Page 2 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

Oh,nowyou show up, huh? Where were you two seconds ago when I needed you, stupid magic?

“It’s all right, Shinji,” Lucy said, trying to be encouraging. “Like Oliver said last night, you’re still learning how to use your magic. You’re not supposed to know how everything works all at once.”

Shinji’s jaw tightened. Lucy meant well, but she wasn’t the one with the power of a guardian inside her. He had accepted the mantle of the Coatl; he was supposed to be able to do something with this magic. So far, he hadn’t been able to do anything. At least not willingly.

I’m a guardian now. Why doesn’t the magic work? What is wrong with me?

When Shinji didn’t answer, Lucy’s brow furrowed. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said flippantly, and rolled his eyes. “It’s not really a big deal.”

Only, it was. He had been trying to master these stupid powers for three months now, and nothing was working. The Society had even gotten involved. Maybe because they felt responsible for him, or maybe because they were worried that a thirteen-year-old running around with the uncontrolled power of an ancient mythological creature was a bad combination. But for all their knowledge, research, and

access to old books and artifacts, the Society didn’t seem to know any more about how his magic worked than Shinji did.

This latest exercise in augmented reality had been their—or rather, Oliver’s—attempt to trigger Shinji’s powers, at least enough to study them a little. And though it had been super cool to run around SEA’s version of the “Danger Room,” it didn’t negate the fact that he had failed miserably.

Shinji appreciated that Oliver and the Society were trying to help him, but at the same time, he wished they would stop. The Coatl had given its magic to him; it was his responsibility to learn how to use it.

“Come on,” Lucy said, and turned away. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to notice the mysterious breeze from nowhere. “Oliver and the others will be waiting for us.”

Still annoyed, Shinji followed her, walking back through the maze of makeshift stalls and booths. Without the VR goggles, the room seemed dim and cluttered. It still felt like they were walking through some kind of market square, only this time an indoor one. Even though the marketplace had been an illusion, the booths had been put together to look like the real thing. There were even a couple of chickens clucking away in cages and a goat tethered to one of the carts. The Society of Explorers and Adventurers had been toa lotof places; when they decided to re-create a marketplace of a distant foreign country, they did it right.

Lucy was quiet as they wove their way through the cluttered room. Normally she would be talking excitedly about

the robots or the VR goggles or other tech-related stuff, but today she kept it to herself. Clearly, she knew Shinji wasn’t in the mood.

A green exit sign glowed brightly on the far wall of the room, showing the way out. They pushed through the door, climbed a long flight of metal stairs, and entered a room that overlooked the simulation chamber.

There were two people in the room, standing in front of the glass wall that showed the marketplace on the lower floor. The slight, blue-haired woman in a wheelchair gave Shinji a bright grin when he and Lucy walked through the door. Even though he was feeling morose and irritable, Shinji smiled back. It was hard to keep a sour face when Zoe Kim turned her beaming grin on you.

The person next to her, a lean, rugged-looking man in a long coat, did not smile when they came in. Young and handsome, he carried a walking cane in one hand, and its golden parrot head glittered under the fluorescent lights as he pointed it in their direction. “I am supposed to inform you that you did not, in fact, escape the Hightower agents,” Oliver Ocean remarked in his wry tone of voice. “You have been captured and are on your way to Hightower headquarters to be dissected for your magic.”

“Oh good,” Shinji said flatly. “That was what I was hoping for.”

Lucy wrinkled her nose. “Hightower wouldn’t dissect Shinji,” she stated confidently. “Not if they know he has

magic powers. They would first try to buy the magic from him, and if that didn’t work, they would move on to threats and blackmail.”

“Regardless,” Oliver went on, “Shinji would now be in Hightower’s clutches. And we would probably have to rescue you. Again.” He gave Shinji a knowing look. “So, what happened down there, kid? I saw you tried to do something. You were either attempting to use magic or you were shooing away a fly. Were the ‘agents’ not convincing enough? I know you felt you were in a giant video game, but still. This is real-world survival training. You’re going to need to control your magic if Hightower really is after you.”

“I did try,” Shinji protested. “I just…”I can’t do it. I don’t know how to use the magic yet.“Maybe if the ‘agents’ looked more like humans and less like coatracks with wheels, I’d do better,” he finished with a smirk.

“Hmm, maybe you’re right,” Oliver mused, twirling his cane in one hand. “Maybe next time we’ll run the jungle simulation with the angry velociraptors.”

“Oh, give the kid a break, Oliver,” Zoe broke in. “I’m sure he tried his best.” She gave Shinji an understanding nod, which made him feel a little better. “Anyway, you can’t stay here; Priya wanted to see you all in the meeting room after you were done with the training simulation.”

Oliver winced, and Shinji nearly did as well. Priya Banerjee was the chairwoman of this branch of the Society and essentially the person in charge. She had been nothing

but nice to Shinji ever since he arrived at SEA, but she was also a strict, no-nonsense woman who everyone, even Oliver, was a little bit afraid of.

“Go on, then,” Zoe continued as she wheeled her chair gracefully toward the exit. “I have things to do in my lab, but I told Priya I’d send you guys on. You don’t want to be late.”

They left the training room, walking down the long tiled hallway toward the elevators at the end. On the way, they passed Zoe’s lab, where dozens of electronic and mechanical doodads were scattered over every possible surface. Other doors along the hallway led to storage rooms or small offices, though only Zoe had a permanent workshop down here. Shinji hadn’t even known about this part of SEA headquarters until recently. Lucy had, of course. She would disappear for hours, sometimes skipping meals, and when Shinji asked where she’d been, she would shrug and say she had been working with Zoe. Shinji knew Zoe had a workshop somewhere; he just never thought about where it could be. And since the elevators to the undercity, as Oliver called it, had been cleverly hidden behind an ordinary-looking bookshelf, Shinji hadn’t suspected anything was there.

The Society of Explorers and Adventurers did love to hide things behind bookshelves.

As they followed Oliver down the hall, Lucy suddenly tapped his arm. “Hey,” she began. “I don’t have guardian powers, but I do know a little about how magic works. I mean, just look at Tinker.”

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