Page 117 of Class Studies

He glanced at our projector. “Are you watching a movie?” He asked, his voice void of emotion.

I tugged on my braid, everything I hadn’t done today weighing on my shoulders and destroying my calm. “Ah.” I started to elaborate but stopped myself. I didn’t owe this guy anything. “Yes.”

Officer Keres squeezed his eyes shut but kept his face scolded to neutral. “Have you made progress with your ability to see who has your magic in them?”

I bobbed my head. “I have. It just needs a final bit added.”

“Then why are you watching a movie?” Officer Keres asked, still oddly deadpan for the accusation in his words. He put his hand up immediately. “No, pretend I didn’t ask. I know you’ve been under a lot of pressure.” A tremor shook him from head to toe. “When can we do the test?”

“Ah, maybe thirty minutes? Unless my potion doesn’t work.” I gave him an odd look. “I need to finish cutting the glass, and someone needs to charge the runes.”

I untangled myself from my mages and peered at all of them. Beryl was still full of my magic, though he couldn’t do what I needed. The Professor had used the most, having charged the completely new archway, while Ashe only used a little to clean up Saffron’s hole. I frowned at Saffron. He had maybe a quarter of my power left in him. Had the rest gone into his Golem?

This wasn’t the time to ask. I took a deep breath and turned to Tanwyn. “Wyn, come help me with this?”

The summoner grinned and bounced to my side. Officer Keres attempted to follow us, but Vac growled, forcing him to stay put. A bead of sweat ran down his face.

I didn’t remember the Officer being this afraid of Vac before.

“I’m, ah, doing finishing touches.” I pretended to dip an invisible stick in and out of a bowl.

Beryl burst out laughing, and I looked at the motion, realizing it looked like jerking someone off.

I turned bright red and stopped. “Maybe Ashe can get you something to drink?”

Officer Keres stood eerily still, not saying a word. I wrinkled my nose and frowned. He wouldn’t have laughed, but he always expressed some annoyance with my unintentional innuendo.

Ashe offered his ex-boss a seat before walking to the coffee machine. “I didn’t know the Director could relieve you of duty.”

The MA officer coughed. “Neither did I.”

Although Ashe tried to engage him in conversation, Officer Keres clamped his mouth shut and didn’t take our offered seat. I let my guys deal with it and focused on my project: my Aphrodite Magic Checking Mirror, AMCM for short.

With Tanwyn’s help, a piece of clear glass filled the metal hoop of the hand mirror instead of the original reflective surface. As unsuggestively as possible, I dipped the hand mirror in my potion before slowly waving it back and forth to make it dry faster. Only a few specks of dust interrupted the smooth surface. It would have to do, hopefully.

I bounced on the balls of my feet and held it up to Tanwyn.

At first, I didn’t see anything, and my heart fell. I twisted the, well, it was more a magnifying glass now, left and right, changing the angle. A bright rainbow refracted across the glass surface, and I squealed in delight. It worked.

“Is that a good noise?” Officer Keres deadpanned.

I jumped, having forgotten he was here.

“Ah, yeah.” I peered at him, surprised his voice wasn’t as annoyed as his words. “I mean so far.”

I walked AMCM over to Officer Keres. “So, I don’t know if Ashe is still reporting on me or not.” I looked at Ashe, and the Gentle Giant gave me a disappointed look.

“He’s not,” Officer Keres filled in.

I ducked, feeling bad, but forced myself to move on. “Kay, then, long story short. My magic is a combination of all the colors. I don’t know why it wasn’t obvious as it refracts rainbows, but whatever.” I jabbed the AMCM at nothing. “Instead of testing bits of people, this mirror should only show the colors in them not in their nature—so belonging to me. Ah, for example.” I pointed it at Tanwyn again. “Natural mages have no color, so we only see my magic. The full rainbow.”

I motioned to Beryl. “Stand up, please?”

Beryl did. I pointed the mirror at him and tilted it until a rainbow appeared, lacking the blue stripe and all the combinations using blue. I did the same for the professor, and all the reds disappeared.

I bounced and spun, kissing the mirror. It worked!

“We need a control group.” Another bead of sweat rolled down his face. “Is there anyone in the room who doesn’t have your magic in them?”

---