Adapt (A Touch of Power Book 2)

by Jay Boyce

  She looked out the window at the darkness. “I’m still scared. I’m scared they’re going to come for me and I won’t be strong enough. The one that got away…I’m sure it knows what happened. We were making too much noise for it not to know. So what happens when they come next time and they’ve got countermeasures for me?”

  Lucas was silent, trying to wrap his brain around her fears.

  She murmured softly, “I’m not the only one who’s adaptable…”

  Chapter Thirty-Three – Improvements

  She had sat there staring out the window for a while until Lucas prompted her gently, “Maybe you should get some sleep.”

  Glancing at him, she nodded absently. “That’s probably a good idea.” Looking around, she tried to think what she needed to take back to her room, but she was drawing a blank. Finally, her eyes alighted on her little cherry tree. Walking over to it, she infused magic into the tiny tree, causing it to create a single small cherry. She grabbed it, sticking it into her pocket as she looked around. Walking over to her earth, she took a section of dirt and super-packed it into the shape of a small pot. She nodded to Lucas, who had been watching the whole thing. “I don’t think I need anything else, so I’m good.” Mentally, she called out, “Time to go.”

  Her babies fluttered over and attached themselves to her head as Lucas spoke. “Okay. Come on.” He held the door open for her, waiting for her to lock it behind them before he offered her his arm. She took it, allowing him to escort her. The campus was quiet and dark, and he didn’t comment when her babies came in front of her and she absently added colored sparkles to them again. They were delighted, flitting around her and creating swirls of color.

  At the guard house, she saw the two men exchange looks as they were noticed. Smiling, one of the men nodded to them. “Just leaving?” Jade nodded, smiling softly at him as he tried to track her butterflies in the air. “Be safe on your way home,” was his only admonition.

  “We will, thanks,” Lucas responded politely as they passed. She glanced back, seeing one of them smirking and nudging the other. She wanted to pause and study them, but Lucas’s firm hold on her made her keep moving. He gestured to her babies curiously. “When did you start doing this?”

  She smiled, saying cheerfully, “Last night in the art gallery. I needed light, so I gave them light too.” They talked about random things on the way back, mostly his combat classes and the various restaurants he liked nearby. He said he’d take her to them sometime so she could try the food. When they reached The Green Dragon, she smiled, giving him a hug. “Thanks for walking me home. Please be safe on your way back to…wherever it is you live. Where do you live?” She paused, realizing she had no clue where anyone stayed the night except the royal family and her fellow first years.

  Lucas laughed. “Third years stay at The Blue Drake. It’s just a few blocks west of here.”

  She smiled brightly at him. “Good to know. I’ll have to check it out!”

  He beamed at her. “Just let me know when you want to come. I’ll give you the grand tour.”

  “It’s a plan! Good night, Lucas.” She smiled, happy that he seemed to be ecstatic about showing her around. Apparently she had been neglecting her new friends. He waited until she was inside before he turned to leave, and she pondered her dilemma. She was so busy, but she should probably make time for the people she’d so quickly come to care about.

  She’d had dinner with Stephen, Eric, and the royals. She should probably stop by Mike and Elisa tomorrow and see how they were doing, and she should also let Mike know what she was planning with Kevin if he decided to go through with it. She also needed to stop and see Sharon to let her know the ball had been moved back and check on little Tina. Then there was Damian, and she should go back and make sure he was stocked up again. Jessica, Kaylee, and Raphael were all here, so she saw them in the mornings and at night at least. Was it just this morning that she’d braided their hair or had that been yesterday? The days seemed so long; things were blurring together. There were more, but they were newer friends, and she’d seen them more recently because of it. Still, she needed to remember to make time for them.

  Now inside, Jessica and Kaylee descended on her. “There you are! Why were you so late? Nearly all of the other students have already gone to their rooms for the night!” Jessica clucked at her worriedly.

  Jade smiled at her, giving the other girl a hug before doing the same with Kaylee. “I was practicing flying. Well, more like floating. I haven’t gotten to the whole moving around part yet because I was trying to make sure I had the how high and low I went nailed down first.”

  Kaylee looked a little dreamily at her. “Flying seems wonderful, but are you sure you weren’t late because of Lucas?” Her eyes held a teasing twinkle.

  Jade laughed. “Nope, he was helping me, but he just walked me home.” She checked her pocket watch, not having thought it was late enough for everyone to retire. To her confusion, it was barely after nine. Looking up at the girls, she asked confusedly, “You said everyone already went to their rooms?”

  Jessica nodded, explaining, “The students usually come home and collapse the first week because they aren’t used to so much exertion throughout the day.”

  Jade considered this, then shrugged. “Fair enough. I just eat to replenish my energy, and that seems to work well enough.” She paused, glancing at her mental map and the literally hundreds of blinking blue dots. “Speaking of, I need to use the bathroom, but can you help me restock my room? Tonight is going to be a big change.”

  They exchanged looks, and Kaylee asked softly, “You’re not going to try and overdo it again, are you?”

  Jade smiled. “Of course I won’t try to overdo it.” Mentally, she added, I’m trying to push as far as I can without actually killing myself or coming close. That’s not really overdoing it…that’s just doing it.

  Jessica looked suspicious. “Very well, we’ll bring more food up, and I’ll be checking on you at least once tonight and in the morning.”

  Jade bounced forward, hugging Jessica again. “That would be great, thanks!” Smiling, she skipped past the startled girls and upstairs, dropping off her babies and the pot before she went to the bathroom. By the time she’d finished washing up and changing, Jessica and Kaylee were there with the extra food. She smiled gratefully at them, effusing happily, “You two are amazing. Thank you for looking after me.”

  Kaylee giggled. “It’s literally our job, but it’s also our pleasure. We’ll talk to you in the morning.” Jade grinned at them, waiting for them to leave before putting out some juice and greens for her babies and digging into the food. She used one hand to pluck out the cherry she’d grown earlier, sticking it into her pot and growing an even smaller cherry tree for her room. It was just for them to spend the night in rather than play, so she didn’t feel the need to expend a ton of energy for it.

  Still, her babies seemed happy enough to settle into it once they had finished eating, and she figured if they were hungry, they could just eat the magic-rich leaves off the tree. She’d already seen them take tiny bites of it. Absently, she asked them, “Are the leaves tasty?”

  It was Willow who responded, “Yummy leaves! Stores magic.” A little confused by what she said, Jade quickly activated mana sense, only to see the whole tree glowing a deep green flecked with edges of blue, brown, and even white. Still curious, she watched as Lilith ate a piece of a leaf, studying her little dark queen as the magic seemed to infuse her tiny body to the brim, slowly converting to her own magical colors.

  Shrugging, she cooed, “Well, I’m glad you like it.” Absently, she organized her food so it was easily accessible and easily eaten. She had a feeling she was going to need it as she went through and counted her blue dots. She was a little amazed and a lot appalled by the sheer number of people and animals she’d touched that day: one hundred twenty-one people and ninety-one animals. There was no way she could siphon everyone at once.

  Steeling herself, she dec
ided to start with the people and do half the batch. Laying down comfortably, she made her choices and mentally clicked on them, darkness claiming her almost immediately.

  She woke up with a groan in the middle of the night. She was starving. Attacking the food she’d left by her bed, she ate until the pain and hunger had completely dissipated and she was feeling full of energy again. Glancing at her pocket watch, it was just after 2 a.m. Shaking her head, she glanced at her babies and Cosmo raised his head, peeping into her mind, “You okay?”

  She smiled at her baby and said softly, “Mama’s okay. Go back to sleep. I’m going to as well.” Cosmo shifted, then settled back into a deep sleep as she stared fondly at her babies. It was time to siphon their flock. Laying back down, she took a deep breath, then chose the other half.

  ***

  Day Eight

  “She looks okay, but she’s not waking up. It doesn’t look like last time where she was turning white, and the fellacai don’t seem concerned.”

  “Forget white, look at her hair! It’s so shiny…” Their voices were what brought her out of the darkness. She could hear Jessica and Kaylee talking about her. Opening her eyes, she heard them gasp before she gasped too and shut them again. Everything was so blindingly bright! Now that she was paying attention, she could feel the coarseness of the sheets against her skin and the smell of pancakes and sausage was absolutely overwhelming.

  “Jade, are you okay?” Jessica’s voice was quiet and worried, a mere whisper, but Jade felt like she could hear it as if she had been talking normally. Slowly, she cracked her eyes open, trying to adjust to the light in the room. She felt almost like she had the morning she was hungover. Everything was too bright, too loud, and her body felt funny, different.

  With a dry throat, she rasped softly, “I…think so…” They seemed to be relieved that she was at least talking, and she was quickly given some water, which she sucked down gratefully, still not fully opening her eyes again.

  Kaylee was staring at her face, and Jade gave her a ‘what?’ look, quirking an eyebrow. Kaylee shook her head, saying softly, “Your eyes were pretty before, but now, they’re like some polished rock, almost…glowing.” Since she still looked confused or unconvinced, Kaylee grabbed a small mirror and brought it over, bringing it in front of Jade so she could look at herself.

  A small gasp escaped her lips. Her eyes were almost glowing, instead of being just a dark green, they had taken on an almost gemlike quality. Her skin was crystal clear and free of a single blemish, and her hair was, as Kaylee had said, shining beautifully and falling in perfect loose curls down past her bust. She looked down, realizing that although they had gotten slightly bigger, it wasn’t by much, which she was grateful for. She wasn’t keen on having back problems the rest of her life, so she rather hoped they stayed at this point.

  She stretched, flexing her muscles. She felt stronger, faster, but she also felt like if she had been experiencing the world in color before, life was now in high definition. Literally everything seemed to be coming through more clearly, be it color, scent, sound, or sensation. She could even see the pores and tiny hairs on Jessica and Kaylee’s skin if she tried.

  Looking down at her pocket watch, the ticking seemed inordinately loud as she checked the time: 7:45. Nodding absently, she looked at the giant breakfast spread out on her desk, then smiled at the girls. “I’m good. Thanks for bringing me breakfast, but I’m going to try to make it up to campus to check out the obstacle course, so I’d better get a move on.”

  “Of course. Just leave your plates here when you’re done. We’ll grab them when we come by to clean later.” Jessica paused, looking at her tree. “I like your tree.”

  Remembering Jessica was growing her garden on the roof, Jade grinned. “I’ve gotten much better with plants. If you ever want something in your garden, just let me know.”

  Jessica grinned. “Oh, I will. Have a good day.” They motioned for her to eat and let themselves out. She sat down, trying to accustom herself to her new muscles yet again. She didn’t look like she’d gained a ton of muscle mass, but they felt denser and more flexible, which was a weird combination to her. She remained at a trim weight, but busty and filled out in all the right places she’d have wanted. Absently, she wondered if her subconscious desires for what she wanted to look like had dictated the end result of her changes.

  She checked her notifications as she ate, starting with the two yellow ones.

  Alert. You have siphoned a species ability incompatible with your body. Correctional action has been taken. Special ability Adaptable has been updated.

  Alert. You have siphoned four species abilities incompatible with your body. Correctional action has been taken. Special ability Keen Senses has been added.

  Well, that was interesting. She’d taken five unique skills from the animals she’d touched yesterday in the hopes they would somehow help her in her tracking, and it seemed like it had worked. She guessed camouflage had been put into Adaptable, and tremorsense, echolocation, electrosensitivity, and darkvision had all been combined into Keen Senses. It also explained why the world seemed so much MORE this morning. This was going to take some getting used to.

  Chowing down, she chose to pull up her profile next.

  Name: Jade Winward

  Age: 18

  Strength: 17.06

  Dexterity: 17.57

  Constitution: 17.39

  Intelligence: 20.72

  Magic: 18.52

  Charisma: 17.22

  Luck: 16.97

  Special Abilities: Adaptable, Keen Senses, Siphon²

  Skills: Accessorycraft, Acrobatics, Appraisal, Archery, Athletics, Blood Magic, Bluff, Cold Resistance, Compulsion Magic, Contractual Magic, Danger Sense, Dark Magic, Death Magic, Deception, Diplomacy, Dodge, Earth Magic, Eating, Engineering, Fire Magic, Flight, Glasscraft, Gravity Magic, Haggle, Healing Magic, Heat Resistance, Herbology, Hypnotize, Illusion Magic, Information Gathering, Insight, Intimidate, Life Magic, Light Armor, Light Magic, Lightning Magic, Magic Resistance, Mana Sense, Mathematics, Mental Fortitude, Metal Magic, Modeling, Nature Magic, Navigation, Pain Tolerance, Perception, Perseverance, Persuasion, Poison Resistance, Resilient, Riding, Running, Sense Motive, Singing, Sleight of Hand, Small Blades, Spatial Magic, Speed Reading, Stealth, Summoning Magic, Swimming, Tailoring, Tracking, Unarmed Combat, Walking, Water Magic, Wind Magic, Writing

  She gaped at the screen, the food on her fork falling haplessly to the ground. She knew she’d siphoned just over two hundred people and animals last night, but really? Everything except luck was two to four points higher than when she’d gone to sleep, but even that had gone up by over a point. She’d added death magic, poison resistance, and swimming to her list as well. She figured poison resistance and swimming might very well be necessary for her forest trip, which was also why she’d upgraded riding so much too.

  Still, what caught her eye was the fact that Siphon now had that little two after it. Curious, she pulled up all three of her special abilities.

  Adaptable: Your body now accepts change somewhat easily.

  Okay, that went from more easily to somewhat easily. Not much of a change, but it did seem better?

  Keen Senses: Your senses are heightened.

  No duh. She had to wonder if the special abilities that you weren’t granted naturally just didn’t provide decent explanations because they were begrudging her the fact that she managed to keep making the system provide corrections for her.

  Siphon²: Using skin to skin contact, you may permanently absorb 1% of one chosen attribute and skill experience of your target once per week. The target will recuperate their attribute and skill experience after a set amount of time, receiving a .5% increase to those siphoned areas.

  She was stumped. That two showed up, and all she got was the addition of once per week? Had it been longer, and now that it was upgraded, she got to do it more frequently? She wished she could ask the GM some questions. It was at that point she realized she had two n
ew blinking blue dots. She’d gotten so used to ignoring them when she touched people that they hadn’t registered. Absently, she clicked on them.

  You have touched Jessica Dorney, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience…

  Choose a stat to siphon: Strength(2), Dexterity(4), Constitution(1), Intelligence(3), Magic(7), Charisma(5), or Luck(6).

  Choose a skill to siphon: Appraisal(I), Cleaning(I), Cooking(I), Herbology(I), or Perception(I).

  You have touched Kaylee Ivers, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience…

  Choose a stat to siphon: Strength(5), Dexterity(2), Constitution(4), Intelligence(1), Magic(7), Charisma(3), or Luck(6).

  Choose a skill to siphon: Cleaning(I), Diplomacy(I), Dodging(B), Perception(I), or Tailoring(B).

  She jumped in the air in excitement. She had officially been here a week, and that meant the people she’d touched on day one were free game again! But it got better! If she was interpreting this correctly, she could tell the order of which stats were their best, and not only that, if their skills were beginner or intermediate! This would make her random choices not so random!

  Half cackling in glee, she hugged herself and pulled up her skill screen.

  Accessorycraft

  Beginner 7

  29%

  Acrobatics