Fanfare

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"Can you move anything?" Hugo calls out to the woman who ventured into the tunnel, Trenna at her side. His voice echoes down the tunnel from his position at the beginning of the magic-blocking rock.

The woman can lift things that are at least ten times her own weight, possibly more, without much strain. But she shakes her head. "I can't, not without collapsing the rest of the tunnel."

Hugo sighs and crosses her name off the list as they make their way back out of the tunnel. The woman thanks her for her help and makes her way through the lit section on her own. Trenna leans back against the cave wall, tiredly sweeping her hair from her face.

"How many left?" she asks him. They've been trying to see if there is any other magic that can pass the rock, like her own, ever since their discovery of the cave.

Hugo taps his pencil on the list, the piece of paper shifting slightly as he flips between sheets, past names and names and names, all with crosses beside them. All except hers; the first. He raises his eyes to hers. "None," he says.

Trenna turns at the scuffing of feet as Pierce shifts, standing beside a lit rock, his back against the wall as if without him, it would fall. He peels himself away from it and looks at her intently. "Then either you learn to control your magic, or we blow the tunnel in."

"But half of the city will collapse with it!" Hugo says, his voice high as he rises to his feet, looking at Pierce in horror.

Pierce shrugs slightly. "I guess there isn't much of an option, then, is there?" He looks at Trenna, and she shudders as he abruptly turns and walks away.

Hugo looks at her, still a little horror-struck but also concerned, confused. "You alright?" he asks, taking a step towards her. She gives him a bland smile in answer and shakes her head, the only answer she can give. Then she starts off, down the tunnel after him. Because Jack's lessons aren't working. And when she thinks of control, the only person who comes into her mind is Pierce.