Chapter 15 - Drained

Lucas couldn’t help but laugh at her puppy dog ‘praise me already’ look. When he finally looked down at the sparkling glass, he was amazed. The light was delicately done, not overpowering the piece, but bringing out its strengths. He thus gave her the praise she so wanted and deserved. “You did a great job. Are you sure you only learned light magic today?” 

She grinned, carefully wrapping it to put it away. “Positive. This was actually an accident, I had no idea it would become permanent. I just wanted to make it glow for me.” Now that he’d praised her, she didn’t mind telling him she hadn’t meant to do it. 

He nodded. “Glass is one of the easiest things to attach light magic to. Generally, the more opaque something is, the easier it is to make it permanent.”

She paused, curious. “Is all magic like that? It attaches permanently more easily to some things than others?” 

He looked thoughtful, then shrugged. “I’m not totally sure. I mostly studied light magic. I’ll see if I can find a book on it for you though.” 

She nodded absentmindedly. Finally, she said, “I think you’re short-changing yourself.  If you can do one kind of magic, I’m sure there’s at least another kind you can learn. Once I collect them all and figure out how they work, we’ll see what else you might have an aptitude for.” 

“Collect them all?” He was shocked. She had already told them earlier that there was probably no limit, but she supposed having no limit and intending to learn everything could be considered different. But still, she’d literally asked him for books on all of it, so why the shock? Maybe he thought she just wanted to learn the theories? 

Picking up her box, she grinned at him. “I’m gonna be the very best, like no one ever was. To learn them all is my true test, to master them is my cause.” She was doing it in a sing-songy dramatic voice, leaving him utterly confused as she walked off after grabbing a light ball and starting to hum cheerfully. 

When she got to room 15, she opened the door, staring into her new box. This one didn’t even have a window like the hospital had, and it was self-imposed. At least she could leave it.  It had seemed brighter before, but maybe that was because Stephen and Eric had had their own light balls. 

She surveyed the room more thoroughly for the first time. Apart from the little table and two chairs around it, there was a small couch and side table. She gently put her bag down, then got to rearranging. Moving the little side table to a corner where it wouldn’t be bumped, she then retrieved her metal box and brought the phoenix out.  She almost instantly felt a little bit better. The warm glow was almost like a nightlight for her. 

She sighed, wishing for a window. It was so bright and sunny outside, so why couldn’t she have a little light? Or maybe read outside? In theory, she understood. She was in the middle of the library, and sunlight weathered things. 

She returned to her little table, picking up her book, pulling the light close and beginning to read where she had left off. Whump. She jumped, dropping the book as she glanced around in panic. Belatedly, she realized it came from outside, and it was probably just Lucas or someone setting down another pile of books. She groaned. This was utterly ridiculous. 

“That’s it. If I can’t go to the light, the light is coming to me.” She didn’t have any other glass to light up, but looking at the walls and ceiling… There was still plenty of things she could work with. Lucas had just said it was harder, but whatever. Light was light!  She was already having it go against the natural order of things by making it glow from nothing, so who cared what substance it was?

She used the couch as her leverage to be able to touch the ceiling. Thinking about it, she didn’t need the whole rock to glow, just the one surface facing her. She focused on that, calling the familiar warmth out as she pushed her power into the stone. Unlike before, it felt like pushing it into mud. She frowned. It was soaking in the magic without doing anything. Feeling the strain, her stubbornness kicked in. “You. Will. Freaking. GLOW!” She growled at the stone, shoving her magic into the stone forcefully with the picture of what she wanted firmly fixed in her mind. 

It was as if the magic stuttered and then finally took. It was dim at first, then got brighter until it was like a ray of sunshine emanating from the ceiling. Satisfied, she flopped down onto the couch, feeling like her magical muscles had been strained. She grabbed a muffin, devouring it quickly before bringing her book over to the couch to curl up and read. As soon as she felt she’d recovered a bit, she’d do the next one.  

***

Lucas knocked on the door. “Jade, are you still in here?” 

Startled, she called out, “Yeah, I’m here. Come on in.” 

The door opened and she saw Lucas’ face fill with surprise before he cursed softly and shielded his eyes. After a moment, he seemed to adjust to the bright light as he stepped inside, looking around with amazement. “For heaven’s sake, what did you do to the room!? It wasn’t like this earlier!”

She shrugged and smiled. “I don’t like the dark and I didn’t have a window. So I made it not dark.” He was staring in awe around the room. Every single one of the rocks in the ceiling was glowing with a soft light. 

“How’d you get it to stick on the rocks?”

She grinned. “I decided I was more stubborn and a stupid rock wasn’t going to stop me from having light.”

He looked at her strangely, then muttered, “Nevermind. Common sense doesn’t apply to you.” Running a finger across his pocket watch, he then asked. “We’re closing down the library. Were you planning on staying the night or something?”

She looked confused. “What time is it?”

He glanced down, opening his pocket watch in a nervous twitch, even though he totally knew the time, because hello, he was closing the library. “Almost ten.” 

“What!?” She squeaked in amazement. She really, really needed to get her hands on a watch. What with the whole, being trapped in a stone box that she’d lit to high heaven, she had no concept of time in the room. She’d ate, practiced magic, read, paced while practicing magic… 

He stared at her. “Do you really not have a pocket watch?” She shook her head, and he sighed in exasperation. “Nevermind then. Tell Eric you don’t have one tomorrow.”

“Okay.” She responded in a quiet voice. 

He smiled and shook his head. “Anyway, I figured you might still be back here, so I came to take you home as well. You shouldn’t be walking by yourself this late.” 

She blinked, then grinned and poked him in the side. “Awwww, such a gentleman! I didn’t know you cared!” He was so totally on Team Jade now. 

He laughed a little involuntarily at the poke, dodging to the side a little too late. He glared at her ruefully and said, “Hey, it’s not my fault they can’t close the library until you leave. Apparently your reputation precedes you and Joseph didn’t want to disturb you. Kid probably would’ve stayed all night if I hadn’t stopped by on my way back.” 

“Pfft, excuses, excuses. Let’s go!” She grabbed her emptied bag, then glanced at the corner where she’d moved the little couch table and displayed her phoenix. “Will that be okay here?”

Lucas sighed. “Of course. This room has been designated yours for now…besides, I think anyone who opens the door would be scared half to death by the light anyways. It’ll be fine until tomorrow.” 

“Okay.” She smiled, then latched onto his arm, grinning as she pulled him out the door. She began to hum ‘we’re off to see the wizard’ under her breath to quell her nervousness at going back into the now very dark library. Lucas seemed to take pity on her, creating a bright light on his free hand as he escorted her out. 

He stopped at the front desk where a boy who looked to be 1-2 years older than her was tidying things up. He smiled and introduced her. “Joseph, this is Jade. You’ll probably be seeing her a lot. She’s the one in room 15. It’s empty now, by the way. Just ignore the light…” He paused, glancing sternly down at her as he continued, “She lit it up like it was noonday in there somehow.” 

She sighed, defending herself. “I don’t like the dark, okay!?” Smiling at Joseph, she said simply, “It’s nice to meet you. Sorry for keeping you so late, I didn’t realize what time it was.”

He smiled shyly and stammered softly, “I-it’s okay. It’s n-nice to m-meet you.” Poor thing, what had he heard to make him that nervous around her!? Well whatever. Lucas pulled her away as she was waving cheerfully at him. 

The streets outside were much quieter now, missing the constant burble of voices. The few people on the streets kept to themselves, giving them and their glowing magic a wide berth. She was leaning more heavily on him than she had anticipated, and she couldn’t help but yawn continuously.

Lucas caught her on her umpteenth yawn and shook his head. “You look like you’ve exhausted your magic.” 

She looked at him thoughtfully, then nodded. “Probably. I pretty much used everything I had over and over again, basically draining myself as soon as I felt a little better.” She shook her head, shrugging. “Now I know.” Not that it would stop her, most likely. As they were approaching the Glass Phoenix, she pulled him over to the storefront window to admire her handiwork. She loved the way the sculptures glowed from within, fascinated by their beauty, even if she was the one who had lit them up in the first place. There wasn’t much glass stuff at the hospital aside from test tubes and monitoring areas. Too easy to break and hurt someone who was already weak. Therefore, it had all been utterly functional and completely lacking in any beauty, unlike these. 

“How did you get the different colors?” Lucas paused, asking quietly. He hadn’t inspected her phoenix for very long, so she wasn’t surprised that the light was colored and that it hadn’t been just the glass reflecting the color.

She grinned. “Well, I just pictured the different wavelengths. It’s not so hard. The various lengths determine the color, so I just pictured the energy at a higher or lower frequency. There’s only so much variation on the visible spectrum.” He was looking at her like an alien again, and she sighed. “Science. I could do it because I understand the theory of light, because my world has studied it extensively and drawn pretty pictures that explain it. Get me a pen and paper tomorrow and I’ll try to draw it out for you...” 

“What’s a pen? Is it like a quill?” She sighed and hung her head. “Yes, it’s like a quill. Sort of. When I figure out how to reproduce them, I’ll give you one and be your favorite person forever.”  He laughed softly, pulling her unwillingly away from the display. She felt she could probably stare at the crystalline shapes forever.

When they got to the Green Dragon, he let go of her, opening the door. “Good night, Jade. Get some sleep.”

She nodded absently and yawned, smiling sleepily as she responded. “Yup. Sweet dreams to you too.” She stumbled a little now that he was no longer supporting her as she entered the room, the door closing behind her. 

Rafael and a few other people that looked like students were playing cards on one of the tables in the common room. She smiled sleepily at them, giving a little wave when Rafael looked over. He excused himself temporarily, coming over to her. “Did you have a good time at the library?” 

She smiled tiredly. “Yup, but I think it’s time to sleep now. I think I overexerted myself a little.”

“Overexerted yourself? While reading?” He sounded a little skeptical and incredulous.

She shook her head. “No, that was easy enough. I was practicing my magic too.” He nodded as if this made sense...because it totally did. 

“Did you eat while you were out?” He probed gently, seeming to realize she was only half paying attention to him as she shuffled slowly towards the stairs with him at her side. 

“I had a big lunch and ate a bunch of stuff from the bakery for dinner, so I’m okay right now. But can you have Jessica or Kaylee leave me some easily accessible food? I’m most likely going to need another midnight snack again.” She was hoping it wasn’t too much effort for them. She didn’t want to have to go rummaging around when she was starving. 

He nodded. “I’ll let them know. I’ll have them put it in a coldbox where you were eating last night.” 

She smiled gratefully. “Thanks, I appreciate that.” With that, he nodded, bidding her goodnight. She somehow made her way up the stairs, using the restroom before she changed and collapsed in bed. She had the presence of mind to go through her notifications before she passed out completely. She randomly picked the ones that made sense to her tired mind, only paying close attention to a few of them. 

You have touched Jarom Sanford, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...

Choose a stat to siphon: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Magic, Charisma, or Luck.

Choose a skill to siphon: Hammer, Heavy Armor, Mental Fortitude, Perception, or Perseverance.

You have touched Stephen Kane, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...

Choose a stat to siphon: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Magic, Charisma, or Luck.

Choose a skill to siphon: Dark Magic, Deception, Perception, Small Blades, or Stealth.

You have touched Damian Bardak, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...

Choose a stat to siphon: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Magic, Charisma, or Luck.

Choose a skill to siphon: Appraise, Glasscraft, Haggle, Heat Resistance, or Modeling.

He’s a rogue… That was her last thought before she mentally clicked her choices and once more welcomed the now familiar sharp pain before slipping into sweet oblivion. 

[Authors note: boxes don't work on Patreon...]