The Shadowseeker - Victor Kloss Page 0,52

Elizabeth's Boots, and even his parents took a back seat for a while as Ben and Charlie spent every waking minute, barring their morning chores, trying to complete the checklists for each department. Their argument was mostly forgotten, though there was a lingering disappointment Ben couldn't quite shake off. He had been so certain he and Charlie thought alike when it came to his parents, but he had been wrong.

Progress in their studies accelerated. Charlie had breezed through the Diplomacy and Scholar checklists, and had the Warden and Trade departments under control, but he was lagging behind in Spellsword.

“I swear, these pellets are broken,” Charlie said.

He and Ben were in the small practice room by themselves during lunch break. Whereas Ben had passed all five difficulty levels several weeks ago, Charlie was stuck on the last level.

“Here, give me that,” Ben said. He threw the pellet almost nonchalantly at the target board, where it just missed the bull’s-eye and exploded in a puff of flame.

“Oh, stop showing off,” Charlie said, irritably, grabbing another pellet from the shelf.

“Willpower,” Ben said, ignoring Charlie's jab. “Just believe it will explode. The trick is to make the decision with absolutely no doubts or reservations. It's a confidence thing.”

“Not my strong suit,” Charlie said.

“Not true. It's all in your head. You're better up there” – Ben tapped his temple – “than I am. Just raise your expectations.”

Charlie nodded. He spent a good minute eyeing up the target board and juggling the pellet in his hand. Finally he nodded, eyes narrowing. Gritting his teeth, he launched the pellet with a grunt. It hit the edge of the target board and glowed red, before bouncing onto the floor.

“Did you see that!” Charlie said, pumping his fists. “It almost ignited.”

“Progress,” Ben said, grinning. “Let's do it again.”

Ben had his own difficulties, and they happened to be in Charlie's strongest departments. Attention to detail was vital in the Department of Scholars, and Diplomacy required patience – two of Ben's weak areas.

“Okay, we're ready,” Charlie said. “Give it your best shot.”

They were in a small cubicle, along with Marie, one of the Diplomacy instructors, who was armed with a spellshooter.

“Let's hope you do better than last time,” Marie said. “Okay, I'm firing a random diplomatic incident.”

She pointed her spellshooter to the floor, and fired. A tall, gangly troll materialised before them, wearing an ill-fitting suit that looked so out of place Ben had a hard time keeping a straight face.

“Keep your manners in,” Charlie said.

“Right,” Ben said, swallowing his humour. He looked up at the troll and placed his fist across his chest. The troll immediately went red with fury and leapt at Ben with a deep-throated roar. The hologram disappeared just as it was about to crash into Ben.

“You raised the wrong fist in greeting,” Charlie said. “Do that to a hill troll and you are just insulting them.”

“Hill troll? I thought that was a mountain troll?”

“Mountain trolls have darker skin and are stockier,” Charlie said. “Come on, back to the library. I want to show you a proper comparison. A mistake like that will kill you.”

Ben cursed, kicked an imaginary rock and followed Charlie out the room, back to the library. And so it went, day after day, as they inched towards the finishing line.

Though they didn't get to see much of Natalie, she assured them everything was going to plan with her inside contact at SpellWorks Inc. But her research on Charlotte Rowe's family line was slightly less productive.

“I've run into some difficulties,” Natalie said.

She had joined them in the library where they were researching the most efficient way of catching pixies that might have escaped the Unseen Kingdoms. Charlie's head was lost in a book, and Ben was sitting down, leaning against one of the shelves, taking a well-earned break.

“How far have you got?” Ben asked.

“I managed to follow Charlotte Rowe's family line down to the early 20th century, but then all records vanish. I have a feeling the Rowe family may have felt it safer to cut their ties with the Institute.”

“Well, given what's happening to my parents, they're probably right.”

Natalie nodded. “The only thing of interest I found was that Charlotte had a peculiar birthmark on her right shoulder shaped like a bird that seems to have passed down the generations. It could provide evidence of their heritage, if we ever found someone.”

“That could be useful,” Ben said.

Charlie slapped the book shut. “Okay, I've found it. Let's hope for our sake that we never