Chapter 6 Quinn #3
A tall beauty stood elegantly in the same trainee uniform as me, but with far fewer layers underneath. Her wavy blood-red hair sparkled in the sunlight, cascading across her tunic, which she tucked into the same uniformed pants I wore. Gold glistened around her waist, wrists, neck, and ears.
I cleared my throat. “Ah no, just a small dude.” I tried to keep my voice low. “Quinn Question.” I held out my hand, but the woman pushed it aside to hug me.
I sucked in a breath. No one had hugged me in months, and her touch sent a jolt of love and longing through me. I wrapped my arms around her, thankful in ways she would never know for this moment.
She released me and grinned. “All right, dude it is.”
I wrinkled my nose, and she grinned, her deep red lips perfectly matching her smoky-eyed makeup.
A figure stepped up to her side. I blinked at a male version of her. Slender and almost too beautiful to exist. The same dark-red hair was up in a tight bun on the top of his head, drawing attention to his long jawline. He wore the brown leathers and cream tunic of a trainee.
He studied me suspiciously with one hand resting on a sword at his belt.
I swallowed.
“My name is Everly, and this is my twin, Hero,” Everly said, taking a step back from me. Her brother moved his hand off his sword.
I ducked my head. “Ah, good to meet you.”
“Do you have a sibling here?” she asked, watching the milling trainees.
“Ah, that would be a no.” I flattened my lips. “Alone and penniless, just like the rumors say.”
“A coward as well?” Hero growled, clearly having heard way more than me.
I put my hands in the air.
Everly whacked her twin on the arm and turned back to me. “You’re not alone anymore. Anymore being the keyword. This is supposed to be the Architect’s family. That’s why I came here, to be a part of something.”
We shared a smile, and my heart warmed.
Hero took a half step toward me. “Do not get any ideas, my brother. Everly will not take you as a suitor. She’s under contract.”
Everly threw her head back and groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
She put a hand on her brother’s shoulder. “Relax, Heewee. Quinn’s more likely to hit on you, right?” She winked at me.
I blinked a few times, and she nodded encouragingly. Did she want me to hit on her brother? I mean, he was hot enough… but I was pretending to be a… oh.
I grinned, letting my gaze travel over Hero’s fit frame. He wasn’t Rowan or Ezra. Identical to his twin, he was tall with a runner’s build. The man bun gave his face a severe edge, adding a Tolkien-esque, elf-like quality. But troll or elf, I suddenly wanted in on Everly’s joke.
Male and gay? Why not? This was my delusion; I could be whatever I wanted.
Pink crept into Hero’s cheeks, and I bit my lower lip, not completely acting.
Hero seemed to have missed the first part of the conversation.
Unlike his sister and whatever magic clued her in, he thoroughly believed my male persona.
I looked him up and down a second time and licked my lips for good measure.
Everly practically cackled, making her brother look between us uncomfortably.
I extended my hand to Hero. Everly swiftly grabbed it and pulled me beside her, her red eyes flashing warning.
“Why no handshakes?” I whispered, leaning as close to her tall ear as I could get.
Hero growled, and we both ignored him.
“You can feel a person’s magic on prolonged skin contact. He’ll know you’re a woman, instantly.” Everly leaned down to whisper back. “Don’t touch anyone. It’s an unspoken rule. I’m surprised your family didn’t drill it into you.”
I nodded, pretending to be surprised as well.
Everly held out her hand and raised her voice. “Give me your TB. We must be friends.”
“Sister—” Hero began, but Everly cut him off with a wave and took my TB out of my fingers when presented.
“No customization or anything?” she asked, her eyebrows raised.
“I, ah, just got it,” I said, waving dramatically. “I’m like, really bad at all of this.”
Everly laughed again, and several trainees inched closer. The woman’s friendliness apparently offset the rumor mill.
Everly held the TB between her fingers. A little glowing sheet of blood-red semi-transparent magic appeared in front of her before disappearing into the square cube. My jaw dropped, and suddenly Hope’s question: “Do you know how to articulate your thoughts?” made sense.
And no. I definitely did not know how to turn my thoughts into glowing squares of writing.
I managed to pick up my jaw as she passed my TB back to me and did my best to not look amazed.
“My family has to actually send physical scrawls to each other to communicate over distances.” Everly sighed.
“Although the TB is way better, it’s not the cell phones from BT, when people could talk over long distances.
I read a book saying you could video each other from across the world. Technology was amazing!”
My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. She had magic! I thought magic was amazing.
Everly sighed, still dreaming of technology. Or so I assumed. “Have you read any Lily Gold novels?”
I shook my head.
Everly squealed and launched into the romance novelist and some story about a radio host and cellphones. The same yearning I’d felt for my magic to be real filled her voice. I found myself hanging on her every word like the love-struck man I was supposed to be pretending to be.
“Welcome to your stamina evaluation. Let’s see if any of you are worthy of the task at hand.” A high, nasally voice pulled my attention away from Everly.
I reached out and squeezed her hand. “Later, I promise.”
“I’d like that.” Everly squeezed my hand back.
Hero actually growled this time and jutted his chin toward our hands.
Instead of releasing his sister, I wiggled closer, putting my arm around her waist. My head was perfectly lined up with the tall beauty’s round breasts, and I met Hero’s gaze, burning with murder, and ‘accidentally’ brushed up against the side of one.
I turned my attention to the front before I could see if he was going to murder me or not. But as his sister wiggled closer, physically shielding me, my worries died. I could feel her laughter threatening both our self-control.
The tight male voice continued. “I am Professor Holiday. You will refer to me as such.”
With my short stature surrounded by all these tall people, I couldn’t see who was talking, so I kept my eyes on the ground and listened.
“Stamina,” Professor Holiday continued, “is something you’ll all take for granted now, but it will improve with time.
These are the muscles of the mind: fortitude and sheer will.
Power is crucial, yes. But without the strength to wield it, to rise when you fall, to push for every last drop. .. it’s worthless.”
A stick thumped the ground. A breeze kicked up, bringing with it the scent of roses. I touched my cheek, expecting to feel slime, but there was none. I shuddered.
“Today’s placement is simple.” Professor Holiday began coughing, the dry, raspy hacks so harsh they almost made my chest ache.
When the fit subsided, his voice was raspier.
“Each of you will take a pebble from this basket. Pick your position, standing or sitting; it doesn’t matter.
Your task is to float the pebble at chest height until either it or you fall. ”
I chewed on my thumbnail. This was a placement test. If I couldn’t float the pebble, could they still place me?
Everly bounced and gave me a big hug. “You’ll do great!”
The minute she released me, Hero slid between us and herded her in the opposite direction.
I pointed at both of them and nodded suggestively.
Her twin’s gaze burned as if he could smite me with it.
He spit. The thick wad landed inches from my hiking boots.
I slipped my hands into my pockets, and a bit of guilt crept into my stomach.
Everly’s giggle erased it, and I beamed at her until she disappeared behind more tall people. At least my new friend wouldn’t see my failure. Stepping away from Hero’s spitty ire, I sat on the dirt.
A shadow fell over me.
“Too good to grab your own pebble?” Professor Holiday asked sharply.
I jerked in surprise and looked up. The professor’s long face scowled down at me, and I had to slap my hand across my mouth to keep from screaming.
Skeletal and thin, his sunken cheeks merged with dark bags beneath eyes that burned with a fiery pink.
His bald head was devoid of hair, and long black-painted nails curled around a gnarled staff.
A slight breeze tugged at the layers of white wizard robes, belted tightly around his small waist.
I leaned away from him, remembering the warnings. “I just—”
“Don’t mistake the Architect’s favoritism for anything beyond your entry.” He moved his balled fist forward, and I ducked, ready to be hit. But nothing happened.
“Dragons are mythological beasts, make-believe,” he rasped, his tight voice wheezing. I realized he was laughing. “True power is what you can take.”
I looked up. An uneasy shiver ran down my back.He released his fingers, and a small, clear pebble caught the light as it fell inches from his robes. I let it hit the ground rather than accidentally touch the skeletal man, thank you, Everly.
“Smart man.” He leaned on his staff and stepped away from me, surprisingly fast for how stiffly he walked.
I forced air into my lungs and whispered. “None of this is real.”
My heart pinched. When I was happy, I wanted it to be… so much that I was getting lost in the moments.
Reaching forward, I picked up the smooth rock and cleaned off the bits of dirt.
Technology didn’t only change the world; it disconnected us from it.
Families fractured, communities formed around fear and hate, while the threads tying us to the earth’s own energy diminished.
When the tremors came, many believed it was God restoring the balance.
Others assumed it was evolution once again changing mankind. Either way, magic was born.
According to Rowan’s book, magic was control in motion: concentration, precise limits, focus, and will. I needed all of them to make ripples in the water, also known as using magic.
Maybe I didn’t feel magic because I didn’t concentrate hard enough.
I started counting from zero, waiting to feel focused, whatever that meant. Halfway through an argument with myself about whether I was focused, I realized I wasn’t.
I opened my eyes. The sun blinded me, warm on my face, while cool air smacked me like it was in on the joke.
You’ve got this, Quinn. Ezra’s encouraging voice came back to me. It didn’t matter what I lifted last night. He believed I could do it, and I had every time. Breathe.
I took one controlled breath after another. The sound of wood clashing against wood drifted to my ears from across the coliseum. A steady back and forth. I found myself tapping my finger along to the even rhythm.
I didn’t want to touch the pebble in case I destroyed it like the Wundarboard. Maybe if I thought about what I wanted really, really hard, it would work.
I envisioned the pebble floating.
Nothing happened.
I stared at it until my eyes burned before pleading. “Please go up.”
Nothing happened.
‘You shouldn’t be asking your magic for things; you should be telling it specifically what you want and demanding it,’ Cayden had said.
I struggled to demand or ask for things. Questions drew attention to me, which was not ideal.
Professor Holiday looked right at me and jerked his finger up.
I had to do this, and I could. It wasn’t the first time I’d been stuck up a tree with no way down, literally. I wasn’t asking someone else for help. I was asking myself… I was asking Miss Q.
For a brief second, the world stopped.
“You genius, manipulative bitch,” I whispered to Miss Q.
This was her delusion, and now, if I wanted to stay in it, I had to play her game.
I closed my eyes. “Touché.”
Maybe I needed to get closer. Electricity wasn’t a long-range thing, right? I opened my eyes and placed my hands on either side of the pebble, like I’d seen in countless movies. My shadow, leaning in the afternoon sun, mimicked my movements.
Nothing happened.
I grimaced. If I touched it, I knew in my gut that I’d break it. Just like I did the board. But I had to try something.
I leaned back and reached forward at the same time.
“Float, float, float,” I chanted, as if I were at a keg party in a movie.
The minute my finger touched the pebble, a cool sensation floated along my spine. I felt this before when I touched the Wundarboard. The clear pebble shot into the air. I let out a whoop as it hovered at eye level. The sun shone through it, making it glow, except the glow got brighter and brighter.
Something rose out of my shadow just as a high-pitched explosion made my ears ring. A wave of dense hot air sent me flying backward, along with everyone already floating their pebbles. The little things fell to the ground like rain.
I rolled back to a seated position only to find Ezra, with his hands filled with plum purple magic, exactly where my pebble had been. I peered forward. Sharp fragments of the clear pebble floated in his palms, as if suspended in time.
“I broke it.” The stupid words slipped out of my mouth, echoing the kid I’d just remembered being.
Ezra grunted.
The trainees around me stood, patting dirt off their uniforms. A few started talking, some louder than others, about being unfairly interrupted by me during their placements.
The more magic a person displayed, the more likely they were to get a job using it. It’s possible I created a surplus of janitors.
Ezra swirled his hands, condensing his purple ball of half-exploded pebble, before walking to Professor Holiday. The skeletal man leaned against his staff, a creepy smile on his face as he studied me.
Instead of feeling ashamed of my actions, I stood with my head high. I’d used magic. It didn’t do what I wanted, but I’d embraced it. There was no backing down now.