He released his connection and it flickered for a moment and then faded altogether, revealing his iron dragon pearl hand again.
He smiled to himself.
It worked.
Thomas tapped his cane and smiled.
“Keep practicing. You understand the basics of illusion. There are many more complex aspects of it, and in time, you may be able to learn them, but for now, you need to focus on maintaining what you can. When you begin to understand the more basic parts of it, then you can work on the more complicated ones.”
“That’s it?”
“I was asked to help you learn how to create an illusion. Nothing more than that.”
Thomas headed toward the door and Jason stared at his hand, wondering if he could create it again. He tried, pushing power through him, feeling the way it shifted, the same way he had before, and then his hand changed, creating an image much like it had the previous time, and he smiled to himself. He got to his feet, turning toward the door, but Thomas was gone. Looking down the hallway, the other man was nowhere to be seen.
How had he disappeared?
Jason wished he had more time to understand. He wished he had more time to work with Thomas, and he wished he could hold his illusion better.
The challenge was going to be in holding on to it.
When it came to the illusion for his hand, he understood how it felt when it failed. The difference was his eye. Without having a mirror, he wouldn’t know if the illusion was holding. What they planned would be dangerous if it failed.
A slight knock on the door caught his attention. Jason turned.
Sarah stood in the doorway, watching him. “How is it going?”
“Apparently I can do the illusion,” he said.
“Apparently?”
Jason concentrated on his eye color. This time, he made a conscious effort to focus on the ice dragon. He used that to help him, and he drew power through him, and there came a surge of energy, a sliding sense, and a burst of cold washed over his face.
Sarah gasped. “You did it.”
He reached for the mirror that rested on the table in front of him, holding it up. The color was a little different than it had been when he was working with Thomas, but when he had been working with Thomas, he hadn’t used the ice dragon as part of the creation. He had been trying to focus on power within him, and yet, he had a sense that drawing power from the ice dragon would be even more effective.
“Do you think it’s believable?”
“It’s completely believable.”
She sat across from him, staring into his eyes. Jason focused on trying to hold on to that sense, maintaining his connection to the ice dragon. That was the key at this point. If he could hold on to the link to the ice dragon, if he could use that to tie him to what was done, and if he could hold that power, then he thought that maybe he could be successful. Maybe this would work.
It was the same way he had felt the power in his hand, the strange sensation when he had been shifting the iron dragon pearl, using that to help mask the glove. At least in this case, he would know if it failed. He would feel the energy fading.
The challenge would be in holding on to it. What would happen if he got too tired?
“Henry has been making plans,” Sarah said.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been a part of that,” he said.
“You needed to do this. And if you can do this, think of the other things that you might be able to do as well.”
“Such as what?”
“If you learn to create an illusion, then…” She shook her head. “I’ve seen some of the things Thomas has done. His illusions can be quite complex, and when he does those, it’s amazing. If you can master something like that…”
“I think all I’m able to do is what he considered basic.”
“Basic or not, it’s still impressive.”
Jason focused on his hand. Could he maintain a connection to both? He held on to the sense of the ice dragon, using that to change his eye color, but he wondered if he could do something with his hand at the same time. It would be difficult, and yet, he had to try.
He pushed that sense through him, focusing on the iron dragon, trying to think about how his hand had modified when he had done it before. The sense of the iron dragon flowed through him, and the metal on his hand began to shift. And then the color changed, taking on the same color as the other.
“What did you do?” Sarah asked, taking his hand and looking at it. “It even feels different.”
“I don’t know that I’m doing things the same way as Thomas.”
“Why would you say that?”
“He was trying to get me to focus on power within myself. And I think it would work, but in this case, I’m not focusing on power within myself.” He stared at his hand. He could feel the connection to the iron dragon as he did. “With my hand, I’m connecting to the iron dragon.” Looking up at Sarah, he met her eyes. “And with my eyes, I’m concentrating on the ice dragon.”
“Whatever works for you is all you need to do.”
“And what happens if it fails?”
“Do you think it will?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know how long I can maintain this connection.” But then, when it came to connecting to the ice dragon, Jason thought he could hold on to that link for a long time. He had done so before, and he could feel that bond between the two of them. He had known that the best, and the longest.
The iron dragon had a connection to him through the dragon pearl that had formed around his hand. Even if he was only drawing enough power to create the illusion, would that matter? He was still drawing upon the iron dragon power.
Sarah squeezed his hand. “If you don’t think you can do this, then we don’t need to risk you. There are other ways to accomplish what we want.”
“How?”
“Well, I was thinking if we went to Lorach, and we focused on freeing as many dragons as we could, then you could—”
“I don’t think freeing the dragons will accomplish what I need.”
She released his hand, leaning back. “You do intend to help me with this, don’t you?”
Jason inhaled deeply. “I’ll help you as much as I can. My reason for going to Lorach isn’t about the dragons. It’s about my people.”
“I know why you’re going,” she said.
The image of his hands flickered for a moment, but Jason pulled on more power, solidifying it.
“I just want you to be willing to work on behalf of the dragons. Seeing how much they’ve given you, I thought you would understand.”
He didn’t want to argue, but at the same time, the dragons had given him much, but they had also taken from him. It was strange to think like that, but had Therin not brought the eggs to his village, had he not tried to force their energy into places that they should not have been, Jason didn’t think he would have been changed quite as much. Perhaps his father would still be alive. Perhaps the village would be intact. And perhaps Jason would never have known that he had a connection to dragons.
He couldn’t think like that. The link to the dragons was valuable to him, and the more that he connected to them, the more that he understood them, the more he realized that he was born to do so.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You don’t have to be sorry,” she said.
Jason took a deep breath, shaking his head. “I think I do. I’ll help with the dragons. I’m just… I think I’m just a little scared.” He looked up at her. “All of this depends upon me being able to hold on to this power and maintain the illusion. All of this involves us going into a place of danger. A place where they treat dragons like pets.”