by Sandra Elsa
"I suppose you're right about that."
They both turned to Harrison. "Have you--" They both started then looked at each other with a grin.
Harrison said, "Yes I mentioned the theory to Father."
"That doesn't change the condition of Jerry's magic," Jallahan let Nan talk.
"Jerry's magic was back in time to stop me and Frankie from making the mistake of a lifetime."
"That's not possible."
"Funny what slips through the cracks talent-wise, Mom. I've had the education of a lifetime since I discovered my birth was part of an experiment. Fortunately, I don't believe Father has the power to persuade me to tell him anything, because I couldn't live with betraying Frankie's trust."
"If she knows somebody who can replenish mage talent overnight, that would be a good person to ask to accompany you when you decide you're ready to involve more volunteers."
I laughed. "She's already kinda volunteered."
"Don’t forget,” my father said, "I already have my name on that list."
"But your position..." I said. "Not to sound like I don't want you along, but the letter you wrote the year you were given that position was more upbeat than any other you ever wrote."
"No. The happiest one I wrote was the year I thought I found you. The last week of my life has brought me more joy than any of the previous years. For a chance to actually get to know my daughter, and to get out from under Jordan Drover's thumb, I would gladly surrender my position."
"I need you where you are right now," Harrison said. "I know you don't specialize in bio-genetics but you know more than a little about it. I made my wife a promise I intend to keep. The first animal to eat the grass we grow outside a dome, will be a unicorn."
Mage Jallahan's jaw opened and closed several times before he said, "They're not real. They never were real."
"We know that. She told me you believe nulls were created through genetic manipulation of the DNA which controls whether or not a person will have talent."
"That's just a theory. As your father said last night, most of the notes and files on genetic experimentation from that time period are non-existent."
"But it's a theory you believe in, or you wouldn't have told her."
He slowly nodded his head, hands clasped behind his back.
"So Frankie came up with the idea to splice the genetic code of a narwhal to the DNA of a horse to get the horn. Find the genes to increase intelligence and add magic possibly from a human source, and there we have it, instant unicorn."
"Frankie came up with that, did she?" My father sounded disbelieving.
"She is your daughter. Isn't that how you make your living? A pinch of this, a dash of that. Combine the right ingredients with the right talent and you can make anything."
A smile spread slowly across his face. "I do believe it could be feasible. I'll have to figure out what to hide the research under, and I won't be able to cook up any prototypes until we have our own lab, but I could start on it."
"Let me take care of putting a lab together."
"Well," Nan said, "if all the men I care about are going to be off in the middle of nowhere, I suppose my name should be on the list of volunteers too."
Harrison smiled, "It'd be my pleasure to have you, Mom. Like I said though, this first year is most likely going to be dedicated to experimentation." He moved his hands up just under my breasts and bent his head to kiss my neck. "And getting to know the beautiful, intelligent, sexy, woman I married. We‘ll probably be out of touch most of the time. We‘ll have to find someplace far enough from any dome to go without notice."
“As long as you keep in contact when you get the chance. It’s been over thirty years since I lost my freedom, I suppose I can wait one more.”
“One or two, Mom. I’m not promising only one year. If the storms wipe us out, we may have to start from scratch again next year.”
“Like I said, keep in touch.” She held her arms open and Harrison kissed me again then let me go so he could hug his mother.
My father didn’t even hesitate to clutch me tight. I must be losing my touch. There were two mages in the world who weren’t afraid to handle me.
When we each took off in our designated direction I held the matter projector up and closed my eyes. The magic swirled through it, but as I watched, a pattern of lines emerged. Colors swirled in a repeating pattern erupting out of one point of the star and swirling around to enter another point, it was mesmerizing. I couldn’t see anything that looked wrong but the thing had two more modes I’d never be able to activate. I made Harrison pull off the road and take it far enough away from me he could make it perform.
Watching the dancing, lines of magic, they flared, became thicker and brighter as he activated the projection aspect of it. He pushed one wall and the lines solidified into a single color which flew in a dizzying orbit around the star before bursting from a focal point in the depressed wall. Magic held the weapon together. And the butt plate of the rifle glimmered a solid blue, contrasting with the red of the surrounding energy.
I waved Harrison back over and we got back in the car. “What’s up? Thought you trusted your father.”
“I do. But he couldn’t see the tag on your mother. And you seem to be telling me I’m good at this. There is another finder on the thing, I’m not sure I can turn it off. It doesn’t appear until you hold the finished weapon in your hands.”
He held the M16 out to me. “Touch the spell.”
I placed my finger on the line of blue and he touched my finger and closed his eyes. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he twisted and flipped the cube with one hand. By the time the weapon disappeared he opened his eyes with a smile of triumph. "Let’s try it again, but I think I located the trigger. I’ve added a tag that should make it stand out to you. He got out of the car and activated the cube again. I watched the lines dance and when his violet tag flared, I reached out and nixed the activity caused by that portion of the spell, hoping I wasn’t ruining the whole thing. A laser pistol appeared in his hands the magic holding it together was a glittering green without interruption.
I snatched the pistol from his hands. “This is so cool. We can’t use them in the domes so there’s never been a market for them. The tech to make a real functioning one is probably lost to the world.”
He took it from my hands and pointed it at a distant hilltop. A beam of green light sliced a track through the sand, melting it into a glittering heap of slag. “It is real and it does function.” The weapon disintegrated in his hand. “It just doesn’t stay around very long.”
“Awesome.” Did I just say awesome?
As certain as we could be that the gift harbored no more unwanted design modifications, we headed toward District Fifty-five.
We briefed Jerry on the last day and a half and set about packing with enthusiasm. The residents of District Fifty-Five began avoiding us as though we were plague ridden, but we were too busy to worry about it. Three days later with the car loaded down with everything we could imagine needing for the trip, we left our house and excess belongings in Beth’s care and headed down the road to District Two-Three-Seven.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
'Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Cha
pter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
