Page 77 of Daemon Master

He smiled at her. “From what your mother says, you’ve been our biggest advocate.” He glanced around the otherwise deserted street and sighed. “Ouronlyadvocate.”

She answered his dim smile with a cautious grin of her own. “I just call it like I see it. If there’s anything I can do to help, just say the word.”

“Actually,” he said, his smile broadening, “I have a favor to ask…”

It didn’t take Freya long to round up everyone else in the village willing to talk to him. Of course, that might’ve been because it turned out to be exactly one person.

“Sorry,” Freya said. “He was the only person I could find who wasn’t angry or terrified.”

Adrian suppressed a sigh. “I suppose it’s a start.”

Xander looked much the same as when they’d rescued him from Souleater, though with cleaner clothes. He swallowed, avoiding Adrian’s gaze. “Freya said you wanted to talk?”

“That’s right. I appreciate you coming.” Adrian made a sweeping gesture at the empty space around them. “As you can see, people aren’t exactly lining up for the honor right now.”

Xander let out an involuntary chuckle, seeming startled by the sound.A small victory.

“First, allow me to thank you,” Adrian continued. “I owe you a debt.”

Xander looked up sharply. “A debt? For what?”

“For helping Seymour rescue me. Without you, I might not have survived.”

“No!” Xander protested. His face flushed. “Well, I mean,yes, that happened. But you don’t need to thank me. You and Seymour had already saved my life. Even if…” He trailed off, seeming to think better of what he’d been about to say.

“Even if Seymour can be a bit terrifying?” Adrian guessed, raising an amused eyebrow.

Xander gave a bashful smile. “That’s one way of putting it.”

Chuckling, Adrian gestured to the makeshift sitting area he’d constructed outside their hut out of scavenged stones and logs. “Want to chat with me for a bit? Or are you busy?”

Xander hesitated before offering a shrug. “I’ve got a couple hours until dinner.”

“Great! Then, let me tell you about this time I was sent to capture a legion of Squeaktails…”

By the time Seymour returned from his daily training, most of the tension had bled out of Xander. Heartrender sat purring in his lap while Xander played tug-of-war with Lockrod using anUnbendable Rod. Lockrod seemed to be enjoying himself, even if he was going easy.

Seymour took in the scene, scowled, and said, “I’m going inside. Get me when you’re done.” He stalked past them into the hut, slamming the door behind him. Adrian suppressed a grin. He’d spent enough time around the watcher to catch the approval hidden beneath his gruff façade.

The next day, Xander returned, along with a half-dozen other kids around his age. They were nervous at first, like Xander had been. But seeing Freya and Xander interacting so easily with Adrian’s daemons piqued their curiosity. By that afternoon, they screamed with laughter as Lockrod chased them around a touch too enthusiastically with anUnbendable Rod.

For the first time since their arrival, Adrian felt a genuine spark of optimism. A handful of children was a far cry from the entire village, but it was a start. And all it had taken was focusing on changing one mind at a time rather than the whole Enclave at once.

“You and Shadowlash seem to be doing better,” Adrian remarked later that night. It was still weird seeing his former nemesis laying at Seymour’s feet, but it also gave him a certain sense of warm pride.People can change for the better—daemons, too.

“I suppose.” Seymour eyed Adrian. “And you seem to be bonding admirably with the village youth. Making any headway with their fearless leader?”

Adrian had told Seymour about his discussion with Elana the other day, and sure enough, they’d found their missing gear waiting for them in their hut that night. He shrugged. “Hard to say. But we’re on the right track. I think we should stick it out for the rest of the month.”

Seymour exhaled a long-suffering sigh. “I expected you to say as much. Very well. We can give it the full month now that it isn’t looking like a total lost cause.”

Adrian couldn’t hold back his grin. “Great! Speaking of…maybe you could come to the next gathering? You know, show off your meditation and exercise routines to a few people.”

Seymour eyed Adrian suspiciously. “How many is ‘a few’?”

“I guess we’ll see tomorrow,” Adrian replied.

As it turned out,a fewmeant almost a dozen. Xander and Freya were there, of course, along with a smattering of Xander’s friends. There were even a couple older villagers whose interest must’ve finally outweighed their fear. Either that or, judging by the stern look one of them was giving Adrian, they wanted to make sure he wasn’t corrupting their youth.