hard to patch together and the control would be off—disorienting. Why don’t we just hook him up to one of the spares? Make it just a temporary link in case we need it for the tournament players. We could do it tomorrow after breakfast.”
“Really?” her brother said, openmouthed.
“Yeah, not too tough. Now, if you’ll all excuse me.”
I beat feet for my friends and the two federal agents, leaving my aunt to deal with the circle leader. I was beginning to see what Ryanne had meant.
“So the avatars are self-repairing?” Mazar was asking Caeco when I arrived.
“Mostly, although that’s not allowed during the game, and if the underlying spells on the steel frame get damaged, they have to be respelled, which is what you just saw Declan do,” Caeco said.
“That seemed easy,” Krupp said.
“Seemed is the word. He’s been fiddling with these little monsters all his life, so he’s rather adept at it,” Caeco said. “He has his own game course set up in an old barn at his home and there’s a dragon there that would fascinate you, Agent Mazar. Acts like it’s alive and can even breathe fire.”
In mid-February, when the cabin fever was at its worst, I had taken my friends home to see my own game layout and have dinner at Rowan West. T.J., in particular, had gone crazy over the dragon, insisting on calling it mini-Smaug.
“What was the bomb or whatever, that took that avatar out?” Krupp asked.
“Erika, the Air witch who created it, calls it a Pole Dancer, which is, as you know, a stripper who spins around something. The rest of us call it a Dyson, like the vacuum cleaner,” I said. Then in my best British accent, “Driven by cyclonic forces, the Dyson spins rocks and debris around the victim, dicing them.”
“A Pole Dancer?” Krupp asked.
“She’s a bit… forward,” I said.
“You do know that she really only calls them that around boys, right? The rest of the time she uses Dyson,” Ashley said.
“Ah, didn’t know that. Did you, Mack?” I asked, uncomfortable.
He laughed. “Dude, open your eyes.”
“She knows you’re together, right?” Mazar asked, looking at both Caeco and I.
“Witch boys are rare. Witch circles prize them for breeding purposes. Almost always guarantees a powerful witch daughter. Declan is in a special class, and a big chunk of the guests here are Circle leaders looking him over,” Ashley said. “Erika, the class slut, would love to add him to her trophy room and her approach is, shall we say… direct.”
“Fascinating,” Mazar said, reminding me of a female Spock.
Krupp, for the first time since I met her, looked positively amused. “That would piss me off,” she said.
“Yup,” Caeco said. “The only thing keeping her alive is that Declan despises her.”
“Really? The tall blonde with the big boobs?” Krupp asked me.
“Yeah. Cheerleader type. My history of interactions with cheerleaders has been thoroughly unpleasant. I’m not a fan, whatever the exterior looks like,” I said.
“Hmm, what about her twin?” Krupp pressed, watching me closely.
“Britta’s okay. She’s got a boyfriend back in Michigan. Much more serious than her sister,” I said.
“And there’s only a handful of witches, right?” Krupp pressed.
“There’s less than fifty kids here total. It’s a pilot program and the supernatural community is skeptical. Very reluctant to send kids here. Which is the reason for visitors’ weekend. Wytchwar and other demonstrations of some of our classes are geared toward improving that opinion. So we only have nine witches and like ten weres. The rest are mostly psychics,” Caeco explained.
“Or not,” Mack said lightly.
“Right, Mack, Jetta, and I are not psychic, witchy, or lycanthropic,” Caeco said.
“And you three were handpicked by Chris Gordon and Miss Demidova,” Mazar stated.
“Yup,” Mack said.
“What about the Irish witch, the one you with you when the attack happened?” Krupp asked.
“Ryanne? I don’t think Chris even knows her,” I said.
“She means how do you feel about her if you’re not attracted to Erika?” Caeco said, her eyes locking on me like lasers. “You know: the witty, beautiful Irish singer who charms everyone she meets.”
Achtung! Again, no shit, Sorrow.
“Ah, well, she’s a friend. We have an English class together,” I said, proud of my smooth and nonchalant delivery.
“Yeah, a friend,” Caeco said. “I’m going to get something to eat. Excuse me, agents,” she said, standing and jumping to the floor below with casual agility.
I didn’t need Ashley’s elbow to tell me I should be moving, but I got it anyway.
“Okay, great chat. See you around,” I said, putting my long legs to good use.