If so, point taken.
Nicole rushed to her friends’ sides, helping them to their feet. Austin and Dave were uninjured, but Coolidge and Elyse seemed pretty badly hurt.
“Kill them,” Keitus said behind Nicole.
She turned as the Croent raced forward. Knowing she probably shouldn’t do so, but unable to come up with another plan, Nicole gathered her magic and rammed the Croent with a powerful wind.
The Croent fell back but jumped to its feet again. Something hit Nicole hard across the shoulders, and she slumped to the ground, rolling over to see that a bone golem had jumped at her. Its next strike was coming fast. She rolled out of the way just in time.
They were going to die.
“No, we’re not,” she whispered. “Jacob!” she screamed. “Create a link with your key! Get us out of here.”
“I need a door,” Jacob called back.
She pointed to the cabin. “Use that one.”
Jacob didn’t answer, but Nicole didn’t need him to. She saw that river of magical particles flooding through the air, and suddenly, Keitus had fallen away from the door.
“Hurry,” Jacob called to her.
Mustering all her strength and ignoring the pain in her shoulders, Nicole lunged to her feet, dragging Elyse with her.
Austin grabbed his dad, and Jacob got Coolidge. Robert trailed.
Dodging bone attacks and the Croent’s long arms, they dashed toward the cabin.
“Don’t let it touch you,” Nicole called as the Croent approached Jacob.
The Croent suddenly burst into flames, and Robert passed out. Nicole glanced at him, wishing there was something she could do to help. He was dead, however, and this was now his dimension. She prayed he’d be okay.
Keitus groaned from where he’d fallen by the door. Jacob kicked him in the side, pushing him away, and slammed the door shut. He pulled out his key, shoved it in the lock, then said, “Coolidge’s house.”
Nicole only had a moment to wonder if that really was the best place to take them before the door was open and Hayla glanced up in surprise from where she sat on the couch.
“Go,” Jacob said, shouting at Nicole as the Croent got to its feet behind them.
She half led, half pulled Elyse across the threshold, draping her over an armchair before turning to help the others.
The Croent was coming fast when Jacob and Coolidge—the last of the group—crossed through the door, and Jacob slammed it shut.
He sank to the floor, Coolidge next to him. Hayla rushed to Coolidge’s side.
“Are they going to be able to get through?” Nicole asked.
Jacob shook his head. “Once the door is closed, the link is shut. Nothing will re-create it but the key.”
Nicole nodded, then glanced around at the others. Elyse and Coolidge were in bad shape. Blood seeped from a wound in Dave’s shoulder, but he seemed more dazed than injured.
“We need to get them to a hospital,” Hayla said, looking up at Jacob.
He nodded. Getting to his feet, he created a link to a bathroom. Nicole raised her eyebrow.
“This is the girls’ restroom. I’ll make a link to the boys’ in a moment. Go inside, then when the door is shut, open it. You’ll be near the emergency room. Take Elyse there. The rest of us will come.” He half-smiled at her confused expression. “Because most hospitals have glass doors, it would freak someone out if we suddenly burst through without them seeing us on the other side first. I use bathrooms for this reason.”
Nicole nodded. Then, with Austin’s help, she got Elyse through the door.
She followed Jacob’s instructions, only mildly surprised to find a sterile hospital environment waiting outside the bathroom.
It took half an hour to get everyone checked in. Coolidge and Elyse were immediately taken back. Dave had to wait. Luckily, Austin and Nicole had only overexerted themselves magically and didn’t need medical attention.
Nicole felt a sense of déjà vu. The last few times she’d been inside a hospital had been because of her own injuries. She was grateful that it wasn’t her turn now, even though it did make her feel bad that her friends had been hurt so much.
Coolidge had been injured the most, and the doctors wanted him to stay overnight. They stitched up his wounds and gave him several blood transfusions. Elyse also had wounds to be stitched up, but she only needed saline, not blood. She looked pretty weak, though, lying in her hospital bed with Dave holding her hand, his other arm in a sling.
Nicole shook her head, thinking about how much worse things could have been. Even with Jacob’s Time-Seeing ability, they’d been caught off guard. At least he’d come at the perfect moment—he’d been watching them fight and knew they wouldn’t be able to defeat that last big bone monster on their own. It still frustrated Nicole that they’d never be able to retrieve the talismans once Keitus got his hands on them. At least, not if what he said was true. She didn’t look forward to sharing this bit of news with the others.
***
The next day, Coolidge wanted to have a powwow with everyone. He was still in the hospital, so Jacob, Nicole, Austin, and Lizzie met him there. Nicole and Lizzie shared a glance the moment they saw him. Nicole saw her worried frown mirrored on her best friend’s face.
“Professor, are you sure we should be having a meeting so soon?” Lizzie asked.
“We can’t afford to wait,” he said, eyes shut.
“But . . .” Nicole started. “You need rest—this is going to tire you out too much.”
He shook his head but didn’t respond.
“If he’s determined, we should make it a fast meeting,” Austin said.
Nicole, Jacob, and Lizzie agreed, and everyone had a seat around Coolidge’s bed.
Coolidge finally opened his eyes. “We need to find out why Keitus is collecting the talismans,” he said, then paused to breathe for a moment. “They only help Aretes, and he’s not an Arete.”
“Do we know how they work?” Nicole asked.
Coolidge shrugged. “Not entirely, which is why I had Hayla bring me a bunch of my books.” He paused again to breathe, then continued. “I’ve been researching as much as I can, but what we have is limited. No one seems to know where they came from or what kind of magic created them. As a result, the particulars are a bit sketchy.” He closed his eyes, then motioned to a book on the table by his bed. “Open it, Austin.”
Austin picked it up and let it fall open to a bookmark, revealing an illustration of an eye piece. He set the book on Coolidge’s lap.
“That’s what they look like together,” Coolidge said, pointing. “As you can see, when they’re assembled, they’re supposed to be worn over the Arete’s eye.”
Jacob suddenly leaned forward, an intense expression on his face. “I think I’ve seen this before.”
Coolidge blinked, staring at him. “What? How?”
“Back on Eklaron.” He glanced at Nicole, Austin, and Lizzie. “That’s the world where I’m from.”
“Hold on,” Lizzie said. “I thought Nicole said you’re from earth.”
Jacob laughed. “I’ve been living on earth since I was a baby. But I’m from Eklaron originally.”
“Your story gets weirder and weirder,” Nicole said.
Lizzie nodded. “You’re basically an alien.”
Jacob’s jaw dropped, then a huge grin crossed his face. “Hey, I’ve never thought of that before.”
“Okay, back to the topic,” Coolidge said with a smile.
Nicole turned to the book which Austin now held as he inspected the image.
“Do you remember where you’ve seen it?” Coolidge asked Jacob.
Jacob shook his head, then hesitated. “I think the Fat Lady has a picture of it in one of her books. Back when we were searching for a cure to the poison Aldo used on himself—”
“Sorry for another interruption,” Lizzie said. “But did you just call a woman fat?”
Coolidge chuckled, but Nicole didn’t see what was so fun
ny. It was rude enough to think that about someone, but to come right out and call them fat? Total jerk thing to do.
“It’s her name,” Jacob said.
Coolidge shook his head. “It’s not—she’s kept her real name private. But the Fat Lady is what she asks everyone to call her.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Lizzie said. “Tell her to come hang out with me if she needs someone to build her up.”
“Oh, she doesn’t lack self-confidence,” Jacob said. “If you ever meet her, you’ll see what I mean. She’s about as forward and confident as they come.”
Austin cleared his throat. “Back on topic, please—Professor Coolidge needs rest, and Nicole has to take a test soon.”
Everyone turned to the book again, and Nicole noticed a blush cross Jacob’s cheeks. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen that happen to him. He must’ve felt like Austin was chastising him personally, the poor kid.
As soon as she called him “kid” in her thoughts, she realized how silly that was. She was nineteen, he was seventeen—hardly a kid compared to her.
Coolidge glanced at Jacob. “We need to arrange a meeting with the Fat Lady ASAP. And it would be helpful to have Aldo there as well.”
Jacob nodded. “They’re the best researchers I’ve ever known—they’ll be able to get this figured out.”
“It’ll be good to have help from people who actually knew Keitus in real life,” Coolidge said. “Which means we should probably bring King Dmitri and Queen Arien in on things too.”
“I wondered if we’d do that,” Jacob said. “Should we send them a message now?”
“We’d better—give them time to get things together. I’ll be going home soon and we’ll want to have the meeting today, if possible.”
“I’ll use Early,” Jacob said. He glanced at the others. “She’s my Minya.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Nicole said. “I wanted to ask what a Minya was.”
Jacob’s face brightened and he grabbed his backpack. “You’re going to love this.”
He brought out a small metal container, which he placed on the table. Setting his backpack aside, he turned to the container and opened it, revealing a small figure lying inside. It was a miniature human—a girl with loose black curls and a white dress.
Lizzie gasped. “Cute!”
The girl got to her feet and Nicole saw that it would be more accurate to describe her as a woman. She had an ageless quality about her—fine features, big eyes with dark lashes, no wrinkles. She could be in her twenties or even thirties except for the way she looked at the people around her. Her expression was super young—childish, even.
“Hi!” Early said, waving. Her voice was tiny.
“Oh, my gosh, I’m dying,” Lizzie said. She looked at Jacob. “How do I get one?”
“They choose you,” Jacob said, smiling at Early. Nicole could tell he was fiercely loyal to this Minya. And from the way Early returned the smile, the feeling was mutual.
Jacob glanced at the Aretes. “Minyas used to be slaves. They’re free now, but are happiest when they’re serving others. Once they pick someone, they’ll serve that person for the rest of their lives.”
“What do they do?” Austin asked. He obviously wasn’t swayed by Early’s cuteness and was probably wondering how useful a Minya would be.
“They deliver messages at the speed of light.”
Austin raised his eyebrows. “Uh . . . at the exact speed of light?”
“Who knows?” Jacob said with a grin. “They’re really fast, though.”
Coolidge cleared his throat. “If Nicole has a test, we should get that message sent.”
Jacob nodded. He glanced at Early. “Go tell the Fat Lady that we need to have a meeting as soon as possible.” He repeated the things that had been learned so far, and Nicole hoped Early would be able to remember everything. But she nodded and promised to deliver it all, and with a bright flash of light, she disappeared.
Lizzie and Nicole both gasped.
“Where’d she go?” Lizzie asked.
“To deliver the message,” Jacob said.
“Crazy.”
“While waiting, I should tell you what Keitus told me,” Nicole said, turning to Coolidge. She quickly relayed the gist of their conversation and wasn’t surprised at everyone’s disappointment.
“I really hope he’s lying,” Coolidge said.
“Too bad I wasn’t there for the conversation,” Jacob said. “I would have been able to tell.”
Just then, Early returned. She apologized for taking so long, and Nicole couldn’t help but wonder how long it usually took. That was faster than she’d thought it would be.
“The king and queen want you all to meet with them in a few hours,” Early said, looking at the Aretes. She glanced at Jacob. “The Fat Lady had me deliver the message to them too.”
Nicole pulled her phone out of her purse to check the time. “It’s going to be close—my Earth test is scheduled in half an hour.”
Coolidge nodded. “Go ahead and leave. I’ll be released soon, and we’ll let them know that you’ll come as quickly as you can. If the meeting starts a little late, it shouldn’t be an issue.”
Nicole thanked her professor, then she, Lizzie, and Austin left.
“So, what part of Earth magic is the test on?” Austin asked as they walked to his car.
Nicole shrugged. “I wasn’t told—it’s supposed to be a measure of where I am, and apparently, knowing ahead of time defeats the purpose.”
“Makes sense.”
They made small talk the rest of the drive until Austin dropped the girls off at their apartment. Nicole rushed around, gathering her things, then she headed to campus to take her test.
Chapter Three
“You want me to do what?” Nicole asked.
Tess smiled patiently, still holding a wine glass toward Nicole. “Turn it into sand.”
“How?”
Tess didn’t respond, and Nicole sighed. She should have remembered Tess’s no-nonsense personality from the last set of exams she’d taken from the woman.
Nicole put the glass on the table in front of her. She settled in her seat, eyes closed. It didn’t take long to draw her magic to herself—she was getting really fast at that—and as soon as she had enough ready for the task, she directed it to the cup in front of her.
The wine glass broke into several pieces. Nicole sent a sheepish smile to Tess. “I’m going to assume that’s not good enough, right?”
Tess shook her head, her silver-black curls bouncing. “Each broken piece counts toward your overall goal, and the object is to turn it into sand in as few steps as possible.”
“Great. It’s not possible to start over, is it?”
“Of course it is—you didn’t know all the rules. I wanted to see how well you’d do without the added pressure to finish it quickly.”
Tess stared at the cup fragments and Nicole could sense her magical pulse increasing. The pieces rushed to each other, and with a glare of light, they fused together.
Nicole shook her head. “I can’t wait until I’m that fast.”
“You’re not far away, I promise.”
With the wine glass in one piece again, Nicole bit her lips, wondering how to do the task. Most of the time, understanding the physics behind the assignment helped, along with understanding the physical properties of the object. That way, she could tell the molecules to do what she needed them to do. But this time, she wasn’t entirely sure if it was even possible to turn glass back into sand—the molecules themselves went through a change to fuse together.
Fortunately, being an Arete meant that Nicole didn’t have to understand exactly how something worked. She just needed to trust that her magic understood and ask it to do what she needed.
Gathering her powers, she again directed them to the cup. The thing glowed for a moment before shattering, bits of glass exploding all over the table and pelting both Nicole and Tess.
Nicole looked around. Li
ttle shards glittered across the entire room. “Oops,” she said, brushing pieces off her arms. Neither woman had been cut, thank goodness, but this wouldn’t be fun to clean up. “Ummm . . . so I’m going to assume that’s not exactly what should have happened.”
Tess shook glass fragments out of her hair. “Nope. Ideally, it’ll disintegrate and drop into a pile of sand, rather than exploding. Continue with the process, please, and be careful to get everything, as I’m required to make sure every shard is on the table.”
Nicole nodded, coming to her feet. She closed her eyes, mentally reaching out to the individual pieces. There were too many of them, though, and she couldn’t help but wish she were being tested on wood again. That would have been so much easier.
Instead of trying to grab everything all at once, she started with one section of the room, pulling the glass toward herself and instructing it to pile on the table. After a few moments, she finally finished that first area and moved on to the next.
It took forty-five minutes to find each and every piece of glass and get it on the table.
Sweeping would have been much faster.
Too bad this was a test of her Earth abilities and not her housekeeping ones.
Nicole breathed a sigh of relief when Tess confirmed that she had indeed gotten everything. Now to get the glass to turn back into sand.
“Is it even possible?” Nicole asked.
“Of course it is.”
“Can I see a demonstration?”
“After you’re finished, yes. I can’t show you before, though.”
Nicole nodded. She understood why. Being an Arete meant she was able to follow other Aretes’ powers and see what they were doing to accomplish a task. She could easily have her magic do what Tess’s had done once she’d seen it performed.
Nicole turned her attention back to the pile on the table. She stared at it, concentrating. How could she bring it back to its former state?
Forgetting her grade and the fact that she’d probably be getting a C on this test for how long it was taking and for how many steps she’d already had to go through, Nicole took a deep breath and rested her chin on her forearms, keeping her gaze on the glass. She realized being at its level was stupid—if the glass exploded again, she’d probably end up blind—but she didn’t think another explosion would happen. She’d used too much power the first time. She needed to softly coax the glass back into sand.
Conceal, Mosaic Chronicles Book Six Page 3