Siphon (A Touch of Power Book 1)

by Jay Boyce

  Anyway, there on the side she could see another large building that looked governmenty with the pillars and such. She slowly wove her way towards it, noticing that although it was a huge monstrosity in the square, very few people went inside. For instance, in the five or so minutes it took her to wobble over, she’d only seen one person enter.

  A little more wary now, she approached from the side, barely opening the door and slipping into the blessed darkness, comparatively speaking. Softly glowing glass balls that sparkled with a dim inner light were placed along the walls of what looked to be a massive library. Her inner nerd squealed with glee as she saw them behind the rather intimidating looking counter that separated her from the massive amounts of INFORMATION! No more awkward questions, she could just read stuff and be good!

  “Can I help you?” The snooty voice of a young man who was barely condescending to speak with her rang out in the empty space. It took her a moment to finally spot him, sitting as he was at the other side of the huge counter and reading a book. Books! Yay! I may not have the internet, but a library is almost just as good! She took a few seconds to admire the intricately carved stone desk. With a dragon soaring over a forest on the front, it was pretty impressive.

  Smiling, she walked up and trilled cheerfully, “I’m here to read.”

  Disdainfully, the young man questioned, “Is that so? Where’s your pass?” He had very obviously appraised her and found her wanting, and the condescension in his tone was thick enough to cut.

  “Well, I don’t have one. Yet. So that’s why…”

  “No pass, no entry, no exceptions.” He went back to reading, now completely ignoring her as she stared blankly at him. When he realized she was still standing there, he glowered at her with hazel eyes glittering contemptuously and imperiously ordered, “Leave.”

  Her eyes narrowed. No one puts baby in a corner! She took her time to study him. Again, he could probably snap her in half. Thick, shiny chestnut hair that she was tempted to run her hands through was kept artfully trimmed to short scruff on his chiseled face. He looked like he was maybe a few years older than her, but the bored condescension was rather off-putting on an otherwise handsome face. He was probably academy, since that seemed to be the school du jour around here, and further witnessed by the muscles she could see defining his arms. He wasn’t a bodybuilder type like Raphael, but he was still cut. She sniffed and turned, while he went back to reading his book. In a show of unprecedented athleticism for her, she whipped back around and poked him in the forehead.

  “Hey jerk, listen up. My name is Jade. Remember it, because I’ll probably be here often, and I’m going to make you regret dissing me.” He looked furious, and she dropped her hand before he could grab it, catching sight for the first time of the book he was reading. Completely derailed, she was surprised enough to ask, “Wait, is that book handwritten?”

  Her utter surprise seemed to catch him off guard, and he scoffed at her. “What else would it be? Now leave before I hurt you.” She sneered right back at him and turned to leave as he muttered under his breath, “Peasants, always trying to show off. You probably can’t even read.”

  Fuming, she mentally poked the new notification that had shown up when she’d jabbed him in the forehead. She kinda wished she jabbed him it a lot harder, and with the nail…

  You have touched Lucas Solanell, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...

  Choose a stat to siphon: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Magic, Charisma, or Luck.

  Choose a skill to siphon: Appraise, Archery, Light Magic, Perception, or Scribe.

  Jackpot again! Putting it off for the moment and mentally minimizing the window, she paused as she reached the door and called back in a singsong voice, “Oh Lucas? I’ll remember this.” With him looking startled that she somehow knew his name, she opened the door and tried to waltz outside triumphantly.

  Once the door shut, she awkwardly walked to the side to calm down. What was she thinking!? She could have completely blown her cover. Whatever, she’d just say she heard it from someone when she asked for directions. No one would ever know any differently unless they had been following her, which would be super creepy.

  More importantly than that though… Books! She couldn’t believe they were handwritten, but that sort of explained the seemingly low literacy rate that was the divide between the haves and have-nots. That didn’t matter though. She was going to be freaking rich!

  In her mind, she could just see it now. Jade’s Inventions…she’d work on the name, obviously. But it had just occurred to her that she could steal all the cool things from earth and make herself the richest merchant ever by reproducing them here. A printing press was first on her list. Okay, second, after sunglasses, and maybe soap. She couldn’t do anything as fancy as the laser printers, but she’d watched a documentary on the old printing press once and had the basic idea in her head of how it worked. She could do that.

  She couldn’t do anything that required computers or an engine. Sadly, she had totally neglected that in her internet studies. Or anything that required knowing the chemical composition of stuff. So while she would love to make shampoo and conditioner, not knowing what the situation was here, that might have to be put on hold. She’d keep it on the back burner. Maybe when she raised her intelligence stat, she’d be able to figure it out with her heightened brainpower. She silently rued the fact that she’d never had focused learning like the other kids. When they expect you to die daily, they don’t put a whole lot of focus into educating you, so she was allowed to just do whatever interested her on the internet after she was taught how to read with a few schoolbooks. Her parents had helped her to start, but lost interest once her brother came along.

  What else could she make? She’d noticed an ink and quill…that meant pens weren’t a thing either. What were the common things she used that would be awesome to make and sell here? She started mentally composing her list.

  Sunglasses. Printing press and pens. Shampoo and conditioner, liquid soap, and lotion. Bobby pins? I wonder if those are a thing yet? As much as I would love to invent plastic, I have no idea what that would take. Artificial diamonds? Maybe I can do that with magic… What about food? Do they have stuff like cheeseburgers, tacos, and pizza? I could have the most awesome fast food restaurant ever. Mmm… I kinda want a burrito now. Maybe all those cooking shows Nurse Davies loved will actually come in handy… Oooh, watches! No more digging in your pocket for the time!

  What else could I ‘invent?’ I don’t see anyone in high heels, but I think that’s one fashion statement I can live without. Jeans? What are jeans even made of? What about transportation? Everyone is walking everywhere… Cars are above my pay grade, but a bike should be pretty easy to reproduce. Rollerblades? Maybe make them like those shoes with pop-out wheels… I could make a trench coat fashionable, maybe. Depends on how cold it gets here.

  Uhhh…what else…normal glasses? Are those a thing here? I haven’t seen anyone with them, but maybe if you raise your stats enough, you don’t need them? Is there such a thing as an automatic correction? Or do people just get healed? What about jewelry? I could probably copy some of that stuff… Probably better to wait on that until after I’ve met with the nobles though. They’re my most likely target for that stuff anyway. Oh, I could do glass beads though! Fake stuff for the win! What about dresses with pockets? Sharon’s dress had pockets, so maybe they’re already doing that right…

  Whatever, that’s enough to make me rich forever.

  She smiled and began to walk slowly through the streets and back towards The Green Dragon. If the academy thing didn’t work out, that was okay now. She had a plan. She was going to become the richest merchant this world had ever seen.

  Oooh, newspapers. I will become the media queen! Might have to teach the peasants to read first though… Unknowingly, she had started to consider herself one of the upper crust already, even though she only had two silver leaves to her name.

 
She started humming to herself, only to realize– Music! I need to write down everything as soon as I can, or I’m going to forget this stuff…

  She couldn’t wait to get back to her room. She had so much to steal! Er…temporarily borrow, that is. So she wandered as quickly as she could, only to stop when her stomach rumbled at the sweet smell of baking bread. I can wait until after I’ve eaten… Need to eat to grow, after all!

  She grinned and made her way towards the delicious smell, entering a bustling bakery. Thankfully, some things didn’t change. It looked just like one of those small-town bakeries she’d seen in all the TV shows! Only minus the glass. Like a kid in a candy store, she walked over to the shelves of lovingly displayed noms, trying to decide what she wanted. It all smelled so good!

  She peeked around, trying to find a plastic sack to put her choice in, or even tongs to pick it up when she realized everyone else was simply grabbing it with their hands and walking towards the counter. Apparently, hygiene wasn’t that eminent a thing here. Also, it appeared no one stole because of the big burly dude guarding the door and watching her like a hawk that she’d just noticed. She smiled sweetly at him, then turned back to the bread.

  Unfortunately, there were no names of anything written down. She’d need to make labels a thing too, just as soon as she taught the plebs to read. The only thing that was ‘labeled’ were numbers written in what looked like paint on each shelf. From 1-10, everything had a number. She assumed it was probably in the copper nuts because though Elisa hadn’t told her much about money, she had told her the price of bread, which seemed to match.

  Grabbing a croissant drizzled with chocolate and a sweetbread that smelled of peaches, she walked to the counter, inwardly celebrating. Chocolate is a thing here, hallelujah! She smiled and held up her choices to the lady at the counter. The lady noted what she had and said simply, “4 Nuts.” Grinning, Jade pulled out a silver leaf and handed it to the lady, making sure to graze her hand when she passed it over. The lady handed her six little bronze nuts in return, and she cheerfully pocketed those.

  “Thanks! Have a good day!” She chirped at the rather brusque saleslady, who had already moved onto the next person. She made her way back to the door, pausing to study the big brute. She looked way, way up at him, still grinning. “Hi, I’m Jade. You’ll probably see me a bunch. What’s your name?” She hadn’t wanted to ask the saleslady her name because she didn’t seem super friendly and she was busy, but brute here was just standing there glaring at people, so obviously he had more time.

  He seemed a little startled that she was talking to him, and he stared her down for a moment before saying directly, “Tom.”

  Nodding and make sure to brush her arm against his as she lurched out, she chirped at him too, “Okay. See you later Tom! Have a good day!” It just seemed like the right thing to say to people at work.

  Munching happily on her chocolate croissant, she almost groaned aloud from sheer pleasure. The nurses had never let her have much chocolate, saying her system couldn’t handle it. Well ptooey on them, she was going to eat as much as she wanted now! Finishing it quite handily, she was licking her fingers as she finally got back to The Green Dragon.

  She opened the door to a mostly empty common room. Seeing only Raphael talking to Jessica and Kaylee, who were attempting to clean as he growled at them, she spread her arms wide and declared, “Honey, I’m home! Didja miss me?”

  Chapter Eight – Rumors

  They were gaping at her like she was crazy...and maybe she was. Too many reruns at the hospital, but they had filled her time. Netflix and other streaming sites had been her very bestest friends. Finally, Jessica came to her rescue, asking politely, “Welcome back, Jade. Did you find what you were looking for?”

  Jade tried to bounce cheerfully over to them, but probably appeared more like a demented baby gazelle. “I did! I met some really nice people and some horrid jerks.” She wasn’t staring pointedly at Raphael here, nope, not at all. He was glaring right back at her again though, so she didn’t feel very guilty about it. So far the jerks had all been connected to that academy place.

  Completely ignoring her, he turned back to Jessica and Kaylee. “As I was saying, everyone else has been sent out, but no one has found her yet. Go out for a bit and see if you can find someone who knows who she is, but make sure you’re back in time to make dinner.”

  Jade just listened, interested. Who exactly were they trying to find? “Whoya looking for?” She interjected.

  Seeming just to want to shut her up, Raph glared and growled brusquely, “None of your business.”

  “But maybe she saw something! She’s been out there for hours.” Kaylee piped up.

  Now he was glaring at Kaylee like she was crazy. “You think this one, who’s had a glazed look 90% of the time I’ve seen her, would have been perceptive enough to notice something?”

  Kaylee winced, but considered Jade as if measuring her. Jade stared unblinkingly at her, trying really hard not to space out. She didn’t stare off into space during her mental musings that often, did she? If so, so what? She’d been alone most of the time before, so she lived in her own brain. She was still getting used to having people around all the time. Finally, Kaylee glanced away and muttered rebelliously, “It still wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

  Raphael was still glowering, but finally he bit off the words, “Fine. Ask.” Obviously, he wasn’t going to do so himself. Kaylee was still sulking at his harsh manner, so Jessica was the graceful mediator once again.

  “Jade, did you happen to see the zombie healer?”

  She choked on the bread she’d started nibbling on in the interim. Coughing and crying because she couldn’t get air, it took a minute for her to stop wheezing. When she finally got herself under control, she asked with a nervous chuckle, “Did I see what now?”

  Raphael gave a triumphant snort as if to say ‘I told you so.’ Meanwhile, Jessica forged on, looking both determined and concerned. “The zombie healer. Well I mean, I don’t think she was really a zombie, but people say she was all covered in blood, so a little girl called her a zombie. She’s a healer.”

  Yup, they were so talking about her. She couldn’t believe the gossip vine was this strong. She’d have to be careful what she did in public… Nonchalantly, she asked, “Why are you looking for her?”

  Kaylee seemed excited by her evasiveness as she interjected, “So you DID see her!”

  Jade glanced at the ground guiltily and asked again, “I might have. Why are you looking for her?”

  At this point, even Raphael looked a little excited. He had come real close and was now looming over her. “Tell me what you know.”

  Jade glared up at him, before setting her bread down on a table and standing up, forcing him to take a step back as she glared up at his large figure. “I asked you a question. Why are you looking for her?” She was getting annoyed now. Why couldn’t they just answer the dang question? Disliking the fact that she was still being looked down on by Raphael, she turned around, climbed onto the bench of the table and turned back around, crossing her arms over her chest. Now SHE was looking down on him! Only by about six inches, but still! Why does he have to be so dang tall? It’s not fair.

  Raphael looked ready to do physical harm to her after she climbed on the bench. He spoke through gritted teeth. “Get. Off. The. Bench.”

  “No.” She replied flippantly and smirked. “Oooh, what’s this, big guy doesn’t like getting a dose of his own medicine? Not so tough when you can’t intimidate me, are you?” He was turning apoplectic with rage. That last bit -might- have been a tad too far…

  He’d started advancing when Jessica piped in. “The academy heard about her and wants to recruit her. They’re panicking a bit because the selections are almost over and they only heard of her today.”

  Jade smiled benignly at Jessica, stepping down off the bench and smirking even wider, which was kinda creepy on her skeletal face. All three of them had taken a step back, and she belate
dly frowned. “What, am I that scary?”

  Jessica and Kaylee shook their heads frantically, while Raphael snapped rapidly, “You’re creepy. Now tell us what you know.”

  Jade was glaring at him outright again, all signs of her smirk gone. She questioned pointedly, “Do you really think it’s a good idea to piss off your information source...before you get the information?”

  Raphael ran a hand through his glorious hair in frustration, then countered. “Do you think it’s a good idea to piss off the owner of the place where you’re staying?”

  Jade glared. “Touché.” Turning to the girls, she asked, “Did you get a description of the…healer?” She had barely stopped herself from saying zombie. She did NOT want this to become her nickname in the future, but she had a bad feeling about it…

  “Yeah, of course!” Jessica seemed happy to be back onto a semi-neutral subject, and she rattled on. “She was covered in blood, super skeletal like skinny, dark brown shoulder length hair, green eyes…”

  As she listed the attributes, it was like a lightbulb went off over all of their heads as they stared at her.

  “You’ve gotta be shitting me.” Raphael cursed loudly while Jade’s smirk, albeit a much smaller one, came back.