Christopher G Nuttall Science

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.Part of him wanted to dump the power, or to use it so he could relax and sleep properly, yet he knew he couldn't do that.Not yet.He lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, remembering the moment when Sandra had died.The surge of energy passing into him had been terrifying, but it had also been exciting, a thrill beyond anything else he had ever experienced.Somehow, he doubted that being with a girl, even one as bouncy as Marie, would be so exciting.It was funny how it no longer seemed to bother him, either what he’d done to Moe or what he’d done to Sandra.In fact, his greatest regret was that he hadn't had the skill to drain Moe and his cronies as well.He might have been able to free Harrow earlier, before he’d had to kill anyone else.Keep focusing your mind on control, Harrow informed him.A skilled magician might be able to detect changes in your state.You have to learn to conceal yourself.Calvin nodded and concentrated, despite his aching head.One thing that the modern world had that the ancient world had lacked was painkillers; apparently, there were painkilling potions, but the people who’d brewed them had charged heavily for their services.Harrow had been delighted to discover modern painkillers.With a little work, they could make a necromancer’s existence easier to bear.“Yeah,” he muttered.The internet had already picked up on Sandra’s murder.It seemed that the police were trying to restrict pictures of Sandra’s body, but they were already out and spreading through the computer network.It wouldn't be long before thousands of copycat murders began to appear.“We don’t want them to sense me.”No, we don't, Harrow agreed.You are not yet invincible.His head started to spin slightly as he concentrated on a more advanced – and dangerous – spell than he’d ever tried before.The real trick was learning how to avoid drawing on his new stockpile of mana.It couldn't be wasted when he would need every drop of it to release Harrow.And once he’d mastered it, she’d promised him, he could have some real fun.Chapter Twenty-TwoWashington DC/New York, USADay 25The blind, Misty Reynolds thought sourly, are leading the blind.Learning magic seemed to be a complicated mishmash of different traditions that gelled together in some manner Golem, their main tutor, hadn't been able to put into words.Magic spells were names given to specific thoughts shaped by magicians to cast magic, except some of them could also be magic in their own right.Runes served to channel magic, to help direct the local mana field into wards and other protections.Those born with magic skills could sense magic long before they learned how to manipulate it; indeed, there were some who never developed the ability to use mana, but remained capable of sensing it’s presence.Misty was a logical thinker, trained to hammer mathematics into the heads of school-aged children who seemed to grow dumber by the year, and the nature of magic seemed almost a personal offense against reality itself.It didn't help that Golem wasn't a very good teacher; inhuman creature or not, he had the unmistakable manner of a tutor who knew barely more than his pupils.Someone who read ahead might be more knowledgeable than the tutor, except for the minor detail that there were no books on magic to be found anywhere.Misty had heard that the Navy was seriously considering hiring mermaids and launching an exhibition to explore the remains of Atlantis, purely in the hopes of recovering ancient knowledge.She rather doubted that they’d find anything worth the effort.She looked up as her opponent grinned at her.“Ready?”“Ready,” Misty said, bracing herself.This wasn't going to be fun.“Go.”He pulled a fireball out of nowhere and threw it at her face.Misty’s protections caught the fireball and knocked it aside, but she still felt a wave of heat as it struck her wards.A moment later, he tossed a second fireball and then a third, forcing her to divert concentration – and mana – towards maintaining her protections.The reason magicians spent so long soaking up mana, Golem had explained, was to ensure that they didn't run out when fighting other magicians.If they both started drawing on the local background field, the level of mana available to them both would deplete rather sharply, at least long enough for one of them to emerge the victor.A fourth fireball struck her wards and the protections crumbled.Misty jumped to one side, too late, as he hurled a different spell at her.Her entire body went limp and she hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, feeling the spell crawling over her like the touch of an unwelcome lover.He stepped forward, tapped her on the forehead, and grinned.“I win,” he said.“Well done,” Misty grunted, as soon as she could speak again.It galled her to keep losing to a kid who’d done nothing more with his life than play stupid games, but those games had given him an excellent basis for understanding the new reality.“I think you're getting better.”“I think you’re getting better too,” the kid said.“Hey, you want to come have a drink with me?”Misty started to laugh, despite herself.“You do realise that I’m nearly ten years older than you?”“But you’re so much more interesting than most girls my age,” the kid said.“Come on.”Misty shook her head, just as one of the researchers stuck her head into the door.“Agent Lyle would like to see you, Miss Reynolds,” she said.“Would you mind coming with me?”Misty had never been on a military base before accepting the FBI’s offer of lessons and a job that allowed her to use her magic talents.The base was, according to her hosts, designed to help deal with an outbreak of biological warfare in the nation’s capital, complete with secure wards for the patients and medical technology that was second to none [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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