Page 4097

Clearly, this guy had been able to respond to stimuli, even if it was only for a moment. So he wasn't completely unreachable, at least.

Or he was still just faking, and Selena's move had caught him off guard.

Hector was particularly wary of that.

As he kept mulling it over, Voreese apparently arrived at her own conclusion and turned to Selena again. 'Alright, kiss him on the lips.'

He stepped in and eased Selena back toward the others.

'Oh, come on. You guys are seriously underestimating the power of a little female attention. I mean, look at her! She's cute as a button, isn't she? I'm just helping her harness her latent abilities. You understand, don't you, Selena?'

"Would you shut up already?" said Roman.

'Fuck you. I'm trying to use a scalpel here, so you fellas better not whip out a sledgehammer and call that the superior solution. There are a lot of innocent bystanders around, you know.'

That part, at least, Hector could agree with. "Relax," he told Voreese. "We don't need intel that bad. There are other places we can try."

'Hmph.'

Before resorting to that, though, Hector had to wonder if he could wake this guy up somehow. Assuming the dude wasn't simply faking, then shouldn't it have been theoretically possible to extend his own aura around this fellow and protect him from manipulation like the others in his party.

Unless... his aura wasn't actually what was protecting them? Hector was fairly sure it was, but didn't actually know that for certain, of course. Moreover, he wasn't sure how to manipulate his own aura in such a way, either. He'd kinda done stuff like that before, but... hmm. It wasn't like he was consciously protecting Roman and everyone else, at the moment.

So maybe it was a subconscious thing? They were all part of the 'group,' so his aura was just shielding them automatically.

Did he just have to start thinking of this stranger as part of the group, too, then? Somehow, that felt wrong. And maybe kinda dumb. Especially when he didn't know the first thing about this person.

A new aura arrived at the periphery of Hector's senses, pulling his attention away from his internal debate. Someone was right outside the building. Someone that hadn't been there a few seconds ago.

He reached out with the Scarf for more information, but the door swung open before it could tell him anything, throwing the air currents into disarray.

"Would you mind leaving that man alone, please?" came a very youthful voice.

Next page on the 20th

Thanks for your patience, guys.

Page 4096

That look on her face was even more confusing, Hector thought. And what was that aura saying? He'd never seen the like before.

Which wasn't saying much, he supposed in the back of his mind. He was still very new to this whole aura reading business, after all.

Selena still elected not to say anything, though, and simply turned back to the stranger seated in front of her. But she didn't do exactly as Voreese had asked, either. She got close to the man, but she didn't actually touch him.

Instead, she gave a quick wave of her hand, right next to the guy's face. Close enough, in fact, that from Hector's perspective behind her, he might've thought she touched him, if not for the Scarf of Amordiin informing him of the precise distance between her and the stranger.

As well as the disturbance in the air currents around her. She'd used her materialization power over oxygen, Hector realized.

A gentle wind swirled around the stranger, tousling his hair and clothes a bit but otherwise doing nothing else.

And it had certainly given the man a start. Hector easily sensed it, both in the fellow's aura and in the subtle flinch of his body. There was a flash of surprise and fear there, but then it was gone, replaced again by the previous sense of blankness that the guy's aura had.

Hmm.

'That's not what I told you to do, girlie.'

"My name is Selena, thank you very much."

'Oho. While I can respect the sudden spine you're demonstrating, you shouldn't go revealing your name so carelessly like that. Never know who might be listening.'

"It's my name. I'll reveal it whenever I please."

Voreese snickered. 'Alright, now that might be a little TOO much spine.'

Selena pointed at Roman. "Also, he already revealed your name aloud, so where's his lecture?"

'Y'know, you make an excellent point,' said Voreese as she rounded her own servant. 'Why you gotta be such a dumbass, huh? What happened to operational security? You're supposed to be better than this.'

"I can only apologize," said Roman. "I must've been unconsciously hoping that it would help someone track you down and free me from this living hell."

Voreese ignored him and moved on to Hector. 'So? Any of that prove helpful?'

Weirdly enough, it had. But Hector wasn't sure he should say so and reinforce the reaper's behavior.