Free Catalyst (Forevermore, Book Two) by K.A. Poe

week — possibly less if you’re lucky — it will resemble the same glowing crescent that I showed you at the lake. There won’t be a scar or anything; it’s not like a normal burn.”
    I nodded slowly, taking in the information with a sigh of relief. “What time is it anyway?”
    “ Noon. You missed school, but —”
    “ Oh, no,” I grumbled and tried sitting up again; he didn’t stop me this time. “Mom’s going to kill me after the stupid argument we had yesterday about how important school is.”
    “ One day can’t hurt.” He seemed rather confident about this, but I wasn’t so sure. “I had hoped that maybe you would take me up on that offer ... to go out. Since you were sort of preoccupied yesterday evening.”
    “ Yeah ... sure. What did you have in mind?” I lay back down and stared up at the ceiling.
    “ I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. And while I appreciate your gift of being able to summon food, I thought maybe we could go out and enjoy some time outside of Haven and, in your case, school. There’s a diner not far from here that serves breakfast all day, so you don’t even have to have lunch if you’re in the mood for breakfast.”
    I smiled and turned my gaze over to him. “Sounds good to me. Let me just go to my room and change into something clean ... and that will hopefully hide this ugly thing.”
    Mathias frowned and looked serious. “It isn’t ugly. Even if it did remain in the state that it is now, it would still be beautiful, if only for what it stands for.”
    Unsure of how to respond to that, I just nodded and rose once more to a sitting position. “With all of those figures in the woods, I wasn’t sure who anyone was aside from Artemis.”
    He nodded. “There were a few members that no longer live here at Haven. There are Clan members all over the state — all over the world, even — and many are still closely involved with Artemis. Some of the ones present were older members that were teenagers here when I was growing up.”
    “ Wow,” I said quietly as I imagined him as a young boy. At what age did his dark locks turn into strands of silvery snow? “I didn’t know where you were ... I tried looking for you in the crowd, but everyone just blended in with each other. Are you the one that picked me up?”
    At that, he grimaced. “No. I wasn’t close enough ... I would have if I hadn’t been on the opposite end of the circle ... Alan got to you first and he brought you here.” He paused and traded his grimace for a blank expression. “It’s common for new witches to collapse during the ritual, even if they have a high pain tolerance. Artemis says that the process replenishes your energy and cleanses your system, and it’s such a strain on the human body that it’s normal to pass out even if the pain doesn’t get you. I remember vaguely when Elijah had his Mark imprinted. Everyone was shocked that he didn’t collapse or anything ... but knowing what his gift is, it didn’t surprise me.”
    “ I’m kind of surprised the Mark even stayed on his skin.”
    “ While he may be able to cure himself of any mortal wound, nothing is known to be able to cure injuries caused by or infused with magic.”
    “ Oh, I see.”
    “ But enough of that for now. I will meet you in the lobby in fifteen minutes? Is that enough time?”
    “ Plenty. Just hope my mom isn’t in my room …”
    “ She’s not.”
    “ How do you know?”
    “ I saw her leave earlier when I was out there. She left with your dad.”
    “ Oh …”
    “ Is something wrong?”
    “ No,” I lied. “It’s fine. See you out there.” And with that, I retreated to my room.

Chapter Eight
     
    The restaurant was filled with people and their noise. I was surprised just how busy it was for a random weekday. Didn’t any of these people have jobs or school? Then again, what was I doing there?
    Mathias sat across from me with a loose strand of frosty white hair escaping from behind his ear,