Chapter 41
“So off with the shirt already,” Erika said. She was speaking from a hologram hovering over the middle of the big open space inside the war drone. Hovering next to her were holograms of Declan, Stacia, Ashling, and Gina.
“You seem awfully eager for my beloved to disrobe,” Vesta protested.
“Sorry Veems, but I gotta call an override on the girlfriend-slash-mated-wolf jealousy in favor of solid educational data,” Erika said with a certain air of smug authority.
“Yes, Vesta. This is strictly for the pursuit of science,” Gina agreed.
“Sure, but if I needed a young female witch to do the same, it would be protested loudly,” Declan said.
“What witch would that be, mate?” Stacia asked in a deceptively mild voice.
“Purely hypothetical, love,” he said. “Just pointing out the hypocrisy.”
“I am sure we would understand fully if you needed one of our nubile, young witches to strip topless for your expert inspection,” Erika said.
“Forget I opened my mouth,” he said.
I was already taking off my shirt and turning to display the portion of my back where Flint had etched her name in scar tissue.
“Describe what happened,” Declan said, his hologram bending forward to look closer.
“I was all set to take its head, but I had this sudden sorta feeling that I should use my right hand to port something into it. Kinda overwhelming feeling. Then I felt a flash of heat flow from the tattoo around my back and up my shoulder, then down my arm. It was all so fast. The wendigo just blew up.”
“Vaporized would be more accurate,” Omega said. “Pressurized plasma in the range of 75,000 degrees Celsius. The blast radius was fairly contained, expanding to a spherical radius of about fifteen feet in every direction.”
“How big would you say this… ported ball of plasma was, Craig?” Gina asked.
“Like a blueberry.”
“Store bought or wild?” Vesta asked.
“Wild,” I answered.
“So perhaps approximately ten millimeters?” Omega asked.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Wow. Potent,” Erika said. “I should like to watch you cast one to see if the pathway is visible to magical senses.”
“Ahem,” Vesta said.
“Sweetie, you need to stop worrying so much,” Erika said. “You’ve clearly cornered the market on Craig Blackmores, so relax. But understand this whole warlock thing is the biggest advance in magic applications in generations and I’m in the middle of it. Craig, your mom is a freaking genius.”
“I am relatively certain that Da-Ni’s magical acumen notwithstanding, a portion of these results are due to the Adversary,” Omega said. “Which is relatively astounding, as Vorsook understandings of magic systems has never been that advanced.”
“How would the Adversary have gained so much knowledge about Earth-based elementals, arcane history, and applications?” Declan asked.
“I may have some answers to that. My absorption of humanity’s history on Earth has indicated that the Nazi regime of the mid-nineteen hundreds was spectacularly successful in gathering occult information,” Omega said.
“Agents in my employ have recently found some interesting logistical records from that era which were encrypted with fairly complex codes. I broke those and the results are that Hitler had ordered a significant cache of information transported by submarine near the end of the war. The records indicate that the sub was lost at sea. I posit that the Adversary found said vessel during its lengthy time hiding under the ocean.”
“The Nazis had that much knowledge of the occult?” Gina asked, incredulous.
“They had accumulated records and artifacts, but my research indicates that they understood very little of what they had. Their brutal efficiency worked well to gather the material, but they were nowhere near close to understanding. However, the Adversary, working with a skilled, trained witch of Da-Ni’s caliber, would certainly make significant strides. ”
“That seems like a plausible theory, but I really want to observe this elemental protocol in action,” Erika said, her hologram folding its arms.
“Ditto,” Declan said.
“Then we may proceed, as I have transported the drone to the mountain pass that is blocked by avalanche. Craig’s efforts might as well go to good use,” Omega said.
The walls of the Bludgeon became transparent, revealing a wall of swirling white. Massively bright lights suddenly lit the outside world. The swirling wall was actually a huge mound of snow, the edge of a road visible at the bottom where it disappeared underneath.
“Please feel free to fire away, Craig,” Omega said.
“Start with the same size apport as your wendigo blaster,” Erika instructed.
“Okay. If I can even make it work,” I said. I thought about sending a ball of plasma into the vast snow mound. A flash of heat flowed around, up, down, and out my hand.
The wall exploded into steam and light. When it cleared, a crater that would have held a small car was visible in the wall.
“Again, but golf-ball sized,” Erika said. “You know golf balls, right, Craig? Your Scottish ancestors invented them.”
“The snark,” I said to Vesta, who just smiled.
The second shot was… bigger. Twice as big and the hole it left reflected something big enough for a panel van.
“Baseball,” my teacher said.
“Backing off fifty meters,” Omega said as I sent the next apport on its way.
“Wow,” Gina said.
“Yeah, what she said,” Stacia agreed.
“That was roughly comparable to a M795 155mm high-explosive howitzer round in blast radius, but the temperatures generated were much higher,” Omega reported.
“As with the previous two apports, the temperature is so high, it instantly evaporates the snow with the resulting steam creating secondary melt. Within thirty seconds of each shot, the new edge of the avalanche wall is freezing to a depth of approximately twenty-five centimeters.”
“You’re saying that he’s clearing the road?” Vesta asked.
“He is, although he is in danger of melting the asphalt as well as the snow. Aim slightly higher if you would, Craig.”
“And bigger,” Erika said.
“No. Any larger will be countereffective,” Omega corrected.
“Can you do multiples?” Declan asked.
I sent three baseballs of fiery death into the wall, sending each consecutive apport fifty meters farther in and about five meters higher in the snowpack.
Nobody said anything for ten full seconds.
“Tired?” Declan asked me.
“Not really. Maybe a little stiff like I’m trying a new physical motion that I’ve never done before. I’m a little warm too. Back, right side, and right arm.”
“The magic pulse is very fast, but the energy isn’t originating from within him,” Erika said.
“No, because it’s coming directly from the elemental… Flint, is it?” Declan asked.
“That’s what she calls herself,” Vesta said.
“And yes, she calls herself a she. Probably why I got so defensive when she paid so much attention to Craig. But thinking back about our interactions, her excitement was different from a girl hitting on him. It was like she had an opportunity she hadn’t expected.
Then when she zapped him, it was like that game that Darci and Levi had going.
The one that spread to the rest of the pack. ”
“Counting coup?” Stacia asked.
“Yeah. Like she had scored a win in some game.”
“So it was the presence of the tattoo that excited her?” Erika asked.
“Maybe,” Vesta said, pondering.
“I think she knew what I was as soon as she saw me,” I said.
“I think she knew what he was from thirty miles away and through solid rock,” Vesta said.
“You think if we put this tattoo on anyone, we would have elementals flocking to them?” Erika asked.
“I think he’s more than the sum of his tattoos,” Declan said. “But that’s just a guess.”
“Are you saying that other elementals are going to want to tag me?” I asked.
“A distinct possibility,” he said. “But odd that only Flint has done so at this point.”
I felt sudden worry from Vesta. “What’s the matter?” I asked her.
She smiled at my bond-informed insight, clearly pleased at the state of our connection. Then the smile slid away. “Katrina thought he was dangerous before… like too dangerous to live. What’s she going to do when she finds out about this?”
“Ah, maybe she shouldn’t be finding out, now should she?” Ashling asked.
“Ah Gina, what have you reported to Oracle?” Stacia asked.
Gina looked mildly put out. “I’ve reported what I knew… Vesta recruited a fire elemental to heat the town and then the kids killed a wendigo.”
“Is this new link from the fire elemental to Craig something you have to report?” Declan asked.
“I’m not even sure it’s real yet. I mean, I watched the show, but for all I know, Vesta was puppeting for her boy toy. Things don’t go up the pipeline until and unless they’re confirmed.”
“That’s true,” Erika said. “Craig probably made the whole thing up just to get more attention. Shame on you, you attention whore,” she said with wink.
Vesta elbowed me. “Ah, I am sorry for any subterfuge on my part,” I monotoned. “I have grown to love and crave constant attention from people higher on the ladder than me.”
“Okay, an acting career is completely out,” Erika said, side-eyeing me. I shrugged.
“Seriously, though. What would Oracle do if the perfect assassin suddenly had unstoppable plasma bombs?” Vesta asked.
“Well, dear heart, you have considerably more power than that and no one is gunning for you, right?” Stacia asked.
“Except the people at the sandwich shop and the production crew guy in the interview,” I pointed out helpfully.
“That’s normal fanatic stuff and not Darkkin assassins or government agencies,” Gina said.
“Wait. Would Agent Jensen get worked up over this?” I asked.
“Hmm, that would track,” Declan said, nodding.
“So the vampire and the supersoldier get all butthurt ’cause Craig’s got a leg up on killing things?
” Vesta asked. “He already wiped out eight vampires before breakfast; I don’t think plasma bombs are that big a deal.
I mean, it’s more the ability to track intent, target hearts and minds, and then apport around any barrier.
Who cares if he blows the target up or just yanks out their heart? ”
“Well,” Gina said, “the Secret Service might protest a weapon that could vaporize the White House or, say, Congress.”
“Pshaa,” Ashling said. “Dead is dead. And who hasn’t wanted to blow up Congress a time or two?”
“But if other elementals give him similar gifts, he’s going to have even more options,” Erika said.
“I’ve never met any other elementals,” I said. “Flint was my first.”
“What about Robbie and Draco?” Declan asked.
“I never met them. I heard about them but never met them.”
“Really? During the whole Solstice break, we never introduced you?” Declan asked, frowning.
“No. Robbie was back in Vermont and Draco was off somewhere. Even the one under the mountain just stayed there,” I said.
“Interesting,” Ashling said. “Mayhap old ones don’t pay enough attention. I should wonder what would happen should he meet the wee dragon and the rock man.”
“Perhaps that should wait till we’ve tested the crap out of this supposed talent,” Erika opined.
“Yeah, and I have a quiz tomorrow in Econ I should study for,” I said.
“You are almost back to Burlington,” Omega announced. “ETA seven more minutes.”
I hadn’t been aware we were even moving. The walls had gone opaque but there was almost never a sensation of movement. We hadn’t even been gone a full twenty-four hours and yet everything had changed – again.