Nicole glanced at him. “But how does it know your key is with us?”
He shrugged, pulling the skeleton key from his pocket. “Who knows? But let’s see what happens when I use it.”
He put the key in the lock that appeared, turned it to the left, and said, “Take me where Nicole’s glowing path is leading us.”
Jacob pushed the door open, revealing a murky brown landscape, and Nicole gasped when the glowing path started up again. She tentatively took a step forward, hesitating at the threshold.
“I don’t think it’s earth or Eklaron,” Austin whispered.
“And I’d say you’re probably right,” Nicole said.
The scenery was bland. No buildings, people, or signs of civilization. The sky was overcast with heavy, low-hanging clouds that were reddish-brown. The trees were small and dead-looking and covered with shriveled leaves. Not a trace of green or color was anywhere, other than the shades of brown and red.
“Wow,” Lizzie said, joining them.
Nicole was about to step onto the muddy ground when Austin pulled her back and shut the door.
“Austin!” Nicole said. “Why’d you do that?”
“We don’t know anything about that world. What if the air is toxic? What if that soil is poisonous? We need to learn everything we can about the place before we go there.”
“And how are we supposed to do that without knowing what world it is? It’s not like there were any welcome signs.”
Austin gestured to Jacob, and Nicole nodded. They’d have Jacob use his Time-Seeing ability. “You’re right.” She glanced at Jacob and he sent her a smile.
“Yet another thing to watch, huh?”
“Sorry.”
He shrugged. “It’s okay. Shouldn’t take me long. It’s not like monitoring Keitus, which, frankly, is exhausting.”
“What have you learned, by the way?”
“He does a lot of reading. And pretty much nothing else.”
“Is he reading anything in particular?” Austin asked.
“He’s studying up on a lot of different people—some Aretes, some not. I don’t know where he’s getting the books, but some of them look really old.”
“Who has he been reading about?” Nicole asked.
“Well, let’s see if I can remember.” Jacob squinted his eyes shut and started throwing names out. “Stan Lawrence, Abraham Lincoln, Mozart, Christopher Price, Sonya Golden Hand, some guy named Eugene . . . I can’t remember who else. I’ll check again because I agree—it might be important to know more about these people.”
“Especially that Abraham Lincoln guy,” Lizzie said, grinning.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Jacob said, not seeming to notice that she’d been teasing. “Definitely, if Keitus is researching people whose bodies he could steal.” He pulled out his key and put it in the lock. “We should go back now,” he said. “The sooner I get that world figured out, the sooner we can get the talisman, and with Thanksgiving break this week, I’ll have time to do it now.”
Everyone agreed, and Jacob keyed them to their places, promising to let them know when he learned anything about either Keitus or the other planet.
***
With it being Thanksgiving break, there was nothing Nicole could do while waiting for Jacob to research the other planet aside from practicing magic, which she never got bored of doing. Deciding she needed to pass that glass test as soon as she could, she started studying the glass-making process for pretty much everything—bowls, goblets, mugs, all of it.
She was surprised at how fascinated she was with how it worked. If she weren’t an Arete, she might have tried to learn the art of glassblowing as a way to support herself.
Wednesday morning, Austin and Lizzie helped. Nicole was determined to separate the dye from the glass, figuring it would help her master the process.
“Besides,” she said, “it’ll probably impress Tess, and I can use all the help I can get.”
Austin grinned at her, setting a large blue bowl on the counter. “Okay, do your thing.”
Nicole spent over an hour trying to “do her thing.” Finally, she felt the process falling into place. For one last time, she sat on the barstool and stared at the bowl, concentrating on finding the individual molecules and asking them to separate themselves—dyes in one place, glass in the other.
She gasped when instead of the thing falling apart, the dye dripped to the counter, puddling around the intact bowl.
“Whoa,” Lizzie said. “Impressive.”
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Nicole said, feeling little bubbles of excitement popping in her stomach. The possibilities with her powers seemed endless! If only learning them didn’t take so long. She jumped up and grabbed a rag, hoping the dye hadn’t stained the counter. It had.
“Great,” she moaned, excitement forgotten.
“Sam’ll be okay with it,” Lizzie said. “Besides, the place could use updating anyway.”
“Regardless, I should’ve been more careful,” Nicole said. She took a breath. “I’m ready for a break anyway. Should we work on someone else’s powers?”
“Yes,” Austin said, stretching.
“Pick me, pick me!” Lizzie said.
Nicole raised an eyebrow. “Over my boyfriend?”
Lizzie pouted. “I’ve known you longer.”
Austin put his arms around Nicole. “She kisses me more.”
At Lizzie’s disgusted expression, Austin chuckled. “Besides, she doesn’t need to choose between us. We can work on our powers together.”
Lizzie looked at him skeptically. “With her helping us?”
Austin nodded. “At the same time.”
“How?”
“Get in my car and I’ll show you.”
“Only if you have candy. I don’t get in just anyone’s car unless there’s candy.”
Nicole laughed. “You guys are so evil.”
The three of them piled into Austin’s car and drove to the park where Nicole had practiced with Austin before. After putting their jackets on a park bench, they stood in the middle of the field, and Nicole and Lizzie turned to Austin, waiting for him to explain his plan.
He rubbed his hands together. “Okay, so I have to work on Wind, right?”
The girls nodded.
“And Lizzie has to work on Fire.”
The girls nodded again, and Nicole thought she could see where he was going.
“How about I put out the Fire that Lizzie creates while she works on keeping it strong enough not to be blown out?”
“Great idea,” Lizzie said, clapping.
Nicole agreed to monitor and sense their powers—see what they might be doing wrong, even though she wasn’t trained in Fire yet. “Be nice to her, Austin,” she said.
“Hey!” Lizzie stomped her foot. “Where’s the confidence in me?”
“He does have a lot more experience,” Nicole said.
“But not with Wind,” Austin said. “Lizzie’s got a point. She’s probably at the same level as me where her Fire powers are concerned.”
Nicole nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”
Lizzie mimed drawing into her hand, and a tiny flame appeared. She glanced up at Austin with a devilish expression on her face. “I dare you to put it out.”
Austin didn’t respond, but Nicole felt him gathering his powers. A slight breeze made Lizzie’s fire flicker.
Nicole smiled, loving these two working together. She had the best friends ever.
“I can see you mocking us, Nicole,” Lizzie said. “And you have to know how difficult this is.”
“I’m not mocking you—you’re both so awesome.” Nicole’s heart warmed with pride for Lizzie. She loved helping her best friend practice magic, especially now that Lizzie seemed so much more serious.
Lizzie’s natural ability was to create the spark of fire, not to make it bigger. So pushing against wind was difficult for her.
After a few moments with the breeze and the flame not getting bigger, both of
them released their elements at the same time, dropping to the moist grass in exhaustion.
“That was hard,” Lizzie said.
Austin nodded.
“How are you both feeling?” Nicole asked. “Austin, who’s your girlfriend?”
“You are, silly. I can still remember.”
“Good. Should we go again?”
“Give me a minute,” Lizzie said. “That’s the first time I’ve really pushed with magic.”
“That reminds me . . .” Nicole said. “We still don’t know what happens when you overdo it.”
Lizzie rolled into a sitting position. “I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve always been too scared to find out in case it ends up being something that hurts.”
“A valid fear,” Austin said. “But it’s unavoidable—if you’re pushing yourself enough, you’ll bump up against your threshold. It’s the only way to grow.”
Lizzie stared at her hands. “But it’s also the only way to experience permanent damage.”
Neither Austin nor Nicole responded. They’d both come very close to being permanently damaged before.
When Lizzie indicated that she was ready to go again, the two of them got to their feet and faced each other, Lizzie producing the flame and Austin counterattacking with a breeze.
Once more, nothing happened—the wind didn’t die, the flame didn’t disappear. The fire did grow, however.
Lizzie squealed. “It got bigger! Did you see that? It got bigger!”
“Yes, I did!” Nicole said, ignoring her boyfriend’s scowl. She remembered how awesome it had been when her own magic started growing. “Fantastic!”
“Let’s keep going,” Lizzie said.
“Are you sure?” Austin asked, wiping away the beads of sweat on his forehead.
“At least once more,” Lizzie said. “Then let’s try again tomorrow.”
Austin gave a curt nod, and Nicole felt his breeze start up again.
This time, Lizzie’s fire got bigger and the wind grew in strength.
“Hey!” Nicole said. “You’re both doing well. Awesome!”
“That’s the idea,” Austin murmured, his eyes shut and a strained expression on his face. He grunted from the effort, then a smile played at the corners of his mouth, and he opened his eyes. A trickle of water appeared in front of him and splashed out Lizzie’s fire.
She gasped, jumping back, shaking the water off her hands. “Cheater!”
Austin chuckled. “Couldn’t have you beat me, could I?”
“You cheated and therefore lost.” Lizzie pranced around him, dancing and grinning, singing, “I won, I won, I won!”
Nicole laughed. “I’m proud of you, Lizzie. Good work!”
The three of them returned to the park bench and their jackets. Nicole zipped hers up—it was getting chilly again—but Lizzie frowned at hers.
“I thought I brought my jean jacket,” she said.
Nicole looked at the blue material Lizzie held. “Isn’t that it?”
“No, it’s not.” Lizzie’s frown deepened. “I mean, it looks like it, but it feels totally different from this. It’s like, soft and stretchy . . .” She glanced at Nicole. “I’m going crazy, aren’t I?”
“I doubt it,” Nicole said, taking the jacket. “This is the only jean jacket you have, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t feel . . . I mean . . . I . . . It doesn’t feel like anything.” Her eyes widened and she looked at Nicole and Austin, rubbing the hem of her shirt with one hand and grabbing her jacket with the other. “Did I overdo it? I can’t feel the difference between these two.”
Nicole squealed. “You must have! Oh, this is exciting.”
“Close your eyes,” Austin said to Lizzie.
Lizzie did so, and Austin pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, placing it in her hand. “Tell me what this is.”
Lizzie turned it over and over, eyes still shut. “Umm . . . car keys?”
Nicole blinked. “Keys? Not even close.” If Lizzie couldn’t recognize the difference between a wallet and keys, how was she to know if she was holding acid or water? A knife blade or a stick? A scalding pot or a cold bowl? This wasn’t good.
“Your wallet?” Lizzie wailed, looking at the object she held. “Holy cow, I had no idea—I can tell I’m holding something, but I can’t feel what it is. That’s so insane!”
Austin met gazes with Nicole before glancing back at Lizzie. “It’s a dangerous sense to lose,” he said. “Maybe not as bad as Nicole’s, but if anyone ever tries to exploit it, you could end up in trouble. We’d better keep this to ourselves and only tell Coolidge, just in case.”
The girls agreed and the three of them headed back to Austin’s car.
***
Nicole slumped in her chair, exhausted from the glass test she’d just taken. She looked up at Tess, butterflies in her chest making it hard to breathe. “How’d I do?” she asked.
Tess held up one finger, intent on her tablet. She swiped on it a few times, then grinned. “You passed—an A. Well done.”
Nicole tilted her head, not daring to allow herself to hope. “Are you serious? You’re sure?”
Tess chuckled. “Yes, Nicole, I’m sure.” She tapped her lips, studying Nicole’s face. “You know what? I want to see how you’re doing on all Earth properties. Are you game for a few more tests? Off the record, of course.”
Nicole pushed aside her exhaustion, ready for the challenge. “Sure.”
Tess jumped up from her chair and started opening cabinets. She motioned for Nicole to help, and together, the two carried multiple boxes to the counter that lined one wall of the room. They proceeded to open them up, setting their contents along the counter.
Once everything was ready, Tess had Nicole start at one end of the room and work her way through all of it. They started first with metal. Nicole was able to separate it, mix it, and create designs, sheets, clods, bolts, and strings with it. Tess made marks on her tablet, and they moved on to fabrics. Nicole put together many different kinds of clothes and rags, towels, and blankets. Then she undid it all and made a huge tapestry.
Tess cocked an eyebrow, staring at the tapestry with a hint of a smile as if trying not to laugh.
“I never said I was an artist,” Nicole said, studying her creation. The threads were all over the place, massive knots everywhere. It looked like the back of a blind woman’s first needlepoint project.
“And I wouldn’t accuse you of it.”
The two grinned at each other before continuing.
They briefly touched on wood—Nicole was especially fast with that—before focusing on rubbers, plastics, and synthetics.
Finally, they finished with dirt itself. As this was the second aspect of Earth that Nicole had worked on, she was very proficient with it.
Tess beamed at the detailed sand castle Nicole had her magic create in less than five seconds, and when Nicole stepped back from the counter, Tess directed that smile to her. “Well done! Very well done.” She glanced at her tablet only briefly before saying, “I’ve passed you off on all of Earth. Congratulations. Two elements down, two to go.”
Nicole hugged Tess—she couldn’t help it. “I’m so excited!” She did a little hop. “I can’t wait to tell Austin. He’s going to be so jealous!”
“He only has Wind left, right?”
Nicole nodded. “I just might be able to pass him up soon, though—he’s really struggling with it.”
The two women cleaned up the room, then left, chattering about the tests Nicole would take on Water and Fire. Tess didn’t give specifics, and Nicole didn’t want her to.
She couldn’t wait to get started.
Nicole called Austin to share her news the moment she stepped out of the building. He congratulated her and they decided to go out for ice cream to celebrate.
She grinned all the way there.
***
Nicole enjoyed her date with Austin, but the tests of the afternoon had left her physically and emotiona
lly drained, so she called it quits much earlier than usual for a Friday. She made herself a cup of hot chocolate, wanting to read in bed before turning in. She couldn’t help chuckling as she opened up the Ziploc bag where she and Lizzie still stored their cocoa. They’d emptied all their hot chocolate containers the year before so they could fill them with water to trap spiders.
It had been a long time since she’d seen a spider, thank goodness.
At only eight thirty, she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. She sent a goodnight text to Austin, shut her blinds and drapes, then turned off the light.
Usually, after successfully passing a test, Nicole slept well—really well. And even though she fell asleep immediately, she still tossed and turned, her dreams wild and out of control. A loved one was begging, calling her for help, and regardless of what she did, she couldn’t reach that person.
Something woke her not long after she fell asleep. She checked the time on her phone—nine thirty—then groaned, annoyed to have been interrupted.
Nicole rolled over, pulling the blankets up high, desperate to get back to sleep. But she sensed a presence in her room.
A hazy shape flickered near the foot of her bed. Nicole gasped, sitting up.
The Shonlin guardian stood in front of her.
Chapter Four
The creature wasn’t a creature anymore—he was human, but definitely not Arete. The magic coming off him in waves was faint, but very different from an Arete pulse.
She wasn’t even sure what clued her in that this was the guardian, other than the feeling that accompanied her. Muscles bulged on arms Nicole had never noticed before, and a dark shadow graced his chin. His ageless and neutral quality were no longer there. His skin and hair were dark and his eyes, once completely yellow, were beautiful green. Sadness was in those eyes, and Nicole wondered what had put it there.
“Nicole, Shonlin needs your help,” he said, a deep voice reverberating from his chest. Nicole knew immediately she would have been very attracted to him if they’d known each other while he was alive.
Nicole frowned. “Aren’t you the current guardian?” She didn’t want to be rude—she would do anything she could to help—but she didn’t understand.
Obscure, Mosaic Chronicles Book Seven Page 4
