Magic Born (13 page)

“
A
m I interrupting anything
?”

I turned in my seat to see Casper standing in the doorway.

“No, not at all. Please, join us,” Mikael said.

“I thought that you were traveling for business. That was a quick trip.” I hadn’t expected him back until tonight at the earliest.

“I have teleportation rings near most places I need to be. My only requirement is that I don’t teleport in or out of this facility. The Armory is an island if you will, not connected by magic to anything, anywhere.” Casper sat in a chair next to Mikael, facing me. “How are the lessons coming?”

“I’m starting to get a handle on things. There’s so much to learn, but I think I’ll get there.”

“You’ve made good progress in a short amount of time. Sadie and Mikael have had nothing but good things to say. I bet you’re laughing at the girl who came here scared of her talisman and wanting it off.”

“Yeah, but Mikael explained to me why it needs to come off even though I’m not scared of it anymore. If I’m ever going to go to Elustria, I have to be able to register with the Magesterial Council. I won’t be able to do that if I can’t control my own talisman.”

Surprise flittered through Casper’s eyes and his eyebrows shot up. He glanced to Mikael and then back at me. “I’m happy to hear that. Your mother hid you for your own protection, but she would’ve wanted you to be a mage. And of course, that involves registration with the Magesterial Council.”

“I tried removing the necklace myself. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

“It’s just a matter of finding the right solution.” Casper covered my hand with his own. “Your mother’s genius far outstripped us. I’m not surprised your talisman, which was once hers, is more difficult to control than most. We’ll get there. Would you like to try now?”

“Sure. What do you want me to do?” What I really wanted was to learn how to fight, to use magic for more than just conveniences and amusing tricks. But if I couldn’t exercise even this most basic control over my talisman, I doubted Casper or anyone else would feel comfortable trying to teach me how to fight.

“I have another spell we can try in Cadaran. I thought you could try it by yourself first. Then, if it doesn’t work, I can add my magic to yours.”

“Sure, just tell me what to say. It might help if you tell me the English translation so I can visualize it better.”

“Very good.” Casper sounded proud of my new knowledge. “
Currend te degrilo
. It roughly means to surrender and come undone.”

Just like I had every other time, I closed my eyes and recited the spell, visualizing the necklace coming off. I reminded myself that I needed this to happen in order to register with the Magesterial Council. If I couldn’t get the pendant off, becoming a real mage wouldn’t even be an option. Despite my earnest effort, the chain didn’t budge.

“Ugh.” I slammed my fist on the desk in frustration, which did nothing to help get the necklace off, but it did hurt my hand a little bit.

“No, no, don’t get frustrated,” Casper said. “That won’t help anything. We’ll get there. Do you want to try it with me now?”

“Sure.”

Casper stood behind me and placed his hands over mine where they touched the chain. “Ready?”

I nodded and closed my eyes as I recited the spell with him. The sound of desks crashing into each other startled me, and I opened my eyes in time to see Mikael rush from his seat. When I turned to see what had happened, Casper lay motionless against the far wall, his eyes closed.

Fear gripped me. Had I just killed one of the few people in this world capable of helping me? When I reached him, the sight of his chest rising and falling sent relief pouring through me. Not dead, just unconscious. Not good, but not calamitous.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know why it won’t come off. I know it needs to. I want it to. I certainly don’t want this.”

“It’s not your fault.” Mikael didn’t look at me as he pulled a communication orb from his pocket and said, “Sadie.” The orb expanded in size and floated in front of his face as Sadie appeared before him.

“Casper’s been injured. He’s unconscious. I’m going to need your help. Meet me in the infirmary.”

“I’m on my way,” Sadie said. Before the orb stopped transmitting, I could hear Analise's voice in the background.

“It’s that girl. She’s going to be nothing but trouble. Clearly she doesn’t want—”

The connection ended.

“Don’t pay Analise any mind. I’ve got to take care of this. Go back to your room or the library or wherever. I’ll call you when there’s news.”

Tears welled up in my eyes, and I knew if I tried to speak, I wouldn’t be able to control myself. I ran from the room to the teleportation ring, not even taking a second to marvel at how easily I was able to teleport to the living area. The tears stayed in place until I shut my bedroom door behind me and fell on the bed, feeling more alone than I ever had.

I
ndulging
in self-pity wasn’t attractive. Loneliness overwhelmed me, but crying about it wouldn’t solve anything. I got my phone and dialed Alex’s number. I wouldn’t blame Casper if he wanted to give up on me after this, and I couldn’t really talk to anyone else here.

When I looked at my phone after listening to the inevitable disconnect message, I saw my email notifications. With all the focus on removing the necklace, I’d forgotten to tell Casper about Marcus logging in to the game as me. He needed to know, so I put the phone in my pocket to remind myself to tell him when I saw him again.

Regardless of what happened with Casper, I still had work to do. Before I’d fallen asleep last night, I’d found the instructions for working the cloaker. I needed to practice using it and performing the spells I’d learned so far.

I held the triangular stone in the middle of my palm in front of me and thought, “Conceal magic.” Nothing happened. Last night, after finding the instructions, I’d moved quickly on to other reading, too excited to learn all I could to bother with practicing. According to the book, the stone should light up in some way to indicate it had been activated.

“Conceal magic,” I said with my most authoritative tone. This time the stone flickered, then died. “Conceal magic.” It flickered more strongly but still, ultimately, died.

“
Voclevar
.” An intricate black design illuminated the face of the stone. The old language had done the trick. Certain Cadaran words held more intricate meaning than their English counterparts could relay. This appeared to be one such instance.

“
Endara
.” The black design disappeared. I put the stone in the same jeans pocket that held the communication orb. I hadn’t yet had an opportunity to try out the orb, and given the tense situation, I didn’t think now was the best time.

I’d had a chance to run through my entire repertoire of spells once before I heard anything from Mikael.

“Casper’s going to be fine. Don’t worry. You didn’t do anything wrong.” The benefit of communicating through orbs was seeing the other person’s face, and Mikael's expression assured me he was sincere.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Just keep practicing your magic. Casper really is fine. I’m sending some lunch up for you. Eat and practice, and we’ll all get together in an hour or two. Sound good?”

“Yeah, just let Casper know I’m sorry.”

“He knows. Have a good lunch.”

After the call with Mikael ended, hot soup and a sandwich appeared. I wondered who prepared the meal. Other than the helicopter pilot, I hadn’t seen anyone except for the triplets and the new recruits. I doubted any of them spent time preparing food. From my research, there were magical devices to assist in cooking, but someone still had to put together the ingredients.

The soup made me feel a little better, and after I finished eating, it was easy to pick up the spell book and continue practicing my control. I decided to leave the wand untouched, figuring that the more I used the magic in my talisman, the more likely it would be to obey me in other matters. If I could learn to control the magic in the amber stone the same way I could the wand, I couldn’t even imagine the possibilities.

* * *

“
T
he resemblance is uncanny
.”

I jumped at Mikael's voice and quickly dismissed the ice sculpture of Casper. I turned around to see one of the orbs in my room displaying Mikael's face. I would need to learn how to control orbs like that soon. It seemed like practical knowledge to have.

“Thanks. How is Casper?” It’d been hours since Mikael had last communicated with me. The time had flown as I honed my control of the ice spell. I’d successfully created ice sculptures of people I knew using just the talisman. If I hadn’t been so worried about Casper, I’d be celebrating my victory.

“As I told you, he’s fine. I’m afraid there have been some developments. You need to go to the tracking room. Do you think you can get there by yourself?”

“Of course. Is everything all right?”

“No, but Casper will tell you when you get there, I’m sure.”

Mikael's face disappeared and nerves assaulted my stomach. He had said Casper was fine and that Casper would be the one talking to me, so at least I knew I hadn’t killed him. There must be a development with Marcus.

It took two tries of the teleportation ring to get to the tracking room. I’d only been there once, and my anxiety over what waited for me there kept me from keeping a clear mind.

Analise and Casper stared at me when I entered. There was no sign of Mikael or Sadie. Unable to bear the intense stares, I broke the silence.

“Mikael said something was wrong.”

“That’s an understatement,” Analise mumbled under her breath just loud enough for me to hear.

“Marcus came to Magical Games headquarters today asking questions about you. How would he know to go there? I thought you said the lightning that came from the talisman destroyed your computer.” Casper stood perfectly still, as if sheer willpower kept his anger in check. The tight control he exercised over his voice made me fearful of the rage that would require such restraint to conceal.

“I forgot to tell you. I meant to, but then you were traveling, and when you got back we were trying to get the pendant off, and it just slipped my mind.”

“Tell me what?” Casper’s eyes narrowed to dark slits. Storm clouds seemed to roll across his face, waiting for the lightning to strike.

Cold fear crept around my rib cage and up to my heart. To an outsider, Casper might appear calm. Knowing the context surrounding the situation, I had a very different take on his demeanor.

“I got an email last night from one of my friends in-game. Someone was online pretending to be me. The lightning bolt must’ve just flipped the breaker or something. I don’t know. I had a cheap surge protector, but I didn’t think it’d withstand that lightning. Marcus probably saw the messages in my game mailbox and thought I decided to come after all.” I decided to leave out the part about GreyMist talking about the trip to headquarters.

“You knew this last night, and you neglected to tell anyone?” Analise stepped toward me, and I genuinely thought she’d hit me.

“Casper was gone.”

“That doesn’t excuse this deceit. There are three other people in this facility you could’ve told, but you chose not to.” I don’t know what kept Analise from physically assaulting me. She clearly wanted to.

“I’m sorry.” I didn’t say more even though I wanted to point out that she was illustrating why I hadn’t felt comfortable telling anyone else.

“Yeah, well sorry isn’t enough. You’ve exposed this entire operation, endangered the work we’re trying to do here,” Analise said. “Some of us have spent our entire lives fighting for something. This isn’t pretend for us; it’s not a nice little vacation from our real lives.”

“I don’t think that at all. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to endanger anything or anyone.”

“And how do we know you’re not a mole of some sort? It’s all just so convenient how you suddenly appear with a talisman more powerful than any we’ve seen, and yet no one can get it off to examine it. You almost killed Casper here with it. How do we know you’re not using it as some kind of cover to attack him? An innocent little girl who can’t control anything. It’s all the fault of that stone. I’m not buying it anymore.” Analise crossed her arms around her chest, which at least meant she couldn’t hit me.

“That’s not true. I want it off. That’s why I came here in the first place.”

“A likely story.”

I turned to Casper to see if he believed any of what Analise was saying.

“You found me. You know the truth.”

“What I know is that you’ve led Marcus, an assassin, to my company. This entire operation is now in danger. I can’t allow that. I can’t allow him to find out that we’re using
Wizards and Fae
to recruit new mages, to restore the birthright of our brothers and sisters on Earth. This cause is too great. It’s bigger than all of us. You’ve brought trouble to my door and given us nothing to justify the risk.”

“She’s been playing us this whole time.” Analise moved next to Casper just in case I didn’t feel ganged up on enough already.

“No I haven’t. I swear.” My heart raced and I gulped in air. Was this what a panic attack felt like? I’d never had one before. This couldn’t be happening.

“I have to agree with Analise. All the evidence points to it. I know you’re Meglana’s daughter, and maybe that’s blinded me to your true nature, but you’ve done nothing but lie to us since you got here. If you didn’t want that talisman around your neck, it would come off at your command. Your mother spent her entire life searching for more power. After she passed it all to you, you came here hoping that your talisman would give you cover to kill us and claim some of our power for your own.”

“That doesn’t even make sense. I can barely do magic.” This had to be a nightmare. I must have fallen asleep after going to my room.

“I don’t know what makes sense anymore,” Casper said. “I don’t know what the truth is. All I do know is that Marcus is getting closer, and he’s not going to stop until he finds you. I cannot justify endangering our entire operation for one person. I’m sorry. I really am.
Enzaro!
”

The world went dark.