Raising a Hero

Chapter 27

Closing time came and I found myself with just enough energy to be up to magic practice for the first time in over a week. Derrick went to sleep on the floor in Milly and Hal's room (it was a bit larger than the little thing Gus and I shared), and Gus and I settled ourselves on the floor on the thin blanket that still smelled of man musk.

"Alright," I shook my arms all loose and closed my eyes. "Mind me."

"Actually, I think you should practice tonight."

"Eh? What gave you that idea? I can heal just fine."

"Not on healing. On protecting yourself."

I opened my eyes to look at him, perplexed.

"Is this another trip into your paranoia?" I asked.

I got the Gus original scowl for that—the default of his many scowls. "Another? I am not paranoid. You're an idiot to think that you won't ever have a time when you need to protect yourself."

"Alright, whatever. It's not like you listen to me anyways."

"I do listen to you."

"No you don't!"

He threw his head back with an explosive sigh. "Whatever! Just try out my idea, okay?"

"Fine." I didn't have the energy to fight with him anyway.

"When you healed my twisted leg, you had to break my bones to do it. I remember feeling it. That's what happened, right?"

"Yeah..." Okay, I could see where he was going with this. But how could I practice breaking bones?

"So tonight, I'll be your practice dummy," he held out his arms.

I stared at his arms for a full thirty seconds, wondering if he'd lost it.

"I can't practice breaking your bones!"

"Shh, people are trying to sleep. And you can just heal them as soon as you break them, dummy."

"It's still going to hurt. I can't hurt you."

"I've had plenty of broken bones before, it's no big deal. But you need to see if you can do it without needing to have something to heal. If you can do that, protecting yourself should be easy, especially with the massive magic capacity you have."

I groaned, my insides getting all kinds of twisted just thinking about breaking my baby's bones. "Gus Gus..."

His eyes hardened. "I'm not your baby, so stop thinking that."

I winced. Yeah, not going to ask how he knew that.

He nudged his arms towards me. "Now, take your pick."

"Can't...can't I just start with a finger?"

"Fingers breaking hurt more than an arm."

"How do you...nevermind, I don't want to know."

He flashed a toothy, cool smile.

"Smart. Now hurry. We're both tired."

I winged. I groaned. I teetered in place and gave him plaintive, pleading looks. But when he just continued to sit there, his eyes telling me 'stop being ridiculous and get it over with, you know I'm right,' I cautiously gripped one of his skinny wrists. Once I had my chosen arm, he let the other one drop.

"Don't be afraid," he said, tone turning soft. "I'm not."

I whined in my throat.

"You know it's the smart thing to do."