Page 13 of Wings of Ebony
“Protection?”
“Yep.”
I sit up taller. “Tell me more.”
“Oh man, there’s so much. And our magic only grows more functional as we continue to study it,” she explains, her eyes lit up. “Onyx is everything here. Can’t Bind people without onyx. Andwedo that.Zrukis.We’re kind of a big deal.” She bats another flyaway hair. “And at least wegetBound. There’s one more word in that old woman’s vocabulary.” She shudders. “Macazi. That means you’re casteless, not worthy of either and not fit to bear magic at all. They don’t even get units. It’s community housing for them, until they die off or who knows what. Rumor is they use them for”—she whispers—“trials… like for research.Zrukiis not at all a bad gig.”
The way she’s looking at me, I think I’m supposed to marvel at her designation. And because I want to try to be a decent friend to this chick, I do. “Oh wow, my bad. Well, congrats.”
“Thanks. Our units are decent, too. Being only one room means less time cleaning, and it’s easier to heat and cool with Memi’s magic. The floorisn’tas bad as it sounds.”
“No, y-yeah. I didn’t mean anything by that.” I’m just surprised that in a world with magic, people would live like they broke. Why does the Chancellor need a grip on things like that? Why not let people live freely, earning their way? What does he gain by giving them magic but controlling how they use it, where they work, their quality of living, making them work their way up the chain in their free time, on the slim chance they can find free time? I seen that before and that… that ain’t admirable.
That’s suspect.
“I know what you mean. Been there,” I say. Moms’s mattress got bedbugs once and we had to save up for four months to replace it.
She stares a second, confused. “I can’t imagine Aasim’s daughter sleeping on the floor, but—”
“Let’s be clear. Ijustmet him. I don’t know him. So… just… chill out with all that mentioning him, please. My Moms raised me.Alone.And it’s not like this back home. It’s…” I gaze out a nearby window. The banners from the ceremony still flutter in the wind. A juggler flips colorful balls in the air using one hand and they burst into birds in every color and flutter off, while a crowd of admirers throws coins at him. “It’s just different.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter because once we’re Bound, it’s off to the dorm for a year of training. With our own beds!” She dances in place. “Oo! Maybe we can room?”
“Maybe.” The thought of not seeing Tasha or home or anyone I actually know for anentireyear makes me sick.
She throws a salty look at her pocket and I know that noncompliant gadget is still under her skin. “What’s wrong with your thing?”
“Oh my PRI Mod? It’s nothing.”
“Rule number one of friends—no lies. Just keep it real.”
She turns beet red. “Wait, friends? I… we… really? O-okay.” She pulls it out of her pocket. “I don’t usually get to show anyone because, well, it’s not magicked or anything. My parents think it’s stupid. Just some dumb particle rearranger I made.”
It’s clunky and cold and I can clearly see the spot where one piece is refusing to slide into the other. I give it a push, just in case. No luck.
“What does it do?” I ask.
“It takes apart molecules and places them somewhere else.”
“In English?”
“My bag with my books is so heavy.”
“Okay…”
“I didn’t want to walk all the way from the quad, the dorm, back home just to drop them off between classes. So I made this thing. It shrinks the particles into tiny molecules, transports them through the air, and makes them reappear in my room.”
“Uh, Bri that’s not at all dumb. That’s the coolest shit I’ve ever heard.”
“Wait until I’m Bound,” she says.
Another faint scream plays under the music.
“I’m going to add some cloaking and locator spells to it so I can send and retrieve stuff any time I want.” She wears a silly grin. “I’ve been studying magic and more complex spells since I was eight, years before I could even think about being Bound.” She pats her stack of papers. “I’m ready.”
Good, because the shit sounds painful. AmIready?
“Yo, foreal foreal. You’re smart. People back home get paid a lot of money to pop off some dope shit like this.”
