The Unskillful Thaumaturge

XIX

Lillian nearly dropped her phone when she heard the news. "You what? Did you say you caught him??"

"Yes, Lillian, he was at the bus stop talking to Galena's mother. We still haven't managed to get out of him how he knows her, he's refusing to say much of anything at all, but-"

"I can come and try to get him to talk later today. I have my quantum lab but there's a big break in between that and the electronics lab, so I can probably get down there."

"Uh..."

"Please, Diane-"

"Okay, okay, yes, you can come, but you had better stay safe. I don't want you to say anything that might provoke him, because he still has thaumaturgical control outside the cell, and even if he can't see outside, he's powerful enough to affect anything outside. Erica put a barrier on pretty much everything and I'm sure she'll do it for your clothes too, but I still want you to be careful." Lillian looked down at her shirt in surprise.

"How did you guys manage to arrest him?"

Diane scoffed. "You guys? It was me. I'm fairly well trained for this and he was pretty cooperative, came with me right away."

"What?"

"Unfortunately Galena's mother managed to get on the bus and it was pulling away just as I got there, so we haven't managed to establish reliable contact with her yet. It's been pretty difficult to get him to say anything at all, but since we know you talked to him, maybe he'll give us some information when you come around. Thank you, but I have to go now, Derek says he's refusing to eat- thanks, though, see you at the station."

Not knowing how to react, Lillian set the phone down on the table.

The potted plant had been caught.

The next step was finding out who was behind the illusion.

❧☙

Dakota huddled in the corner of the cramped, brightly-lit room, trying to avoid the camera over his head. He looked up at it briefly and then back down to the floor, then jumped when he heard a small click as the door eased open. Dakota leaped up and began to run towards the door, but the slippery floor impeded his path and he tripped over his foot, sliding to the ground. A white-and-gold paper bag was placed on the floor as the door was hurriedly closed and locked. Hurrying over to the bag, he peered inside and triumphantly pulled out a breakfast sandwich and a cup of water. Setting the water carefully down on the floor, he raised the breakfast sandwich to his mouth-

Don't eat that.

He set the sandwich and cup of water back inside the bag and pulled out a pickle wrapped in a napkin. He noticed that it smelled vaguely of mint and dropped it in disgust.

And you expected them to understand-

Dakota put his hands over his mouth so the camera wouldn't be able to record his lips moving. "No, I didn't, and I'm getting really hungry and thirsty, and there's no way I'd be able to explain any of this to them-"

If you stay here much longer you are going to start getting delirious. You're not just really thirsty, you're parched, I can tell. We need to get out of here.

"Right now?"

Before the voice could answer, a speaker on the wall crackled and a woman's voice came through. Dakota gazed at the one-way mirror as he listened to her announcement. "Excuse me, but I wanted to inform you- the girl whose door you walked up to will be here later today for an interview. We fully expect you to cooperate. That is not a threat, it is a request." The sound abruptly stopped and Dakota turned his gaze from the mirror to the speaker wonderingly.

No. Definitely not right now.

❧☙

"I'd like to discuss what we've found as of right now," Galena explained over the crackling intercom. "Can everyone who has interacted with him so far come to the conference room?" She rose out of the chair, which creaked quietly and elevated slightly as she left the office, proudly displaying the letters JOLO- the name of its brand- across the seat.

By the time Galena reached the conference room, Rolf, Diane, Derek, and Erica were already seated around the end of the table. She raised her eyebrows and sat down across from the thaumaturgy specialist. "Where's Evan? I thought Janelle was doing the DNA test."

"Last I heard, Evan was testing the mirror case for fingerprints," Derek informed her.

"So, Galena, you wanted to know what we've found?" Rolf asked. When Galena nodded, Diane began to explain. "At first he was really cooperative. He came with me and let me put handcuffs on him as soon as he saw my ID. At this point the bus was pulling away. It was only after I started driving him back that I realized we probably should have talked to your mother. I've tried to get ahold of her six times today using the number you gave me, and every time I try to call her it gets forwarded to an error message. When we got into the building I brought him into the holding cell and he didn't say anything, so I closed the door."

"I've put barriers on pretty much everything," Erica added. "Even if he is thaumaturgically powerful, there's no way he can get out of here."

"I tried to do an interview. He won't answer a single question. Won't tell us his name, where he lives, any of that. Instead of talking, he put up an illusion right in my face of the words 'Go Away,'" Derek complained.

"What was he carrying?" Galena asked pointedly.

"A key." When Galena started, Rolf smiled and continued. "No, not the same key we had. It was a different one. We're not sure what it opens yet, but when Evan is done with the fingerprints I'm going to ask him to look into it."

"What was he wearing?"

"Jeans, sneakers, a hoodie, and a beanie."

Galena gazed at Rolf quizzically. "Did you interview him? Did he say anything important?"

"He didn't really say anything, persay. He just wouldn't take off the hat."