Shift

NINETEEN.3

Walter looked up as they approached, his eyes squinting behind his large spectacles. "Blaze and Kayden? What are you doing here?"

"Lexi had a panic attack," Blaze explained. "But she's feeling better now. What about you?"

Walter gestured at the man next to him. "I'm doing a bit of volunteering today with Mr. Beckett."

Mr. Beckett grinned broadly and shut his small notebook, but not before Kayden had seen all the small runes scribbled inside. "Very nice to meet you two," he said, holding out his hand. He had a firm grip, Kayden thought, that wasn't too soft or too hard.

"Mr. Beckett," Blaze said, and Kayden could see he was nervous; he was wringing his hands together. "I just wanted to say that I am a huge fan of your work. I'm thinking about getting into the illusion-crafting field, and your work has always inspired me."

"Wow," Mr. Beckett said, "that is quite the compliment. Thank you, Blaze."

Blaze's face turned red, and Kayden had to stifle a grin.

"What sort of volunteering are you doing?" she asked.

Mr. Beckett leaned his head toward Walter. "It was Mr. Voyle's idea. There are several children who've been hospitalized because of the shift. He figured it would be nice if we could go around and cheer them up. So I brought some illusions," he waved his notebook, "and Walter brought his book... as well as a few of his latest inventions."

"The Congregation lets me use Room 109 at Le Lieu to tinker with stuff!" Walter said proudly. "And I've been hard at work." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver ball the size of a small plum. "Take it!" he said when Kayden simply stared at it.

Kayden took the sphere. It was cool to the touch, and surprisingly light, but had no other features. No seams or buttons or screws. It was a plain metal ball. "What... does it do?" she asked cautiously.

"It's a countdown clock!" Walter said. "To turn it on, you just need to say Aknah! No magic required!"

Sure enough, Kayden felt the sphere begin to vibrate gently in her palm, and then, as if lit up by some hidden LEDs, a symbol flared briefly in a gold light: an aknah, she assumed. The symbol was only there for a second; a moment later, it had vanished from the surface of the sphere, replaced by a glowing "6."

"Six days until the casting!" Walter announced with a wink. "What do you think?"

"It's very... sleek," Kayden fumbled. She held the sphere out to Walter, offering it back to him, but the inventor shook his head.

"Keep it!" he said. "It's a good way to keep track of the time!"

As is my cell phone, Kayden thought, but she nodded and slipped the sphere into her pocket all the same.

"We should probably head inside now," Joseph said, reopening his notebook and flipping to an empty stretch of paper. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a glowing lace napkin folded in fourths. Kayden recognized it as an illusion rune circle; Blaze carried one in his pocket too and worked on it whenever they had some downtime. When Joseph pressed the web to the page, it flattened itself out into the paper, looking more like a drawing than a 3D object.

Joseph cupped his hands around the notebook and murmured a string of syllables; the runes began to glow, the light hidden from the others in the waiting room by his hands. After a moment, he shut the notebook. "I summoned it in the bathroom," he said, "so as not to arouse suspicion."

Kayden heard the door to the waiting room bathroom open just a moment later. She turned her head, curious to see this illusion master's creation, but as soon as she caught a glimpse of the creature, her chest tightened and her pulse quickened. The illusion was a young man with olive skin, curling black hair, and a charming smile that was all too familiar.