kids have their own sport, Wytchwar. It’s played with avatars on a model game course in our basement level. You would learn a lot by watching them play. This afternoon, we start a three-day tournament. If you’re lucky, the game’s creator might explain it to you, if he’s free,” Gina said, turning to me.
Both agents looked my way. “I could probably spare some time,” I allowed, mentally waving goodbye to my dreams of a long afternoon nap, preferably with Caeco. “Can I go now?”
Krupp nodded, then asked, “What exactly is an avatar?”
“Kind of like a mini-golem. Each kid in the school has one tuned for them. We sort of mentally drive them,” I said.
“Golem?” Mazar asked, eyes wide, at the same time Krupp asked, “Drive them?”
“Well, I linked each avatar to a kid, and they kind of share awareness and motor function with it. Some skills are spelled into them, like movement skills, so that the kid doesn’t have to be a witch or telekinetic to operate them,” I said to Krupp. Turning to Mazar, I explained further, “Real golems are fairly autonomous. These mini-versions won’t function without a human operator. Kinda like a remote control airplane versus those drones that the DARPA guy had.”
“So they’re not real golems?” Mazar asked, disappointed.
“No, those take a lot of time and planning to build. I haven’t made one for years,” I said.
“You make golems?” Mazar asked, enunciating each word slowly and carefully like she didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding.
“I have. I made a golem dragon for my own version of the game when I was a kid. Also made a big one to haul firewood, but my aunt made me get rid of it.”
She was speechless, but I could see the wheels turning in her head as she processed that. A second later, my brain caught up. Israeli—theologist—golems—Judisim and rabbis, who made the first golems. Ah.
“Okay, I’ll catch you later, at three, downstairs,” I said, making my getaway and thinking of a short nap.
Chapter 36
I made it almost back to my room before Janek and Darina stepped out in front of me.
“Ah, hi,” I said, looking between them for clues as to what they wanted.
“Hi Declan,” Darina said, then smiled. It was kinda creepy. The girl never smiled… now I knew why.
“Declan, we wondered if we might have a moment of your time?” her brother asked.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“We have been requested to make an introduction,” Janek said a little nervously. Whoever made the request was someone who he either feared or respected or both.
“Right now?”
“Thank you, that would be terrific,” he said, turning and leading me down the hall to the student lounge.
A man was sitting near the door to the lounge, which was uncharacteristically closed, and he came to his feet as we approached. Middle-aged, very fit, with gray at his temples and wearing an expensive-looking suit.
“Declan, this is our father, Kral Vrana, Alpha of the Carpathian Pack,” Janek said.
The guy looked like a bigshot, rich and powerful, which made the slight signs of tension stand out. His eyes darted around too much and his movements were tight. Not what I expected from a werewolf bigshot.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” I said, thinking this would be quick and I could still catch a snooze.
“A pleasure,” he said, turning immediately to his son. “You, Janek, need to make the introduction.”
“But father,” Janek began, but his dad interrupted him, speaking in what I assumed was Hungarian or Romanian or some whatever.
“Very well,” Janek said when his father wound down. He took a deep breath and opened the door to the lounge and led me in.
A giant, at least six-ten or better, stood to one side, watching everything, the handle of a frigging sword jutting up over one shoulder. But he wasn’t the most interesting thing in the room. Two women were sitting on one of the couches, maybe two feet apart. One was blonde, really pretty, but old, like thirty maybe. The other was older, maybe even forty, and serious, with dark eyes and dark hair. I looked back at the blonde, who watched me with a slight smile. Dark, dark brown eyes that were set off by her blonde hair, wearing an expensive dark blue dress suit. Very put together, extremely polished. Her gaze was interested, while the woman next to her studied me as well but with a slightly bitchy look that said she already didn’t like me. She was wearing a long dress and bright blouse, very