Siphon (A Touch of Power Book 1)

by Jay Boyce

  “Yes, let’s go!” Tisha jumped up in excitement, and Jade’s smile widened a tiny bit, and she could see Camille mentally hitting her head against a wall. Everyone started to get up, preparing to leave while Jade snuck over to Kaylee and Jessica.

  There were tidying up and getting ready to clean up after the rest had left when Jade hugged them both from behind. Surprised, they tensed until they turned and saw it was her, relaxing again. She said softly, “Thank you, really. If you two hadn’t been looking after me this whole time, I would probably be dead. If I can ever do anything for you, you tell me, okay?” They mutely nodded, hugging her back. She knew they wouldn’t ask her for anything, so she’d have to find her own ways to repay them.

  She let go and they went back to tidying, and turning back, she saw Stephen and Eric watching her speculatively. She fluttered her fingers at them, raising a brow. “Whatcha looking at?”

  Stephen chuckled softly and shook his head. “Just wondering when you’ll stop surprising me.”

  She shrugged innocently. “Maybe when I’m dead.” They both frowned and she just grinned, speaking softly so only they could hear. “I’m not scared of death. For most of my life, I’ve been told I’d die within a week. No one knew why I was alive, but I went on living despite their predictions. I’ve already lived a fuller life in the last three days than I was able to in eighteen years. If death should come, it comes. But until that day, I choose to truly live, and I shall do it without fear of an end.”

  Leaving them with thoughtful looks on their faces, she made her way over to the door where Tisha was bouncing impatiently. “We’re going, we’re going. Hold your horses.” Jade laughed as she poked Tisha in the side, causing her to squeal and squirm away.

  Tisha scream giggled, “We didn’t bring any horses!”

  Jade rolled her eyes, then deadpanned, “It’s an expression from my old world, it’s basically telling you to be stable.” She held her serious face for a moment, then couldn’t help it and started giggling at her terrible pun. A few other people were chortling quietly while Tisha whined that she didn’t get it.

  Eventually they got out the door, moving as a larger group to the library. She had tried to maneuver towards the edge of the group so she could maybe siphon a few people along the way, but every time she tried, it seemed like they corralled her right back into the middle. She gave up, just enjoying the burble of conversation as they walked and watched the expressions of those around them as they saw the noble party passing by. Many people gave tiny bows to them as they passed, and those in her group who were nearest would generally nod and smile at them.

  She was grateful to get to the library as she vowed to start walking around on her own. So far, she hadn’t obtained a single notification today for siphoning. If she was going to be able to siphon a person more than once, it obviously took longer than four days for the invisible timer to reset. She wasn’t going to try and overdo herself like she had last night, but she still wanted to be able to make progress. Would she run out of targets to siphon eventually?

  Oh well. That was a problem for another time. Right now, she was just enjoying the presence of people around her who cared. She had a sunny smile on her face as she gazed around at them. These were busy, important people, who should probably all be doing other things, but these last few days they’d seemed to drop everything to help her. She couldn’t help but feel warm fuzzies as she thought of how they’d all rushed about when they perceived she was in danger. She couldn’t do much for them right now, but she’d remember.

  She wasn’t quite sure how she’d gotten so lucky to have such amazing people around her, but she wasn’t going to question it either. Having a circle of people she could trust as friends…to her, it was utterly priceless. Her thoughts of being able to leave easily if things went south was dissipating in the wind. She would probably still be able to do it, but leaving behind the only true friends she’d ever known would practically kill her anyway. No, if things weren’t great, she’d just have to find a way to fix them. She owed it to them to at least try and stick it out if the going got tough.

  “Well, we’re going to continue our research project while you figure out the contract with Eric and Damian, but we’ll come find you for lunch, okay?” Camille grinned and hugged her before dragging Lucas, Stephen, Tisha, and Will away into the depths of the library. Eric grinned and led her and Damian to his office instead. Jade had watched the five of them disappear behind bookshelves with a warm smile. She wouldn’t ruin their surprise. It was a little strange for her not to have to show her card at the desk though. Apparently, arriving with the assistant head of the library and royalty was pass enough, because the poor boy behind the desk hadn’t even dared to ask them for their library passes as they entered. She’d just smiled brightly at him, realizing that he was looking seriously intimidated. Sadly, it was the same guy who had watched her steal Will’s library card. She’d get his name and apologize at some point.

  “Now then, let’s get down to business,” Eric said as he sat behind his desk, she and Damian taking a seat on the other side.

  She couldn’t help it, she grinned and sung under her breath, “To defeat–the Huns.” They both gave her strange stares and she stuck her tongue out at them. “Don’t mind me, one day I’ll teach you the awesomeness that is Disney music.” Still grinning, she continued. “Well then! Back to glass…”

  It only took them a little over half an hour to come to an agreement. It helped that Eric was firmly on her side and trying to get her advantages, given the whole, Damian had tried to rip him off thing. Still, Damian was a little surprised by her, because she didn’t actually accept the higher percentages Eric was trying to get her.

  “Look, I understand that Damian is doing most of the hard work for the figures. I’m just adding light to it after, which while is something not many can do because of the magic involved, it doesn’t take me a whole lot of time. Just energy. 40/60 of the profit margin is plenty. He’s the one selling them, and he’s doing the glass for my side projects at cost. Believe me, I’m not losing out.” Especially because they didn’t realize how much she would likely be asking him to help with her side projects. Granted, the items she was asking for were much, much easier to make than the glass figurines, but still. She was stealing a master craftsman’s time.

  “Fine, as you wish.” Jade stifled a giggle as she imagined Eric rolling down a hill while dressed as a pirate yelling that. He ignored her silly grin as he put the two copies of the contract facing them. “Just sign both of these, I’ll put my seal on them, and then we’re good here!” She watched as Damian took the quill and managed to artfully write his name in cursive that was almost, if not quite as pretty as Eric’s handwriting.

  When Damian handed her the quill, she took it as if she was touching a live snake. It was just a pretty feather, but… She sighed. Until she got her pens made, she’d have to figure out how to do this eventually. She dipped the quill in the ink like she’d seen them do, then went to write her name, creating a considerable blotch of ink on the paper immediately. She stared in dismay at it. It was like an ugly blemish on otherwise beautiful paper.

  Eric seemed to hesitate, then asked quietly, “Jade, can you write?”

  She put the quill down for a moment, frowning as she tried to blot the giant ink stain away with the cloth they’d been using for a similar purpose, but she mostly succeeded in spreading it instead. With a sigh, her eyes flashed up, meeting Eric’s eyes. “I can write just fine, just not with a quill. It’s the reason I was trying to reinvent the instrument we used from my old world. Although I admit, my writing also isn’t the pretty cursive you guys use.”

  Eric seemed puzzled. “What’s cursive?”

  She laughed, shaking her head. “It’s the swirly letters that you use. There were many fonts, or different ways of writing letters, in my old world. Some of them much simpler. By the time I was born, such fancy writing was uncommon, and almost everything was done in styles that we
re much easier to both read and write.” He looked fascinated by this knowledge, but at this point, she’d gotten the splotch to stop spreading and mostly dried it. Ignoring it, she dipped the quill in the ink again, this time making sure it wasn’t dripping. She quickly scratched her name out on both parchments in her best approximation of cursive. Usually, people practiced writing their name in cursive for when they signed things, but she hadn’t needed to do that as a minor that didn’t leave bed.

  Smiling triumphantly that she’d done it without splotching again, she glanced up at them. “There! Done. You can notarize them now.” Her writing was seriously out of place on the paper, but she no longer cared. She hadn’t made any more splotches!

  Damian was the one who asked curiously, “What do you mean, notarize?”

  She laughed. “Oh, basically what he said earlier, put a seal on it. A notary in my world was someone who witnessed two parties signing a legal document and signed it saying that it was official. It’s pretty much just a special term we had for it.” She didn’t add that it had more or less gone out of use for most people. She didn’t even know where you could find a notary, other than maybe a bank or a city hall. Electronics had taken over the world.

  Anyway, they seemed to accept her explanation, because Eric was busy melting some wax over the papers, into which he pressed his awesome ring seal-stamp thing. “Ooooh, lemme see! What’s your cresty thing?” She all but pulled the ring off as she grabbed his hand and held it close to her face, studying the ring. It was in the shape of a shield with two swords crossed behind it, little flourishes coming out the side. On the shield itself was a mountain, and in the middle of the mountain was a hammer hitting a stone. There was a small open book beneath that.

  Glancing up at Eric, who looked amused that she’d stolen his hand, she asked excitedly, “This is your family crest, right?” As he started to nod, she went on. “But it’s not completely. Does your family change the little icon on the bottom of the shield depending on the person? Yours is a book because you work here.”

  He laughed and continued nodding. “I’d say someone already told you that, but I’m fairly sure they haven’t. Yes, it’s to distinguish which member of the family sealed it. Most family crests are the same, with a small changeable section that is decided upon them earning their own crest.”

  She grinned. “I want a crest! And a cool ring that I can use to stamp the wax. That’s just fun!” She was imagining the possibilities. She had a feeling if she had her own ring and wax right now, she’d just go stamping her crest on everything. Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. Every brand had their icon that they put on their creations, so she needed to figure out what hers would be…

  She had spaced out, missing whatever Eric said as she went through and thought of and then discarded a bunch of images in her head. Maybe something with a dragon and the scales of justice? Or maybe she should incorporate the magic symbol Will had pointed out to her the other day…was it only yesterday?

  “Jade. Jade. JADE. Damian is leaving.” She belatedly realized Eric had been calling her and was waving his hand in front of her face to get her to focus. She jumped to her feet, focusing on Damian, who was holding his part of the contract and grinning at her from the door.

  “Stop by the store later when you’re feeling well.”

  She smiled, then bounced over, surprising him with a hug. “I will! Have a good day! And thank you.” She let him go, and he walked away with a giant grin on his face. She looked back at Eric, who was just staring at her in bemusement, as if she was a little animal he found particularly adorable.

  He walked over, patting her on the head and laughing. “Never change.” She stuck her tongue out at him as he gently pushed her out of his office, closing the door behind them as he started leading her down the hall. “Now then, I think it’s about time you see your new room. I have to say, I was surprised when I heard we were already getting requests to use your old room. Word travels fast, and apparently you’re not the only one who’d like a little more light...though I’m not sure that’s the only reason they wanted to use that room…” He frowned, now thinking of other reasons people might have requested the room.

  She just giggled, poking him in the side. “Don’t worry about it. I have a new room! With actual sunlight! They can have the artificial light. Just think, I’m brightening their days without even trying!”

  Eric grinned, and she heard him mutter, “You’re just everyone’s little ball of sunshine…”

  She was okay with that title.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine – Mesmer

  As they walked down the hall towards her new study room, Jade was thinking about what kind of surprised expression to make. Startled, pleasantly happy, scared if they jumped out at her? Eric interrupted her musings by speaking as he put a key in her hand, “Here we are. Your new study room.”

  She smiled, taking the key and taking a deep breath before she put it into the lock, turning the handle. She opened the door lightly, anxious she was going to hit someone unawares if they were hiding behind it. All of her practiced expressions flew out the window as she gasped, staring around in awe. There was no one inside, but that allowed her to get the full picture.

  The bank of windows on the far wall was incredible, letting in streamers of sunlight that illuminated a pretty coral-colored couch and a light wooden desk with plenty of drawers. There were little earthen shelves coming out of the wall that held her sculptures, showing them off. There was an extra one of a cute little puppy that had been added, and she wondered who’d lit it up. It wasn’t quite her style, but she still liked it.

  The opposite wall held a small bookcase, which was filled with even more books than she’d had on the last desk. She walked over, slowing running her hands over the spines and enjoying the scent of real paper. The books were mostly divided by shelves; one on magic, one on history and geography, one had etiquette, and there was even a book with the pedigrees of the current royal families. More shelves had various eclectic books on them. She could tell they had stocked them with anything they thought might be most useful for her to know about her new world.

  She began to explore more, running her hands over everything. There was a small work table that had some metal ingots and a few of the glass lenses she’d ordered. She cast a questioning glance at Eric and he just smiled enigmatically. She found several coolboxes fully stocked with food, and her perusal of the desk found things like paper and ink. The bottommost drawer even had another blanket like the one she’d loved so much, so that she could take a nap on her very comfy couch if she wanted. Everything looked and smelled new.

  She could hear whispers behind Eric and called out softly, “You can come in now, you know.” A little guiltily, faces began to appear in the door frame as she grinned at them. “Thank you, again. It’s perfect.” They poured into the room with laughter, and she went around hugging them. As expected, Camille, Trisha, Lucas, and Stephen were the main culprits. She found out that Lucas was the one who’d lit up her new little doggy.

  “It’s not quite as good as yours, but it was my first try, and I wanted you to have it.” She was struggling not to cry as she laughed and regarded all of them.

  “We’ll leave you to read.” Camille was hugging her when she whispered the next part. “You’re not alone here. You don’t have to be strong all by yourself.” She herded the rest of them out as Jade smiled and bid them goodbye, for now. She pulled out her comfy blanket and went over to the couch, curling up and staring at the sunshine.

  Silently, she let the tears flow down her cheeks. She didn’t even know why she was crying, but it felt like a cathartic release. The last few days of events had finally caught up to her as she thought about all that had happened, and finally accepted that it wasn’t a dream, but reality. She was really here. She recalled the stress of hiding her true ability, of wanting to make a good impression, of nearly dying, and trying to pretend she was strong and confident when she was just mimicking things she’d seen o
thers do. It was all so new, and she finally realized she’d been bottling up her feelings of being overwhelmed.

  So she cried it out.

  Twenty minutes later, she finally felt the tears stop. Curled up on the couch, she smiled wearily. The world was new and wonderful, but scary. She wasn’t used to everything yet, but she’d get there. Feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her chest, she grabbed some food from one of the coolboxes and two books off the shelf that looked interesting. Walking back to her little couch, she curled up again and started to read.

  ***

  It was dinnertime when she emerged from her room. She’d been playing with the metal they’d left her while she read, trying to familiarize herself with how to mold it. It was resistant at first, not at all like the light. She’d eventually gotten the hang of it, and her little work table now proudly sported a bunch of bobby pins and three different pairs of sunglasses. On the last one, she’d managed to work little designs into the metal so they were decorative as well. The first two were more functional than pretty. Oh well, if she wanted to, she could always reshape the metal, but instead, she put them on an empty shelf. They were almost the first things she’d made with her metal magic, and much more impressive than the bobby pins. As such, she was a little loathe to remake them.

  Contemplating at the pins scattered on the table, she wished she’d made a purse already. Oh well. Perching the sunglasses on her head so they’d be out of the way until she got outside and needed them, she stuck a few dozen bobby pins into her little money wallet, then locked the room behind her and shoved the key in there too. She noted with silent glee that she was at least an A cup after last night. She was becoming a normal girl!

  The library was quiet, and she conjured a ball of light at her fingers to light her way as she walked away from her blazing room and through the darkened hallways. She made it to the front desk without running into anyone, and the shy boy from that morning was there. He saw the light approaching and asked as she got closer, “Turning your light in…?” His voice trailed off as he seemed to realize she wasn’t holding a glass ball, but that her hand itself was literally glowing.