Page 70 of The Last Syphon

Felix adjusted his position again, spinning around so he sat on the edge of the bed, feet planted firmly on the floor and elbows resting on his thighs. “How does it work? Can you just sense the power around you and pick where to draw it from?” He was so interested in the conversation, so invested, as if he wanted to know everything there was about the subject.

Inara couldn’t blame him. Syphons were all but extinct. Apart from her, she had never heard of another for over 2,000 years. Anyone in their right mind would have wanted to learn and study such a rarity.

Blowing out a breath, Inara took a seat on one of the day beds in the centre of the room. “I have something called syphon sight.”

“Did you name it that?”

“Yes. It is the most fitting name for it. Though I suspect back during the time Syphons were alive, it was probably called something else. Everything I have learnt about the ability comes from exploring it myself, through trial and error. Energy appears to me in the form of a spectral image. The brighter the energy, the more powerful.”

He smirked and sat up straight, running his hands down the front of his body. “And how bright is mine?”

Inara averted her gaze.

Felix gasped. “No,” he breathed out in shock. “No! I’m…weak?”

“I wouldn’t say, ‘weak’,” she tried to quickly reassure. “Just not as powerful as a lot of other people I’ve come across.”

“What?!” The man was completely flabbergasted. “But what about what happened in the trials? You took power from me and used it to completely smother the Firestarters! How am I weak if it was my energy that gave you the ability to do that?”

That was what Inara was still so confused about. “I can’t explain it.” She wrung her hands in front of her, doubt starting to take root. It was at moments like this that she really wished she had another to ask about her power. “I’ve scanned you before, Felix. Assessed your power level. And while you’re not low on the power scale, you’re also not high either. I’ve drawn from others more powerful than you, and yet, the energy I got from you in the trials was more than I got from them. I cannot make sense of it.”

Inara couldn’t quite compare it to the power she had syphoned from Fraener, but it was definitely a close second, and it did not make any sense to her. It was a power level Felix simply did not possess.

Her best friend frowned. “Strange.”

Very strange.

“Scan me again,” he demanded.

“What?”

“Scan me again,” he repeated, voice stronger. “Maybe the first time you did it, it was wrong?” He closed his eyes in preparation.

She did not think it was wrong. She’d seen his energy several times, but there was no harm in doing it again. Focusing on him, Inara activated her syphon sight. His energy appeared to her in spectral form, floating around his body.

A dull gold, like all the other times.

He cracked one eye open. “Are you doing it?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“Still the same as all the other times.”

Felix’s eyes opened, and his whole body deflated. “I don’t understand. The amount of power you would have had to draw from me to do what you did in there would have been astronomical, and yet, you’re saying it’s not there?”

“That’s what I’m saying.” Inara wished more than anything that she could somehow gain more information about the ability.

A conversation she had with Venerable Cias before she’d left the Borderlands shot through her mind.

“Are there books on all magical abilities?”

“Yes. All the ones currently registered and documented with the High Council, that is. All except Syphons. Those are all locked away in the Head Venerable’s chambers located in the librarium.”

An idea took root in her brain—an idea that would be almost foolish to try, and yet, she knew she had to. There was only one way to get to the bottom of this and find out what exactly was going on.

Inara got up and joined Felix, sitting beside him on the edge of the bed. She lowered her voice. Why, she couldn’t say. It wasn’t like anyone was listening, and yet, she felt compelled to whisper it. Probably because what she was about to propose could get them into a lot of trouble.