Zack swallows as the magical thing lands on his open palm. He's still jittery from his recent encounter and magic is anathema to him. It's a scary proposition, but...

The reward outweighs the risk. Especially as this is Alec. Zack looks from the bead to Alec, still suffering from guilt at the way he questioned his intentions just now.

"You should know, I thought... maybe, you'd decided to abandon me. And I got a bit lost about how we made friends. Dunno what I was thinking."

Or why.