“There is this device,” Wan’s voice was growing fainter to my ears. “I believe it is called ‘GPS.’”
“And if the spell that enlarges you dissipates?” someone asked, but I didn’t hear the response. I gave up, let my eyes close, and sank into a morass of ozone, chocolate, and exhaustion.
Thankfully, consciousness didn’t return until I was in the ER cubicle, on a gurney, naked except for a hospital gown, wrapped in warm blankets and feeling no pain.
I was, of course, still wearing the necklace. I could feel the weight of its power, heavy on my skin.
I didn’t bother to open my eyes, choosing to float in the darkness a bit longer. I listened to the beeping of the machines, the soft whispers of the girls, and the rustling of cellophane and chewing. For a brief moment, I had a vision of Wan at a vending machine, trying to feed it quarters. It made me smile.
“Kate?” Wan asked. I felt his small weight on my chest as he skittered to my shoulder. I blinked, trying to focus as a warm paw touched my cheek.
“Wan.” I smiled at him. He was back to his normal size. The girls were perched around the room, wherever they could find seats, munching health bars and drinking juice, dressed in their jeans and tees.
“Are you hurting?” he asked.
“No,” I pulled myself up in the bed a bit. Wan leaped for the controller and raised my head.
“She shouldn’t be,” Dr. McDougall stood in the doorway to the cubicle, glaring, all “Sexy Stethoscope” with his white coat and broad shoulders.
I crossed my arms over my chest in a purely defensive measure, never mind the lack of a bra, and met him glare for glare.
Wan scrambled to the tray table and stood there, eyeing the two of us, clutching his tail with both paws, a habit he has when he worries.
“So, no permanent injury this time,” McDougall said. “But this can’t continue, Kate. You need to learn to use whatever powers that medallion has given you.”
“No,” I said, firmly.
“You need to learn mastery, at the very least,” McDougall continued. “Mastery of your emotions, your fear, not to mention some basic defensive moves.”
“Oh no,” I shook my head, knowing full well where this was going. “If you think for one minute that I am trekking through some swamp with some lizard on my shoulder yelling in my ear, lifting my van from the muck—”
“Your understanding of the forces at your command is weak,” McDougall plowed on. “You have no grasp of how to properly wield your power, or control it.”
“Wan can teach me,” I said.
Wan shot me a worried look, as he grasped his tail. “Honorable Lady—” he started. Wan gets formal when he’s upset. “Honorable Lady,” he repeated. “While I am learned in history and the ways of magic, I am only a humble guardian, not a wielder of power. The learned Doctor is correct. You need to find a teacher, a wise one to train you in these gifts.”
“Oh sure,” I growled. “Some Mr. Miyagi to tell me to ‘wax on, wax off’?”
“I’ve watched those training montages in all those movies, thank you very much,” I snapped. “And in every one the poor sap with the newfound abilities gets the crap beat out of him as he learns. Thanks, but no thanks.”
McDougall had the gall to roll his eyes. “Kate, I am talking about the real world here. You’re like a mouse given the keys to a limo who thinks he can drive.”
Wan lifted his chin in defiance. “It was a small tree, and planted in the wrong location.”
McDougall ignored him. “You have to be trained, and quickly.” He saw the same defiance in my face, sighed, and shook his head. “Or you will hurt them,” he said gently, gesturing to the girls.
I let my head drop back on the pillows. That got me. “Fine,” I said, glumly contemplating the ceiling. “Then train me.”
“I can’t.” McDougall didn’t sound all that regretful. “Your powers come from a different source than mine, and I wouldn’t—”
Stung by what felt like rejection, I lashed out. “Who’s gonna train me then?”
There was a gentle pop of displaced air.
“I will,” said an ancient, creaky voice.
I jerked my head around to see an old, withered Chinese woman at the foot of my bed, in full formal gown and headdress, arms folded in her sleeves, and looking at me like I