Page 11 of Monster's Pet

Professor Wright whirled to look at me. “Them? The wild ones? Not much, I’m afraid. That’s if they even let us get close to them. We can’t put them to sleep like we did the pets here,because there are many predators in the forest. We can’t catch all of them.”

It sounded like an impossible feat. “Could we use some of the academy’s stockpile of magic to, I don’t know, blanket the forest?”

“Blanket?” The professor said with a scoff. “Blanket,” he repeated, more thoughtfully. He started pacing again. “Keep talking.”

My brain scrambled to keep up. “A blanket of concentrated magic, fed by pure power. It wouldn’t harm the non-magical animals, but it might support the magical ones by giving them a sense of normalcy, to have magic surrounding them?” I ended on a question, because I really felt like I was losing the thread of the topic.

“Magic surrounding them, like the ley lines used to exude ambient magic,” Professor Wright said quietly. He slammed his fist against his table, making all of us jump. “That might work! How do we test it?”

“Start small,” Rhiannon said. “On something we can reverse any negative effects.”

“Perfect.” Professor Wright strode out of the room through a door I hadn’t noticed. It didn’t lead outside, as far as I could tell. Before I had a chance to ask, the professor returned with a sleeping rodent in his hand. “This is Darwin. He’s the best ratigen anyone could ask for. Magic practically coats him, and rarely harms him. If you continue in this class, you will want to find one of your own.”

He gently placed the rat-like creature in a bowl on his desk and covered it with a glass dome.

“How do we keep the spell in place?”

“Salt,” I said instantly.

“Good.” From his back pocket, he pulled a jar of salt and liberally sprinkled it around the dish.

“Pure concentrated magic,” he muttered. He took a tiny bottle from his chest pocket and unstoppered it. A finger over the opening, he tipped it upside down. A clear blue droplet clung to his fingertip. He pressed it to the top of the glass dome and whispered a spell I didn’t quite catch. “Why glass?” he said suddenly.

“To see what’s going on?” someone said.

“Glass isn’t pure. It’s made of many components,” I said, brow furrowed. “Crystal would be better.”

“You’d think.” The professor didn’t say anything else, his eyes fixed on the spreading blue magic as it coated the glass.

“Maybe because it’s been heated and cooled, sand and other contaminants make it up, the magic adheres better to it?” I said, thinking out loud.

“Yes and no,” the professor said. “Is the air pure?”

“No, of course not. Oh!” I said. “It’s the best for a simulation.”

“Right.”

The class watched silently as the blue magic completed its job. Professor Wright straightened, pointed at the bowl, and spoke the words to wake the animal.

Its eyes opened and it hopped to its feet, grooming its whiskers and ears with its front paws.

Professor Wright leaned forward. “How are you feeling, Darwin?”

Darwin squeaked a little and sniffed the air.

“First test, remove the ambient magic,” the professor said. He reached out and lifted the dome. “Stay put, Darwin.”

With the dome away from the ratigen, we could see the movements of the little creature get more and more frantic.

“Subject is affected by the lack of magic,” the professor said quietly. “Second test, add the magic back.” He placed the dome back on top of Darwin, who immediately quieted.

“Success.” The professor smiled. “What’s next?”

“Testing on a larger creature,” Rhiannon said.

“Would a witch count?” I asked.

Professor Wright stared at me. “Eventually,” he said cautiously. “We’re still not sure how long these effects last. We don’t want to cause more harm by taking away the ambient magic. I know you’re feeling rundown. You’ll get used to not using as much magic as usual.”

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