Adapt (A Touch of Power Book 2)

by Jay Boyce

  It only took her about five minutes to do both hairdos, even with much giggling and her pointing out the necessary parts of the braid. It was a super simple thing, after all, but they were both amazed and enraptured by their new dos. They were still examining each other cheerfully when Raphael walked in, shaking his head. “I should have guessed you’d be in here.”

  Jade grinned. “What, you expected to find me somewhere other than the source of all goodness?” He glanced around, noticing her already empty plate, and just smiled sardonically. He looked a lot better when he smiled, flashing his pearly whites. Distracted, she realized that her teeth were getting whiter by the day too. If she kept raising her scores, would she look like she was born to star in a dental commercial? Raphael waved his hand in front of her face, bringing her back to reality. All three of them were laughing at her.

  “Welcome back.” Raphael was having a hard time suppressing his smirk. “Did you hear anything I just said?” Guiltily, she shook her head and Jessica burst into a fresh peal of laughter. “I was saying, you’d probably better head for Dracona if you’re done eating. You don’t want to be late on your first day, do you?”

  Startled, she looked back at her watch, noting that she now only had thirty minutes. Jumping to her feet, she glanced around, now a bit flustered. “Okay!” She started patting things down, checking that she had her library card, her school ID, pins in case anything fell down, money to pay for anything she needed…

  “Have fun! Don’t bully the other kids too much!” Jessica called out as she was leaving the kitchen, and Jade quickly turned around, rushing over to hug a surprised Jessica and Kaylee.

  She grinned as she let them go. “I’ll try not to. Have a wonderful day!” She poked them both, dancing away as they squealed in protest. She returned to Raphael’s side, who was holding open the outer door for her. She was about to step into the sunshine when she realized… “My sunglasses!” Turning around, she sprinted for the stairs while she heard Raphael let out a laughing sigh.

  She half tripped going up the stairs and heard him call out behind her, “Don’t hurt yourself!”

  Laughing as she quickly unlocked her room, ran inside, and grabbed her brand new sunglasses, she locked it again behind her and traipsed cheerfully down the stairs. “Does it matter if I do? I can just heal it.”

  He shook his head. “I suppose that’s true. You remember how to get there?”

  Grinning, she stuck her tongue out at him. “Yes, Da.”

  He whacked her head lightly. “If I was your dad, you’d have more sense! And be way, way younger.”

  She stuck her tongue out again. “Maybe you were cradle robbed!” He laughed, gently pushing her out as she stuck her sunglasses firmly on her face, smiling because for the first time, she was outside and didn’t have to squint at the sun!

  “Don’t get lost. Don’t cause trouble. Don’t get hurt. Please?”

  She saluted him ironically. “I’ll do my very best.” Turning, she began to make her way to Dracona. When she was almost there, the streets were practically empty. Seemingly most of the traffic in that area came from Dracona, and with everyone in the physical training, there was no one around.

  Absently, she sang under her breath, “I cross these empty roads, on the boulevard of stolen dreams…”

  Chapter Two – Petty

  She walked up the large hill to the gate where two guards were relaxing. They seemed startled to see her and one of them asked curiously, “Can we help you?”

  Jade smiled cheerfully at them, nodding and pulling out her school pass. “I’m just heading to classes.” The guards frowned, but one of them took her pass. She brushed his weathered hand as he did so, happy to see a new blinking dot.

  The guard stared down at her card as if trying to figure out if it was a forgery while he absently tugged on his well trimmed dark brown beard. He looked like he was probably in his forties, if she had to guess, and she met his much lighter brown eyes as he said gruffly, “You realize classes started at eight o’clock? It’s almost nine.” He was obviously disapproving of the fact that she was so late, now that he’d verified her pass was real.

  She just smiled innocently at him. “Oh, I’ve been excused from the fitness classes.”

  Guard number two, who had light brown hair and looked much younger than his counterpart, was now also frowning. “No one gets excused from the fitness classes. It’s an important part of the academy training.” His voice carried a small undercurrent of hostility for some reason.

  She smiled at him, then took her card back from guard number one. “Well, I’m sorry to prove you wrong, but I’m the exception. You’ll just have to get used to seeing me come later.”

  Guard two grabbed her arm, now glaring angrily. “You will show up at the same time as everyone else. Fitness training is mandatory.” She was getting angry now because he was gripping her hard enough to bruise. Concentrating on a magic she’d never used before, she imagined herself using a shocking grasp on his hand and he yelped, pulling his arm away as she felt the magic flash out of her. “Did you just use magic on me!?”

  She was glaring now as she spoke calmly. “Yes, and if you could do more than ten kinds of magic, maybe you’d have been exempt from fitness training as well.” Looking disdainfully at the bruise on her arm, she touched it, healing it and watching in satisfaction as the already swelling skin went back to normal. Looking back up at the guards, with guard one now watching her warily and guard two just looked pissed, she continued, “If you ever lay a hand on me again, I’ll do more than shock you.”

  She was mad. It was the first time a person—she was discounting monsters—had ever laid a hand on her with the intention to hurt her in her life. Not even Raphael had done it. She should probably be scared, but she found he wasn’t nearly as scary as when she felt helpless in front of the mesmer. Fuming, she turned to guard one as she asked, “Which way is the infirmary?”

  Guard one looked both wary and confused now. “Didn’t you just heal yourself?”

  Getting more annoyed by the minute, she snapped waspishly, “I’m here to heal the students after their fitness session ends. Now, if you two would stop delaying me and give me directions, I could go help the people who need it.”

  After a quick glance at her notifications, she figured out that guard one’s name was Terry and guard two’s was Aaron. She assigned names to faces as Terry gave her directions almost numbly. She nodded to him, then turned to Aaron as she said in a quiet but menacing voice, “I’ll give you some time to think over the choices you’ve just made. Perhaps you’ll never have to deal with the consequences, but I want you to think about it. One day, your life may be in danger. You’ll need a healer, and they’ll call someone. Maybe it will be me. If that happens, your life will rest in the hands of someone you tried to bully and physically harmed.”

  She smiled slowly, then turned to walk away, her voice carrying to them. “Think about it.” Before she’d turned, she could see Aaron go white as a sheet. Was she the bully now? Maybe. Would she still heal him if he really was injured? Probably. It had only been a bruise, after all. Nevertheless, it left a bad taste in her mouth.

  Deciding that she was just going to move on from the encounter, she smirked and sang softly to herself, “I won’t heal no scrubs. A scrub is a jerk who can’t get no heals from me…” She kept humming the rest of the song as she walked, and soon enough there were students pouring out from various directions. She glanced around, realizing the fitness classes had ended.

  Picking out one person who looked like they’d had a pretty hard fall, she followed him, figuring he’d be going in the right direction. She smiled sunnily at people as she passed, and they seemed to look at her fresh-faced smile with curiosity, since unlike them, she wasn’t covered in sweat.

  And then she was there. She was glad she’d chosen to follow the boy because she might have otherwise missed the unassuming building in front of her. At only two stories, it wasn’t all that large, but
there was a small stream of injured students entering. Walking in, she noticed that they’d formed an orderly line and were waiting to see a middle aged woman at the front desk as if it was the most natural thing.

  To her surprise, she didn’t recognize any of the students, which meant that the injured were not first years. It made sense, since she figured out the first years might not have known exactly where to go yet, while these veterans had booked it over in order to get treated first.

  Smiling cheerfully, she walked past the line, and one of the guys in it called out, “Hey, get to the back of the line!”

  She glanced back at him and smirked, responding confidently, “No.” He looked dumbfounded at her audacity and she used that opportunity to finish making her way to the front, where she caught the attention of who she assumed was the resident healer.

  The woman had wispy gray hair that curled around her head wildly. She’d obviously tried to pull it back earlier, but fully half of it had already escaped. Her kind blue eyes were still shrewd as she asked pointedly, “Is there a reason you’re cutting in line?”

  Jade nodded, answering with an innocent smile, “Yes, actually. I’m your new assistant.”

  It seemed to take a moment before she stopped healing the guy in front of her and processed what Jade had said. “Wait, you’re Jade?” When Jade nodded, she frowned and stated, “You’re late.”

  “Yes, I was supposed to be here earlier, but the guards at the gate didn’t like the fact that I didn’t go to the fitness training, so I had a little trouble getting past them.” The healer looked a little disgruntled at her explanation, then nodded and waved her around the desk.

  “Very well. I’m Baroness Scylla Tremont, by the way. Have a seat and let’s see what you can do.” Jade smiled and rounded the table, and she could hear the whispers relaying what had just happened rushing down the line. A few of the disgruntled faces lightened when they realized she was a healer and not someone cutting in line.

  “Next,” her clear voice called the next student forward, and a scrawnier boy stepped up, moving aside his mop of brown hair to reveal a nice goose egg on his forehead that accompanied a swollen, bloody lip. Scylla motioned for Jade to touch him as she reached forward as well. She explained to the boy, “I’m going to let Jade heal you, but I’ll be monitoring to make sure nothing goes wrong.” He looked more relieved that he wasn’t being completely left to the newbie, and Jade softly touched his goose egg.

  In her mind’s eye, she noted his injuries, seeing that several of his teeth had been loosened as well. She smiled comfortingly at him as she hastily reassured, “Don’t worry, your smile will be good as new in a moment.” He seemed confused, and then she infused him with her magic. That moment of confusion made him stay still long enough that she erased all traces of his injury, and a few seconds later she let go, ignoring her new blinking dots from both him and Scylla.

  He looked surprised, then asked, “Is that it?”

  Scylla nodded, looking mildly impressed. “Yes, that was one of the fastest healings I’ve seen, and it was very clean. She did a very good job.” Jade grinned and Scylla shooed the boy away. Looking at Jade, she asked solemnly, “How long did you say you’ve been using healing magic?”

  Shrugging, she replied so softly that Scylla had to lean in to hear her, “About five days now. But I grew up around doctors most of my life, and we had much more advanced science. So I’m very familiar with how the body works and the different things that can ail someone.”

  Nodding, Scylla looked thoughtful, then gestured to the next two students in line. “Both of you, come forward. Jade will help one of you, so we’ll get through this line twice as fast.” Grinning, Jade nodded, and Scylla added in an aside to her. “If you happen to need help, just let me know.”

  “Will do.” She smiled at the student in front of her, then asked happily, “So, what happened to you?”

  Most of the students were skeptical about being healed by her at first, but after the next few went away quickly and fully healed, even that stopped. After around half an hour, all the students had been healed and they were left alone in the infirmary. Scylla smiled at Jade as she commented, “Thank you for the help. That was much faster than usual.”

  Jade nodded before she asked, “You’re welcome, but where are the first years?”

  Scylla looked surprised, then laughed. “Ah right, your friends?” Jade nodded and Scylla smiled. “They’re probably fine. They usually take it easier on the first years the first few days. They were probably mostly running rather than doing the more strenuous combat exercises or the obstacle course.” Well, that made sense.

  Jade glanced around, looking at the various rooms that they hadn’t even touched. They’d literally helped everyone at the front desk. “What do you use the rooms for?”

  Scylla followed the direction of her gaze, then answered plainly, “Oh, that’s in case they come while I’m not here. I usually only stay until lunch, when I do a second round of healing for anyone who injured themselves in weapon training. After that, I leave the school and head around the wall, so anyone who comes in after that has to wait until either I can be called or Mike can come in.” She looked thoughtful. “Although now they can probably be sent to you as well. If I remember right, you’re going to be on campus?”

  Jade nodded. “Yes, I’ve got room 2A in the Magnus Crafting Center as my workroom. I’ll be in classes, but if they wait for me outside there, I’ll be able to help them between hours, or they can find me in whichever classroom I’m in there if it’s serious.” Jade smiled happily, then seemed to remember something. “Oh! I should probably go there now. I need to pick up my weapons before I go to class.”

  “Get going with you then! I’ll pass the word on.” Jade smiled and nodded, about to run out when she thought of something, then turned back.

  “By the way, maybe this is petty of me, but if a guard called Aaron comes in and complains about his hand, it’s because I shocked him for bruising me. Please tell him that if he wants it healed, he owes me an apology first.” She hadn’t shocked him too hard, but she had made sure it would be numb and somewhat unresponsive for at least two days or until he got it healed. Sure, she wanted him to reflect, but she wasn’t about to let him off easily either.

  Scylla’s eyes narrowed. “You said he bruised you?”

  Jade shrugged and nodded. “He grabbed my arm really hard to stop me from walking away. He was trying to bully me into going to the fitness classes for some reason. He seemed angry that I’d been excused from them.”

  Scylla looked thoughtful, then shooed her out. “Very well. Off with you! I’ll see you Wednesday, if not sooner.” Jade grinned and nodded, then paused, considering hugging the kind older lady, then deciding against it for the moment. There was time to get to know her better before that became a thing.

  She smiled, and considering who the woman reminded her of, she said softly, “Until we meet again, fair fortune be yours.” Grinning, she opened the door and stepped out into the sunshine, pulling her sunglasses off of her hair and back onto her nose. Humming Hedwig’s theme, she took light steps towards the crafting center to grab her shiny pointy things. It was time to see if she could avoid stabbing herself…

  Chapter Three – Collection

  The Magnus Crafting Center felt pretty empty compared to the rest of campus. Perhaps it was because none of the crafting classes started until after lunch, but not even the student stores were open. The professors were in their offices, and once she reached the second story, not a soul was in sight. Feeling the eerie emptiness, she quickly unlocked her workshop and slipped inside, feeling almost like a thief in the night.

  Walking over to the shelves where she’d had Camille put her new shinies, she was surprised to find way more weapons than she’d picked out. First, there was the original beginner bow she’d chosen, but next to it was the beautiful jade inlay she’d been coveting. Apparently, it hadn’t gone unnoticed or unbought. Next to that were the six dagge
rs she’d picked out, plus what looked like the rest of the jade collection from the store. Instead of one sword, there were three: the original sword she’d picked out and two more in different styles, but again, with the jade inlay. Grinning, she ran her finger over the hilts of each weapon, just admiring them.

  Obviously, Camille had decided to give her as many options as she could handle, because next to those was a box that when opened, proved to be more jade inlaid weapons: an axe, crossbow, flail, pretty spiked gauntlets, a hammer, mace, and a whip. Jade also finally noticed that in the nearby corner, there was now a spear and staff. Had she bought out the entire collection of that particular style?

  Singing at the top of her lungs, she grabbed the beginner bow and pushed a few knives into her bag. “Look at this stuff; isn’t it sleek? Wouldn’t you say my collection’s complete? Wouldn’t you think I’m the girl…the girl who has everything! I’ve got axes and bows aplenty. Swords and spears galore. You want daggers? I’ve got twenty! Camille cares, no big deal, she’ll buy more…”

  Laughing at herself, she settled into her little comfort corner for a bit. She still had twenty minutes, and she needed a bit of a recharge after all that healing, so she started in on the massive collection of food, which had also grown in her absence, that Camille had left for her.

  At ten to the hour, she gathered her stuff up and happily skipped her way to one of the courtyards that Stephen had pointed out to her as the beginning archery range. She was early, but still surprised to note that besides her, there was just the instructor and one other student. What was going on?

  “Hi! Am I in the right place for beginning archery?” Her cheerful voice held notes of obvious confusion and doubt. The two turned to look at her.

  “Ah, Jade! You’re here.” She recognized him as Viscount Carter Abas, one of the professors Stephen had introduced her to that night. She smiled and walked forward more confidently now that she knew she was in the right place, even if it still felt strange. “Come, now that you’re both here, we can start.”