Siphon (A Touch of Power Book 1)

by Jay Boyce

  The last group had five people as well. She was interested in the fact that one of the more handsome boys seemed to be holding court. With golden hair and stunning blue eyes, there was something in his air that just screamed, ‘I’m above all of you.’ He had a pretty brunette next to him, one lanky redhead who appeared the bookish type, and two bodybuilders. They seemed to all be vying for the one guy’s attention, trying to get on his good side. She grinned. It was time to play with the other kids!

  Walking rather smoothly over to the table, if she did say so herself, she smiled dazzlingly at them and indicated the lone seat at the table. “Mind if I join you?” Before they could say anything, she sat down, still smiling, and continued in the lull of the conversation that she’d created to make her appearance. “I’m Jade, by the way. What’re your names?”

  The girl sniffed a little snootily. “Who said you could sit down? Have you no manners?” She probably didn’t want to fight for the attention of the golden boy, because he’d been mostly focused on her before Jade sat down. She had elegant straight chocolate colored hair that went down to mid-back, and Jade realized she was one of the few people she’d seen who wasn’t wearing it in a ponytail. She was pale, but her cheeks were rosy in her indignation, and her hazel eyes seemed to be spitting fire. Jade couldn’t help but notice her dress was magnificent, but also really low-cut, giving a nice show to the guys at the table. Show off.

  Jade raised a brow quizzically, seeming to treat the girl as an amusing trifle as she replied, “Why, I do believe I decided that I could sit down. You don’t own the place, so I do believe I can sit anywhere that’s not already taken. If you have a problem with that, I’m sure we can discuss it.” She smirked, and there was an evil glint in her eyes that spelled trouble. It was a free world, dangit, and she wasn’t going to let some jealous girl stop her from siphoning everything that moved. These spoiled brats had likely been training in their special little programs since they were young, never appreciating what they had.

  The girl seemed to read a little bit of the menace in her eyes and shrunk back, going silent. Jade grinned smugly. That’s better! She scanned the four guys expectantly. Were they going to introduce themselves or would they pick a fight?

  Finally one of the muscleheads spoke up. “You’re saying you don’t know who any of us are?” He was studying her incredulously. Apparently, they were supposed to be famous or something. She studied his buzzed brown hair, reminiscent of a military cut, which matched perfectly with his serious brown eyes. Honestly, he reminded her of Magic Mike. Which, obviously, none of the nurses had ever let her watch. Cough.

  She shrugged, saying simply, “I haven’t a clue. Do you think I would have asked if I already knew?” She paused, then continued, “So why don’t you enlighten me?”

  The girl seemed affronted by this, and she sneered, “Such a country bumpkin. You don’t even know the royal family!”

  Jade sighed and was about to respond when Kaylee walked over with a larger than normal plate stacked high with pancakes, eggs, and bacon. It seemed that was the standard breakfast here. It also appeared that they’d decided to bring her everything at once, rather than having to go back multiple times when they were closing down. She set the plate down in front of Jade, saying cheerfully, “Here you are, miss.”

  “Thank you, Kaylee.” She smiled graciously and accepted the fork and knife Kaylee was handing over.

  “Oooh, fresh pancakes!” Musclehead two was reaching for her plate to steal her food. Seeing a brief flash of red, and moving faster than she thought was possible, Jade stabbed her knife into the table in front of his hand. She glared at him, taking in his spiky light brown haircut. He had hazel eyes that seemed to be flecked with gold, and likewise sported a sleeveless tunic to show off his heavily muscled arms. He was also very obviously armed. Bad Old Spice model!

  He stared blankly at the knife blocking his path, then peered up as she growled menacingly, “No one touches my food but me.” If looks could kill, he’d be dead. The others at the table stared too, not having seen when she moved the knife. She continued, menacing smile still in place. “If you want more, I’m sure you can ask Kaylee nicely, and she’ll bring you more. The next time you try to touch mine, I’ll take off a finger. Understood?” He gulped and nodded, obviously intimidated, which was rather funny, given his comparative size and armed capacity. Seeing as her message had been conveyed clearly, she pulled the knife out of the table and smiled at Kaylee, who was also staring at her in shock. “Kaylee, I believe he wants more pancakes.”

  “Yes, miss. I’ll bring some right away.” She scurried away, slightly more scared of Jade than she had been before. Jade sighed. She’d have to have a talk with her afterward and placate her, but she wasn’t about to let herself be bullied or her food be stolen. She serenely wiped her knife off and began to daintily cut into her pancakes, inspecting the others serenely as she popped the food into her mouth.

  Chewing deliberately, she swallowed before asking, “So, where were we? Ah yes, your names.” Her face was a mask of calm serenity, as if she hadn’t just threatened to cut off one of their fingers. Not that she would do that, mind you, but they didn’t know that. TV shows had taught her that the best threats were the ones people believed you were crazy enough to carry out. They didn’t call them threats though, but promises.

  Seeming curious, the pretty golden boy finally spoke up. “I’m Prince Will. Where did you say you were from?”

  Chapter Seventeen – Titles

  She scrutinized ‘Prince Will’ for a moment. Carefully messy spiked golden hair topped a whipcord figure. His eyes were cornflower blue and contrasted with a perfectly sculpted face. Like almost everyone else here, you could tell he was muscled, though he seemed to err on the side of a lean endurance runner. His clothes were a quality step above everyone else she’d met so far, though the girl sitting at the table came close. The dark blue of his shirt contrasted magnificently too, and she could vaguely make out some kind of crest on the breast of the shirt.

  She’d read about the different levels of the titles yesterday, but she hadn’t gotten any information on the current royal family. His question caught her as she had been eating quickly, though far more daintily than yesterday, when she’d just been shoving stuff down her throat to combat the hangover. She paused to chew and swallow, then asked, “Oh, was I supposed to say my title? I’m Lady Jade, and I didn’t say where I was from, because…”

  She stopped there when she was interrupted by a guffaw from the girl, whom she was increasingly thinking was either an idiot or someone with a death wish. “You, a lady!? You wish! The court doesn’t have someone as barbaric as you in it!”

  She calmly regarded the girl, her gaze turning icy. She cut her food, her knife making a purposeful little chink against the plate as she stared her down, deliberately taking a few bites. The girl was shrinking back, silent and intimidated once again. With a slow smile, she turned back to Prince Will and remonstrated, “Where I’m from, it’s deemed impolite to interrupt others. It’s considered rude, crude, and socially unacceptable.”

  “Why, you little!” The girl screeched, apparently irate enough to once again throw aside her fear. Jade pinned her with another cold glare and she seemed to come to, letting out a soft whimper.

  “You should stop interrupting me before I get angry.” As a very thinly veiled threat, the menace in Jade’s voice was obvious. It disappeared a second later when she smiled warmly at the people who had neither interrupted or insulted her, nor tried to steal her food. It was like the difference between summer and winter. They looked thrown by the abrupt changes as she continued. “As I was saying… My customs may be a little different, as I’m a traveler and new to this world, so you’ll have to forgive me for not knowing who you were already.”

  She went back to eating daintily, not feeling the need to shove it in her face as fast as she could since she’d already done that a few hours ago. They were staring at her blankly; it seemed to be
a state she inspired in almost everyone. Maybe she was the problem? She must have picked up some strange magic where she induced a state of slack-jawed disbelief just by opening her mouth. Oh well, they all seemed to get over it eventually.

  Finally, she paused between bites and asked simply, “Are the rest of you going to introduce yourselves anytime soon? Even Prince Will introduced himself. Do you think you’re better than him?” She smiled wryly, then started cleaning her plate again.

  Startled by her biting words, the lanky redhead finally proved his worth. “Right. I’m Lord Jackson Vancott. This is Lord Evan Rikely, Lord Adam Rawlings, and Lady Britney Larkin.” He pointed to meathead one and two, then the stubborn girl in succession. She studied his freckled face, and he flushed cutely. His hair was a riot of red curls, and he was sporting morning fuzz as if to prove he could he could grow facial hair. It was a fairly direct contrast to the clean-shaven faces at the rest of the table. Though not anywhere near the body mass of the two he’d just identified as Evan and Adam, he was still decently built. His nervous smile was endearing as he tried to introduce them all.

  Smiling, she paused long enough to say simply, “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” She was a little happy to note that besides the prince, they all had the same title as her. She figured some of the people she’d met held higher titles, but at least her peers were on the same level as her.

  She delicately finished off the last of her food, smiling at them. Belatedly, Prince Will spoke again, with a bit of confusion. “You’re really a traveler? When did you get here?”

  Her smile turned a little enigmatic. “Two days ago.”

  Brat Britney interjected here. “You’re lying. There’s been no news of a traveler going to meet the king in the last decade, let alone the last week.”

  She was about to respond when she saw Raphael walking over towards them. She merely gave Britney a cold glance, then turned to Raphael, who had stopped next to her. “Ah Jade, there you are. Hello, Prince Will.” He belatedly realized who she was sitting with and greeted the prince respectfully, completely ignoring the rest of them. Obviously, he was of higher rank, she had now figured out. He continued, oblivious that she’d spaced out a little. “Eric sent a message that he’d like to meet with you this afternoon at two o’clock. His office is at the back of the library, but whoever’s at the desk should be able to help you.” He paused as if remembering something, then pulled out a dainty little pocket watch. “Ah right, apparently Lucas told him you didn’t have a timepiece, so he sent this over.”

  She smiled sweetly, accepting the pretty pocket watch. “Thank you, Raphael; I’ll be sure to be on time now. Quick question. Was I supposed to meet the king?” She glanced coldly at Britney. She was annoying, but if this was something that she was supposed to do, perhaps she would thank the girl, at least inwardly, for her interjection.

  He grimaced. “I forgot about that... It’s been so long since we’ve had a traveler. I’m sure Eric put it in your record, but the king probably hasn’t had a chance to look through the entries yet. I’ll send a messenger to the palace and see if they can fit you in this evening…”

  “Don’t bother. I’ll take her to see father. I was supposed to visit him this morning anyway.” Prince Will interjected here. He was inspecting her curiously now that Raphael had unintentionally confirmed that she was indeed a traveler. Britney had a sour look on her face, but remained silent now that she’d been proven wrong in calling Jade a liar.

  Jade smiled at Prince Will, saying simply, “Thank you. It’s very kind of you to offer, but I wouldn’t want to surprise the king. I’m sure there’s some official procedure for all this.” Plus, she really wanted to bathe, and she wasn’t sure the prince would be willing to wait for her.

  He frowned a little at her smooth rejection, then argued, “I think he normally meets with them before the official ceremony anyways. And you won’t be a surprise; I’ll just send a note ahead telling him you’re coming with me.”

  With no graceful exit in sight without offending the princeling, she held in a sigh of exasperation. “Very well, I’ll happily accept your invitation in that case. I do need to freshen up, so perhaps you’ll excuse me while you send the message on ahead?”

  He finally seemed to notice that she had on the bare minimum to be ‘modest’ and that her hair was in a barely contained disarray. He nodded. “Is half an hour enough time?”

  Grateful, she nodded back. “That’ll be plenty, thank you. I’ll just excuse myself then.” She glanced at Raphael. “Thanks again.” He nodded, bid Prince Will a good day, then walked off. She managed to casually bump against both of the meatheads, Evan and Adam, she reminded herself, and Jackson, who she’d conveniently and purposefully sat next to.

  As she was about to walk past Britney, she saw the girl slide her foot out just far enough to trip her. Thankfully she saw it in time and was just about to avoid it when an evil plan formed in her mind. Instead of avoiding the foot, she stepped down on it as hard as she could, using the momentum to fall directly at Britney. She caught herself on Britney’s arms, discretely pinching her skin as hard as she could.

  “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t see your foot there in the middle of the walkway.” Britney had squealed a little when she’d pinched her, but the others would assume it was just from almost being run into. However, with what she said, the others began to peer at her suspiciously as Jade continued. “That’s a bit dangerous. In the future, you should probably keep your feet to yourself.” Her face was filled with innocence, all except her eyes, which had turned decidedly frosty again. “It would be a pity if someone were carrying something and smashed your pretty face.” The boys at the table openly guffawed as she straightened up, waltzing off triumphantly. She didn’t have to glance back to know Britney was white as a sheet.

  She went upstairs, singing softly under her breath, “What goes around, goes around, goes around, comes all the way back around…”

  Walking into her room, she searched through her clothes until she found the nicest things she had. Taking them with her to the bathroom, she stared at herself in the mirror. Now that she could see herself, she noted that she had filled out a little more. None of her bones were jutting out anymore, and her eyes had stopped looking sunken in.

  She glanced longingly at the bath, but knew she didn’t have time to soak. She would kill for a shower right now though. That spurred another thought, and she grinned, stripping down. As she started the water, she focused, stepping into the tub for safe measure. Directing the water to flow over her to collect any sweat or dirt she’d accumulated over the day yesterday, she smiled and let it drop into the drain. She felt refreshed, and it had taken less than two minutes to get herself entirely clean.

  She dressed in her finest, then spent the next twenty minutes struggling with her hair. The fact that she didn’t have any pins to use was a problem, but she got around it. Everyone she’d seen the last two days either had their hair down or in a low ponytail at the base of their skull. She had begun to think that was another class thing, but it could also just be that the people who had to work just found it more convenient to tie it back. She had chosen to intricately braid the top part into a crown on her head, figuring that different was better at this point. She tucked the ends in so that it wouldn’t come loose, vowing to make bobby pins if they didn’t already exist.

  Vainly, she gazed in the mirror, wishing she had some sort of jewelry. She’d never been allowed to pierce her ears before, but she hadn’t seen any women here who were wearing earrings either. She was going to have to change that if it wasn’t a thing. She wouldn’t even have to wait the customary 2-3 weeks she’d heard people complain about, because she could just heal her ears up around the hole immediately. She grinned, realizing she’d never have to worry about an infection or even a cold. Before, she’d been terrified of getting infected, given that she had next to no immune system.

  “Good as it’s going to get, I guess.” She smiled at her mostly n
ormal appearance, then opened the door and made sure her room was locked before going downstairs. She held her head high as she entered the room, serenely walking across the room and towards Prince Will, who had stood up and was studying her with open curiosity. She stopped in front of him, greeting him softly. “Thank you for waiting, Prince Will. I’m ready now.”

  He offered her his arm, which she took gracefully. “Then let’s go. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting quite this transformation. My sisters take much longer to do much less. I’m sure they’ll love this new hairstyle.”

  She nodded as he opened the door, leading her through. She had paused just long enough while he was doing so to cast a smug smirk back at Britney, who looked ready to spew fire. She didn’t intend to start anything, but she refused to be a pushover. If the other girl wasn’t willing to be friendly, well, she figured she could figure out how to play dirty too. She had MAGIC. There were probably all sorts of things she could do, and no one would be any wiser. For her sake, she hoped the girl gave up on her petty jealousy and hostility.

  They made small talk as they walked through the streets, and Will was fairly helpful. He seemed to have an opinion on every shop they passed, and she quickly learned who was known for the best quality work and who had mages working there. She realized she’d been missing a discreet little symbol on the crude shop signs that designated that magic was used in the production of their wares. It was almost like a blocky M with a little circle on top connected to the middle tine. Either that or a sideways capital E with a little circle coming out of the middle left. If she looked at it another way, it was a stick figure that instead of having legs, had their arms in that drooped robot position, and their arms were super long gorilla arms. Either way, she found it strange.

  They had finally reached a part of the town she’d never been to before, coming up a hill to a giant wall and gate that she wasn’t sure how she’d missed. But given that she’d been totally preoccupied with the shops in front of her, she supposed it wasn’t too strange that she hadn’t seen it since the walls weren’t visible from where she’d been spending her time. She was trying to figure out how the walls had been put together, since they appeared to be solid stone. Turning to Will, she asked, “Were the walls made by an earth mage or something?”