Page 16 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

“Feel the breath within your body,” Phoebe went on, a droning chant in his head. “Feel the light, the power, the magic. It is yours to take, to wield, if you only reach out and possess it. Do you feel it? Do you feel the magic?”

Shinji didn’t feel any magic. He didn’t feel any power or light or warmth. He tried doing as Phoebe instructed, but all he felt…was sleepy.

Shinji blinked, opening his eyes. He was flying over the ocean, barely skimming the tops of the waves as he glided through the air. Wind and spray hit him in the face, and he could smell the salt in the air as he soared like a pelican over the water. Looking down, he noticed that the water was almost crystal clear, and he could see something on the seafloor, far below. It looked like the hull of an ancient shipwreck, but so covered in algae and barnacles it seemed

part of the ocean itself. Clouds of fish and other ocean life swarmed around it, darting into cracks and crevices as his shadow rippled over them.

A much larger shadow emerged from beneath the shipwreck, long and sleek and torpedo shaped, causing a chill to skitter up Shinji’s back. He thought it could sense his presence as well, but he only caught a moment’s glimpse before whatever force was moving him along swept him away, rising over a swell, and he continued on toward the horizon.

Looking up, he shivered. A dark shape suddenly appeared against the sky, rising up out of the ocean. An island, Shinji realized, with a tall, narrow mountain pointing up from the center like a finger.

No, not a mountain,he thought after a moment.A volcano.

The wind picked up, and dark clouds began forming in the sky above the volcano. They swirled overhead like a whirlpool, flickering with lightning, casting an ominous shadow over the whole island. As Shinji flew closer, he thought he could see a shape in the clouds, something huge and terrifying moving through the storm. There was a flash, and for just a second, Shinji saw a pair of eyes, blue-white and glowing, peering at him from the mist. Those eyes grew bigger, and Shinji could feel the anger behind them, in that white-hot glare getting closer and closer.

FREE ME,roared a voice in his head.

Crash!

Shinji jerked up, and the vision faded instantly. He was

back in the library with Phoebe Mystic, who was sitting ramrod straight on the cushion with her eyes open. One of the shelves behind her had mysteriously toppled over, spilling books and texts all over the floor.

“Shinji, are you all right?”

Lucy stood in the doorway, eyes wide as she stared at Shinji, Phoebe, and the fallen shelf. On her shoulder, Tinker twitched his ears back and forth in alarm. “What happened?” Lucy demanded, glaring at Phoebe as she came into the room. “What’s going on?”

“Hmm, oh dear.” Phoebe casually glanced over her shoulder at the mess. “I’m not entirely sure which one of us did that,” she mused, “or if it just fell down on its own. Oh well. So, Shinji!” She turned back to him with a beaming smile. “Did you feel anything? Were you able to get in touch with the magic?”

“You’re learning magic? With her?” Lucy glanced at Shinji, a shadow of hurt crossing her face for just a moment. “You didn’t tell me.”

“You were busy with theSeabeetle,” Shinji protested, his heart still pounding from whatever it was that had just happened. “I didn’t think I could drag you away from your precious machines.”

Lucy’s eyes narrowed. “I was looking for you to see if you wanted to watch the boat cast off,” she said in a chilly tone that told him she was angry. “I guess next time I won’t bother.” She glanced at Phoebe. “Or care if you get yourself magically blown up.”

“Oh, that won’t happen,” Phoebe interjected, cheerfully oblivious to Lucy’s mood. “Based on the Coatl, Shinji’s magic is mostly wind-centered. There’s no possible way he could blow himself up. The worst thing he might do is summon a tornado that destroys everything around it, though I would not recommend producing funnel clouds in the middle of the ocean. The captain would not be happy.”

Lucy didn’t answer. With a last look at Shinji, she turned and left the room, Tinker’s glowing red eyes peering back at him as she left.

Phoebe blinked. “I hope Miss Frost is all right,” she said, finally catching on that Lucy was upset. “Anyway, Shinji, did you feel anything while you were meditating? Were you able to connect with the magic?”

Shinji hesitated. The image of the volcano and the angry voice now felt more like a dream than anything else. Maybe it had been. Maybe he had fallen asleep while meditating and dreamed the whole thing.

Or…maybe it had been real, and there was something out there that needed his help. Maybe it was something that only a guardian could do, a task that only he, Shinji, could accomplish. The Coatl had sacrificed itself to grant Shinji its power, and now Phoebe had given him some really good tips on how to use the magic. Now it was up to Shinji to actually master his powers. He could do this, and he could do it on his own. He had to prove, to the Coatl and himself, that he was a real guardian after all.

“No,” he told Phoebe. “I didn’t feel anything.”

“Ah well.” Phoebe stood up with a smile and brushed off her knees. If she was disappointed with his lack of progress, she didn’t show it. “You know what they say, then: Practice makes perfect! Keep trying to master those emotions and connect to that magic. One day it’s just going to click.”

She took one step to the right, just as a large book fell from the shelf beside her and hit the cushion with a thump. Shinji started, but Phoebe barely gave it a second glance. “Come along, then,” she told him. “I should probably get you back to Oliver before he worries that we’ve been tossed overboard. This time of year, it is not something I’d recommend.”

That night, Shinji woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. For a few minutes, he lay on his narrow cot in the darkness, wide-awake and staring at the ceiling. Maybe it was the weird time difference, his body thinking they were back home in the US, or maybe it was everything that had happened that day, but once Shinji opened his eyes, he wasn’t remotely sleepy anymore. He thought about the magic lesson with Phoebe earlier in the day, and the strange dream/vision he’d had. The angry voice calling to him, demanding to be freed. He thought about the race to the shipwreck and wondered if he would even see Hightower on this mission. So far, the nefarious corporation didn’t feel like much

of a threat. But just because Shinji hadn’t seen them didn’t mean they weren’t out there. Plotting against the Society right now.

Thinking of Hightower also made him think of Lucy, of her confession that she missed Hightower and what she used to do as a part of their operations. She was always so excited when it came to gadgets and new inventions, always spending time in Zoe’s workshop, tinkering away. Back at Hightower, Lucy had her own workshop—the place where she had created Tinker, the marvel mouse of technology and magic. Because the Hightower Corporation had been built on a font, Lucy could use its magic to create her inventions, blending tech and magic together in a way only she could. Without the font, she was still a genius inventor, but she couldn’t create anything magical like Tinker.

No wonder she missed Hightower.

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