Zero Sight Part 20

A collective groan came from the student body.

"I mean it," Dean Albright said sternly. "We don't need any more buildings burning down. Cla.s.ses will begin as scheduled. We will update your group leaders with any new information as it becomes available." Albright placed his left hand on the earth and the pressure in the room released with a pop. "Thank you for your time. You're dismissed."

I made my way out of the auditorium with Sadie at my side. It was a bit chaotic at the entrance. Students hustled this way and that. Some clumped together to trade gossip. Others stood around looking stoic. To my astonishment, a group of girls had already made a get-well banner for Susan Collins, that girl Eikhorn mentioned. It read: "We'll all give U a hand, Susan!" A line was forming to sign it.

I waited for Sadie to finish talking with her friends. (No one seemed much inclined to talk to me.) The sun was high in the sky and the humidity thick. Most of the students had already taken off their robes. Searching around, I spotted Rei and f.u.kimura. f.u.kimura had Rei under his arm. He was helping her off in the direction of the groundskeeper's cabin. The sunlight must have been taking its toll. Concerned, I went to run after them.

"Hold it grub!" Sadie shouted after me. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To help Rei, of course," I said, irritated. She knew d.a.m.n well where I was going.

Sadie dismissed the thought with a wave of her hand.

"Ichi's got it. We've got to start your remedial lessons."

"But..."

"Nien!" Sadie said, stomping her knee-highs. "It doesn't work that way here. I'm in charge of your worthless, uneducated, and, according to Maria, kinda cute posterior. In case you didn't notice, there's some kind of war on. Leave Ms. Fangtastic be. She just needs her deadtime. Here's the plan: first we get some grub, then I train some grub. You see what I did there? I turned a phrase. I'm already brightening up your dim-dim little world."

My stomach growled at the mention of food. When was the last time I ate, exactly? I gave Rei and f.u.kimura one more glance. I was getting the feeling that I had forgotten something again...but I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe that was because I was starving to death. I bowed to Sadie and followed her to the cafeteria.

Chapter 17.

TRAINING DAY.

The food was pretty good-the freeness was even better.

I let Sadie do most of the talking and downed about five pounds of pancakes. Sadie seemed nice, if not a little scattered. She tended to talk too fast, and her body was in constant motion. Her short punky hair and clunky knee-highs made her look like an emo princess. I could hear Sadie's headphones from across the table. They were pumping out acid metal.

Sadie snagged the sugar dispenser and liberally sprinkled her Cheerios between bites. She said she grew up in New York City. She said she came from the Irish tradition like Jules, but that she and her family were practicing Catholics, not Druids. Both her parents were mages working for the Department of Mana Affairs. Their jobs required them to travel quite a bit. Sadie said they were currently stationed in the Pacific Northwest investigating a series of murders.

When Sadie finished her sugary O's, the conversation switched to a discussion of our learning objectives. First she wanted details about what I knew. I described how I could sense a person's intent if their thoughts were directed at me, and that I once caught a rock and redirected the energy. She basically just sat there staring at me vacantly.

"Why they put you in Lambda, I have no idea," she commented.

"To enhance the education of my peers?" I offered. "I can teach you how to brew beer."

Sadie shook her head. "Lambda is a combat squad, Dieter. We need more firepower, not a scryer who's good at b.u.mper cars."

I stared at her blankly. "Combat squad?" I had no idea what she was talking about.

Sadie rubbed her temples. "Rights. Fine. f.u.c.k-me-in-the-ear. How 'bouts after you finish eating the school's supply of pancakes, we hit the bas.e.m.e.nt and start with the basics. The Irish already saved civilization once. Alls I have to do is fas.h.i.+on a demon-fragger out of this Imperiti moron."

I inhaled one last delicious carbo-cake and followed Sadie out of the cafeteria. We walked the path toward Central Hall. There were student groups setting up tables outside. One poster read: "Students for the Ethical Treatment of Endoplasmic Ent.i.ties." I wanted to stop and gawk, but Sadie was having none of it. Inside Central we pa.s.sed by the Social Sciences Department, where a bulletin announced, "PsyOps 331: Glamour in the Urban Environment is now considered a pre-requisite for all members of Witch Information Protection (WIP) teams. Contact Dr. Walberg or TA Monique Rice to enroll."

Thumbing my finger at the sign, I asked, "Is that what I think it is?"

Sadie nodded. "Yea, WIP teams are like the lid on our can of worms. We've come a long way from Jean Parisot's time. Had to really. My parents said that when cameras became more common in the forties, it really made their lives miserable. And don't even get me started on handheld video. I mean, could you imagine the uproar that bigfoot footage would have caused if it wasn't hexed?"

I swallowed. "Oh. So they do-"

"Rights. Big hairy hermits. What, you think George Lucas pulled Chewbacca out of thin air? He got a load of heat from the Department on that one."

"Lucas?" I asked, astounded. "You mean-"

"Oh come on, Dieter. Use your head a bit. His company's called Industrial Light and Magic for G.o.d's sakes."

Sadie led me to the same stairwell Rei had taken me up last night, but this time we headed down. To my surprise, the stairwell descended over five stories.

I was really starting to regret that last pancake when Sadie said, "Sorry, the elevator's out. Roster got a little carried away two weeks ago and...well, it's a long story." I didn't care to consider what that implied.

After what felt like ten minutes, we reached a crowded little room at the bottom of the stairs.

"Nice broom closet."

Sadie walked over to a set of double doors and swiped her keycard. The mechanism beeped its approval, and I followed Sadie through the doors.

"Oh. Ok. Wow." It had to be at least 500 square yards of open s.p.a.ce. Someone had leveled the floor with cement, but it looked like it was a natural formation, a cavern of some kind. To one side there were a number of contraptions, temporary walls, and devices you would normally see in a gymnastics studio. There was even an observation deck mounted into the cave's rocky wall. On the other side of the cavern, multiple large circles filled the majority of the s.p.a.ce. The circles looked like modified wrestling mats. They were made from the same foam material.

"Wow," I said. "Our very own Danger Room."

"Meh," Sadie said holding her nose. "More like our very own Bat Cave-complete with stinky bat dung." She pointed to the darkness at the end of the concrete. "This chamber is part of a larger limestone system that stretches out under Elliot's campus. The native shamans had been using it for centuries before us Euro-trash invaded. The administration hollowed it out a bit back in the 1840's."

"Why's it so special?" I asked.

"Simple. Spellwork is much easier when you're closer to the ley. Mana-slingers like this place because it gets you as close to the leyflow as possible." She made a sweeping gesture. "Right now the ley is flowing all around us."

"The ley? People keep saying that."

"OmyG.o.d, Dieter, you remind me of my little brother. Okay, listen up. Leylines are conduits of pure mana. There are thousands of these leyflows coursing around the planet. They're like the power lines of the magical world. Any Tier 2-plus mage worth their salt can draw mana from a leyline. And if you work real hard, you can trans.m.u.te the leyline's mana and generate all sorts of cool effects."

"Like what?"

"Each person is better at certain types of trans.m.u.tations. I'm real good at trans.m.u.tations called counter-hexes and fortifications, but even within a single talent base, there's plenty of diversity. For examps, Sheila and Roster are good at fortifications too, but they've adapted their craft to produce the rapid casts needed for close-combat battlemagery. They're aimin' to be cataphracts; I'm more of a stand-back-and-blast-em. Anyway, leylines are great, and you, my poor little dodo bird, need to learn how to use them. Why, you ask? I'll tell you why, grubo. It's because if you can draw in mana from a leyline, you don't have to spend your own mana reserves to make your casts."

"My own mana reserves?" I asked. I felt my belly. "I've got a fuel tank?"

"Hold your phonso." Sadie led me over to one of padded circles. "Rights, every living thing has a pool of mana inside them. Us mages have bigger mana reserves than normal humans, but our reserves aren't limitless, either. That means it's OK to spend your own mana casting some spells, but that you need to be careful. For some reason, mana and life are tied together. If you dump too much of your own mana into a cast you'll whiteout. It's almost like you're eating into your own life to fuel the cast. The medics say whiteouts are bad for the brain cells, but we all push our limits every once in a while. Then again, if you were to get really carried away..."

Sadie cracked her thumbs.

I nodded. I could figure the rest out myself.

"Your mana reserves must recover, right? How does that work?"

"Rights. Mana comes back into your body gradually. It returns faster with rest and meditation, and instantly if you execute a direct leyline draw. There are some other ways to obtain mana if you're desperate, but we won't be covering them."

Sadie kicked off her boots (revealing knee-high cat-skull socks) and stepped inside the circle. She jumped up and down on the soft surface. "Bouncy. Bouncy. Okay, grubo, enough theory, lets get to the doing part, 'kay?"

I kicked off my own boots (revealing worn white tube socks) and joined her.

"So what do you want me to do?" I asked.

"First we need to set up containment. A containment spell makes sure what happens in the circle stays in the circle." Sadie giggled. "Just like your hometown motto, rights grubo?" I rolled my eyes. Vegas jokes. Why did people always have to start in on the Vegas jokes?

Sadie repeated the same process Albright had used in the auditorium. After a moment of focusing, she reached down and drew a translucent gold strand out of the ground. The mana crawled into her chest, and after another moment of quiet concentration, she pointed her right hand into the air and discharged a pulse of invisible energy straight into the circle. I guessed that the pressure change indicated that the circle had sealed.

"Dieter, don't go walking out of the circle while it's closed. This is a non-binding fortification. That means it'll breakdown if you cross the threshold."

I nodded.

"Rights. First things first. We're going to practice self-conduiting mana. I want you to try and draw out mana from the ley and discharge it into my containment circle. Extraction of mana from the ley is done with the left side of your body. Trans.m.u.tation of mana is done at the core of your body. Discharge of your cast is done through your right side. There are tons of variations to that theme, but we're going to be keeping it real simple today. I don't even want you to trans.m.u.te the mana into anything. Just let it flow in one side and out the other, 'kay?"

Still thinking, Sadie paused to nibble on her thumb. (Apparently, it wasn't sufficiently red and raw for her liking.) Nodding to herself, she took a deep breath. "Dieter, starting out can be, like, really frustrating. It's probably going to take us a few days to get this right. I just want you to remember three things: First, magic is all about visualization. The more you focus, the clearer the vision. The clearer the vision, the more effectively you can extract mana, trans.m.u.te it, and discharge your spells. Second, magic is like playing an instrument. At first you have to focus on where the keys are, but as you practice, the locations of the keys become, like, engrained in your mind. When you aren't thinking about where to put your fingers, you can spend more time focusing on other aspects of a composition. The same goes for casting. At first you're going to waste a lot of mana just executing the basics, but as you practice you'll become more efficient in your mana use. You'll be able to dedicate more and more mana to different aspects of the cast, and cast more often because you aren't wasting as much. Lastly, if you lose control of a cast mid-sequence, things can go to Jersey pretty quick. The spell might fizz, or it might distort, heck, it might even like explode and take someone's head off or something."

I must have gone a bit white, because Sadie took one look at me and giggled.

"Relax, Dieter, you're not going to be able to generate anything that big. Just extracting the mana is going to take everything you've got. But if things start goin' south, just point your right hand at my containment circle and let her rip. I designed it to reabsorb the discharge and ground it back into the leyline. Hit it as hard as you'd like. You ain't gonna breach it." Sadie took a little bow. "Thank me later for my awesomeness, 'kay?"

"'Kay," I said, my head whirling from information overload. "How do I start?"

"MJ style, yo. Left hand down. Right hand up. Visualize the flow of mana being drawn into your hand. When the mana comes, just let it flow straight through you and out the other side. It's all about feel, gra.s.shopper. Repeticion is king. Wax-on, wax-off, and whatnot." Sadie walked over to the inside edge of her circle and plopped down Indian style. She drew a juice box out of her backpack and started fiddling with the straw.

I closed my eyes and focused. I didn't want to lose control again. One death on my hands was enough. I took a deep breath. I could have taken Albright's offer of a wipe. I could have walked away. But knowing magic existed, I just couldn't bring myself to live the rest of my life with my head in the sand. I had chosen option number two. I had to work hard. I had to develop control.

"Stupid straw," Sadie mumbled. "Gimme my juice."

I turned my attention back to the task at hand. Sadie said to visualize the flow, but I had no idea what a manaflow even looked like. At first, I tried picturing a mountain stream gurgling with a golden flow, but that image fit like a bad pair of shoes. No, I told myself, if f.u.kimura had drawn mana from the quad, and Albright from the auditorium, the leyflow under our feet had to be much more broad and expansive.

Broad and expansive...I could only think of one thing. As a child, my dad took me to visit the Grand Canyon. He was sober that day...happy even. I remembered the stupid giant sombrero he'd picked up at the dollar store, and the bus ride with that group of crazy Italian tourists. We had a great time, laughed a lot, and took the donkey tour down to the canyon floor. The power that carved that whole canyon out-it was incomprehensible. The vastness had to be seen to be believed. Power on that scale...that's what I needed. I imagined ma.s.sive strands of the stuff f.u.kimura pulled out of the ground last night surging like rapids under the ground beneath my feet, imagined their roaring power tearing through the bedrock, and in that instant my Sight engaged.

I Sighted the flow with the same type of dumbfounded awe as when I heard Mozart for the first time. It resonated inside me, reminding me of needs I wasn't even aware I had. Thousands of golden strands intertwined beneath me. They danced with one another. Merged and fractured. Performed a fantastic ballet inches below my toes. And as if by instinct, I knew what to do. I called to them. I imagined one of the dancing streams rising up to caress my hand. The streams sang out in riposte-a thousand of them leapt forth in reply.

Power surging, my eyes shot wide. The entire bas.e.m.e.nt was filled with gold.

Sadie's circle was rebounding the blue sparks bursting from my hand. I looked forward to see her shouting at me, but the waterfall of sound and color was was.h.i.+ng out her voice. My left hand felt heavy, like it had sunken into a vat of honey. Confused, I looked down and discovered that I was waste deep in a golden stream. I couldn't see my legs. I couldn't feel them. The rush in my ears was making me dizzy. I vaguely recalled that I needed to do something important, but I felt so woozy that I could hardly think. I looked up lazily. Sadie was still screaming, but now she was pointing her right hand into the air. I giggled. She was still holding that juice box, but she still hadn't managed to get that silly straw in...hilarious...but...but she looked distressed. I couldn't figure out why she kept throwing her right hand up into the air. A new sort of game, perhaps? It did look kinda fun. I giggled again. I'd play too. And then I would help her with that juice box. I wondered what flavor she liked. Personally, I liked grape. With a smile, I thrust my right hand into the air.

The world went white.

As the energy flowed out, clarity returned to my mind. I recognized this sensation. I had felt it two times before. Sadie. Stars above, no. And then the darkness took me.

I was so embarra.s.sed. I must have wet my pants. Even my socks were soaked. Totally soaked. A liquid was coating my face, entering my mouth, and tickling my nose. A sweet taste came with it. I opened my eyes. They burned terribly, but I could make out a blurry figure floating head down in front of me...

Sadie? But how did we end up in a swimming pool?

Wait-not a pool-a circle, we were still in the circle. Stars above, the circle, the circle filled with water, we're going to drown.

I forced the terror out of my head. There was no time. Options. I needed options. The circle was containing the fluid and drowning us at the same time. If Sadie didn't dispel her cast, we were screwed...

But Sadie was floating limply, and judging by the burning sensation growing in my lungs, neither of us had time to host another quorum. My heart quivered. I was on my own. I didn't know any magic. I didn't know the first thing about containment circles. What the h.e.l.l was I supposed to do?

I told myself to calm down. Told myself there had to be a way. What had Albright said? Magic was like anything else, right? You had to use your brain. I just needed to keep it simple. I needed to identify the threat and find its weakness. There was nothing more to it. I fumbled through my memories. What had Sadie said? This was the type of circle that would break if you cross the threshold, right? The threshold was at the edge of the mat...and that was about twenty yards away.

Could I make it?

There was only one way to find out. I kicked toward the fringe, struggling to cover distance in my saturated clothing. Every kick met resistance, and my lungs burned fiercely. My supply of oxygen was running out-and fast. I pa.s.sed Sadie's lifeless body on my way. Her short black hair floated about her face. If she died, it was on me. That just made me kick even harder.

Fifteen yards to go.

Black spots populated my vision. The diving reflex that had kept Sadie and me alive while we were unconscious was faltering. If I lost consciousness again, it would be overridden. In its last gasp at self-preservation, my body would suck down fluid. That was the point of no return.

Ten yards to go.

I tried to kick harder, but my legs were growing numb.

Five yards to go.

I willed my limbs forward, but I wasn't moving. My desperate brain was sending orders, but my body wouldn't cash them. I was spent. My lungs screamed surrender. My vision faded. It was so frustrating. Five stupid yards. I tried to kick forward using my anger as fuel-but it was no use. Five stupid yards. I was five stupid yards short. Waves of guilt and sadness washed over me. Sadie's death was on my hands.

Dieter.

A voice.

We do not quit.

A female voice?

Ever.

Familiar.

We stand back up. We stand back up no matter what.

Who are you?

Push.

My arms wouldn't work. My legs wouldn't work. My vision was gone. I had seconds left and no more physical energy to call upon-and I was still thinking like an Imperiti.

I was no Imperiti. I was a mage, and a mage could still push.

I closed my eyes. I didn't need them.