Storm Glass (27 page)

  “Nice young man, your Ulrick,” Father said as we headed toward his lab.

  “He’s not mine. We’re colleagues.” I tried to keep the exasperation from my voice.

  “Don’t get all huffy at me.” He aimed a stern stare.

  I regressed into a ten-year-old being scolded. “Sorry, Father.”

  “As I was saying, Ulrick is quick and intelligent. I like him.”

  It was the same description Ulrick had used for Moonlight. I suppressed a giggle, thinking about other descriptors like strong and loyal, which could be applied to both men and horses.

  “He comes from a good family,” Father said.

  A purebred, I thought.

  “He has a very different style with the glass.”

  Unique markings.

  “It’s a shame Cesca didn’t encourage his experiments.”

  Rejected by his mother.

  “But I’ve told him he could use our factory anytime.”

  Joined a new herd.

  When we entered my father’s lab and Ulrick greeted me with genuine affection, I felt bad about my comparisons. Deep down I knew why I did it and why I kept telling my family Ulrick and I were colleagues. Because I didn’t want to hope. Didn’t want to imagine there was more between us than building a glass shop for the Keep. Avoiding the pain of rejection, I tried to rationalize. Or was my distancing due to a certain Stormdancer? Talk about slim hope. Kade had probably distanced himself from our connection. I should do the same. He would soon forget about me.

  My father sat behind his desk and the three of us reviewed the supply list for the kiln. Beside each item, he wrote the name of a supplier Ulrick and I should visit in the morning. We discussed the specifications of the kiln and who to order the white coal from.

  “A good day’s work and you should have it all ordered,” my father said. “Just make sure Gid doesn’t charge you more than three silvers for a load of coal.”

  Satisfied we were done, I placed the orb and three glass spiders on my father’s desk. “What do you think?”

  He picked up the orb and examined it close to the lantern light. “Is this one of the Stormdance orbs?”

  “No. It was made by another,” I said. When he raised an eyebrow, I continued, “Someone named Ash. He might be from the Krystal Clan.”

  “Never heard of him. Hmm. Functional and a little misshapen, otherwise sturdy.” He gave the orb to Ulrick and picked up one of the spiders. “It looks like a real spider. Who made these?”

  Time for a little creative explaining. “I did…in a way.”

  Twin confused expressions peered at me. I steeled myself and launched into how I channeled Tricky’s attack into the glass orb. “One reason for the decision to build the Keep’s glass shop, so we can experiment with this ability.”

  “So these are magical spiders inside here?” my father asked. “Do they glow like your other animals?”

  “No glow, and Master Cowan couldn’t use the magic inside.”

  “Are you going to tell me why this magician attacked you?”

  “As long as you don’t tell Mother.”

  Father considered. “Unless there is a need to tell her, I won’t say anything.”

  I explained about Sir’s group and their desire to duplicate the Stormdancers’ orbs.

  Before he could reply, a muted shout reached us through the windows. The door flew open and Leif stood in the threshold. His eyes filled with horror.

  “Mara,” he panted. “Bit by a snake. Come. Help.”

18

LEIF BOLTED TO
the factory. Ulrick, my father and I scrambled to our feet. Mara had been bitten and had mere minutes to live. In my rush to leave, I knocked the glass spiders to the floor, and crushed one under my boot.

  By the time I arrived, Mara was in Leif’s arms. Sweat dripped from her forehead and her body shook. A decapitated fer de lance snake and a bloody machete lay next to her.

  My father cursed. He knelt beside her leg. The bleeding punctures were above her ankle. The venom coursed through her leg. Shock froze all other emotions as I watched my sister die.

  “Ahir ran for the healer. I tied a tourniquet under her knee. But that won’t save her,” Leif cried.

  Suck the venom out, I thought and moved to ward her. Father yelped. A large brown spider scrambled onto Mara’s foot and bent over her wound. He drew his arm back to swat it away.

  “No,” I yelled instinctively. “Let it alone.”

  The spider stabbed its mouth into the bite. Its body grew like a water skin being filled. When it finished sucking, the spider vanished. Blood splashed on the floor.

  “The poison’s gone,” I said.

  “How do you know?” Leif asked with a voice laced with pain.

  Everyone stared at me. “The spider told me.”

  Without hesitation, without question, Leif untied the leather strap on Mara’s leg; my father covered the bite and rubbed her calf to improve the flow of clean blood back to her foot. Leif cradled her in his arms, and she was enduring Mother’s worried attentions in the kitchen in no time. I loved my family. Only they would take the magical spider’s appearance and rescue in stride. Questions would arise later, but, for now, they were focused on the happy result.

  Ulrick remained in the factory, disposing of the dead snake and hunting for more.

  “Mara, you should know better,” Father admonished. “Cold night and hot kilns draw the snakes into the factory. What were you doing?”

  She glanced at Leif, who had his arm around her shoulders. “I was…preoccupied.”

  “Doing what?” he demanded.

  Kissing Leif, I guessed. As her cheeks turned pink, Mara silently appealed to Mother.

  “Jaymes,” Mother said, “you left the lanterns burning in your lab. Are you planning to do more work tonight?”

  Deftly distracted, my father returned to his lab. I followed. About halfway to the building, I stopped. My emotions melted and drenched me. Relief-Mara didn’t die. Surprise-she was saved by a spider. Shock-a spider who magically disappeared. Fear-it resembled one of Tricky’s spiders.

  By the time I joined my father, he had his magnifying glass in hand, inspecting one of my glass spiders. “Just what I thought. It’s the same spider only smaller. Care to tell me what’s going on?”

  “I would if I could.” I grabbed a dustpan and brush, sweeping up the crushed glass from the floor. “I stepped on one. Maybe I released the illusion?”

  “That spider was no illusion. Are you sure you weren’t attacked by real spiders?”

  I thought back. The beetles Tricky had used first were illusions. Or, as Zitora had explained, figments of my imagination planted by Tricky, which is why I had felt pain. His second strike hadn’t touched me. I channeled his magic before the spiders reached me, trapping his power. However, the creatures called to
me
in the glass, as if I had pulled the magic.

  I collapsed into a chair. “I’m not sure of anything right now.”

  “Only one way to find out.”

  “Wait-”

  Father tried to snap one of my glass spiders in half. He dropped it to the floor, stomping on it. Nothing. “These things are indestructible.”

  “Here.” I reached for it, remembering how brittle they felt in my hands. Sure enough, I broke one in half.

  A whoosh of air, a huff and a flash and one brown-colored spider stood in the middle of my father’s desk. Its body as big as two of my father’s fists put together and eight thin legs spread out close to the edge.

  I jumped to my feet, wanting to back away.

  “Relax.”

  The creature remained in place as if waiting. The door opened behind me and even the night breeze didn’t disturb the spider.

  “Ulrick, don’t come any closer,” Father ordered. “Opal, what did you do after you stepped on the glass?”

  I replayed the series of panicked events in my mind. “I ran to Mara. Stood there like a complete simpleton. And…” I closed my eyes for a moment. “And my next thought was the need to suck the venom from Mara. But the spider came and…”

  “Did your bidding,” Father said.

  “A big leap in logic,” Ulrick said from the doorway.

  “Easy to find out. Opal, tell the spider to climb to the ceiling.”

  “With my thoughts or my voice?”

  “We can try both. How many glass spiders do you have?”

  I shuddered. “Hundreds.” Drawing in a deep breath and feeling a little silly, I ordered the spider to climb.

  It leaped to the wall and scurried to the ceiling. When it arrived, it disappeared. For the first time ever, magic responded to my wishes. A strange sensation swept over me and I felt weightless. I dropped into a chair and clutched the armrests to keep from fainting.

  “Hmm. Once and done,” my father mused. “I wonder if the first spider would have followed you around until you gave it an order. Only one-”

  “Way to find out,” Ulrick said. “I’ll fetch more spiders. Where are they?”

  I told him, then snapped the remaining one. This time I ordered the spider with my mind. The results were the same.

  A couple hours after midnight, my father was finally satisfied with our experiments. The spiders were indeed real to the touch. They had sharp teeth and they would perform a task then vanish. They would listen only to me. I guessed when I had transformed Tricky’s magic into spiders I had become the owner. Although Tricky might be able to direct the spiders, too. And, since the only way to find out would involve him, I wasn’t going to confirm the possibility.

  All those history classes I had taken never mentioned the ability to transform magic into a physical object. And it wasn’t static. It moved, obeyed commands and disappeared. Did the magic dissipate when the spider finished its job? Or did the power return to Tricky?

  My sluggish thoughts swirled in my head as if my mind had melted. No answers formed, just an endless loop of speculation. I dragged my exhausted body to my room. Leif dozed in a chair next to my sister’s bed. Mara slept so still, I had to watch the rise and fall of her chest before I could relax. Leif roused. He drew me out into the hallway.

  “What’s been going on? I smelled magic.”

  As quick and succinct as possible, I explained about the spiders.

  “That’s amazing! You have a whole army of helpers. You don’t have to feed them or care for them. The possibilities are endless!”

  Only Leif would think of food. I was too tired to share his enthusiasm. “Leif, go to bed. I’m here now if Mara needs anything.”

  He gnawed his lip. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course, she’s my sister.”

  He hugged me. “Thanks, Opal. You saved her life.”

  “Inadvertently.”

  “Doesn’t matter how. She lives.
That
matters.”

  By the time I woke, the morning was almost gone. My family and Ulrick sat around the dining room table, eating a late breakfast. Mara remained pale and Leif hovered over her. Questions about the lifesaving spider shot from everyone’s lips as soon as they spotted me. Father enlightened them about my spiders, and I asked them to please keep the information quiet.

  “Why?” Ulrick asked. “If it were me, I’d want everybody to know what I could do.”

  “But I don’t know if I can duplicate the magic and get the same results. Best to wait until we have discovered everything about it.”

  Ulrick remained unconvinced.

  “It’s a logical strategy,” Leif said. “One that could save her life.”

  “How?” Ulrick asked.

  Leif glanced at my mother before speaking. “If, for example, someone was after Opal. If the person knows what she can do with her magic, they would have a way to counter it. If no one knows about her skill with the glass spiders, then she will be able to surprise them
if
she’s attacked.”

  “Good point,” Ulrick said.

  “No. It’s an
excellent
point. Those who brag and boast might cause problems, but they’re easy to counter. It’s the quiet ones who are deadly.”

  I considered Leif’s words as Ulrick and I visited the equipment suppliers Father suggested. My instinct to keep a few magical incidents quiet had been correct. Although, I realized I shouldn’t rely on my instincts as much. Working with Zitora, I’d been unwillingly involved with criminals. Thinking my actions through and approaching a situation with a strategy in mind would be prudent.

  Over the next two days, Ulrick and I had ordered all the necessary supplies. We prepared to leave the following morning. Mara would be coming with us. Leif didn’t want to leave her behind, and once the Keep’s glass workshop was operational, there would be plenty for her to do. My mother was thrilled. I could see by the glint in her eyes, she viewed Mara’s move as the next step toward grandchildren.

  Mara rode with Leif on Rusalka. The trip to the Citadel would be a day longer because of the added weight on the horse. My emotions wavered from happiness at having my sister nearby to dread. Before this trip to Booruby, I kept meaning to send a message to Mara about Aydan’s need for an assistant, but I never did. Since Leda turned into such an accomplished helper, the problem was solved.