Inside, she bounced happily towards Lucas, who was once again reading. He looked up before he said anything this time, which was an improvement. Apparently this morning had given him a scare! He smiled upon seeing her grinning face, revealing cute dimples for a moment, then sniffed the air as she got closer. He asked in a warning voice, “Jade, did you bring food into the library?”
Defensively, she reached into her bag and asserted sassily, “Eric said I could, as long as I didn’t get anything on the books. I asked, okay. I’m speshul.” He was shaking his head at her, but she ignored that and pulled out her little metal box, placing it on the counter and opening it, taking out the phoenix and unwrapping it before proudly showing Lucas. “Look! I made it sparkle! Isn’t it pretty?”
Chapter Fifteen – Drained
Lucas couldn’t help but snicker at her puppy dog ‘praise me already’ look. When he finally studied 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, attentively 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 transparent 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 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 remarked, “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’d 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 asked him for books on all of it, so why the shock? Maybe he’d concluded that 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 dramatic sing-songy 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 cell. 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 their light balls in there too.
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.
Jade 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.
Returning to her little table, she picked up her book, pulling the light close and beginning to read where she’d 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 upon inspecting 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 stone.
***
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 radiant light as he stepped inside, gaping 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 scrutinized 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 addled. “What time is it?”
He glanced down, opening his pocket watch in a nervous twitch, even though he 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, ate some more…
He stared at her. “Do you really not have a pocket watch?” She shook her head, and he sighed in exasperation. “Nevermind then. I’ll tell Eric you don’t have one tomorrow.”
“Okay.” She responded in a quiet voice.