Coolidge cocked his head, his mouth open. “Wait a second. You said you’ve almost mastered Wind? How? When?”
Nicole shrugged, half-smiling. “The book you gave me. I started with the sub-abilities listed under my own and worked my way down.” She glanced at the elixir necklace. “I think this really does help strengthen my abilities.”
“It must. Most students don’t learn that quickly. I was expecting you to take until your third or even fourth year of college to master that much.”
Nicole knitted her eyebrows. “I just hope the abilities will stick around once I don’t have the elixir anymore.”
“They will,” Coolidge said. “And that thing isn’t the only reason you’ve come so far, so fast. The powers surrounding you—the ones that belong to you—have become much stronger, even since Arches. Nicole, I knew you would be a powerful Arete the first day of class last semester. The moment the leather journal called to you and I sensed that magical draw, the connection between you, I knew there was a reason it needed you. I just didn’t know if it was a good or bad one.”
“We still don’t, I guess.”
He shook his head. “No. But as your professor, I’m proud of you. And I do have to say I’m excited to see what the future holds for you.” He shot her a glance, then looked away. “I know I shouldn’t say this—especially not right before you need your powers and strength—but there’s a certain someone out there who is the perfect match for you, emotionally and magically. He’ll wait however long is necessary until you’re free to be with him again.”
Nicole bit her lip against the headache that pounded behind her eyes, but she refused to think of him. She pushed back the emotions that suddenly poured over her at Coolidge’s words, not daring to hope her professor was right.
Coolidge didn’t say anything more, and Nicole waited until the headache was gone before breathing deeply, her hand encircling the elixir out of habit. After making sure she was in as much control of her body as possible, she reached out to her magic first, then sent it to both doors, asking them to disintegrate and fall to the floor.
She hesitated, not wanting to push herself too far or too hard, and it took a long time before the task was completed. Once both doors were in sawdust piles on the cement floor, she wiped the sweat off her forehead and gratefully accepted the water bottle Coolidge handed her.
After she’d pinched herself to make sure she could still feel pain, Nicole pushed outward with her magic again until she had a firm mental grasp on the sawdust. Then, starting with the pile closest to the acidic mists, she encouraged them to take flight and billow into the other room.
After she’d told the sawdust what to do, Nicole didn’t need to concentrate so hard anymore. She was able to see if the first set of wood particles were effective against the acid before starting with the second pile of sawdust.
They were, and it was really awesome to watch. As the first bits of wood entered the room, the acid seemed to draw to it. There were sudden poofs of smoke as the two mediums combined. The sawdust disappeared, but so did some of the mist.
Soon, there were many mini smoke explosions as more of the sawdust flew into the acidic mists. The first pile of wood depleted, and Nicole sent the second pile in after the first, with the same results.
The doors weren’t enough, however, to remove everything.
Coolidge tapped his chin, thinking. “The shelves in the cellar,” he said.
“We’ll have to empty them first,” Nicole said. “Which will be exhausting and might take a long time.”
“Yes, so let’s get started.”
They returned to the cellar and began pulling canned fruits and vegetables from the wooden shelves. After twenty minutes, they had two entire shelves empty. Nicole reached to these with her magical energy and asked them to dismantle themselves, as she had the doors. This time, she didn’t require them to become complete sawdust, sure that chunks would be just as effective against the acid.
This last bit of wood was enough to clear the entire room.
“What would have happened if we hadn’t gotten rid of all the mist?” Nicole asked.
“One of us would’ve had to go through it, hoping to attract enough of the acid to allow the other to get through unscathed.”
“That’s awful. And painful.”
Coolidge nodded. “Yes, it wouldn’t have been pleasant. Deadly, even.” He patted her shoulder. “You did a good job. How are you feeling?”
Nicole pinched herself again. “Well, I’ve lost the ability to feel pain.”
“I’m not surprised. Let’s take half an hour to eat and recuperate.”
“Good idea.”
They’d only used an hour and a half of their allotted twelve hours, which meant they still had ten and a half hours to get through the next two traps.
They decided to eat on the stairs instead of sitting in the basement. Nicole was glad it was Coolidge’s idea. She didn’t want to come across as a wimp, but she had no desire to sit in the gasoline that now puddled the floor of one room or sit in a room that might still have some acidic mists in it somewhere. And cellars always had spiders in them. Nicole had had enough spiders to last a lifetime. Way more than a lifetime.
“Why did you decide to teach?” she asked after finishing a bite of beef jerky.
“I’d only planned to stay on at Katon for one semester. The dean over the Arete magic department bribed me to come just that long.”
“He bribed you? With what?”
“A magical item, of course.”
Nicole smiled. “I’m not surprised. Why did you stay on after that first semester?”
“He bribed me again.”
Nicole laughed at that. “How many times did he have to bribe you?”
“Who says he isn’t still?” Coolidge, who was sitting several steps down from her, looked up and grinned. “I’m joking. He bribed me for five years. I really don’t like teaching—I know students say I’m good at it, but it’s only because I’m passionate about the material. During my fifth year of teaching, I met a student with extreme amounts of potential. She blossomed practically overnight and it was incredibly rewarding teaching her and helping her unlock that magical potential.”
“What happened to her?”
“She’s off teaching English in China.”
Nicole didn’t know if that disappointed him or not, given the girl’s powers, and she didn’t ask. “Teaching is good.”
“She’s the biggest reason I was able to get that cabinet for your book. She’s become even more powerful now than she was while under my tutelage. She’s a huge help to the Chinese people. Not to mention that she has access to some of the rarest, most valuable magical artifacts in the world.”
“So, that’s how you decided you liked teaching.”
He shook his head. “I still don’t like it. But the occasional student who shows immense amounts of potential really is a joy to teach. Austin has needed hardly any instructing, which is why we’ve become close friends. But you—you’ve been fun to teach.”
Nicole felt her cheeks coloring. “Thanks. I hope I don’t disappoint everyone.”
“You won’t. Besides, even if you do, ‘everyone’ will be dead and isn’t likely to learn it was you who disappointed us all.”
She smiled at the irony in his statement. “Thanks.”
Coolidge nodded, then continued talking. “I don’t mind being at Katon University now. I’ve taught there for twenty-two years—since I was twenty-four years old—and I’ve found that the university sometimes hears about projects and research before the general populace. I make sure to keep my finger on the pulse of the Arete community and take side jobs as often as I can. My passion is being involved in expeditions, trips, and projects like this one.”
“I’m glad you agreed to come,” Nicole said.
“I wouldn’t have passed it up. In fact, if I’d heard about it from other people, I would have insisted on coming.” He paused. “Arete powers atrophy if
you don’t use them. I can’t afford to have that happen—my livelihood depends on my ability to manipulate and sense the different elements.”
“What did you major in? Did you go to Katon?”
Coolidge shook his head. “I didn’t even go to college. I still don’t have an undergrad degree, though I’ve received multiple honorary PhDs.”
Nicole raised her eyebrows. She’d always thought he’d spent many, many years in college getting where he was now. “How did you learn everything?”
“I was homeschooled and my parents taught me diligently and provided me with plenty of books and opportunities. When I was a teenager, they hired tutors. Neither of my parents is an Arete, but because they knew my obsession with magic wasn’t likely to go away, they made sure I was always surrounded by magical people. By the time I Restarted, I was able to hit the ground running because I truly understood how everything worked. I found my focus and mastered Earth magic within a couple of months.”
“That’s really impressive.”
“Yes, well, it’s not so different from your story. You’ve mastered Wind magic now, without a focus, just months after learning to Channel. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in your dreams. Don’t set your sights on anything less than what you really want.”
“What I really want, I can’t have right now.”
“No, but everyone needs to learn to sacrifice. To put their desires aside for the interest of other people for a time.”
Nicole chuckled. “So, you’re telling me to do everything I can to achieve what I want, and you’re telling me to set it all aside for others?”
“I know it sounds like a contradiction, but it really isn’t. Most people learn more about themselves, their characters, and how to handle extreme situations when doing things they don’t want to do. Or when serving other people. It’s fine for you to focus on your own things while working on projects like this one. Sometimes, they might seem like they’re at odds with each other, but most of the time, I think you’ll be surprised at how naturally they go hand in hand.”
“Okay, I think I understand.”
Coolidge started packing up the leftover food. “Ready to go?”
Nicole pinched herself—it hurt. “Yup.”
“All right.”
They got up and returned to the room where the mists used to be. Nicole was grateful when they were able to walk through it without being burned by random bits of acid.
Coolidge pulled his notes out of his duffel. “The next trap should be one involving noise.” He looked up at her. “That’s you again. Are you fine going so soon after the last one?”
Nicole nodded. “I’ll be okay. This shouldn’t be difficult, not if it really does involve silencing things, as the notes say.”
“Okay.” Coolidge waited for a moment, then pulled open the door at the end of the second trap.
The moment he’d done so, a high-pitched wailing shrilled through the air. Nicole’s first reaction was to clap her hands over her ears. She’d wondered if the sound would start small then gradually get louder, but apparently, that wasn’t going to be the case.
The sound being produced was in a room that encouraged amplification, and already, Nicole struggled with finding the source of the noise with all the reverberations. The sound would grow until it became completely intolerable, then deadly—bursting eardrums, causing brain damage, and other lovely things.
Coolidge grabbed Nicole’s hands, yanking them away from her ears. He shouted something at her, but she couldn’t hear him well enough to know what.
Forcing herself to focus, she stepped into the room. She tried to draw her powers to herself, but the din was so overwhelming, she couldn’t concentrate. And the noise only got louder and louder.
Coolidge stepped next to her again, and once more, yelled something. He pointed to her left ear. She reached up and touched it, her fingers coming back red. Had her eardrum already burst? The sound was fuzzier, but still present in that ear.
Now wasn’t the time to worry—it was the time to act. Nicole whirled back toward the room and again clamped her hands over her ears. She chanted her focusing techniques to herself, forcing her breathing to get under control, her magic to recognize her call.
After what felt like several minutes, Nicole drew enough power to stop whatever was wailing at them. She pushed her magic toward the source, and suddenly, the room dropped into complete silence. The ringing in her ears felt just as loud—if not louder—than the din of before.
Coolidge yelled something at her, but again, she couldn’t understand. She raised her hand to her right ear and felt around the edges, but her fingers came back clean. So, only her left ear had been damaged. Oh, she hoped it wouldn’t be permanent. At least she didn’t have to endure the pain, for now.
Following Coolidge’s example, Nicole sat on the floor to wait for her powers—and hearing—to return.
Gradually, the ringing went away. Coolidge handed Nicole some gauze, which she used to clean up the blood crusting around her left ear. She thanked him.
Finally, when her right ear had recovered enough to hear, Nicole spoke to Coolidge. “Do we have a time limit? Will it start shrieking again if we don’t move on?”
“I don’t think so, but we’d better keep going just in case.”
“The next one is up to you.”
“Not just me—you’ll need to hold perfectly still.”
To get to the fourth trap, they had to go around a corner and into a narrow room. It looked like this was leftover space—like the other rooms had used up most of the basement, and Jerry was doing his best to make use of what he had.
The narrow room ended where a metal tube that was only five feet in diameter started. Nicole already knew without looking that the entire inside was coated with a fine layer of sand.
She turned back to Coolidge. “So, you’re going to float me into this?” Five feet looked a lot smaller in person than in concept. “And I can’t touch any of the tube’s surfaces?”
“Or lethal gas will be released.”
“Great.” She looked back at the tube again. “I’ll hold perfectly still.” A thought occurred to her regarding the smoothness of the tube. “What if my clothes snag?”
Coolidge set down his duffel bag and opened it up. “Put these on.” He handed her a pair of pants and a shirt made from Kevlar. “They won’t rip. Should fit tightly over what you’re wearing.”
Nicole looked at the sizes of the pants and top. “Uh . . . I don’t think I’ll be able to wear them over my clothes.”
“Fine. Go change in the other room. I’ll wait here.”
Realizing she didn’t have a choice, Nicole walked around the corner, but she felt awkward stripping down in a random man’s house with her professor nearby. The Kevlar pants were tight—very tight—but they did fit. The shirt was actually a form-fitting tank top, for which she was grateful. The sleeves on her tee, though short, would’ve been problematic. Anything loose would be dangerous. The tank attached with Velcro straps, eliminating the need to pull it over her head.
Speaking of which, her hair would need to be pulled back tighter. Nicole undid her ponytail, then redid it into a tight bun. There. That would work.
She returned to Coolidge. “Ready.”
Coolidge had his eyes closed. He was breathing deeply, obviously trying to get ready for what he was about to do. Nicole looked at the tube. It went on for about ten feet, then turned to the left. She couldn’t see the end of it.
Coolidge must have opened his eyes and seen her inspecting the trap. “You’ll have to let me know which direction to lead you once you’re out of sight. I don’t want to do this by Braille.”
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t,” Nicole said.
“Let’s get going.”
“What first?”
He tapped his chin, his expression thoughtful. “Would you rather go in back facing up or down?”
“Back up—on my stomach.”
“Then lie that
way now. That’ll help me not expend too much energy. Plus, it’ll be easier to move you when you’re already in position.”
Nicole did as he requested. She felt the Kevlar strain against her as Coolidge commanded it to rise, lifting her body. Aretes didn’t have power over living flesh, but skilled ones could control the molecules in fabrics to an extent. This wasn’t the first time Nicole had seen Coolidge do something like this—back when they’d been in Arches, he’d slowed Austin’s fall from a height of probably twenty feet.
Nicole rose in the air until she was level with the tube, which sat on top of about two feet of cement. It wasn’t lit—nothing interrupted the fine layer of sand on the interior—but Nicole could see well enough due to the bright lights on either end. Judging by how the light at the opposite end reflected into the tube from the bend, the whole thing couldn’t be more than fourteen, maybe fifteen feet long.
Plenty of room for mistakes.
“Don’t move at all,” Coolidge said. “Just your mouth and small head turns. Warn me if I’m leading you close to any of the sides.”
“Okay.”
She slowly floated into the tube, watching as sections of it passed below, careful not to twist or fight the weird feeling of hanging from the clothing.
Several minutes passed and Nicole only moved four feet into the tube. “How are you doing?” she asked.
“Fine.” It came out as a grunt.
Just then, Nicole saw the danger they were in. When Coolidge overdid it with his magic, he lost the ability to hear. Once she turned the tube corner, everything depended on her being able to relay instructions back to him.
What would they do if he couldn’t hear those instructions anymore?
“How comfortable would you be with picking up the speed?” she asked him.
“Not very.” He paused, then spoke again. “Too much energy to go faster.”
Fair enough.
Nicole felt sweat gathering in the small of her back. It was then that she realized another potential problem. Her hair was tied up, her clothes were snug, but nothing would stop a droplet of sweat from falling.
Memories of the movie Mission Impossible raced through her mind. She forced herself to calm down, to stop thinking about the possible disasters that might happen. Yes, the Kevlar was warm—uncomfortably so—but she wouldn’t be able to catch a droplet of sweat if she didn’t know it was forming and about to fall. She couldn’t worry about that.
Observe, Mosaic Chronicles Book Four Page 7
