Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

B2: Chapter 22 - In Her Image - IV

  Despite the hour, Natalie was feeling restless again. The dream had been so vivid, and while that wasn't really new for her, remembering the whole thing was unusual. She felt like it was trying to tell her something.

  She had no idea how to get rid of the scars, of course. She'd tried once when cleaning under the bandage, trying to use the description she read online about how skin healed to seal up the area. After a few particularly sharp spikes of pain, she'd given up, fearing even worse consequences.

  But there's other things I could do... I need to be stronger, and not just on a whim. If I get surprised or knocked out like in the warehouse, I can't do magic. What if...

  Visions of Jessica danced through her head, along with the endless warnings from Rachel and Cinza about ritual magic.

  They never expected anything like this, though...

  Natalie knew how to do a ritual. Well, she was pretty sure. She'd seen the big one to take down Omega, of course, and she'd spied on a few in town when she could. She even had all the ingredients in her bag, including the chalk dust and plenty of gemstones of all sorts.

  And it cleans itself up, too...

  Natalie started going through the home, which wasn't very large. In her head, she insisted she was just looking for a better place to sleep. After all, the couch was visible from the window, and it really wasn't very comfortable for sleeping—the armrest was too hard, and her pillow didn't fit on it very well.

  She found Quinn's parents room first, followed by a bathroom and then what had to be Quinn's room. Natalie closed the door quick as soon as she saw his computer and his bed. The last door was another bedroom, but Natalie assumed it was a guest room or something. It had almost no decoration, the closet was empty, and the bedside table just had a couple books and a lamp. Still, the bed looked nice. Natalie laid down on top of it, and—while it couldn't live up to the beds in the Laushire house—in that moment, it was the softest bed she'd ever touched.

  She decided to live out of that room for the next couple of days. It was the least offensive spot she could think of. But before any of that, she had an experiment to do.

  Natalie wanted to be ready, just like she'd been told.

  "That was a dream," she muttered aloud, as she pushed the bed over to the side of the room. It stood on little felt pads, so it didn't damage the wood floor—something Natalie checked in a panic when she realized she might be inadvertently ruining Quinn's house.

  And now I'm talking to myself too... It's just because I'm lonely. That's all.

  From her purse she pulled out a sealed plastic bag of chalk dust, along with two little red agates. She sprinkled the chalk in a circle on the floor, then set the agates at opposite ends. Natalie wasn't sure why she'd picked agates exactly, but it seemed right. They always seemed to work well whenever she did this type of spell normally.

  I should really go learn all the different gemstones. Maybe there's a guide online or something.

  She laughed aloud. Of course there wasn't a guide. Magic wasn't supposed to exist.

  "Which means there's no one to tell me how to do this either..." she murmured aloud, losing her mirth. "Sorry if I ruin your guest room, Quinn."

  She couldn't wait anymore though. She'd stalled long enough, heard all the warnings, seen the results when things didn't go as planned. As best she could tell, most of the time it turned out okay. Natalie felt like she was ready. She wanted to do this.

  At least they figured out you don't actually have to take off your clothes. That was super awkward... Natalie took a nervous step into the circle of chalk, and then a second step. She'd watched the process before. Stepping into the circle was always the most dramatic moment, and she expected to feel something—but there wasn't anything at all. The room might as well have been empty.

  Frustrated, Natalie sat down. She stared at the agates, sitting atop the chalk dust. "Do something," she muttered.

  They didn't move. Natalie reached out experimentally with magic, picking one up and setting it down again. Still nothing.

  What if I... Natalie tried drawing energy from them. Normally, she had to actually be touching them to do it, just like when people shared magic with each other. But something about the circle seemed different. As soon as she tried to pull magic out of the agate, the room seemed to get a little darker. Or was it just that her eyelids drooped? She blinked, and the room returned to normal.

  Except... there was a hazy line hanging in midair between her and the agate.

  Natalie stared. It didn't seem to go away. She tried drawing the energy from the agate again, and the line seemed to flow toward her. She could feel magic building up in her, waiting for direction, but it wasn't like normal. She could feel a connection to the little stone, which was beginning to blacken from the strain she put on it.

  Excited, Natalie began shifting the energy around. She tried flowing it straight into her arms, in much the same way she did only a few minutes earlier to move the bed across the room. To her delight, it seemed to build up her muscles just as her usual spells did, but without the constant drain of energy or the mental focus she usually had to apply.

  To her horror, it also created a visible change. Her muscles were bulking up, her arms visibly thicker. Natalie slowed down the flow before she started to look like a freak—more than I already do. As she released the flow entirely, feeling satisfied, the agates evaporated along with the chalk dust. The room returned to its usual light level, and Natalie felt a wave of exhaustion roll through her. She fell back onto the wood floor, staring up at the pale white ceiling.

  But she didn't feel anything else. There wasn't a constant drain of magic, except for the tiny trickle to her bag on the bedside table. No mounting exhaustion from buffing up her weak stick-arms—which weren't so stick-like anymore. Not huge, but there was visible muscle, just the right amount, and there was still magic laced into each fold. She stood up, and with only a little effort managed to lift the whole corner of the bed, all the way up to her waist.

  Natalie grinned. Piece of cake.