Ridley dropped her head back down with a groan. “Fine. It doesn’t matter where we are. Just … please tell me what’s going on in Lumina City. And around Lumina City. The wall, the other elementals. What’s happening?”
He pressed a button somewhere on the side of the bed and Ridley felt the top half of her body slowly rising until she was half sitting instead of lying flat. “I don’t think I should be telling you anything about that either,” he said.
“Please. It’s not as though I can do anything with the information. I just can’t stand not knowing.” She lifted her head again. “It will help my mental health. That’s important, right?”
“I suppose so.” He moved to a counter that ran the length of one side of the room and picked up a commpad. “There isn’t much to tell, though,” he continued absently, tapping at the screen a few times. “The wall is fine. Or it will be, after some repairs. And the other elementals … it is my understanding that some were killed, while others got away. They don’t appear to have returned—at least not to strike the wall. Things are mostly back to normal.”
Any remaining hope that Ridley may have had vanished. ‘Back to normal’ was the last thing she wanted to hear. “So you didn’t capture any of them? You know, so you can force them to be lab rats and test out all your horrible arxium weapons and who knows what else on them?”
“Oh, no, that is not my focus at the moment.” He turned to face her, the commpad still in hand. “Replicating elemental magic is what Mr. Davenport has had me working on for some time now. I have already interviewed a number of elementals, so it was not necessary to capture any more of them. You are the only one we were hoping to find—or someone just like you.”
“You interviewed elementals,” Ridley repeated with skepticism. “Are you sure ‘interrogate’ isn’t the word you’re looking for? ‘Torture,’ perhaps?”
“It has been most fascinating,” Doc said, sidestepping Ridley’s question, “discovering exactly how they use their magic. How they change instantly to other forms, how they communicate with the magic that exists naturally in all the elements, and how it responds instantly.”
Ridley was quickly figuring out that as long as Doc focused on his research, he would keep talking. He didn’t seem to have the same fear or hatred of magic that other members of the Shadow Society possessed. He had the curiosity of a scientist. Perhaps, if he kept talking, he might reveal something useful. She breathed in deeply, feeling a fraction less ill now that she had a sliver of hope to cling to. “And you were actually able to take all that information and create something that could give regular people magic?” she asked.
“After several years of experimentation, yes. However, regular people—as you refer to them—are not always able to do much with their power once they have it. Some of them die before figuring anything out. Others, after being told how it works, seem to get the hang of it immediately.”
“Yay for them,” Ridley muttered with some bitterness. She’d spent so many years being afraid of her magic, doing as little with it as possible, that she’d only recently figured out she could use it to actually commune with the magic in the elements. “I guess Lilah is one of those who got the hang of it immediately.”
“Ah, yes, Delilah Davenport. Quite the natural, from what I’ve heard.”
“So … she’s still okay?”
“Yes, yes. Still healthy. Which is excellent news for us. Your blood has made all the difference to this latest version of the serum.”
Ridley gave Doc her best deadpan stare. “Excellent news for Lilah too. You know, not dying and all that.”
“Of course, yes. Her father was … not happy. If there was someone else who knew all the things I know, I think he would have fired me.” Doc spread his arms wide, palms up, and shrugged. “Not my fault, what she did, but still. Mr. Davenport blamed me.”
“Lucky you that she’s not dead, I guess.” Especially since ‘fired’ probably means ‘killed,’ Ridley added silently.
“Lucky indeed.”
“So all the other people you gave magic to—before you had a sample of my blood—they all died?”
Doc nodded, his bright expression turning serious. “It is unfortunate. None of them lasted long. That is why the attack on your people—and the other groups the mayor was told about—was not successful. The mayor convinced Mr. Davenport that his elementals would be able to follow anyone who got away, but I warned him that they would not survive the journey if it took more than a day. Sadly, I was right.” He placed his commpad on the counter and removed what looked like a ring box from his pocket.
“Hey, uh, can I get out of these restraints?” Ridley asked as casually as possible. Maybe Doc would release her before he remembered he was talking to a prisoner and not discussing work with a colleague. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite as distractible as Ridley hoped. He gave her a look that clearly said, You’re joking, right? “I just … I need to move,” she moaned. “I’m so stiff and uncomfortable. And it’s not like I’m a threat to you. There’s definitely still arxium in my system.” Her stomach churned as if to remind her that this was true. “If there wasn’t, I could turn to air right now and these straps would mean nothing.”
Doc nodded. “True, but it would be a bit complicated to free you from the IV and the catheter.”
“Catheter,” Ridley repeated. “Are you kidding?” She wasn’t her normal self, but was she really so out of it that she hadn’t noticed that bit?
“I’d like you to turn your attention to this,” Doc said, changing the subject. He stepped closer to the bed and raised the box, which, now that it was closer, Ridley could see was larger than a ring box. He opened it to reveal her family heirloom stone. “Tell me everything you can about it. How does it enhance your power? How does the use of your magic feel different when you’re wearing it? Does it have any limitations, or is it like a battery that never runs out?”
Ridley considered attempting to bargain with him: Answers in exchange for him removing her restraints. She wasn’t trying to trick him. She was aware that she currently had no way to get herself out of this room. She really did just want to stretch her aching body. But he’d been through this ‘interview’ process with other elementals, and something told her he had ways of extracting answers, whether she was willing to give them or not. Probably better to just be honest.
“I wish I knew,” she admitted, “but I haven’t had the stone for very long. I only just found out I’m an heir. I didn’t even know elementals like me existed until … yesterday? I don’t know, my days are all mixed up. Anyway, I know it’s supposed to help me focus my power so I’m even stronger. Something like that. But I’d already lost the stone when I was told that, so I haven’t had a chance to test it. I mean, I knew it had some magic in it because of the way it lit up when I touched it, but I guess I never noticed that it didn’t do that for other people, so I thought it was just some old—”
“It lit up?” Doc’s wide eyes sparkled, betraying his excitement.