Siphon (A Touch of Power Book 1)

by Jay Boyce

  They walked into a brightly lit room that seemed more like the fancy teacher’s lounges she’d seen in a couple of anime. She caught the tail end of what one of them was saying, “...finally here. We’ve been waiting over an hour…”

  She glared at Raphael. She wasn’t about to explain herself. He greeted them first, having seen her look and seemingly wanting to cut off her normal caustic remarks. “Stephen, Eric, Jarom, this is Jade, the healer we were searching for. Sorry we’re late, I forgot to tell her that I’d made an appointment first thing this morning.” He was taking the blame for it, and rightfully so. However, due to the disdainful looks the three of them were giving both her and Raphael, she had a sinking feeling. Apparently Raphael wasn’t as high on the food chain as she thought. He also appeared a little younger than these guys, who appeared to be somewhere around their thirties.

  “So this is the little healer? I can see why they called her a zombie…” The guy on the far right was the first to speak. With short brown hair, middling brown eyes, and a barely concealed body that felt like he’d escaped from Gladiator to support the massive amount of weapons openly displayed about his person atop his dark green tunic, she supposed if anyone was going to call her little, he was qualified. Still, she wasn’t happy about it.

  She stepped forward, staring them down as she said simply, “I’m the healer, yes. Call me a zombie one more time, and I’ll shove my fist in your mouth.” Of course, that only happened in her head. Gritting her teeth, she managed to stop herself from spitting it out--barely. Raphael seemed worried at how she was going to respond too, but she wasn’t stupid. While she’d been pushing her boundaries with the people around her to see how far they stretched, messing with the upper echelons of society when she currently had no backing probably wasn’t the smartest idea ever, especially when they were huge and heavily armed.

  Instead, she smiled sweetly. If you can’t beat them, and these guys looked like they could pretty much take anyone else she had seen so far in a fight, make them your underlings. She’d much rather be on good terms with the upper echelon of society so that she didn’t have to fend for herself. She was pretty sure she’d be fine, but why struggle pointlessly when they wanted to give her resources? Also, the library. She needed them so she could access the library. So she fought down her impulse to butt heads with them and smiled sweetly. “I’m Jade. It’s lovely to meet you.” She bobbed a small awkward curtsey.

  Her smile and whole glossing-over-the-insult thing was a little outside their expectations, making it clear they’d expected or perhaps even wanted her to blow up so they could put her in her place. Concentrating, she moved slowly so that the motion would be smooth and glided over towards them, head held high. She took a seat primly, smiling serenely. I am as calm as a glassy lake. Nothing you throw at me will cause any ripples.

  “I realize you’re probably very busy, so shall we get started? What information do you need from me?” Raphael was gawking a little bit, and Jade sent him a look, trying to tell him to get his act together and not ruin her moment.

  He seemed to compose himself and muttered, “I’ll just wait outside.” He quickly made his escape, afraid that if he stayed, he was going to either blurt out something he shouldn’t or ruin whatever she was cooking up in her traveler's brain.

  After he’d left, the three returned their gazes to her, sitting down as well. They seemed slightly impressed by the regal poise and bearing she was exuding. In all honesty, she was just trying to mimic how Lady Catherine had held herself. She was a detestable woman, but she had poise down if you ignored the indications that she perpetually had something rotten under her nose.

  “Very well.” Seeming to just go with it, the middle one, she thought it was Eric, pulled out a sheet of paper that… Well, it was basically an exact replica of her profile, just not filled out. She pondered telling him she could fill it out herself, then realized she’d never written with a quill before, so that could wait until after she wasn’t trying to impress them. After all, better scores equaled better treatment in her mind. That’s always how it seemed to be in books. Only, there were a few more lines than she had in her profile. “What’s your last name?” He dipped the quill into the inkwell and beautifully wrote ‘Jade’ at the top of the paper, pausing for her input.

  The middle guy resembled the more studious type, but that was mostly based on the fact that his muscles weren’t bulging out like the bodybuilder next to him. He had short curly brown hair, hazel eyes that brimmed with curiosity, and a smirk that showed off boyish dimples. His clothing was more formal, and less ‘I’m ready for a fight.’ Still, the muscles she could see as he moved were well-defined, if not bulky. No weaklings wanted at Dracona! That didn’t exactly bode super well for her. Still, she smiled politely and answered.

  “It’s Winward. W-I-N-W-A-R-D.” She watched him finish penning her name beautifully. Apparently she was going to have to learn calligraphy. Her chicken scratch from lack of practice was probably not going to cut it here.

  “And where are you from?”

  She smiled serenely again. “Earth.”

  She thought it was the gladiator Jarom who asked in curiosity, “As in, the ground? Are you trying to be funny?”

  She inclined her head, her eyes glinting. She spoke quietly as she dropped a bomb on them, “As in, the world I’m from. I’m a traveler.”

  Chapter Eleven – Interview

  Their expressions were a classic mix of confusion, disbelief, and curiosity. Stephen, or at least he was the one she’d labeled Stephen in her head… She should probably make sure she figured out which one was which sooner than later, so she didn’t get them fixed in her mind as the wrong thing… Anyway, probably Stephen seemed a little quicker on the uptake. With a healthy dose of skepticism in his voice, he asked, “So, the reason we hadn’t heard of you until yesterday…”

  “Was because I didn’t exist in this world until yesterday morning when I woke up here.” She was watching his reaction in particular, since this was the first time he’d spoken. The way he was lounging on the chair felt more like he was a panther at rest, but ready to strike at any moment. His dark clothing probably lent to that assumption, given that he was mostly wearing black with a few hints of blue, like his very dark blue eyes and a handkerchief sticking out of his pocket. He was only lightly tanned, and his black hair was neatly trimmed. All in all, he seemed to fit the tall, dark, and handsome stereotype pretty well. Unlike the gladiator, he wasn’t plainly wearing weapons, but she could see small bulges where she figured they were concealed.

  It seemed probably Eric’s curiosity was peaked at this point, because he leaned forward, asking intently, “You don’t seem like any of the travelers that have come before you, but let’s go with it and say for the moment that you are a traveler. Did you have magic in your old world?” Okay, so they didn’t believe her, but they were at least giving her the benefit of the doubt.

  She shook her head, deciding to be honest. “Only in stories.”

  Probably Jarom interjected at this point. “Then how did you heal that girl? One day isn’t enough to learn magic.” He sounded rather proud of himself for figuring out the hole in her logic, glancing triumphantly at the other two.

  Here, she smiled smugly and quipped, “Maybe for you. I may not be strong right now, but the magic of your world seems to come decidedly easily to me. Part of that may be the special ability I was given when I got here though.” Okay, she threw in the last part to seem humble, plus she figured she needed to give them a reason for her future growth because hello, people were going to notice the changes.

  “You have a special ability? What is it?” This was Eric chiming in again. Probably. Ugh, she needed to know.

  “Before I answer, Raphael said your names, so I know what they are, but not which belongs to who. You’re Eric, right?” The book-man in the middle nodded. Okay, so that was the easy one. Generally, people in the middle are mentioned in the middle, but which one was first or last? Turn
ing to her probably Stephen, she questioned, “And you’re Stephen?” She thought Raphael had looked at him first. When he nodded and gave her a charming smile with his very white teeth, she smiled more confidently. “So you’re Jarom. Okay. Thanks. I didn’t want to start calling you the wrong names.”

  She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts and preparing to lie with a completely straight, relaxed face. She cooed sweetly, “My special ability is called accelerated growth. It’s pretty straightforward; I’m growing and learning at a pretty amazing rate. So maybe that’s why magic is easier for me.”

  Eric was making a note on the paper, and Stephen questioned further. “Raphael mentioned you were a dual mage. We know you’re a healer, but what else can you do?” Jarom seemed to be sulking a little bit that his reveal that she was a fraud might be wrong.

  She glanced at the table, where Stephen had a glass of water in front of him. She indicated it, asking quietly, “May I?” He nodded, and she put her hand above it. She focused on calling the water, and it started to slide into the air, creating a water blob that she hovered and made spin around a bit before it went back into the cup. “I learned to heal first. I was taken to meet the healer Mike when I was experiencing sudden growth pains. I could feel what he did to me a little bit, and then when I tried to reproduce it later, I could. The water I learned on my own when I...” She paused, a little embarrassed to admit that she’d forgotten her towel. So she tweaked her story a little bit. “I wanted to dry my hands and didn’t have a towel.” There, no need to mention she’d been naked and cold.

  “Fascinating.” Eric had stopped scribbling long enough to watch her demonstration, but he’d immediately started taking notes again as soon as she put it back. She smiled sweetly at them. The more they liked her, the better off she figured she would be. Plus, she still had to make them forget she’d been late, which at this point, it seemed they had. They also seemed to have forgotten their skepticism that she was a traveler in the wake of her story. “Tell me, you mentioned growing pains. What changed?”

  She laughed softly. “What hasn’t changed is the better question!” She paused, considering. “As skinny as I am now, I was pretty much still a skeleton yesterday. You can ask anyone who saw me. I actually have muscles now!” She grinned infectiously while thinking about it. “My stats have even gone up a little.”

  “Your stats changed? What were they before versus what they are now?” Eric had his quill poised above that section of the profile sheet now. She figured he’d have asked anyway eventually, but she didn’t want them to reject her because she was weak. Thus she had chosen to state some of her improvement directly, mostly because Jarom was still grumbling as if he was put out.

  “Yeah, my strength went from a 7 to an 8, my dexterity from an 8 to a 9, my constitution went from a 7 to an 8, my intelligence from a 15 to a 16, my magic stayed at 11, charisma from 8 to 9, and my luck from 13 to 14.” She had pulled up her sheet to take a glance at it while she recalled what she’d started with yesterday. She’d spent long enough poring over her profile that she’d memorized the basics of her numbers because she wanted to see how they’d change.

  Eric had been dutifully noting her numbers down, pausing only for a brief second when she uttered what her intelligence was. He’d glanced at the others and then gone back to jotting down numbers until she arrived at luck. It was Stephen who asked incredulously, “You have a fourteen in luck?” She nodded, and they exchanged glances.

  Jarom seemed more of a straight shooter, and he retorted brusquely, “Well your physical stats suck, but we can work with those. You have abnormally high mental stats.” She gave a mental sigh of relief that he was letting go of his earlier annoyance, at least for the most part. Or at least enough that he wasn’t going to block her from entering just because she was currently weak.

  She smiled and shrugged, deciding to share just a little bit more. “I was a cripple in my world, so my mind was all I had.” They had all winced at this, looking at her with what appeared to be a touch of pity. With a smile, she forged on, trying to change the subject a little bit. “So, is that enough for me to pass muster? I was really hoping to get a library pass from you guys.”

  Eric let out a surprised bark of laughter, and the others soon joined in. It was Stephen who said, “You pass. I’ll get you a library pass.”

  He stood up to move towards a cupboard at the side when Eric intervened. “Not that one. I’ll give her one of mine.”

  Stephen and Eric seemed to be communicating silently as they stared at each other, and she could almost see the speech bubble above Stephen’s head going ‘Are you sure about that?’ Eric glanced at her smiling innocently and nodded, and Stephen seemed to shrug and give up. “Okay.” Meanwhile, Eric had pulled out a silver almost credit card like thing. He wrote her name so prettily on it, and she watched in fascination as he concentrated on the metal, and it was almost like…oh wait, it totally was magic.

  Her name had been engraved on the freaking metal, and when he got up and handed her the card, she made sure to brush against his fingers ever so lightly so she could confirm her suspicions. She quickly mentally clicked on the new little pulsing light in her vision.

  You have touched Eric Silverstone, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...

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

  Choose a skill to siphon: Diplomacy, Insight, Metal Magic, Modeling, or Scribe.

  Called it! Wait…modeling? She stared blankly at Eric for a moment, trying to picture him putting on fancy clothes and strutting around like a peacock. She guessed he did have the physique for it, but so had just about everyone else she’d met... She minimized the screen, trying to cover her bewilderment by admiring the card she’d been given. She could feel the little bumps on the back where pushing the metal down had made it come out the other side. It was exquisitely done, and there was this really pretty crest on the right side of it too. But that was it, just her name and the crest.

  She looked up at him hopefully, “So this gets me into the library? It’s so pretty!” He nodded, and she held it to her chest now like it was her treasure as she subconsciously spoke aloud, “This is gonna be so fun!”

  Eric was watching her curiously as he asked, “What’s going to be fun?”

  Guiltily, she glanced down, mumbling softly, “Oh erm… I might’ve had a run in with a guy yesterday who accused me of not being able to read and chased me out of the library…” Eric snorted, so she looked up in relief, her eyes sparkling like a little anime girl.

  “Wait, you’re the girl Lucas was complaining about? The one who poked him in the forehead?” Jarom was full out laughing now as he contemplated her. “How on earth did he let that happen?” She glared at him reproachfully for a second. She wasn’t totally cool with him making fun of her, but an idea came to mind.

  Beckoning him closer, she simpered conspiratorially, “I’ll let you in on a secret.” He leaned closer curiously, and with a quick movement, she poked him in the forehead while grinning like a madman. Cheerfully, she explained as a new blinking dot appeared, “It’s the unexpected. Nobody’s afraid of a skinny twig like me, so they don’t guard against it.” Eric and Stephen were howling with laughter, and after a moment of surprised bewilderment, Jarom started convulsing too.

  “I stand corrected.” He chortled, now inspecting her with something akin to respect. It was a nice change. He got an evil glint to his eye then, as he told her, “And now I want to see the look on his face when you come back in.”

  “Ooooh, I do too!” Stephen chimed in, and Eric nodded as well. All three of them had a suspicious glint in their eyes now, and she wondered if Lucas had gotten on their bad sides in the past. Or maybe he just annoyed them by complaining about her yesterday. Either way, walking in with the three of them would obviously make a much bigger impact than her going in with just the card, so she was all for it!

  “I’d be happy to hav
e you all accompany me for my first successful trip inside.” She felt like the evil glint had spread to her now too. Or maybe it had been there all along, and she was the one who spread it? She gestured at the paper Eric had left on the table and asked, “Do you have anything else you need to know, or can we go now?” She was practically bouncing up and down in her excitement. Books!

  “That should be sufficient for now. You’re already staying at The Green Dragon, correct?” She nodded, and he continued, “Then it’s fine. We know where to find you should we need anything else.”

  She laughed and retorted, “You’re probably more likely to find me at the library! Or exploring.” She looked thoughtful, then asked, “Uhm… Speaking of exploring, where’s the academy? And do I have to go to classes? If so, when do they start?”

  They gaped at her, dumbfounded. For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to them that being new, she had no idea what was going on. Slowly, Stephen asked, “What do you know about Dracona?”

  She pondered, then starting ticking things off on her fingers. “It’s run by the king in order to train the new nobility and any promising talent, like travelers with special abilities like me.” She paused, trying to think of something else. “Oh right, and he provides housing to the students.” She ticked off another finger, pausing again, before beaming as she sassed, “And you have to pass the examination to get in, and the deadline is tomorrow!”

  They exchanged looks, their eyes giving off the message of ‘is this girl for real?’ Eric murmured, “Looks like there’s still a lot you need to know…” He paused, then seemed to reach a conclusion as he continued, “But maybe it’d be better to have this conversation in the library. There’s a book on the history of the school there that might help you out.”