breath, let it out, then said, "I can freeze things."
I thought about this for a bit, then said, "Like ... what? 'Wonder Twin powers activate, form of an ice bridge'?"
His discomfort was palpable, but I had to give him credit; he didn't skirt anything. "Not freeze like cold-freeze. I can stop things from moving." He glanced toward the oak in my yard. "If I wanted to, I could paralyze a whole squirrel. Or just one leg." He glanced at me quickly, then nodded toward Mom's garden. "I could stop those flowers from pulling water up from their roots. That kind of thing. If I can see it, I can stop it dead in its tracks."
I took this in, my mind extrapolating to all the places a power like that might go. "It sounds like that kind of power could be dangerous."
He didn't say anything for a while, but his arm muscles tightened again. "Anything can be dangerous if you're not careful with it."
"Your security work," I said. "Was this with a normal firm, or was it ... special?"
He watched me for a minute, then said, "Special."
"But you quit?"
He shrugged. "It's not the kind of job you quit. I'm on leave. If they need me, they'll come get me."
"And what happens then? They just come and fetch you, and you go?"
"Something like that." He raised his eyes to meet mine. They were dark, and a little tired. "Liv, I can stop a heart beating, and no one would ever know it wasn't your standard heart failure. I'm the kind of guy people keep an eye on."
I felt a coldness creep over my skin. "So you're like ... what? A magical assassin?"
"No." He shook his head, caught my expression, then shifted forward on his chair, his eyes intent on mine. "Liv, no. It's security, what I do. I swear. I protect clients." He took my hand in his, squeezed it as he met my eye. "No one has ever asked me to kill anyone."
Even as he spoke the words, though, there was a hint of tension in his voice, and I gave voice to their subtext.
"Yet," I said. "No one has asked you ... yet."
He stared at me, and I could see the gears churning in his mind, wanting to argue, until finally he relaxed, as though accepting that he couldn't.
"Magicals like me end up in one of two places, Liv. Either working in ... security, or living in hiding. Just having the kind of potential we have, if you run away, well ... they chase you. Either way, you're never really free."
"Jesus," I breathed. "That's a hell of a way to live."
"There's a power structure in every community," he said quietly. "Just because we're magic doesn't mean it's all puppies and rainbows."
"So what happens if they come and get you? Do they give you time to, you know ... say good-bye, or anything?"
He gave me a dark look, followed by a small, sad smile. "I'm very low-man-on-the-totem-pole with these people. They've got bigger things than me going on. There's a good chance I could live out my life here, forever, and never hear from them again."
"But there's a chance - " I began, but he cut me off.
"You said you needed my help with something?"
"Right." I took a breath, and directed my focus to the problems at hand. "There's a guy in town. His name is Cain. He's the guy who killed Holly, and we think he's probably after me next."
Tobias's eyes widened, and I could see a flash of anger in them. "And you're just telling me this now?"
"I'm not in danger at the moment. I'm not quite ripe, in the magical sense."
He seemed to understand, and relaxed a bit. "Oh."
"I need you to find him. Don't do anything, just ... find him. He's either in town or nearby, probably not staying anywhere under his real name, but who the hell knows? He's a little over six feet, dirty blondish, scruffy, cranky, and Southern. When I met up with him, he was at Happy Larry's. That should be enough to lead you to him, especially if he's here in town."
"You got it." He gave me a direct look, presumably to show me he meant business. "Meanwhile, you start packing."
"What?"
"Change your ticket to Europe. Get the next flight out of Buffalo. I'll follow up with you when we find this guy."
I shook my head. "No."
He stared at me as if I was crazy. "Why not? Now, five weeks from now, what's