that right?” I asked.
“Yes, of course,” she sneered.
I nodded and looked back at her avatar. “Someone told me your pack is renowned for your abilities to scent track and for leading into battle,” I said.
“It is commonly said,” she answered. Behind her, Janek, her older brother, frowned at me. Most of the rest of the class was now paying attention as well.
“Touch your avatar with your finger and breathe in through your nose,” I said.
She frowned at me and looked at her brother uncertainly. I nodded at both of them. “Go on, just try it. Tell me what you smell.”
Brusquely, she unfolded her arms and with a put-upon sigh, reached one finger to touch her avatar. Either unconsciously or otherwise, she happened to touch it right where its nose would be if any of them had noses. Then she took a breath.
Surprise was chief among the emotions that crossed her face, wonder and maybe a little excitement, as well, followed. Definitely a trace of fear at the end. “Earth, and sand, melt water, and loam.”
“Tell me, when you Change, is it like losing yourself?” I asked her. Her brother’s frown deepened.
“No, more like finding one’s true self,” she said.
“Ah well, for me, taking control of an avatar is like submerging myself into a really good video game. But I can snap out of it whenever I want. I think if you start with the senses, scent first, you will quickly find yourself sliding into her. Just as quickly, you can pull back out,” I suggested. Around us, I could see a couple of other kids touching their clay people and sniffing. Jetta, Mack, and Caeco were already operating their golems. I had made theirs first and had them link up with them to make sure the golem program worked. Caeco smiled at me, even as her golem tackled Mack’s from behind and proceeded to sit on him.
Darina reached out again and touched her avatar, sniffing and closing her eyes as she did. Her body turned as if trying to catch the direction of a scent and her golem girl turned exactly the same way.
“Dri, you did it. You made it move,” Janek said.
“I did?” she asked, eyes popping open.
“I think, Darina, you may have found the way. The others can all follow what you’ve done,” I said. Janek nodded slowly, light dawning on his expression, before he too reached down and touched his golem. A couple of breaths later, his avatar shuddered and shook.
“You’re doing it too, Janek,” she said before lapsing into Romanian or Hungarian or whatever language it was that they spoke at home.
I left the brother-sister combo and moved about the others, all of whom were already trying the nose trick. Once one sense was linked, the rest followed quickly, or so it seemed. Probably the reason that Delwood had picked it up so fast.
“Look out, bitches,” T.J.’s voice sounded like it came from over by the game plot. “The Wychinator is coming through.” A whirring clicking followed his words, along with protests and some curses from the witch girls.
A glance showed a crawling mechanical creation swarming into the midst of the witches’ avatars, knocking some of them flying. T.J.’s robot was six legged and bigger than any of the dirt people. Pointed steel feet dug in, giving it hefty traction in the loose dirt, which in turn let it run rampant over the witches. T.J. was taking huge delight in knocking them down as he operated the metal beast from what looked like a modified video game controller.
I sidled back over and whispered in Michelle’s ear. She went from pissed and uncertain to determined in a split second at my suggestion. Her avatar tossed a stone at the robot, only to have it fall at the monster’s feet.
“Ha, sticks and stones, Michelle,” T.J. taunted. Then the ground around the stone opened up and sank, taking three of robo-crab’s feet with it. Immediately, the soil came back up and solidified, trapping the robot.
Ryanne, who’d seen me talk to Michelle, grinned and started to pound the robot with gobs of water from her baggie, clearly looking to short the thing out.
Tami took a more direct approach, igniting the pieces of wood strapped to her avatar’s arms into jets of fire nine inches long, and advancing on the trapped robot.
T.J. desperately tried to get the spider-crab bot free, but nothing happened and as Tami’s flaming avatar got close, he started to yell, “Yield, yield.”
The fire snapped off, but the