Adapt (A Touch of Power Book 2)

by Jay Boyce

  For good measure, she scanned Eric too. He had the customary signet ring that she’d modified, and if she concentrated, she could feel the metal in the spatial area that she’d created for him. He too had his bands of metal and various weapons about his person, and she imagined there were less than there had been before, due to him putting them in the ring.

  Looking at her pocket watch, she frowned. She only had about a minute left. With her terrible skills, she was never going to get everything written down in time, and she became acutely aware of the scratching of quills around her. She uncapped the ink, looking at the quill and shaking her head. Since she couldn’t write that quickly…she’d use another way.

  She’d speculated that since ink was mostly just water with traces of plant and mineral dyes, so with her ability to control all of those things with magic, it should be a breeze! She called to the ink, careful to keep the integrity of it intact and not just call the water or minerals by themselves. She should have realized Eric would choose a mineral based ink instead of a plant based one.

  Shaking her head at her wandering thoughts, she directed the ink to touch and form the words she wanted, happy when beautiful, unblotched words began to appear on the sheet. She finished with a joyful flourish and looked up only to see all eyes on her. Eric raised a brow and asked with a grin, “You didn’t want to use a quill?”

  She grinned back at him. “This was more efficient.”

  “I can see that. Now then, everyone hand me your papers.” There were a few flutters as people waved or blew on their papers to dry the ink, but since she had no excess, she didn’t need to. She absently reached out to Scott and Jeffrey’s papers, pulling the tiny bit of excess water out so they would dry, evaporating it instantly. Both boys looked confused as they gazed at their now dry papers, then glanced at her. She returned their glances with a delighted grin. Needless to say, she left Alisha’s paper alone.

  Eric collected them all, nodding as he read them over. He pointed out one or two small things that Jeffrey and Scott missed, then moved to Alisha’s paper. “Very good, Alisha. It seems you got everything.”

  She smirked as she glanced back at Jade. “It wasn’t hard. Some people have so little metal on them that they could hardly be considered a metal mage. Honestly, you don’t even have a single weapon on you. Were you too poor to afford even a single knife?”

  Jade laughed, shaking her head. “Au contraire, mademoiselle. I have quite a bit of metal and weapons on me, you just can’t sense them.”

  Alisha huffed. “What’s the point of your lies? Everyone here wrote the same thing. A single ring, a pocket watch, and a few buckles. You have nothing on you!”

  Holding eye contact, Jade held her hand out over her desk. One by one, large blocks of metal appeared, on top of which she started placing weapon after weapon, producing the literal armory that Camille had gifted her with. When her desk began to groan under the weight, she stopped. The students were looking at her in wide-eyed amazement and confusion, while Eric was just shaking his head.

  Her gaze challenging, Jade asked, “So, you were saying?”

  “Where did it come from!?” Alisha’s voice had gained a pitch of alarm.

  Jade swept her hand over the desk, putting all the weapons and metal back into her ring before she held it up. “My latest design, the ring of holding. It’s quite handy, if I do say so myself.”

  “That’s impossible…” Her voice was nothing more than a whisper as she stared in horror at Jade.

  Jeffrey’s voice was equally quiet. “Your design?”

  She smiled at him, nodding. “Yes, I made it this morning. I’ll eventually have them for sale in my store once it gets going. These will probably be custom made, since I generally use signet rings.” Jeffrey nodded in understanding, going silent once more.

  Alisha’s strangled voice finally demanded in a quiet whisper to Eric, “Who exactly is she?” Ahah, her curiosity had finally been piqued! He glanced at Jade and she nodded to tell him it was okay.

  Eric responded with a kind smile, “Duchess Alisha, may I present to you Lady Jade, the new traveler.” He seemed glad she had finally asked the question again.

  Jade heard an almost inaudible curse come from the duchess’s mouth and smiled innocently at her as she turned back to Jade. Alisha nodded stiffly as she spoke in a stilted voice, “Lady Jade, I…apologize for my earlier comments. I was unaware of your identity.”

  Jade studied the girl for a moment before nodding and extending her hand. “I accept your apology. Unlike Brodie, you didn’t actually attack me, so that’s at least a step up in your favor.” Alisha winced and Jade went on, “With that said, perhaps we should move on with the class.” She was willing to let bygones be bygones.

  Nodding, though Jade could hear her teeth grinding, Alisha responded quietly, “Agreed.” She took Jade’s hand ever so briefly before she turned back to Eric, who nodded. They may never be great friends, but at least she hadn’t created a new enemy. Well, unless Alisha was a better actress than she gave her credit for. Her spidey senses remained dormant, so she figured she was okay for now.

  They moved on to the manipulation of metal, Eric going over various techniques for fine crafting, as well as drilling them in quick manipulation and targeting. While Alisha wasn’t pleasant, she wasn’t unpleasant the rest of class either.

  The time passed peacefully without further mishaps. She was happy a truce had been possible.

  Chapter Fifty-Six – Wind

  After class had ended, Alisha had nodded stiffly to her before allowing Jeffrey to open the door and escort her out. Scott shot her an apologetic glance, then quickly left in another direction. Jade heaved a sigh of relief as the door closed behind them and heard the echo of Eric doing the same. She looked at him, smiling wryly as she said softly, “Well, that wasn’t quite how I expected your class to go down.”

  He shook his head. “I was so caught up in your business plans, I wasn’t thinking straight or I’d have warned you.”

  She laughed, shaking her head. “Don’t worry about it. I tend to derail everything, it seems. But hey, no blood was shed, so I’m going to count this as a win! Who exactly was she, anyway? Another royal cousin?”

  Eric disabused her of that notion promptly. “No, but she’s from one of the oldest noble families. They’ve been trying to get her engaged to Victor for years.”

  “Poor Victor.” She felt for him.

  “I think he might share your sentiments,” Eric replied dryly, grinning. “Duchess Alisha can be rather…direct.”

  “That’s one way of putting it,” she replied back drolly. Getting to her feet, she straightened her clothes. “Well, I suppose I’d better go to my next class, though I’ve got to stop by my workshop first and make sure Marcelle’s man isn’t there. I wish you a far more peaceful beginner class.” She smiled as he opened the door for her, tipping her head in thanks.

  “I imagine it will be far easier.” He nodded, closing the door behind her to get ready as she walked down the hall to her workshop. She was unsurprised to find several guards waiting outside her room.

  They were conversing in low voices and looking towards the stairwell rather than behind them, so she cleared her throat softly to get their attention. All three men quickly turned, taking the sight of her in. She smiled at them and asked, “Hello, can I help you?” She walked to the door beside them, materializing her key as she put it in the door and turned to look at them as she opened it.

  “Are you Lady Jade?” She nodded, and he smiled in relief. “Oh good. Countess D’Ard sent us to pick up a package from you.”

  She nodded, ushering them into her workshop, where they tensed upon seeing her fellacai winging about the room, staring hard at her as they came to land on her hair and shoulders. She closed the door behind them, saying softly, “I apologize if my bonded unnerved you. I should have warned you.” She paused, walking over to the bag as she asked, “Now, do you know what it is Marcelle sent you to get?”
/>   One of the men stepped forward, shaking his head. “You’re fine, Miss, but no. We were told not to ask questions.”

  She nodded, turning her back to them so she could put an apple in the bag. That was it, really, before she turned and held out the bag for them to take. It was better for them to think whatever was in the bag was the package and not the bag itself. As the first man reached for it, she brushed against his fingers as she said sternly, layering her voice with compulsion and hypnotism, “That’s good. Do not let temptation get the better of you and look inside the bag. Please take it straight to Countess D’Ard as quickly as you can.” The men nodded, stiffening slightly at her command.

  “We’ll be on our way then.” She could see the effects taking place immediately, so she opened the door for them, brushing her hand against each of them unobtrusively as they left with a bow. As soon as they were gone, she closed the door behind them, leaning against it. Again, she hated using compulsion on people. It always left her with a sick feeling. She probably had no need to manipulate those men, but if she was right, she’d just handed them a king’s ransom. Caution was probably the better part of valor at this point.

  Her next class was wind, and she studied her babies before asking, “I’m going to my wind class. Would you like to come?” She wasn’t sure how safe it was, but all of them had wind magic, so she figured she’d give them the chance. Therefore, she wasn’t incredibly surprised when all of them settled onto her hair complacently.

  “We come,” Lilith’s tiny voice came to her, and she smiled. She loved having them with her because they gave her a sense of peace nothing else did. Ironic, that the monsters she’d befriended gave her the most peace, but they weren’t monsters to her, they were the most beautiful, loving creatures. They were family.

  Locking the workshop behind her, she quickly went to the door just across the stairwell and around the corner from her, the twentieth classroom. As she turned the corner, she almost ran into a familiar figure who quickly caught her arm before she could fall. Grinning up at Dante, she said with some mirth, “Baron Damocles! I wasn’t expecting to run into you here!”

  His hand immediately swept down, taking her hand as he bent over and kissed it once he determined she was stable as he said with a cheeky grin, “Neither was I, but any meeting with you is always a pleasure. And may I just say, you look positively radiant today.”

  She laughed as he let go of her hand, responding merrily, “And you look quite dashing yourself.” He did, really. His clothes were utterly impeccable, the perfect image of a courtly Romeo. “What brings you here?”

  He smiled, gesturing to her as he opened the door to the wind classroom, “I’m the assistant professor for intermediate wind.”

  She grinned, shaking her head and preceding him into the classroom. “I should have guessed.”

  “Jade!” She turned to her left, seeing Will sitting by several other students, the seat directly to his left still open. She recognized Sean Macmannon as the student who brought his friend to her after he was savaged in contractual magic, as well as Jayce, Chase, and Seamus from her water class. Quiet, shocking Melody from lightning was there as well, along with two other students she didn’t know.

  “Hello, Lady Jade. I see you’ve met my assistant, Dante.” A soothing tenor came from her right, and she turned to find Count Todd Bascom, or at least, that’s who she assumed it was, since she was told that was her teacher.

  She smiled, nodding to him. “I have, yes. He helped me with my small knives class. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Count Bascom.” She met his bright blue eyes as he took her hand, bringing it to his lips and giving her a fantastic view of his short reddish blonde hair.

  “The pleasure is mine. Please, take a seat. We’re only waiting on one other student.” His smile was calm and soothing, and she nodded, turning back to the seats. The empty seat next to Will was the obvious choice, especially because Jayce was sitting on the other side of it. However, Melody was sitting right behind it. She hesitated for the merest second before choosing to slide into the seat. There wouldn’t be another mishap today…right?

  “We missed you at the obstacle course this morning.” Jayce’s voice was quiet and teasing as he went on, “Glen decided a little payback was necessary for having you shoot him yesterday, so he manned the archery tower most of the time.”

  She laughed softly, shaking her head. “I can’t say you didn’t bring that on yourself. It was your idea to have me shoot him with wind arrows, after all.” Jayce just smirked unrepentantly, and she knew if he were to redo it, he’d still do it all over again.

  “Watching him get pummeled was at least entertaining,” the words were spoken in a voice beneath a whisper, and she glanced around, realizing they had come from Chase. His hooded eyes still carried the look of perpetually sleepiness, or perhaps it was just laziness, maybe boredom.

  Seamus was next to him, his emo haircut as perfectly in place as ever as he studied her from beneath his black bangs. She remembered Camille telling her that his family had been taken by the mesmer and idly wondered if he’d heard about the hunt. She nodded to him, while he just rolled his eyes and went back to whatever he’d been doing before. Her guess was confirmed when she heard him mutter under his breath, “No sense talking to a dead person walking.”

  It was nice to know he had such confidence in her ability to come back from the hunt alive. Her gaze moved to the two other people in the classroom, surprised to realize they were both girls. For some reason, it felt like there were a lot more men on campus. She stopped to think about it. She knew there was a differentiation in the different classes of the nobility, but was there normally an educational gap between men and women?

  There were women here, so that didn’t totally hold water, but she made a mental note to ask about it later when there weren’t a bunch of witnesses to her ignorance. Sure, she was only human, and she had weaknesses and gaps in her knowledge. She just didn’t like to show them, but that was normal…right?

  Still, she studied the two girls for a moment. One of them had beautiful olive skin that matched her shiny black hair and dark brown eyes. If Jade had been on Earth, she’d have said she looked like she was from India. She hadn’t seen many people with such dark skin, so she wondered if she was a transplant from another area. The second girl’s skin was tanned golden, her hair a honey blonde that was pulled back. The two of them were conversing very quietly about some boy, so Jade tuned it out, not wanting to spy on complete strangers.

  The door opened to admit Jeremy Fifield, her archery buddy. He bobbed a quick bow to Count Bascom, saying quickly, “Sorry I’m late, Count Leroy wouldn’t let us go until we’d gotten our pages perfect.”

  Todd nodded to him, his voice smooth as he spoke, “Just try not to make a habit of it. Go ahead and take a seat.” Jeremy nodded quickly, turning to the seats. His face broke out into a grin when he saw Jade, followed moments later by slight disappointment as he realized there were no open seats by her. He then dutifully trudged to the next best thing, a seat next to Melody behind Jayce.

  Count Bascom cleared his throat to regain their attention as he smiled benignly at them. “Now that we’re all here, let’s get started. As you all know, wind is one of the more versatile and useful elements. Practically speaking, you can use it to mask sound and scent or to bring sound and scent to you. It’s a powerful shield and sword, being able to catch your enemies off guard because your material is invisible unless tainted with something like dust. It’s the very air you breathe, and it can also act as an accelerant for other gifts, such as fire. We’ll begin with sound…”

  Jade enjoyed the wind class. She didn’t learn a whole lot that she hadn’t already thought of herself except for eavesdropping with the wind. She hadn’t thought to bring a breeze over from a distance in order to hear what someone was saying better. She probably should have, but she hadn’t. They’d practiced having the wind carry whispers, blocking out shouts, and then moved on to shields and wind spe
ars. Her babies had had fun ‘encouraging’ the class by fluttering about them and creating small gusts of wind.

  When it came to wind walls, Count Bascom had been fascinated with the idea of using a wind wall to support someone so they could essentially move about on an invisible flying disk. He’d set them all to trying it with various levels of success, and Jade had to heal a few bruises from when people dropped concentration and hit the ground or someone else when they lost control or energy.

  Still, everyone was grinning with elation for the possibilities available to them by the time class was done. She’d learned the darker girl’s name was Elora, and the second girl’s name was Ellen. There hadn’t been any mishaps with Melody today, though for some reason, she had the sneaking suspicion that the winds that kept tickling her and taking her words and scent may have belonged to the girl. It was nothing overt, so she let it slide.

  As they started packing up, Jeremy caught her and asked, “Hey, how come I never see you in the cafeteria? Do you not eat here?”

  Jayce actually cut in before she could answer, “She does, just on the first floor. Being a traveler has its perks, you know?” He smirked suggestively at her as she just shook her head and looked back to Jeremy.

  “It’s true, I eat on the first floor, thankfully. I’m a bit of a foodie, so the thought of the food on the fifth floor makes me shudder inside. Sorry, I’ll probably never join you up there if I have any say in the matter.” Which she did, thankfully. She was glad once again that she didn’t have to rely on teachers to invite her.

  “Not fair,” Jeffrey groaned, shaking his head. “You and Will should have to suffer like the rest of us!”

  Will slung an arm around his shoulders, grinning. “Not on your life.”