Oops! I Caught a Genie!

Chapter 26

The picture to the side (or above, if you're on your mobile) was made by Cupid K @ItsKindaALongStory !!! I'm stoked! It's awesome! Also check out the things she's written, she has a great writing style!

To be honest, training was not doing me much good. I was trying, but physical activity was never my strong suit. Despite being pretty thin, I was not an athletic person.

“Can we do something else?” I groaned, dropping the ten pound weights heavily to the floor.

“Since you seem to be at your physical limit, yes.”

I sighed and sat down in the middle of the room, glaring at my sweaty reflection in the mirrors lining the room. Shullat tossed a green marble and sat facing me.

“What’s this?” I said.

“It’s a training marble. You’re going to use it to learn how to safely channel energy.”

“Oh. How does it work?”
“Look at it, focus hard on the inside.”
I did so, feeling very awkward. Staring at a marble seemed like a strange thing to do.

“Now, imagine a light shining through the marble. Imagine the green glow it would make.”

Still feeling like an idiot, I reached for an image of a glowing marble.

“Then command the marble to light up.”

“Um, like, verbally?” I asked, breaking my concentration.

“Yes.”
I focused back on the marble and repeated the steps. Focusing on the emerald green interior.

“Glow?” I said. Nothing happened.

“You have to command it, that sounded like you were asking it a question. Make a statement.”

“Glow!” I snapped.

I looked down at the marble, there seemed to be a small swirling light inside of the sphere now. It looked like pictures I had seen of the Milky Way, only green.

“You don’t have to be quite that firm,” Shullat said with a chuckle, “but well done.”

“How does this help?”

“Control, you’re not getting those arm bands off until we’re sure that you won't explode.”
“What?”

“If your energy is activated without you being in control it can blow up. Quite literally.”

So I could have died when I used my powers to help Fritz with the attack? That was lucky. I wonder if the old djinn knew about the danger? Did he help me by stabilizing something? I’ll never know, but I think i’m glad that he didn't tell me about the danger. I might have gotten stressed or panicked and made it much worse.

“Nora.”

I gave a start.

“Y-what?”

“You zoned out. Now try again. You need to practice control.”

I stared at the little marble and willed it to glow, the swirl appeared but a loud voice interrupted my concentration.

“Nora! Where are you?! I don’t have long, this connection is feeble. Is Fritz ok- Wait no, you can’t answer. I picked up what's-her-name wandering in the mountains. We’re planning a search and rescue- Tell Fritz-”

Mangoo’s voice cut off abruptly. The marble burst. Tiny bits of broken glass shot across the room, some embedding themselves in the wall. Others cracked the mirrors lining the room. One bounced off my cheek, leaving a thin cut.

“What happened?” Shullat demanded, picking a shard from his hand.

“I don't know, I must have lost my concentration.” I said. I had to remind myself that despite his kindness, he was working for my captors.

“Well, this is what happens when you lose control. Just imagine it with a human body instead.”

“Thank you for that image.”

He shrugged and pulled another glass marble from his pocket.

“Plenty where that came from. It’s normal to blow at least one up.”

He had me light up the marble a few more times before leading me back to where I slept. He told me to get some rest, but I couldn't. How had Mangoo contacted me? Had he contacted me? Was I going mad? No, yes, maybe. I was going to assume that he had found a way to talk to me through that marble exercise. The last part of the message made me nervous. There is something that Fritz needs to know, but Mangoo was cut off before he could tell me. What could it be? At least Liana is safe.

A knock on the door cut off my thoughts.

“The captain will see you now.” An unfamiliar voice barked through the door.

After being dragged from the bed, I was ushered into the same office that I had been in before. Lennart sat behind his big desk. His face did not change from its neutral set when I walked in.

“We have detected unauthorized magical communication to the ship.” He said bluntly.

“I do not understand, sir.”

“We are discontinuing your lessons, you and your instructor have been discovered to possess sympathy for the djinn cause.”

“What?” I asked, shocked.

“I am very disappointed in you, daughter of Aaron,” He turned to the guard, “Take her to the cells.”