7. Breakdown

"In hindsight, I probably should have noticed this. Like hell, the magic signature in your bedroom was extremely strong. I can be an idiot sometimes." Once I had gotten home, papa had whisked me away to the office of the man I had been talking to yesterday, and I was forced to listen in boredom as they talked about the situation. Then, papa had left, and the man had walked around lighting candles all over the place. Creepy, if I do say so myself. "Now sit down and hold out your hands."

"Why?"

"Well it's nearly impossible to be a warlock without warlock ancestors; I'm going to assess your magical signature to trace it back to a set of parents." I sighed nervously before following his instructions, and the man smiled at me warmly. When his hands touched mine, I was really shocked at how warm and soft they were, and that helped me to relax just a bit more. "Calm your mind..."

As soon as I shut down the voices in my head, there was this warm sensation that spread all over my body. It started in my hands before slowly moving towards my torso and legs. Suddenly, the warmth turned into a static feeling, but I assumed it was normal and remained calm. Jack finally pulled his hands away, and his eyes looked haunted when they opened.

"What is it?"

"Huh?"

"You have a weird expression on your face. Is something wrong with me?"

"No... No everything's fine. I traced you back to the wind clan." The waver in his voice lead me to believe he was lying, and his nervous fidgets were confirmation.

"Why are you hiding something from me?"

"What? I'm hiding nothing!"

"Like I would believe that! I thought that you would help me come to terms with some weird new part of myself, but this is not helping! I don't even know if I can trust you anymore!" A sick crackling came to my ears, and I realized that I was producing electricity from my hands again.

"Okay, kid, I know you're upset, but you need to calm down!" I continued to glare at the man that had made me upset, and the red bolts spiraled around my fists. The door opened in that moment, and I looked up to see William standing in the doorway.

"Okay, witch boy, hide the lightning. I kind of like having my hair still." The short boy crossed the room, and I let my powers dissipate. "Good job. Now I brought you some food; a hungry Benji is... Well I would never want to be locked in a room with you." I took the sandwich from his hands, and I didn't waste a second before plunging my teeth into the heavenly tasting meal. I felt Will's eyes on me, and it sent a shiver up my spine. There was something in his eyes that made me feel warmer. He looked at me like I was the most special person in the world, and I almost believed them. However... Why would he look at me like that?

"Thank you, Will. I needed this." While I spoke, I sent an aggressive glare at Jack, and I noticed that he was "busy" with something under his desk.

"Any time. Come on, now." He grabbed onto my wrist, and I stumbled after him. We walked together out of the house, and I suddenly felt his hand slide down into mine. It was hardly noticable to others, yet it sent sparks all the way up my arm. Why? I'm not... Am I?

~~~

Jack's POV

This can't be happening, right? I only had two kids, right!? Unless one of them isn't my child... Maybe Jace isn't a late bloomer like I thought. This is weird, I don't want to think about this anymore!

"Hey Ja– where did Benji go? Please tell me he didn't poof into a pile of dust, that would be hard to explain."

"One of your wolves showed up and took him out with a sandwich."

"That's... Not weird at all. Hey, why do you look so down?" Devon walked up to me, but I could hardly consider telling him the truth.

"It's nothing."

"Come on, Jack. We're best friends! You can tell me anything."

"This is something I can't, okay!" Dev's normal caring smile dropped, and I knew I had hit a nerve. My friend had matured a lot over the years, but there were still some things that set him off.

"So you're keeping secrets from me now? After all of this time! I would trust you with my darkest secrets, and you're keeping something! Do you know how much that hurts!" While he spoke, he flung a paper that I haven't seen for a long time across the room, and I blinked tears away at the memories the slip brought.

"There are just some things that I want to keep to myself! Do I have no right to privacy!?"

Devon leapt at me from across my desk, and we fell to the floor with a loud thud. Honestly, there's a reason we put Oliver's office right underneath mine; this happens occasionally. On cue, the demon came into the room, and he carefully separated his pissed off soulmate from me. Oliver held Dev at an arms distance while he tried to hit anything and everything, and I felt bad for triggering one of his meltdowns. "What did you do this time?"

"There's just something I don't want to share! I'm allowed privacy!"

"I agree that you are, but you couldn't have done it in a gentler way? He's really pissed." Sometimes, Dev can be a bit of a three year old when it comes to not getting what he wants. As of right now, he was shouting something about it being unfair while trying to wiggle from his soulmate's grip. It was minorly laughable, but I would never admit that to him. It would hurt his feelings.

"Not my fault."

"Hey dad I–" Jacob took one look at the scene in my office, and he turned right back around. "I'll come back later."

"No don't leave me!"

At least Devon was finally calm, yet now he just looked hurt. The man had emotions that were good at tugging my heart strings, and it made me want to tell him... No! This is much too personal. "Jack, if you don't like me anymore you can just tell me. I'll leave you alo–"

"That isn't it. There's just some things that I'm not ready to share. I need time to process."

"I guess that makes sense. Sorry for freaking out on you." This is how it always goes. I trigger him, we have a disagreement, but we always make up in the end.

"I don't mind. I probably should have handled it better." Dev bounced over to me, and we embraced tightly. It was a constant cycle of highs and lows, but it was mostly the highs that we got stuck on. I don't think I could handle it if we had an extended argument; he's kind of my only friend... Sad, I know. I've isolated myself a lot ever sense... That. I didn't want to hurt anyone else.

"Now... I heard there was a new sushi restaurant and Oli won't take me, so we're going!"

"I guess we are."