Looking confused, Randall answered, “Yes, the backlash from any failed spell is usually pretty mentally debilitating. Some magics are more volatile, of course. Fire and lightning generally explode in your face, contractual magic causes the targets to become hostile to you, and I’m not sure on what happens with the rest.” She nodded thoughtfully, trying to process that new information. It was best she avoid this backlash, but that would require her to know her limits. She was working on it, but it was tricky when you couldn’t measure anything but how it felt, which was totally biased. No respectable scientific journal would ever publish such a study.
Looking down at Walter, she spoke absently, “He’s going to be out for another few hours, but he can’t stay in my workroom.” She was a little protective of it.
Randall looked conflicted, and Sean was bouncing on his feet in anxiety. “You’re not going to stay with him until he wakes up?” Sean’s voice was plaintive.
She sighed, relenting. “Fine, he’s not staying here, but we can bring him with us back to the contractual magic classroom so I can keep an eye on him.” They both looked confused, and she explained slowly, “My next class is beginner contractual magic.” Speaking of, she quickly clicked on her choices, wanting at least a little head start on the whole thing.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Contractual Magic from Walter Licnus underway.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Contractual Magic from Randall Rosen underway.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Contractual Magic from Sean Macmannon underway.
She felt a slight tingle, but it was almost nothing compared to the pain of the past, which was a pleasant surprise. Smiling at the three of them, she explained, “I just need to grab a few things. Then we can head back and reassure everyone that he’s fine.” They nodded, seeming to just be grateful that she had agreed to stay with them. She walked over to her coldboxes, opening them and picking out enough food that would fit in her bag, stuffing it full. She chose to take a few bites, chewing quickly as she closed the boxes and walked back, nodding to them. “Sorry, just need to keep my energy up. Healing him wasn’t exactly easy.”
“Of course. We understand,” Randall quickly replied, and she smiled at him, then motioned for him to grab Walter as she went and opened the door. Thinking about it, she realized that they were literally in the classroom next door. She wasn’t sure how she felt about having wild animals that could tear a person to shreds for neighbors. She waited until they brought Walter out, then closed and locked her workroom behind her. Walking to the room next door with her shadows, she opened the door only to catch the tail end of the professor speaking.
“I’m sure he’s fine. There’s a new healer. We’ll know soon enough, so stop fidgeting! You’re making the creatures nervous.” At this point, he seemed to notice the students were staring at the door and, more particularly, at her. She smiled at him and he asked quizzically, “Can I help you?”
She saluted him a little ironically, opening the door wider so that Randall and Sean could bring Walter in. “Just bringing my patient back.” As soon as Randall and Sean made it into the room, all of the students were rushing forward, and Jade automatically created a wind wall in front of them, causing several of them to crash into it unawares. They were pushed against it by those in back for a moment before people seemed to realize something was stopping them. Jade smiled innocently as she said authoritatively, “He’s fine, but I would prefer you didn’t all rush over. He’s not going to wake up for a few hours anyway, and I don’t want you bumping him around.”
She dropped her wind wall, causing a few people to stumble forward a step. One of them asked her curiously, “How did you do that?”
She smiled. “I’m getting very good with wind walls.”
Walking over, the professor took her hand in his wrinkled ones, bending over and brushing his lips across them. “Thank you for your help, Lady Jade. I’m Count Eamonn Finn. Please, have a seat.” She glanced around only to notice two of the students she’d healed this morning scooting apart to make room for her. Unlike the fire classroom, this one had benches around two sides of the room, and the other two walls held…cages.
Most of the animals looked like they were either subdued or sleeping, but a few watched her with creepy eyes. Most of them were smaller, though she noticed neither cats nor dogs. The wolf-looking beast was the closest thing to a dog, but it didn’t look quite right either. That was when she noticed the blood creating a nice large stain off to one side. Wincing, she gestured to it and asked, “Mind if I take care of that first?”
Eamonn looked confused but intrigued as he nodded. “Go ahead.” She still gestured with her hand for all that she probably didn’t need to. For some reason, it made focusing easier for her. Calling the blood, it separated from the stone floor, leaving no trace behind as it became another globe above her hands.
Looking around, she asked, “Is there somewhere I can put it?”
Eamonn beamed at her, going to one of the few cupboards and pulling out a metal box. He opened it and held it out to her as she dropped the blood in. “Fascinating! A blood mage, too!” His crinkled face became even more wrinkled when he grinned, and she wondered absently how sane of mind he was. His white hair was poofed around his head like all the mad scientists in movies.
Once she deposited the blood with him, she chose to quickly take a seat between the boy and girl who she’d healed, smiling at them. The girl leaned closer, whispering, “Hey, welcome, and thanks for this morning. You did a great job.”
Jade smiled back at her and whispered, “You’re welcome. Does this whole mauling thing happen a lot?”
The boy on the other side of her answered quietly, “No, not really. Most of us don’t try for something that can eat us. Walter was trying to show off.” Jade nodded, deep in contemplation. This put a new light on the unconscious body.
Meanwhile, apparently satisfied that the blood was maintaining its globular shape, Eamonn put it away and turned back to the class with a giant wrinkly grin. “Well then! Now that that’s all taken care of, let’s go back to the beasts. As I was saying, one of the best ways to start a bond with the animals is to feed them. Take the ioguan,” here he gestured to a cage of creatures that bore a striking resemblance to iguanas, though as with everything else, something didn’t seem quite right, “they’ll eat almost anything,” he paused to pull out another cage from below, “but they prefer to eat fellacai when given the chance.”
Jade stared in awe at the new cage. In it swirled hundreds of gorgeous butterflies, or something like them, seeming to be made up of all the colors of the rainbow. They practically glittered in the light like tiny gems. The professor kept talking, and she could only half bring herself to listen, entranced as she was. “The fellacai are crafty creatures. Their pollen has a multitude of effects, and they can be quite difficult to catch unless you know the tricks. It’s common…”
She had tuned him out, a single thought going through her mind as she whispered, “Mine.”