The New Improved Sorceress by Sara Hanover

Author:Sara Hanover
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2020-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

TO GLOW, PERCHANCE TO MAGIC

“SHE’S RADIATING.”

“Undeniably, but radiating what? Can you catch the spectrum?”

Steptoe shook his head slowly.

I’d been hit by lightning. Or electrocuted. Or zapped by the biggest static charge ever. Brian and Steptoe looked over me with expressions both dazzled and dismayed.

I tried to stand up and couldn’t, every joint in my body like jelly. Never mind the oversized puppy trying to sit on me. Sparks seemed to be showering from me like a Fourth of July firework. I could feel my blood pumping warmly throughout my body, coursing through my heart and back again, my lungs breathing, and the sensation of my nerves pinging. For a moment I wondered if I’d been given some kind of drug that opened up awareness until every impression became almost too painful to endure. Then, like an ocean that must give way to an outgoing tide, it began leaving me. I felt both relieved and bereaved. The last of it left me, except for that stone in my hand. It alone seemed alive and extremely cognizant of everything around me, no longer an odd piece of marble inhabiting my palm. True, it had warmed and pulsated and shielded me and manifested before but only rarely. Now it felt almost like a window into something more. I stared up at the two looking down at me.

“This doesn’t look promising.” The professor scratched his temple.

“Carter will have our hides. Both of us.”

They watched me, assessing. Steptoe’s eyes had returned to their normal inky color.

I tried to speak and squeaked instead. I concentrated on breathing.

“Perhaps the maelstrom has converted the energy.”

“Or not. I can’t differentiate. We could possibly run an experiment or two . . . You read the booklet on it. Any ideas?”

Steptoe considered before answering. “The only hope I can give you is that it matters a great deal who holds the stone.” He sounded like the shock had driven his street accent right out of him.

“Well, then, we should be all right.” Brian ran a hand through his copper-toned hair again as if his scalp crawled. “It’s difficult to tell. I’ve always had confidence in Tessa, however.”

I looked up at the two of them as the damp seeped into every fiber of the clothing I wore and grew shivery cold by the second. Clearing my throat, I managed, “Guys. A little help here?”

“Oh. Oh! Right-o.”

They both leaned down and caught an arm, heaving me to my feet, bolstering me up between the two of them. I felt like the filling in a wizard-and-demon sandwich but couldn’t have stayed upright otherwise.

“Don’t move,” I begged. They were warm, and my legs felt like wet noodles.

“Ever?” queried Brian. He grunted when Steptoe lightly cuffed him up the back of the head.

“Look alive, Prof. She needs you.”

Brian sighed. “He’s tired. Really, really tired.”

I looked at the ball of what appeared to be silver string, wrapped around and around and around as it sat next to the shoe box. “Pretty.” I reached for it, sagging out of their hold.

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