cascade | kotlc

29. Neutralizing the Lodestar

"Let me get this straight," Mr. Forkle said slowly, rubbing his head as he stared at the shattered mirror and the secret room behind it. "You destroyed the mirror. Instead of finding another way around."
"Hey, we were going to have to destroy it anyway!" Biana protested. "You can't possibly leave the room un-destroyed."

He sighed, turning it more into a growl as he sank to the Lodestar. "You kids are giving me a headache as headmaster."

"We should let a goblin go in first, before anyone else does," Sandor decided, blocking Sophie as he pushed forward. "It still may not be fully safe. We don't know if they wired any traps."

Grizel jumped in front of him, placing a hand in the center of his chest. "I'm smaller and my senses are sharper."

"They're finally flirting?" Tam whispered into Biana's ear as she took his hand. "That took them a while."
She stared up at him in wonder. "I never knew you were so observant."

"I'm very observant, mind you."

Grizel leaped into the secret room like a gazelle, randomly waving her sword around and striking the stone walls before she exited.

"Doesn't look like there's anything in there," she admitted. "And the Neverseen's scent is stale, so they probably haven't been there since Wylie's kidnapping."

"We found this an hour ago," Tam piped up. "So the Neverseen definitely haven't checked on it again."

"Sorry I overslept," Sophie mumbled, her cheeks flushing.

Biana smiled slightly, recalling how she seemed to be dreaming good dreams after she accidentally created Calla's web. "Yes, how dare you take a few hours to recover after manifesting a new ability? The audacity!"

"What new ability?" Linh and Sandor asked at the same time.

Sophie held up her gloved hands. "Enhancer."

Linh nearly knocked over Della as she scrambled back, and June hurried to take her hand and whisper something into her ear. She still hugged her arms around herself as she whimpered, almost in June's lap. "Sorrry. It's not you, it's just still quite a struggle for me to maintain control. I can't imagine what kind of flood I'd cause if someone enhanced my ability."

"Or it could mean your control becomes impeccable," June reminded her. "Don't you think that would be more likely? Besides, you need to give yourself more credit. Your control is amazing."

She blushed, shaking her head. "It's still not good enough. I don't want to risk it."

"Why does this sound like an ability that's going to increase the challenge of protecting you?" Sandor asked Sophie.

"Because it will." Mr. Forkle explained about the gloves, and how they'd do everything they could to keep the ability secret, which led to a lot of goblin cursing, thankfully in a language Biana didn't understand. Sophie probably did.

"I leave you my charge for one night," he grumbled.

"Am I the only one who still doesn't understand how they actually get into the tower?" Dex asked. "So, they get here through this secret room -- and we still haven't figured out how they pass through the mirror -- but how do they get into the secret room?"

"Watch this." Biana flashed a smug grin and levitated up, pressing a small button on the curved orb gadget.

The Lodestar symbol flashed on the ground.

Sophie charged after him, Fitz right on her heels, almost knocking Biana over as she tumbled backward, pressing herself against the cool stone walls. They nearly tripped over each other in the claustrophobic space.