Chapter 12
I sat stiff as a board as the two men attached the lamp shade to the tube’s mouth. They stepped back and admired their work. “What now, Professor?” Theo asked his master.
Eldric turned to me with a smile. “Now we will have the pretty young woman sing us a song. The same one as before, if you would.”
I cleared my throat and slipped into song. More of my confidence had fled, and my voice ebbed and flowed with my nervousness. The air wavered, and what little dust remained floated out from between the floorboards and surrounded me.
Eldric tapped the new mouthpiece. “Direct the sand into here, Miss Rose, as you did out the window.”
I focused all my attention on that small glass bowl, and the dust slipped inside. The clear tubing allowed us to watch the dirt slide into the stomach of the beaker, where it tumbled about. Every new addition increased the frenzy until the inside of the beaker resembled a tempest.
Eldric hovered his hands over the swirling mass, and his eyes shimmered. “Wonderful. Brilliant. This should be enough, Miss Rose.”
I gladly ceased my uneasy warbling. The tempest also ceased, and Theo was quick to stop the bell mouth with a cork. I was glad to be sitting down, as a faintness swept over me, but I had one thing with which to console myself.
That I’d done a fantastic job cleaning the attic. Not a speck of dust remained on the books, furniture, and even the floor.
Theo gaped at the cleaned area, and his shocked eyes fell on something on a table. He snatched it up, and his face lit up with glee. “My Iris pin! I’ve been looking for it for ages!”
Eldric gingerly lifted the whole mechanism and studied the bits of sand. “Fascinating.”
Ramaro scuttled onto the table and wrinkled his snout. “How is that going to help fix his patch?”
Eldric grinned over the top of the beaker. “You’ll see.” He fixed his attention on Marc. “Are you ready?”
Marc’s eyes flickered between the man and his beaker. “I’d be more ready if you told me how you were going to work this.”
“You’re going to open that eye patch into the bell.”
All our mouths fell open except that which belonged to Eldric. Even his assistant was stupefied. “B-but Professor, the magic under that patch will blow away the house!”
“That’s why he’s going to shove his face into the bell before he pulls aside the patch.”
Marc recovered from his surprise and narrowed his eye at our host. “What are you thinking, Zauberwald?”
Eldric stabbed a finger at the curved cover. “I’m thinking you’re wasting time asking foolish questions when you should be sticking your eye into the hole.”
Marc frowned, but scooted his chair up to the table. Eldric set the simple catcher back onto the table and positioned the bell as close to Marc as possible. Marc grasped the edge of his patch and leaned forward, but paused and frowned up at his friend.
“Go on,” Eldric insisted as he nodded at his invention. “And mind you, don’t leave it open more than a moment. There’s no telling what might happen after that.”
“There’s no telling what might happen before that,” Ramaro quipped.
“Quiet, lizard,” Eldric scolded him as he tapped the top of the bell. “Now open wide.”
Marc shrugged and leaned his face as far into the bell as the opening would allow.
He tensed before he lifted the patch. Wind burst out of his socket and dove into the tube.
The glass rattled and cracks shot across the surface.
The wind met the dust and recreated my tempest. The beaker bounced up and down atop the table, shivering and trembling beneath such fury.
The wind blasted Eldric no less violently, but he kept a tight hold on his instruments. Theo jumped into the fray and grabbed hold of the tube. His whole body vibrated with the gale inside the glass.
Eldric dared to peek open his eyes. “Shut it, Marc! Now!”
Marc dropped the patch, and the tempest immediately subsided.
Theo jumped forward and pushed the cork into the mouth, stopping any dirt that tried to escape.
Marc fell back, exhausted, and his face was ghastly pale.
I grabbed his arm and started back at how cold and clammy the limb felt.
There was also a definite hardness to the flesh that was distinctly unnatural, as though his body had grown scales.
Marc’s bright eye fell on me, and a bitter smile slipped onto his lips. “Yes. That happens whenever I open it.”
Eldric leaned down so his face was level with the beaker. His eyes shimmered, and a wide grin adorned his face. “I think you won’t need to worry about the patch opening again for a long while.”
Marc sat up and frowned at his uncle. “Can you skip your usual vagueness and tell me why I just did that?”
Eldric didn’t immediately reply. He grabbed a nearby cork and wrapped his other hand around the neck of the beaker. A drop of sweat rolled down his brow as he slipped the tube off the mouth of the glass and stopped the hole with the cork.
He stepped back, and a heavy breath left him. “There. The deed is done.”
Theo came up to his side and stared at the bottled beaker. “What did you do, Professor?”
Eldric knelt and inspected the contents. The dust had settled to the bottom, but the air held a faint bit of green-tinged fog. His eyes shimmered. “I’ve trapped it.”
“Trapped what?” I asked him.
Eldric stood and turned to us with a grin tinged with a touch of insanity. “I’ve captured the might of your Draconis Veil in this bottle.”
Marc stiffened, as did the other two men, including Ramaro. I stared blankly at them. “The what?”
Marc’s eyebrows crashed down. “You used Rose’s ability to gather magic to gather the Veil.”
His uncle could hardly keep from clapping. “Exactly! If she could gather the dust in this room, why couldn’t she gather the fury under your patch?”
“Are you sure it isn’t going to break that beaker any time now?” Ramaro questioned him.
“Nothing is certain in experimentation,” Eldric pointed out as he grasped the top of the glass. “But it seems to be holding.”
“And how is this going to help with the patch and its sacrifice?” the agama questioned him.
“I can use the very strength of the Draconis Veil to craft a better bind to itself,” Eldric revealed as his eyes shone in the flickering firelight. “The magic won’t reject itself, and its desire to be whole will keep the patch in place.”
Marc frowned. “That was a lot of risk, uncle. The Veil could have destroyed your glass and destroyed all of you.”
“And you said you didn’t want to mix magics!” Ramaro chimed in.
Eldric stared ahead with a pensive expression before he shrugged. “I changed my mind.”
I balled my hands into fists at my sides and stomped a foot against the floor. “What is going on? What is this Veil stuff? What happened with my magic? How is it even in there without me singing?”
I immediately regretted my decision when all eyes fell on me.
A gentle smile appeared on Eldric’s lips.
He slipped around the table to me and set a hand on my shoulder.
“My sincerest apologies, Miss Rose. I should have realized you were not a scholar of the magical arts.” He half-turned and gestured to the beaker.
“Though your voice was silenced, a small bit of your magic lingered in the dust you had controlled. I used that ability to control and bind Marc’s magic to the dust. I will now use this magic to affix his patch to his unassuming face-” A snort came from Ramaro, “-such that he will never have to worry about the patch again.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Not even with what Jaeger was able to do?”
He shook his head. “Not even that, for know of few powers stronger than the Draconis Veil.”
“What exactly is this Draconis Veil?”
“For another time,” Marc spoke up as he tapped his patch. “This is a little weaker after your little fun, so let’s get on with fixing it.”
“Of course,” Eldric agreed as he shooed me to the door. “Gisela will see that you’re made comfortable while I perform the procedure.”
My pulse quickened, and I looked over my shoulder at uncle and nephew. “Is it dangerous?”
Our host grasped the doorknob and opened the portal. “No more dangerous than what was just performed, but I need all my concentration, and that means no distractions.” He whipped his head around and frowned at Ramaro and Theo. “That includes you two.”
Theo’s face fell. “But I only just arrived. Can I not assist you-”
“No, you can’t,” Eldric snapped as he stabbed a finger at the open doorway. “Now out. All of you.”
My gaze fell on Marc, and he flashed me a grin. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
I could only purse my lips and nod before exiting the room, my heart heavy with unease.