Masters of the Veil

by Daniel A. Cohen

  “We should.” Kanti gave a wry smile and winked. “If the pitch is right.”

  “See what?” Sam asked, running his hands over the wooden box.

  “Just follow me and you’ll find out.” Kanti gave a respectful bow. “You are the final table for the night.”

  They trailed behind her and ended up at a cozy table in the corner. There were no plates or silverware, but the table was equipped with a square velvet platform splitting off of the side.

  “If you would like to retire your second-skins for the evening, you may place them here.” Kanti gestured toward the platform. “You will not need them.”

  Daphne delicately peeled off her skin and laid it on the velvet surface.

  “I’ll keep mine on,” Sam said, placing the wooden box on the platform and then putting his covered hand below the table. “If it’s all the same to you.”

  Kanti gave a gentle smile. “I would suggest doing otherwise.”

  Sam looked around. Everyone else in the restaurant still wore their second-skins. Many of the customers’ second-skins were so meticulously matched with their ostentatious outfits that Sam doubted he would be the only one to keep his skin on.

  “Thanks anyway.” Sam gave a casual wave with his uncovered hand. “But I’ll just keep it on.”

  “Sam,” Daphne said in a high, coaxing voice, “just take it off.”

  Sam tucked his second-skin further under the table. “I want to keep it on.”

  “Don’t be rude,” Daphne snapped.

  “I actually must insist you remove it,” Kanti’s tone was a little less gentle than before.

  “What’s the big deal?” Sam gestured around the restaurant. “It’s not like I’d be the only one with a second-skin on.”

  Kanti’s eyes shied away toward the floor. “As much as we appreciate having you here, we are trying to avoid any… accidents tonight.”

  Daphne’s face turned bright red. Sam looked around and saw that their conversation was drawing unwanted attention from the other guests. They were still giving Sam pleasant looks, but he heard some whispers that he couldn’t quite make out. He assumed they were probably not talking about his new haircut. He didn’t want to reveal what was beneath his second-skin just yet—especially in front of a crowd of people he did not know—but he also wanted the gawkers’ attentions to return to the water.

  Sam sighed. “I get it. Don’t worry, I’m done causing trouble.”

  Under the table, he peeled away the second-skin. He kept his right hand underneath, and used his left to place the black second-skin gently next to Daphne’s. Immediately, a rush of energy pulsed against his palm. He used Bariv’s technique to relax his mind and slow his breathing, and the power subsided.

  “Very much appreciated.” Relief flooded Kanti’s voice. She gave a low bow, her eyes flashing to the little wooden box. “Enjoy your meal.”

  She walked away from their table and went into a back room.

  Daphne pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. “Not the way I saw this evening starting. Especially after they give you something so special.”

  “Sorry,” Sam tried to be inconspicuous about his slow breathing. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you, but that’s kind of prejudiced, right?”

  She opened her eyes and gave him a look that said “you must be joking.”

  Sam put his elbow on the table, and rested his cheek against his fist. “Did I mention how wonderful you look?”

  Daphne let out a breath. “How about we just have a normal conversation?”

  Sam straightened up and reached for the box. He gently opened the lid and looked inside. The ivory item was polished, but still had the look of something really old.

  Sam gave Daphne a puzzled look.

  “It’s the Wapawche Hair-Loom.” She looked the box with awe.

  Sam gave a helpless shrug.

  She stressed the first word. “Hair -Loom… as in heirloom.”

  Sam waited for further explanation, but got nothing. He uncurled the hand against his cheek and tapped a finger against his temple. “So it’s an heirloom?”

  “Not really,” she brought her eyes to Sam’s face. “It represents the first heirloom. You see,” she ran her fingers tenderly across the lid of the box, “Atlas Crown is the oldest magical community, but there are others which are almost as old. Early on, a few clans broke away from Atlas Crown and started forming their own communities around the world. Over the years, sorcerers needed a way to recognize other members of their clans when they came to visit. You know, so they know who they’re related to. The Wapawche clan came up with the idea for clan symbols. They designed this to be woven into the hair like a loom to display who your clan is… hence Hair-Loom.”

  She pointed to the inside of the box. “That right there is a replica of the original Hair-Loom. Each replica is handmade the same way as the original. The quill comes from the underside of a coiffern, the metal from a meteorite, and the crystal from a virgin geode.”

  Sam felt even more confused than before. He leaned in and rested his chest against the table. “Why would they give that to me?”

  Daphne pushed a rogue bang out of the way with a finger. “I told you things would be different than you think.” She looked around the room. “I’ll explain later, though.”

  “But,” Sam tapped the top of the wooden box, “what do I do with it?”

  “Keep it.” Daphne tapped the symbol on her chest. “And if you decide to go elsewhere, return it to Haplon.”

  Sam blinked his eyes and shook his head. “I am so confused.”

  Daphne gave Sam an unsure look. “Omani.”

  “…What about it?”

  “People are curious about you. The other Tembrath Elite are stuck cleaning up their mess and then they’re going to be sentenced to some punishment, and you’re here getting extensive lessons from Bariv, which is a great honor. I think people want to try and recruit you—”

  “Don’t lump me in with them.” Sam narrowed his eyes.

  Daphne bit her bottom lip. “I just meant—”

  Sam sat back in his seat with a huff. “Can we talk about something else?”

  Daphne paused. “Sorry.”

  Sam turned his head and looked at the water. There was an uncomfortable silence as anger started brewing in his stomach. He felt the Veil rushing against his palm, and he grit his teeth in an attempt not to squeeze against Her.

  Daphne started laughing, which broke the tension. “Not the best way to start, huh?”

  Sam broke into a smile and the anger faded. “I’ve seen better.” He reached out and touched Daphne’s hand. “I promise it’ll be a great night from here on.”

  Daphne stared at his hand.

  Sam pulled back. “Too much? I didn’t think a little physical contact—”

  “You have something on your palm.”

  Sam realized he had forgotten to keep his right hand hidden. “Shoot. I didn’t want you to see that.”

  She reached toward his hand, but Sam pulled back.

  Daphne lowered her voice. “See what?”

  Sam looked around and saw that everyone was occupied with watching the water. “I guess you were bound to see it eventually. Just don’t tell anyone.”

  Sam opened his palm and revealed the swirl. He made sure to angle it so only Daphne could see it, in case there were any wandering eyes in the vicinity.

  Daphne’s eyes widened. “Is that like the spirals on the big panther? The one that led us to you?”

  Sam nodded.

  She snorted and held back a smile. “Where did you get a tattoo? I hope you didn’t go to Voodrix in the—”

  “It’s not a tattoo. The panther gave it to me.” Sam put his hand back under the table. “It’s the only nice thing he’s done since I got back.”

  Daphne motioned for him to show the swirl again. “How did he give it to you?”

  Sam shook his head. “I don’t know how. It just came off his coat and kind of stuck to me.
”

  Daphne stared at him for a moment in disbelief. “That’s incredible.”

  “What’s incredible is that,” he lowered his voice and ran his finger along the metal table, which emitted a nasty squeak, “I don’t need a second-skin anymore. I can feel the Veil without one.”

  Daphne gave a quick glance to her own second-skin. “Like Bariv?”

  Sam gave a conceited smile.

  A satisfied smile crept across her face. “So that’s why.”

  “Why what?”

  “Why he took you as a student.”

  Sam paused and ran a thumb against his smooth cheek. Glissandro had managed to get rid of the stubble. “I guess. All he’s been doing so far—”

  A strong female voice started singing and cut him off. The voice was in a very high register and heavy with vibrato. It bounced off the walls and filled the entire restaurant with its presence. Both Sam and Daphne turned to the side and saw Kanti standing next to the colossal symbol, her hands placed gently against her heart, singing loudly. There were no words in her song, just long tones changing pitch as she made slight variations with her throat. As her song continued, she gracefully touched her throat with her second-skin and then dipped her hand into the pipe of flowing water. She repeated the motion several times.

  “Beautiful,” Daphne said, watching Kanti with longing eyes. “I’ve never heard singing like that before.”

  The other guests’ attentions were directed exclusively at the water. There were no side conversations or beckoning of wait staff—Sam wondered if there was even going to be a wait staff—everyone’s focus honed in on the water, waiting for something to happen.

  Kanti’s song dropped in volume, almost to a weak buzz, and then faded away completely.

  The only sound that could be heard was the soft slosh of water traveling through the restaurant. No one moved, spoke, or even rustled in their chairs.

  The dim lights that drifted along in the air started to die out. It only took a few moments for the interior of the restaurant to lose what little light it had left. They were left sitting in complete darkness.

  Sam leaned across the table, his stomach brushing against the grass, and lowered his voice. “Is this normal?”

  There was a polite, but firm, “shhhhhh” from the nearest table.

  Kanti’s song started up again. It started out quiet, but as it increased in volume, Sam saw a thin strip of light appearing. As the light got brighter, Sam realized that it was traveling within the path of the water. The light was a tight, blue beam that started to get thicker as the song got louder. The light eventually got bright enough to illuminate the whole room, bathing everyone in pale blue. Sam looked at Daphne and saw that the color

  in her eyes was intensified. He felt the nervous flutter in his stomach that he only seemed to get around Daphne.

  Sam turned his attention back to the water and noticed small blue specks breaking away from the beam. The little bits of light jumped out of the water, made tiny arcs through the air, and were then sucked back in, like the water had its own gravity.

  Bigger specks of colors began to join the blue beam in the center of the water. There were green and purple blobs now. These too traveled along the beam and then jumped out of the water, only to be pulled back in. Kanti’s voice was reaching for higher and higher notes. A rather large purple blob jumped out of the curve of the water closest to Sam. As it arced above his head, he thought he saw a fin within the light. It ducked back into the rush of the water and was lost among the other colors.

  Kanti moved so that her lips were only inches from the water. She dipped her second-skin into the water one more time and then stopped singing completely.

  Immediately, the remaining light inside of the water traveled the course and left through one of the far windows.

  The restaurant was again left in complete darkness.

  Sam was just about to ask Daphne what was going on when there was a huge influx of light from the side of the building where the water was entering.

  The beam of blue, along with huge blobs of all different colors, shot into the room. The whole place lit up and Sam could finally see what the color was coming from.

  Everyone in the restaurant cheered as hundreds of luminous fish traveled through the tube of water. The fish were giving off artificial light in all sorts of colors. Above Sam a school of glowing orange fish jumped out of the water one at a time in a line and twisted around a school of white fish, swirling together through the air. All around the restaurant, the light show raged on with a marvelous mixture of colors and shapes. Sam watched a fat fish—its skin and girth equal to that of a pineapple—awkwardly flop out of the water and breathe rings of colors that drifted down to his feet like smoke.

  A long spiny fish appeared in the floating stream. It stuck its flat, whale-ish tail out of the water. Sam watched as the patterns on the broad surface changed, as if someone was using the tail as an easel to splash and mix paint.

  “I’ve heard about these!” Daphne shouted over the commotion. “But I’ve never gotten to see them before.”

  Sam cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. “What are they?”

  Daphne was sitting on the very edge of her seat, her lean body stretching toward the water. “Fish!”

  Sam laughed. “I know that. But why are they like this?”

  “They’re from the Veil, but they live in the ocean, outside of the protective borders. They never come in.”

  Sam scanned the room and saw that all of the patrons seemed just as impressed as Daphne. They laughed, clapped, and reached out toward the fish. Haplon even went so far as to stick his arm inside the water and let a group of star-shaped fish brush against his hand. “So, what you’re saying is that this is actually shaping up to be a pretty good date so far?”

  “What?” Daphne asked, putting a hand against her ear. “I can’t hear you.”

  He leaned around the table. “This is a pretty good start then, right?”

  Daphne smirked. “Sorry. I can’t hear a word you’re saying.”

  Sam smiled. “So you’re going to play it that way?”

  She winked and then turned her attention back to the fish.

  The crowd was clapping and cheering loudly, which seemed to coax the fish to glow brighter and perform even more complicated tricks. A group of eels slithered along the surface of the water in perfectly parallel rows while another group of short, round fish skipped back and forth among the spaces. After the eels, a troop of sunny fish with long straight tails performed a coordinated explosion from the water in all directions. Their tails split into many willowy strands and they all helicoptered back to the water, reminding Sam of dandelion seeds.

  The final fish made their way through the twists and turns and eventually exited through the other side, back toward the ocean. The room was again left in utter darkness.

  After the last of the cheers died out there was a low bellow—like the horn from a tugboat—from outside.

  There was a collective gasp that echoed through the dark room.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Sam heard the excitement in Kanti’s voice, “it seems that we might get to see something very rare tonight.”

  There was another low rumble, closer this time. Kanti began singing, this time in a much lower register than before.

  After a few moments of her song, she quieted again.

  For a long minute, no one made a sound.

  All of a sudden there was a blinding golden light from the beginning of the tunnel of water. Sam held up his hand to shield his eyes. As he instinctively brought his right hand in front of his face, he immediately felt the powerful rush of the Veil across his palm. He closed his eyes and groped the platform on the side of the table for his second-skin. As his fingers stumbled around blindly, he thought he felt his wrist connect with something solid. His fingers finally touched the scaly material and he pulled on his second-skin. The power from the Veil subsided and Sam sighed in relief. His old seco
nd-skin helped him control the way he used the Veil, and he too wanted to avoid any accidents.

  He placed his disarmed hand in front of his eyes and slowly peeked through his fingers. It took a moment for him to acclimate to the light, but he was eventually able to see what was moving through the water.

  The gold light was coming from a giant creature that was some sort of ray. It had an ovular body with elegant fins that looked like wings. The fins protruded at least two feet out either side of the tunnel. The ray traveled at a very slow pace, and through the water, Sam could see a flap on its belly lift as it let out a deep call.

  The noise threw Sam against the back of his seat.

  Smaller, more intense golden lights shone on the ray’s belly. After a few more loud moans by the ray, the tiny lights leapt off the creature and broke the surface of the water. Once in the air—their light undistorted—Sam realized that they were small versions of the ray. They gracefully flapped their fins and floated through the air, unencumbered by normal gravity. They explored the room in slow motion, seemingly curious about the atmosphere.

  One of the babies made its way over to Sam, where it hovered in front of him. The mother ray traveled onward, and let out a higher call. The rest of the little golden pups retreated back to the water and back onto their mother’s stomach, all but the one that hung in front of Sam.

  The little ray just remained hovering in front of Sam, slightly moving its wings to stay afloat. Sam looked at the ray with curiosity. It was freckled with black dots on its underbelly, and one of its eyes was a milky white, both of which were qualities Sam hadn’t seen on the other rays.

  “Shoo,” Sam said, motioning the ray back with his fingers. “Go back to your mom.”

  The baby ray just hung there, staring at Sam.

  Sam looked at Daphne, who turned her palms up and shrugged.

  “Your ride’s leaving you, little guy.” Sam blew a powerful breath of air at the ray.

  The mother ray was almost at the final turn of the water and the baby ray had yet to turn back.

  Sam lifted his covered hand from behind the table and made another shooing motion. The ray drifted closer to Sam’s hand, and a small ripple of white traveled through its body.