She hadn't even blinked at him, at his hurried insistence.
She was definitely suspicious.
"Oh, you mean Aleksandr?"
Once again, his eyes narrowed on her. How the hell did she know his name? He hadn't even said it, hadn't even thought it. What kind of wicked little imp was this tiny girl-child?
"Did it occur to you that perhaps he doesn't want to be found?"
He rolled his eyes. Well, obviously. And yes, most certainly Alek did not want to be found by his twin brother. If she was so all-knowing, she would've known he was chasing Alek down to save him from himself, the idiot guy. He was always getting himself into trouble, though he didn't seem to believe that, and Dominik was always in his wake coming to set things right. And hopefully beat him for his stupidity before the panther stalked off into the night again without a single thanks.
Always escaping him.
She pounced a circle around him and he half-expected her to conjure something, really. What was with the circle? Was that a ritual of some kind? It didn't seem familiar, lacked all the runes he knew of, all the symbols or vague gestures. All it was was a circle. Just that.
Maybe she was new at this. She was quite tiny.
"What makes you think little old me would know anything about your brother anyway?" she asked him, her little voice honestly kind of hurting his ears with how brittle and sharp it was. Children had the worst voices, though he supposed they couldn't help it. Hopefully she'd run another little magic circle and suddenly be older. That'd be helpful.
"Maybe it is because you know his name without my having said so." Duh. Seriously, this girl was so new at this, clearly. He should teach her, save her from herself too, but he was clearly very busy hunting down his stupid twin brother. Or possibly a giant black cat. Same thing.
"If you have nothing useful to give me, I'll be on my way." But he wasn't completely convinced she didn't know at least something about Alek's whereabouts. So his eyes narrowed again.
"Are you certain you haven't seen him? Because I can spot a liar five hundred miles away, you know." Maybe not, but she was a dumb kid anyway. Or looked like one. You know, he wasn't entirely sure, but really didn't have the time to care.
:|