Siphon (A Touch of Power Book 1)

by Jay Boyce

  She hadn’t been able to find any hair things other than ribbons, however, which disappointed her. Perhaps her first attempt at metal magic would be creating bobby pins after all. They seemed simple enough. She had thought they were done when Camille announced, “Okay, I think that’s just about everything. We just need to get you some weapons. I think we’ll wait on armor until next week when you’ve finished your growth spurt, but you need to be armed just in case. You’ll also need them for your classes. I think I saw you were in archery and small blades?” Jade nodded, and Camille grinned proudly that she’d remembered from her quick observation. “Good. Then our last stop is here!”

  They stopped in front of a shop that was quite a bit more impressive than the rest. It was bigger, roomier, and upon reading the sign name, she figured out why. ‘Castle Armaments’ was the name, and royal suppliers was the game. They entered the store, and like just about every other place they’d gone to, people jumped to greet and obey the princesses’ will.

  “Princesses, welcome! What can we help you with today?” A very fit man who seemed higher up on the food chain was the first one to greet them, having noticed their arrival. Like most of the bodybuilders before him, he wore a sleeveless tunic, though his was a nice burgundy. It contrasted well with his tanned skin, which she could vaguely see white crisscrossing scars on. He had a boyish charm that didn’t quite match his buff body, and she could only describe his brown eyes as anime-like. It was oddly incongruent, but no one else was batting an eye, so she tried to ignore it.

  Camille smiled graciously at him. “Sir Edward, good to see you. This is Lady Jade,” and here she pulled her forward. “She needs a good bow and some small knives. Actually, get her a sword too, she’ll need that eventually.”

  Jade contemplated her quizzically, but Camille just smiled enigmatically. She sighed and replied, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Edward. I’ll be in your care.”

  “The honor is mine, Lady Jade. If you’ll just come with me, I think we’ll start with the bow.”

  It was quickly apparent that they had a dilemma. She could only barely draw the simplest of bows, but she knew she was going to be getting stronger faster. She sighed. Better go with what I can use now, even though I’d save money by getting the higher level ones… She looked wistfully at one of the prettiest bows she’d ever seen. It was a dark wood, covered in jade green paneling. Silently, she vowed to come back for it and turned away.

  “On to swords!” She left Camille to collect the bow into her bag, then followed Sir Edward over to the sword section. She had a hard time controlling any of them! They weren't super heavy, but holding them for any length of time to test them was tiring her out.

  Embarrassed, she muttered, “Maybe we’d better skip the sword.”

  Sir Edward shook his head, saying simply, “Camille is convinced you’ll grow stronger quickly. So perhaps stop trying to swing them around, and just see how they feel in your hand. You’ll grow faster with a goal in mind.” It was solid advice, so she nodded and started to follow it.

  Quietly, she muttered, “Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something, after all…” She eventually picked a sword as Camille had joined them, and she was only a teensy bit envious when Camille picked it up like it was nothing and stuck it into the bag with the accompanying things she needed to attach it. Camille had wandered over to other parts of the store, talking to a different attendant, but Jade’s attention was quickly drawn back to her own dilemma.

  “Last, the small blades!” Jade goggled in awe at the massive collection of different pointy things on display. She had no idea what to do, but something caught her eye. She wandered over to a section that was done in the same style as the bow she’d been mooning over. Elated, she began to pick the knives up, hefting their weight and balance like she’d seen them do in movies.

  Camille came over, and with her advice, Jade picked up a set of six blades, with the accompanying sheathes and buckles. Exhausted and hungry, she sat down as Camille finalized their purchase, putting everything away. How did she still have so much energy!? Even Tisha was taking a breather next to her.

  Coming over to Jade once she was done, Camille pulled her and Tisha up and said cheerfully, “Okay. We’re done. Let’s go find something to eat!”

  Jade smiled, suddenly finding she had more energy. “That sounds like a plan to me!”

  Chapter Twenty-Three – Friends

  The princesses were staring at her, slack-jawed. She really worried Tisha might catch some flies, given how far open her mouth had dropped. Jade finished cleaning off the last plate and sat back, rubbing her stomach with a satisfied smile. The meal had started off lively enough until she’d ordered three times as much as they thought they could eat, but they laughed it off, thinking she wanted to try everything on the king’s dime. When they were full and she was still going full-tilt, they started to just watch her in awe until she finished everything.

  Camille finally spoke in a voice barely above a horrified whisper, “Do you always eat that much?”

  Jade finally seemed to come to, realizing she’d just been a complete glutton in front of the princesses. With an awkward smile, she nodded. “Uhm… Yes. It’s the downside of my ability. I’m experiencing tremendous growth, but the energy to fuel it has to come from somewhere, so I just about eat my weight in food every day.” She snorted a little self-consciously. “It’s kinda sucky, actually. I had to get special permission from Eric to sneak food into the library so I don’t pass out. Not really sure what I’m going to do during the classes…” Her voice trailed off because she was seriously pondering the problem.

  She was never going to make it five hours in the middle of the day without food while practicing magic. Camille nodded, having understood the problem. Instead of thinking she was a freak, she was also trying to think of a solution. Suddenly, she remembered, “I know! You’re getting a room there; we’ll just install a coolbox and stock it so you can run over between classes if you need to!”

  Jade stared at her. It was a brilliant idea, but…she had a feeling coolboxes were fairly expensive, being that they were magic. She smiled and deferred, “It’s a good idea, but I don’t want to spend any more than you already have… My eating habit is a little ridiculous…”

  “Pfft!” Tisha burst into titters, unable to hold it in anymore. She grinned at Jade and chattered, “You are the most amazing thing ever! Papa gave us WAY more than this to spend on you! You just don’t seem to have a greedy bone in your body. You’re starting with nothing! It’s okay to let other people help you, you know.” Jade looked down uncomfortably. It wasn’t that she wasn’t greedy, she wanted things too… But she didn’t want to impose. Realizing that that was the problem, she nodded and gazed up.

  She explained. “In my world, because I was crippled, I was entirely dependent on other people for my whole life. I guess I thought for once, it would be nice if I could provide what I needed for myself.” Camille looked reflective, while Tisha looked muddled.

  Finally, Camille smiled and emphasized naturally, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to. I’m sure in the future, you’ll be totally self-sufficient. But until you get there, let us help. That’s what friends do, isn’t it?”

  Jade felt her eyes stinging as a bright smile played across her lips. “I like the sound of that.” She reached up, dabbing at her eyes in embarrassment. Who cried over someone saying they were friends?

  Tisha was the one who decided to completely ignore decorum, bouncing over to her side of the table and squishing her in a hug. “Me too.” Quietly, she remarked, “Besides, we don’t have many friends either. No one treats us normally like you do, except family. It’s nice.” Jade gave her a watery grin and hugged her back.

  “It’s a deal then.” She could imagine they would’ve been getting a ton of strange stares from the people around them…if they hadn’t been in a private room.

  Camille stood up, brushing her clothes off and
offering a hand to Jade and Tisha. “Well, now that that’s settled, let’s go grab the last of what you need for today.” Jade grinned, and she and Tisha exchanged a knowing look, then grabbed her hands and pulled themselves up, but also pulling Camille into a hug. She laughed and hugged them back as they all giggled before separating.

  With broad grins, they left the restaurant, The Black Heron, and made their way towards the stores that sold coolboxes. When they arrived, the man who came out of the backroom reminded her of Gaston, swoosh haircut and everything. His voice was booming as he greeted them. “Welcome, my dearest princesses! How can I help you?” She couldn’t help but wonder if someone from her world had seen him in a dream when they were creating the character. Maybe the fairytales of her world were really visions of another?

  Before she lost herself down that particular rabbit hole, Camille had stepped forward as he bent over each of their hands and brushed his lips against them. “And who is this lovely lady?”

  She smiled and introduced herself. “Lady Jade, pleased to meet you.”

  Camille interjected, “She’s in need of some coolboxes, so of course we brought her to you, Sir David.” Another Sir. She had learned that was the title for knights, which was technically above the lord/lady title, but also ambiguous at the same time, because a lot of the younger lords and ladies were future inheritors of more celebrated titles, so it wasn’t like you could treat them as inferior or they might hold a future grudge.

  “And a good decision it was on your part! Feel free to look around, Miss Jade, let me know what you like.” He stayed back to entertain the princesses while she explored. She frowned a little when she realized that everything there were just different sized boxes. No shelves, no drawers, just boxes. They just shoved everything in there and then dug through to find it again.

  “What’s wrong?” Camille had snuck up on her, leaving Tisha to entertain David with her wild stories. Jade jumped a little, then calmed down when she realized it was just Camille.

  With a sigh, she motioned uselessly, “They’re just...boxes.”

  Camille looked puzzled. “Of course. What were you expecting?”

  “Just...more. This is very similar to something we have in our world, except ours is a bit more...complicated. I think I’ll just have Eric help me make what I want. I guess just take a cheap one for now until I can get him to make what I want or make it myself.” Camille looked a little upset that she wasn’t getting what she wanted, but nodded, then walked over to David.

  She pointed to two medium sized boxes that she could fit in her bag and informed him, “We’ll take those two.” Jade spaced out, studying the boxes. They were all like chests, not even standing upright. And from what she could tell, they were just keeping things cool, not freezing anything. Oh well, one more thing to make.

  She watched Camille pay for and then have David deposit the two boxes into her bag. They left the store, Tisha humming happily while Camille directed them towards a store that Jade belatedly realized was something akin to a candy store. Camille seemed satisfied when she saw Jade’s face light up as they went inside. There were several people ordering at the counter and various people helping them out, but one of them made sure to specifically attend Camille and Tisha immediately.

  Tisha started pointing out her favorites immediately, and Camille said simply, “Get triple of anything either of these two points to.” She indicated Jade, then smiled at Jade. “Go crazy. This is one of my favorite stores, so you can’t go wrong.”

  Jade put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a happy smile because she knew she was trying to cheer her up; it was working. She started to point at the things that appeared the tastiest to her, and Tisha was doing the same. They soon had a sizable amount, which Camille did the now familiar purchase and stashing of. The same thing happened in the bakery they stopped at, the fresh fruits and vegetable stand, and pretty much any store that had ready-made food on their way towards Dracona.

  Jade and Tisha were nibbling on kabobs as they approached the hill leading to Dracona. The walls were similarly impressive, being one giant stone block like the castle. With a thought, Jade glanced down. It had never given her an issue, so she hadn’t given it much attention… It appeared the streets had been worked on by earth mages as well, because unlike cobblestone most medieval era places had, the street was smooth stone. Apparently, they’d made the streets uniform in the hundreds of years since the city was built. It was impressive, given that it would have to be done over time, since the shops and houses hadn’t been built, so it obviously came after.

  Noticing her gaze, Tisha happily and helpfully interjected, “Impressive, right? The Earth Guard maintains all the walls and streets of the Capitol, and they also frequently travel to the villages of the country to maintain those as well. Papa says it’s one of the most important jobs of the kingdom because without them we’d be overrun by monsters. He says that’s why the king has always been an earth mage too, because it’s the symbol that the king is the rock upon which the kingdom is built! All of our kings have served in the Earth Guard for at least two years when they graduated from Dracona.” Smiling dreamily, she added, “One day I’ll be in the Earth Guard too!”

  Jade nodded happily, glad to have this little bit of background info. They approached the gates, where the guards stopped them. Well, they mostly stopped Jade. “Do you have your pass, miss?” They appeared to know the princesses on sight, which granted, wasn’t hard to do and most of the city had down pat. They would be let through without a problem, but otherwise, entrance to the academy was strictly guarded.

  Jade glanced at Camille. “Uhm… Was Eric supposed to give me a pass or something?”

  Camille frowned. “Yes, he normally gives them to students at either the acceptance interview or when setting their schedules…” She sighed as she thought about it. “Which with Tisha and me showing up and cutting your meeting short, we probably made him forget.”

  Jade smiled ruefully. “And he probably forgot about it at the entrance exam because I distracted them by asking about the library pass.”

  Tisha impatiently asked, “She’s with us, why can’t you just let her in? She’s a student of Dracona!”

  Jade realized something, then pulled out her schedule and her library pass. She brushed their fingers slightly as she handed one to each guard. “Is this enough to prove that I’m a student here until I can get a pass? I mean, I’m sure we could go get the pass from Eric, but we just walked up the hill and we’ve got a lot to do to get me settled into my workshop…”

  The guards carefully inspected her library pass, her schedule, and the princesses. With a sigh, one of them caved. “Fine. Go on in, but make sure you get your school pass before you come back!” She happily retrieved her schedule and card, then was about to follow the princesses in when she thought of something.

  “Actually, uhm… Did Eric leave any directions for me as to which room I would be getting?” The guards were bewildered by her question and the princesses had stopped as well, realizing they had no clue where to go.

  It seemed like a lost cause until another guard came walking in, rubbing his back. He didn’t notice the girls behind his comrades as he moaned, “Ugh, why we had to move the furniture out so a student could use the room… I don’t get it. Oh right, we’ve got orders that when a student named Jade Winward comes in later, probably tomorrow, that we’re to give her this key. I’ll just put it in the corner here so we don’t lose it. The room is in the…” He trailed off, realizing his comrades were giving him strange looks.

  Jade grinned, stepping around the guards to inspect the new arrival. She felt like her luck was super good to have him arrive right when she needed it. She walked forward, holding her hand out. “I’ll take that now. What room did you say it was?”

  Looking extremely consternated, he surveyed his companions, asking quietly, “This is her?” At their mute nods, because of course, they’d inspected the name on the card and schedule, he sighed and pla
ced the key in her hand, where she made sure to brush his skin during the transfer unobtrusively. “Erm… It’s in the Magnus Crafting Center, room 2A.”

  She smiled beautifully at him, and he coughed in embarrassment when he recalled he’d just been complaining about her. He went white with shock when Princesses Tisha and Camille walked out from behind the other guards, and Tisha looped her arm through Jade’s. “Well, that’s all settled then. Let’s go!”

  Camille merely gave the guard a very, very cold smile as she said simply, “Thank you for the information. I’m sure both Father and Eric will be happy to know that their orders are being followed so...willingly.”

  The guard bowed low, his face now a military mask of detached calm, though his eyes betrayed his panic. “I apologize if I have caused any offense to Lady Jade or the princesses.”

  Jade put a hand on Camille’s arm, then turned to the soldier. “It’s fine, no harm done. Thank you for moving the unnecessary things out for me.” With that she gently pulled on Camille, saying simply, “Time to go.” Camille looked a little reluctant to leave without enacting some more mental punishment on the soldier, but seemed mollified that Jade wasn’t upset. She led them towards the building mentioned, and Jade stared in awe at the massive structures on the way. Every building was huge, at least 4-5 stories each, and she counted at least four different training fields.

  Welcome to Dracona, where apparently everything was at least three times bigger. This was no school for ants.

  Chapter Twenty-Four – Workshop

  Camille led them to one of the largest buildings with a grin. “So, this is the Magnus Crafting Center, named after the third king, King Magnus. He’s the one who founded the academy. I’m a little surprised they got you a room here, because this is where most of the afternoon classes are held.”