Adapt (A Touch of Power Book 2)

by Jay Boyce

“Bye, Raphael!” She waved to him as he was talking to the girls. There were a couple bleary eyed students seated around different tables, and she waved merrily at them as she practically skipped out the door. Once outside, she quickly stopped in an alleyway. Yesterday had taught her that as she looked right now, no one would let her get close enough to touch them.

  Thankfully, she had a solution.

  She concentrated on her appearance, imagining her hair a more nondescript, dull brown. Her eyes also became a dark brown, her skin darkened and her whole body appeared just a little chubbier. Her hair seemed to lose its braided and butterfly crown, becoming flat against her head. Her clothes even got the treatment as she dulled the colors, adding wear and tear and disguising the fine embroidery. Happy, she felt the illusion settle on her like a second skin, a tiny constant drain on her mana.

  Looking like any other normal person, she stepped out of the alley, moving through the early morning streets. She managed to casually brush against people as she moved in the right direction, especially as the time went on and more people started going about their day. She was right! Being nondescript and blending was the way to move about town, despite the magic expenditure.

  She let out a small gasp of surprise and delight when she turned a corner and the river came into view. It was bigger than the girls had led her to believe; she had expected something the size of a street, but no, if she had to guess, it was thirty meters wide and rather deep. The bridge was made of beautiful stone, but it was packed with people. She frowned, glancing at her pocket watch.

  If she waited to cross the bridge with everyone else, she might not make it to the portal before eight. Sure, there were enough people there that she would…probably only touch the few around her, since people didn’t like you cutting in line. Surreptitiously, she moved to the side of the bridge, looking down at the water.

  The bridge was suspended high above the flowing waters and nobody was paying her any attention. She concentrated, lowering her gravity before she slipped over the side and under the bridge. She was regulating it closely, then smiled as she held her arms straight like Iron Man and used streams of wind from her palms to control where she was going. She made sure they were very light streams at first, not wanting to send herself head first into the bridge.

  Grinning like a maniac, she flew just under the bridge where no one could see her. She giggled softly, looking at her vague reflection on the running water. She was tempted to go down and touch it, but she restrained herself since she was trying not to draw attention to herself. When she got to the other side, she peeked around before coming up and lowering her gravity as she strode nonchalantly into the crowd once more. Everyone was so engrossed in their own errands that no one seemed to have noticed her antics.

  She followed the crowd, since most of them seemed to be going in the direction she wanted. There were a few men in particular who still had telltale traces of rock dust about their figures, even though they’d obviously tried to clean most of it off. There were just tiny traces about their bags, especially at the seams, that her enhanced vision could pick out. Their gruff, no-nonsense way of talking seemed like the opposite of the girl their demeanor brought to mind; she figured Evanna was right to escape from the mountain city if these men were any judge of the atmosphere there.

  Soon enough, she came upon Taistill Square in surprise. There was a five foot wall around the center of the square, cordoning it off from the sides. In the middle were three large stone arches that would easily accommodate five people walking through side by side or even a large pack animal, of which she saw a few. There was one section of the square that seemed to be set aside specifically for them.

  She studied the beasts, trying to make sense of what they were. They looked like some mad cross between a horse and a buffalo with an elk’s horns. They looked listless, standing quietly where they were told to. She would have called them living dead, for all the movement and life they showed. Shuddering, she looked away. To this world, they were dangerous beasts to be brought to heel, and there was no PETA to protest their treatment.

  There was a large number of guards at each of the entrances to the enclosure, collecting money as they allowed people to enter and mill around. She frowned. She didn’t want to pay since she wouldn’t be using the gate; she just wanted to study it… She could see two men in wizardish robes like she’d seen Count Aiden wearing the other night.

  “Five leaves.” The guard in front of her was holding his hand out expectantly. She glanced at him, surprised to find herself at the front of the line she’d been shuffling in.

  She shifted on her feet and he looked at her impatiently. “I’m actually not here to use the gate. I’m here to see Dukes Liam and Donnelly.”

  He frowned at her. “You? Talk to the dukes? Nice try. If you’re not going to pay, move along.” She heard agreeing grumbles from behind her.

  She sighed. “No really, I need to talk to them. I’ve got a message for them.”

  He growled, “Give it to me and I’ll make sure they get it.”

  She shook her head adamantly. “No, I have to deliver it in person.”

  “What’s going on here?” One of the guards in fancier gear had come over to see what was causing the holdup.

  The guard asking for payment indicated her. “This waif says she’s got a message for the dukes and wants me to let her through without paying to deliver it personally.”

  The head guard frowned, looking at her. “Who sent you?”

  She blurted out the first name that came to mind, “Viscount Stephen Kane.”

  He frowned at her, then nodded. “Come with me.” She moved forward under the suspicious eyes of the first guard, only to have the captain take a firm grip on her arm and pull her through the crowd towards the two Dukes. He was obviously not taking any chances that she would slip away. They arrived before the two dukes and Jade had no time before the guard said gruffly, “Duke Liam, Duke Donnelly, this girl says she has a message for you from Viscount Kane.”

  She studied the two men in front of her even as they studied her in return. Duke Liam was the first man on the left, according to how the guard had addressed them. He looked to be in his early forties; it was hard to tell because there were few signs of aging and he could pass for twenty five if not for how he held himself. There was pride screaming from every inch of his posture. His lush dark brown hair was combed back perfectly, and his intricately embroidered dark blue robe lay over equally fancy black pants and a light blue shirt.

  Duke Donnelly similarly held himself as a man of power. He looked like he may be a bit younger, though it was still hard to tell. He had laugh lines at the corner of his eyes and a mischievous twinkle to his light green gaze. His coloring was, in fact, very close to her own. His robe was a deep green that complemented his eyes, and he wore black pants and a gray shirt that seemed perfectly in place.

  She was about to open her mouth when Donnelly held up his hand. “Before you give us your message, why don’t you drop your illusion?”

  “Illusion?” The captain’s free hand slid to his sword as the hand grabbing her arm tightened harshly.

  She winced, turning to glare at him. “Would you stop mauling my arm? I’m no threat to them.” Turning to Duke Donnelly, she pressed her question as she yanked her hand out of the surprised Captain’s hand, “How did you know I was using an illusion, anyway? No one else seemed to notice.”

  He smiled mysteriously. “Why don’t you tell me who you are first?”

  She sighed, letting her illusion drop as the three of them stared wide eyed at her beauty that she’d dimmed so much. “My name is Jade Winward. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She smiled brilliantly at them, then asked plaintively, “Now, can you please tell me how you saw through my illusion?”

  Chapter Forty-Eight – Perception

  “Jade?” Both dukes were staring at her in surprise after her sudden change and introduction. Donnelly was the first to recover as he probed slightly further,
“As in, Lady Jade, the new traveler?”

  Grinning, she nodded. “That’s me, and sorry, I don’t actually have a message, I just wanted to study the gates.” The captain behind her harrumphed and she flashed him a brilliant smile, which caused him to subside and finally release her arm, which she absently healed. What was with guards and bruising her? She didn’t hold it against him as much because she honestly had been sneaking in here with the intention not to pay. He was pretty justified in his actions.

  Putting that aside, she asked with her most innocent face, “So, can you tell me how you knew now?”

  Duke Liam laughed softly. “Well, you’re not quite what I was expecting from the traveler.” She gave him a shrug and a look that conveyed that it wasn’t the first time she’d heard that.

  Thankfully, Duke Donnelly finally answered with his renewed twinkling smile. “A combination of a few things allowed me to figure it out. Very high perception, my own ability to use illusion magic, and the wards I’ve enchanted to let me know when magic is in use, block scrying, and to see through deception.”

  Jade stared at him for a second, then her grin got even wider. “That. Is. Awesome!” She clapped her hands together in a prayer position as she beamed at him. “Can you teach me how to do that?”

  “You can’t really teach perception, and it looks like you’ve already got illusion magic down…”

  She waved her hand dismissively. “No, no! I want to learn how to ward things. Are you the spatial magic teacher?” She was looking at him expectantly.

  Duke Liam shook his head. “We technically both are. We trade off whose year it is, though no one has ever actually taken us up on it.”

  Jade looked thoughtful as she thought aloud, “Well, there are two other people who have the potential to learn it that I know of…”

  “WHAT!?” Duke Donnelly wasn’t able to contain his outcry of shock at her statement. Duke Liam was looking at her like she’d sprouted another head as well.

  She shrugged. “Viscount Stephen Kane and his assistant Brady both have a tiny, mostly untapped understanding of spatial magic that they use to travel through the shadows. I’m assuming anyone else who can do that does as well. I don’t know if that adds more than those two.”

  They were exchanging glances again and Duke Liam asked carefully, “How exactly do you know that?”

  She shrugged nonchalantly. “I have an ability called mana sense, which basically lets me see all the colors of magic, both as an aura and as they’re in use. I’ve figured out what all the known colors are as of this point.” They both looked astonished, and she turned to look at the Captain, who was also staring at her with shock and awe. She muttered softly, “Speaking of which…”

  She looked at her future teachers as she activated mana sense, her eyes seeming to take on a tiny inner glow. The bright purple of spatial magic shone predominantly on both of them, and as he’d said, Donnelly also had a healthy dose of the lavender which indicated illusion as well as the light blue of wind and white light. His black dark, light green spiritual, and even the teal of gravity were untapped. He was the first person she’d seen the color of gravity on besides herself though. Liam also had the blue of water, white of light, light pink contractual, the orange of life, and hadn’t tapped into the dark red blood magic or the deep violet of compulsion.

  Turning to survey the crowd of people being held back by guards, she glossed over the three colors of the captain and looked out over the masses. She could see various colors represented, but nothing incredibly impressive…until she got to a shifting conglomeration of colors that she recognized.

  Her eyes filled with anger, and she reached out with wind, cutting him off from the people he was talking to and creating a bubble of wind walls around him before she lifted him in the air and yanked him over to them. There were a few panicked screams as he flew above them before dropping to the ground in front of her. “What are you doing?” She heard the captain’s angry yell as she reached forward through her wind wall, touching the arm of the person and sending a burst of healing energy to explore the body in front of her even as she mentally clicked on the blue dot that came up.

  You have touched a Doppelganger, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience…

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

  Choose a skill to siphon: Aura Manipulation(I), Deception(A), Mimicry(A), Stealth(I), or Transformation(A).

  She immediately made her choices, turning to the glaring captain as she asked bluntly, “Captain, would you like to question this thing before you kill it, or should I kill it now?”

  It was Duke Liam who caught onto her phrasing first. “It? What do you think he is?”

  She shook her head. “Not think. I know this is a doppelganger. It’s the second time I’ve seen their aura, and the last one tried to kill Count Ammon. I just did a healing check and confirmed that while the body appears human, it is in fact not.”

  “You’re insane! My name is David Fenton! I’m innocent! Captain, you’ve got to let me go. This girl is crazy!” The doppelganger was smart, she’d give him that. She was glaring at him as he called her insane.

  She turned back to the captain. “I will allow you to detain him if you have a way to do it. Their body is amorphous, so normal shackles won’t work and I won’t let him go to kill others. What would you like to do?” She glanced aside, noting that the square had gone pretty silent, and everyone was casting nervous glances between the two of them. Her anger was still apparent.

  “Captain, please! I’m innocent! My wife and kids are waiting for me!” She almost snapped at that. He’d killed someone whose family would now not even have a body to bury.

  The captain looked torn, also looking between them. Jade was furious as she bit off, “Send a messenger to Count Whitaker, please. I will hold this creature until he or whoever he sends arrives. He is your superior, yes?”

  The captain nodded, then started barking orders at his soldiers to send a runner. She pulled her trapped doppelganger to the side where she could keep an eye on him and the gates, but he wasn’t blocking traffic as she turned to Dukes Liam and Donnelly. “Sorry for making a scene. However, I think it would be best to get these people through the gate, do you not?”

  Donnelly stood straighter with a start, nodding as he took out his watch. “Yes, it’s almost eight!”

  She smiled that he was distracted, though not entirely since he shot a nervous glance at the doppelganger. She changed her tactics, her voice taking on a wheedling tone, “Do you mind if I stay here and watch? I’m quite curious about how this works.”

  It was Liam who responded, “Not at all. It would be wonderful if you could learn how to do this and we got some help. It’s fairly draining.”

  Nodding deferentially, she still quipped a bit cheekily, “I can imagine! Holding the gate open for so many people…”

  Liam nodded, then proceeded to explain the process of the gates to her. She listened raptly, realizing that the process was in fact fairly similar to the illusion magic for mirrors, except that instead of sending images, they opened a portal you could go through. The three arches that served as passageways each had a twin arch in the other city cut from the same stone and arduously transported to cut down on the cost of magic.

  In the meantime, the captain had organized everyone into a very orderly line, waiting for them to walk through once the portal was opened. Jade had cut off the sound with her air walls after she got sick of Doppelganger David pounding on them yelling that he was innocent. She even put a mild illusion on it so that it appeared as if there was a guard stationed there instead of a raving monster. Donnelly had raised a brow at that, and she shrugged. “No need to unnerve the people more than they already are.”

  She’d kept mana sense active as she watched them prepare. At eight on the dot, they stood on either side of the arch, hands on the stone as they poured bright purple magic into the s
tone, where it reminded her of stargate. The shimmery field was in place, and then…she could see through to the other side. It was amazing because she could basically see the string of magic that had been established, stretching off to the north. As the first person passed through, it was like a bead of magic flew along that line, and she watched as they appeared in the image on the other side.

  People began to move fluidly through, and Jade was standing fairly close to the line so she could get a good look. She could practically smell the magic, so she was distracted when she felt someone grab her hand softly. Startled, she glanced at the little old lady clutching her hand as she bent and kissed it. Her croaky voice was filled with fervor as she croaked, “May the blessings of Father Earth and Heavenly Mother be upon you, traveler Jade.”

  Shocked, Jade wasn’t sure what to do when the lady just as suddenly let go of her hand, gave her a brilliant smile, and tottered through the portal as Jade stared in mild bemusement after her.

  She wasn’t prepared for the line to basically become a receiving line after that. She stood there, smiling in stiff surprise as, taking the old lady’s example to heart, most of the people in line either bowed to her or took her hand to kiss it. She let it happen, unsure of how to respond appropriately. What were you supposed to do when people treated you like the gods’ messenger?

  As soon as the last person was through the gate and before people started coming from the other side, she threw her illusion back up, becoming a nondescript girl once more. Liam and Donnelly both laughed at her, but she shook her head. “You try dealing with it!”

  Donnelly winked at her. “We have. People were just as in awe of spatial mages when we started, and we got much the same treatment.” She sighed, moving to the side and closer to the doppelganger, keeping her mana sense up as they ushered the animals through the gate, then prepared to receive the people waiting to come over from the other side.

  She pled with unabashed puppy dog eyes, “Any way I can zip through and back before you close it? I’d like to experience it once before I leave, but I can’t leave that alone.” She gestured to the doppelganger she’d trapped.