I quite admire Makler Vod’s works, joining them would be the same as joining the Necro-Haven. I don’t want that.”

“So you declined.”

“Do you think I should have accepted?”

“…” I suddenly chuckled. “No. I’m not fond of big groups either. Being independent isn’t bad.”

“Heh, true. It will be hard to get away from the Necro-Haven, but… it’s not like my dad will kill me if I do. Still…”

He hesitated. I thought I knew why. The Lord wouldn’t do any harm to his son, that was for sure, but he would be hurt if his son decided to run away from him again.

“No need to hurry,” I said. “Honestly, your dad is weird, but I quite like him.”

Ray turned pale. I raised an eyebrow.

“Ray? Don’t misunderstand me, if you kick him out, I’ll still think he’s deserved it—”

“Zeeta told me,” Ray cut me off. “On that night when I lost control of my power, my dad ordered you to disappear.”

There was a deep silence. I lowered my arms and reasoned:

“You almost got killed. In his shoes, I don’t know what I would have done. Besides, Adrian cut the bond between the Lord and me, so in the end, I think it was for the best.”

“… You’re always thinking positively, Armen.”

“Hehe, thanks. By the way, Zeeta told me you fooled Arkill?”

Ray winced.

“About that… When Arkill told my dad you disappeared, Dad wanted to teach me how to track our necro-bond, but I was in a hurry so… I told him to get lost, and I learned by myself.” Huh, because he was in a hurry, he got rid of his teacher in order to learn faster? As expected from Ray… He went on: “Then I told Arkill to stop spying on me, but he kept saying he had received orders to protect me, so… I made him go buy some groceries, and Zeeta and I sneaked out to search for you. I feel sorry for him because it’s not his fault. It’s just that having a spy on my back all the time is tiring.”

“I know, right.”

There was a silence, then we looked at each other with a bad feeling. If Arkill had been ordered to protect Ray then… why wasn’t he back yet?

“Where is he?” I asked.

Ray confessed:

“No idea.”

I couldn’t help it: I laughed.

“It’s like in the detective fiction, the victims disappear one by one—”

“Don’t say that.”

“Oh my, we’ll find him dead for sure!!”

“Don’t make dark jokes like that. I’m gonna call him.” Ray grabbed his phone and sighed, exhausted. “Dad has called me, like, thirty times, but now he’s stopped calling. Guess his familiars told him I was home. He’s always spying on me…”

Ray was worn out after spending the whole night searching for me. Before he could make the call, I stood up.

“I’ll call Arkill, you go to sleep. Don’t worry about him, I’m sure he’s okay.”

“Hey, hold on! I should be the one to call him!”

“And apologize for tricking him? Don’t.” I stopped by the door, looking back at him. “Stop apologizing for things like that, Ray. I’m sure Arkill understands. You focus on recovering for your training. Or do you want to spar with Lei Sunclaw with baggy eyes and a bloody face? Right now you look more like an undead than I do!” I chortled. “Sweet dreams!”