“Some tutoring, some consulting… The police tried to recruit him, but I think that type of work reminded him too much of what happened to Asher.” A lump snags in my throat before I swallow it down. “He liked to sketch and paint too, when he let himself take the time. I always thought he might pursue that professionally someday… after he could stop worrying about making as much money as possible to help with our tuition. Do you draw?”
Something in the professor’s expression shutters, emphatically enough that I can guess the answer is yes before he speaks. “Rarely. It isn’t a skill that’s opened any doors for me.”
Speaking of doors, the Apollo Building looms right in front of us now. As we step past the entrance into the vaulted front hall outside the library, I yank my full attention back to the task at hand.
Dropping my concealment spell, I peer through the mottled shadows. “Are you sure no one will come by?”
Cole clicks over the deadbolt inside the main door. “Only staff have the key, and even maintenance has Sundays off. I confirmed there aren’t any special programs scheduled today.”
The parking lot was totally vacant—I assume Cole left his car on a side street. I exhale slowly, willing my nerves to settle.
Cole glances down at me with an uncharacteristic trace of uncertainty in his usual stern expression. “Do you expect our purpose to take very long?”
He has no idea what to expect from his glim… and I’m still not sure how much I can explain in advance without unsettling him more than assuaging his nerves. His mind needs to be focused and unagitated if he’s going to master his innate power quickly.
My imagined voice of the other Cole wavers up through my thoughts.“You’re more prepared than we were the first time—as prepared as you really can be. He’ll feel better once he knows, even with what it is. I did.”
I hope this Cole is identical to that one at least in that respect.
“No,” I say, adjusting the potted plant I’ve carried across thecampus against my chest. “You’ve had so much time to get comfortable with your magic in general. You should get your glim under control pretty easily. You did before—the other you.”
Cole’s mouth slants at a taut angle. He considers the similarly sized plant he’s holding, because I figured a little variety was wise, just in case. “Are you going to tell me what these are for?”
“It’ll be easier if you see. Come on—you said the room we can use is in the basement?”
He nods and pushes forward. “You wanted somewhere sound wouldn’t travel outside the building, empty and decently large. There’s a room across from the radiant shrine that they sometimes use for larger rituals or whatever exactly it is the ‘Faithful’ do.”
We tread down the stairs and into the much narrower hall below. The entrance to the shrine where a few students worship our radiant forebearers as gods stands open. Several of the yellow-flared crystal spheres dangle from the arched doorway.
I tamp down on my urge to snoop and follow Cole to the closed door opposite.
Considering that it’s been centuries since anyone’s reported a trace of the supernatural beings we can thank for our powers, I’ve always shared the common opinion that “radiators” are kind of bonkers. But I guess it gives them some comfort to think higher powers are guiding our lives from above, rather than fickle fate connecting us with our matches and then casting us adrift.
It must be nice to trust that someone who’s smarter than you is ushering you along an ideal path.
Cole leads me into a room that’s about twenty feet by ten, with a low ceiling just a foot above his towering height. The flick of the light switch reveals a couple of storage cabinets against one wall. Otherwise, the space is empty.
I doubt we could have found a better setting.
As Cole locks the room’s door behind us, I ease across the linoleum floor. The surface will be more forgiving than hardwood, but I expect some magical repairs will be needed before we leave.
At least we should have plenty of time to take care of those. I’m not sure where we could have gone if there wasn’t a space available at the school.
I set my plant on the floor near the middle of the room. Cole places his a few feet away and steps back. “All right. Are you going to tell meanythingbefore we do this?”
His stance is so tense I have to fight the urge to wrap my arms around him. I could have done that for the Cole I knew before, could have hugged him and known he’d find the contact reassuring.
This Cole, even with what we’re about to do, is keeping a careful distance from me. I guess that’s not surprising. It took his counterpart nearly two years to fully embrace our bond.
But that was when the bond sparked while I was still a teenager, and with Asher’s death hanging over our union.
Here’s hoping we can cut the adjustment time down a little.
I gird myself and slip off one of my gloves. Now that he doesn’t have much time to ruminate over what I’m going to tell him, I should probably give him the basics. “Part of your glim is a shifting in shape. The effect will come on quickly, but once you get a handle on your glim, you’ll be able to shift back. Just concentrate on the plants as well as you can while it’s happening.”
The professor stares at me. Shape-shifting might be one of the most popular elements in supernatural tales around the world, but in reality, full bodily transformation is rare. Only a handful of lucents end up with a shifting glim, and even fewer manage to completely reconstruct their bodies into another form through ephemera manipulation alone.
I flex my fingers. “Are you ready?” The memories of thetender moments I’ve shared with his other self, of the amends this Cole has started to make with me, soften my voice. “We don’thaveto do it right?—”
