Bren's brows lifted in shock, and he burst into laughter at the boy's horror. "Arthur," he huffed, "that's not..."
"Play along, Bren," Nikki's voice said. "Come on, it'll be funny."
Stop, he thought. I'd be no better than Aahva.
"Just for a moment!"
The young man took a deep breath, relaxing himself with just a smirk that could've been interpreted as devious. "Yes, Arthur," he said. "I took his magic. I could even show you the spell, if you'd like." He patted the satchel he was wearing, which contained his spell book. It wasn't a lie; not even an exaggeration. Bren had patted Percy's back after seeing him perform his magic and taken the power. "He wasn't as powerful as I had expected..." Now, he was starting to lie. "Still, better to add another power to my collection. Why shouldn't I take yours? It's pretty interesting, from what I hear, and you're not using it."
An entertained grin began to tug at his lips, but from the level of terror Arthur was expressing, he probably couldn't tell that the entire thing was an act.