Judith Ann raised her hand. She waited until everyone was looking at her, then folded her hands in her lap. “I’m sorry, but I don’t see how that could possibly help us with the expedition.”
Professor Coolidge stared at her for a moment before responding. His expression was blank, but Nicole imagined he was probably annoyed. Nicole would’ve been. “Does anyone else want to guess why I’m testing on this?”
Nicole glanced around. She figured she knew the answer, but she wasn’t about to enter into a battle with Judith Ann. The girl had problems.
A guy on the back row spoke up. “We’ll probably come across magically charged items on the expedition. Exposure to other things and why different cultures charge them will help us understand what we find.”
That would have been Nicole’s answer as well.
Coolidge nodded. “Precisely.”
Nicole felt a smidgen of pride, knowing she’d understood better than Judith Ann had.
Coolidge looked back at the rest of the students. “As you know, I specialize in magical items. If you are to do well in any of my classes, you’ll also focus on these things.”
The signup sheet reached Nicole and she put her name down and passed the sheet on to the next person. She turned her attention to the front of the room in time to see Judith Ann’s hand shoot into the air again.
“You said the tests for the expedition wouldn’t impact our grades.”
Coolidge’s response came quickly. “And they won’t. But everything you learn will help your overall grade, right?”
She hesitated. “I guess.”
Coolidge clicked to the next slide. “The third thing I’ll test you on is how to use your own magic. I can’t have students take part who are completely inexperienced with their powers.”
Nicole took in a deep breath. Of course this would come up. It would be the hardest part for her, with her inability to Channel . . . and especially if she was going up against people like Austin and Judith Ann.
“The last test will be your ability to handle fear. I’m positive that some of the things we’ll uncover will, to put it lightly, freak you out.” Professor Coolidge got up from the desk. “Details on that will only be available to students who pass the first three tests.” He grabbed his things and walked to the door. “Any questions should be emailed to me. Let’s go.”
Students filed out of the room and followed him across campus. Nicole wasn’t surprised that Coolidge’s lab was in the museum, but what did surprise her were the pulsings that surrounded the building. They were so strong this time! How could normal humans not feel this magic?
Warmth permeated the air, chasing away the constant chill from Seattle’s humidity. The entire building pulsated with the strong magical force. It flooded the hallways. It stirred her heart, increasing her yearnings to improve herself.
She wanted to explore, to find all of the sources of the power, but instead continued after Coolidge.
Professor Coolidge led them past the table with magically charged toys and then down the stairs to the basement. He stopped at the first door and pulled out a set of keys. With two quick motions, he flipped the lock and pushed the heavy metal door open. He stepped back, waving at the students to enter.
Nicole walked through the doorway first, with Lizzie trailing her. She breathed deeply—it smelled like antique things. Old leather. Worn cloth. Musty. She grinned. Mother would go insane in a room like this. Every inch of the estate they lived on was spotless and fresh. She’d fired many maids for not cleaning properly. “Properly,” of course, meaning obsessively.
Professor Coolidge set his things on a cluttered desk. “Go ahead and put your stuff here.” He rolled up his sleeves and waited for everyone to gather around him again, then motioned to the items on the tables that lined the walls and filled the center of the large room. “Everything is ready for you. Don’t hesitate—dig in. Take good notes—this is the only time you’ll see each item before being tested.”
Nicole looked around. There were eight tables, each with four objects. She glanced at the other students, wondering what everyone would do. Austin leaned against the wall, arms folded, eyes shut. Yeah, like he even needed to be here. Why had he come, if he was so ridiculously talented and smart?
Judith Ann brushed past Nicole, then gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. “There’s a gun in here!”
Nicole looked over Judith Ann’s shoulder. Sure enough, an old Smith and Wesson Model 1 revolver lay on a table near the door. That was an incredibly rare gun—Nicole would know because her father owned one. She glanced at Professor Coolidge, who rolled his eyes. “It’s not loaded. They don’t even make bullets for it anymore.”
Judith Ann’s jaw dropped. “But it’s magical! It could still hurt someone! I can’t believe you’d bring it here.”
Nicole refrained from staring at Judith Ann. The poor girl. She’d never survive living in Texas—or any of the western states, for that matter. Where was she from, anyway?
Coolidge didn’t respond—only stared at Judith Ann.
She lowered her arms and scowled. “Well, someone has to be thinking about safety.”
“It’s an important item. I’m not going to ignore it just to protect your feelings.” He motioned for the students to continue exploring the things.
Nicole spotted the leather book from the night before. It seemed to beckon her to come—she felt the tug on her stomach. She took a deep breath and headed in that direction. Might as well start with the worst thing first. But just before she reached it, Judith Ann pranced over and picked it up, not even looking at her.
Nicole turned—fine. She’d get to the book last. She was really trying hard not to harbor ill feelings toward that girl.
Lizzie grabbed her arm. “I’m just going to stick with you. Is that okay?”
“Yeah.” Nicole started on the side of the room opposite from the book, deciding to work her way around.
The first object was a fork. The moment her hand was over it, the pulses hit her sharply and a wave of nausea slammed into her. She pulled back and coughed, nearly gagging, breathing deeply to get the sick feeling to go away.
Lizzie gave her a curious expression. “What’s wrong?”
“The fork—it’s evil,” Nicole said. “I can’t explain it.” She looked at Lizzie. “You try.”
Lizzie picked it up, turning the utensil over. She put it down and frowned. “I can’t tell that it’s even magical. What’s my deal?”
Nicole was about to relate her conversation with Coolidge from earlier when Lizzie squealed and ran to the next table, nearly knocking another student over. She apologized to the girl and grabbed a porcelain doll off the table, turning back to Nicole.
“I have this exact same one!” she said.
Nicole smiled and joined Lizzie. “Can you feel anything with it?”
“Actually, yes. But it’s very, very slight.”
Nicole took the doll—the pulses were slight to her, too. But at least they weren’t malicious. She set it down and returned to the table that held the evil fork. “You go ahead and wander around. I’m going to take notes on everything.”
Using the labels Professor Coolidge had put by each item, she took down names and inspected objects and her feelings with every one of them. Only the fork made her sick, and she didn’t go near it again. Most of the other objects had very slight pulses, like the porcelain doll. She struggled, sensing the varying degrees, and hoped by researching each item carefully at home, she’d be able to figure out which ones would be more powerful.
At first, she took detailed notes, rehearsing the names and origins of the items in her mind over and over again before moving on to the next. But by the time she got to item number twenty, over an hour had passed and everything was blurring together. She realized there was no way she’d be able to memorize it all right then and stopped doing so as she went.
Fifteen minutes later, Nicole glanced around the room, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. The
lab had nearly emptied. Only Coolidge, Austin, Judith Ann, Lizzie, and a couple of other people remained.
Lizzie was slumped in a chair by the door, head against the wall, mouth open and eyes shut. Nicole shook her head—the girl could sleep anywhere.
Austin and Coolidge were deep in conversation, making Nicole wish she could be next to them to hear what they were talking about. She shrugged off the desire and got back to work. Only three more things to go. A cell phone, the beanie from class, and the book.
The cell phone and beanie had moderate magical pulses and she quickly wrote down their names, along with her feelings while holding them. Finally, she stepped to the book.
Nicole put her stuff down, not wanting anything to be in her hands when she picked up the disgusting thing. She reached for it, but hesitated. Already, she could sense the warmth coming from the leather, and she wasn’t even touching it. Its magical pulses were different from the other items—they seemed to drip off the book like sweat.
The low murmur of men’s voices stopped and Nicole glanced over. Austin and Coolidge were both watching her. Professor Coolidge had a concerned expression on his face. Austin just stared, arms folded. Why had they stopped talking? Could they feel the warmth too?
Neither of them moved to stop her, so she turned back to the table, still hesitating, but not sure why. It wasn’t as if something bad would happen, right? She took a deep breath and placed her hands on the book. It shivered under her touch and she cringed, pulling back. The sensation of warm leather made her flesh crawl, and she rubbed her hands and arms on her jeans over and over again, trying to get the feeling to go away.
Come on, Nicole. Don’t wimp out.
Without letting herself think about it, she picked up the book and lifted the cover.
A wind rushed over her, blowing her hair back, roaring in her ears. She caught a brief whiff of tobacco smoke before the surge of air reversed and sucked the breath out of her lungs. She gasped.
The floor under her quaked. The book vibrated. The leather on the cover moved, muscles beneath it flexing. Nicole tried to drop the book, but couldn’t. She was unable to control her hands or fingers. They clenched so tightly, they ached. A shadow covered the pages of the book, making it so she couldn’t see anything written there.
What was going on? She gasped again, trying to breathe against the strong wind. She felt someone touch her shoulder, but she couldn’t move. Her fingers still clung to the book. The shadow on the pages shifted, roiled, and turned toward her, the brief outline of a face visible. It watched her for several moments.
Nicole . . .
The voice was soft, deep. A strange yearning inside her made her want to read the book, to understand. To join the owner of the voice, though she didn’t know where or what he was.
The wind slowed to a gentle and familiar caress across her cheek. Familiar?
Then suddenly, it all stopped. The book fell from her hands and slammed itself shut. She backed away, her arms, legs—everything—shaking. She felt Lizzie at her side and leaned into her friend.
“What happened?” Professor Coolidge asked right next to her, making her jump.
“I—I don’t know.” Nicole tried to smooth her hair, but her hands shook too much. She tucked them under her arms. “It said my name . . . and there was a shadow. Something inside it.”
Coolidge lifted the leather book. His mouth popped open in surprise. “You . . . you’ve activated a force within it—something alive.” He looked at her, fear and worry on his face. “How did you do that?”
Nicole shook her head. “I don’t know,” she repeated.
Professor Coolidge put the book back on the table. “I’m not sure what to say, other than I’m going to have to rearrange the first test based on what has just happened. The book is much more powerful than it used to be.” He peered at her. “And I’d love to find out why it called to you, why you woke it up, when so many others have not.”
“What I’d like to know is what she’s doing here,” Judith Ann said, then turned to Nicole. “It’s obvious you can’t even Channel yet.” She glanced at Coolidge. “Correct me, please, Professor, but isn’t the expedition going to be difficult? Don’t we want more experienced Aretes there?”
Nicole’s mouth popped open and she nearly slung some choice words at the snob, but Coolidge’s response was faster.
“I am bringing ‘experienced’ Aretes. They’re my master’s and doctorate students. If all I needed was experience, I wouldn’t have opened up the contest to undergrads. Experience doesn’t always equate with common sense or hard work. I’m inviting younger students to help them jumpstart potential careers. To give them experience.” He started putting papers into his briefcase. “You’re all dismissed.”
Nicole thrust her arms into her jacket and picked up her things, watching as Judith Ann stormed from the room. Nicole and Lizzie followed at a slower pace. Austin stayed behind with Coolidge.
“What happened back there?” Lizzie whispered.
“I have no idea. I mean, why does she think she’s so much better than me, just because—”
Lizzie grabbed Nicole’s arm. “No. The book.”
Nicole knitted her eyebrows and shook her head, biting her lips. The strangling sensation of panic made her heart flutter. Breathing became difficult once more and she fought for control. She cleared her throat and glanced at Lizzie. “That shadow . . . it—it looked at me.”
“Nicole, that’s not good.”
“I know.” Nicole hugged her purse to her chest, wondering what she’d gotten herself into. “It’s as if the book knows who I am—I mean, it knows my name. And it’s so . . . It’s almost like it’s familiar.”
“Are you serious? How’s it familiar?”
Nicole shook her head. “Let’s not talk about it right now. I’ve had a really stressful day.” She told Lizzie about her morning with the spiders, wondering how she’d forgotten to say something earlier.
Lizzie yelped. “They escaped?”
“Yes—and all around my room.”
“Meet me at the store on the way home. We’re buying more traps.”
Nicole nodded and she and Lizzie separated, heading to their cars. Nicole caught a glimpse of Judith Ann walking toward another parking lot. She glared at the girl’s back.
“Judith Ann, you don’t know what can of worms you’ve opened. I’ll beat you at this game.”
And so she would.
She hoped.
At least thinking about Judith Ann helped her not focus on the book.
***
Nicole and Lizzie set up spider traps all along the walls in Nicole’s room. Only a couple of minutes passed before several had been caught.
Lizzie folded her arms, a smug expression on her face. “That ought to do it for now. And with your bed in the middle of the room, you should be able to sleep.”
Nicole agreed. She grabbed her laptop and went to the living room to sit on the couch, ready to study her list from Coolidge’s lab.
She wasn’t surprised to find out that the fork had been a weapon of murder. Some Arete woman back in the 1930s had enchanted it to help her know how hard and where to stab people with the fork so they’d die slowly while she watched. Disgusting.
Nicole stayed up late studying, but didn’t get through all the items. They were fascinating—the porcelain doll hadn’t been possessed, as she’d thought. It acted as an alarm when intruders entered the owner’s house, emitting a gas that knocked the people out. Pretty awesome.
She still had five items on her list when she realized she wasn’t internalizing her studies anymore. It was time to go to bed.
Sleep came easily and quickly, thank goodness.
***
The next morning, Nicole took her time getting ready, made breakfast, and sat down to eat in front of her laptop, deciding she needed to catch up on email before finishing her studying.
There were four messages from her mother, all of them asking the same question. How
was school going so far? Nicole frowned—since when did Mother want to know about school?
They’d had two very brief conversations since Nicole had come to Seattle, and Mother hadn’t asked about anything serious. School was far from her field of interests—she spent her time getting her hair and nails done and redecorating the house rather than paying attention to anything scholarly.
Nicole shot off a quick reply. School was fine. She enjoyed her classes.
She opted not to mention the expedition, the book, or her inability so far to Channel. Her mom wouldn’t be interested in things like that.
Halfway through her messages, she found an email from Professor Coolidge. She’d forgotten that he’d mentioned sending her one.
She groaned. “Crap.”
“What?” Lizzie said from the kitchen sink. She was gulping down a glass of milk, her backpack over one shoulder. Nicole was surprised Lizzie was still home—her classes all started early this semester, and they rarely saw each other in the morning.
“I should’ve read my email last night,” Nicole said. “I meet with Professor Coolidge and the other cello Aretes right after world history.”
“I don’t see the emergency.”
“I was hoping I’d have time to come home first. I have to bring my cello, but I haven’t touched it since the C string broke last week, and I need to clean the bow hairs. Plus, I still haven’t finished studying the items, and I have reading to do for Professor Whitman’s class.”
“No one’s going to notice if the hairs on your bow are dirty, Nicole. I never have.”
Nicole grunted. Maybe Lizzie was right, but Nicole didn’t want to admit it. Instead, she changed the subject.
“Have you had any luck yet? With your focus?”
Lizzie shook her head. “I know it’s not dancing. Professor Taylor believes it is, but things are just too off. I can start a fire, but it’s a struggle to maintain. From what I’ve heard, it shouldn’t be that way—things should flow smoothly. But they don’t.”
“I’ll help you practice tomorrow, if you’ll help me.”
Discern (Mosaic Chronicles Book 1) Page 6