I turned the watch over in my hand. “Oh, this? It’s a mana watch. I made it earlier in the year. It checks your safe mana value like a Diviner would, as well as how much mana you have, and displays a value indicating the—“
“Yes, yes. I saw how it worked. And you made this device?”
“Sure?”
“How widespread is the design?”
I shrugged. “I just tried to patent it, but I haven’t heard back on that yet. As far as I’m aware, only a handful of people know it exists.”
“Delightful. I’ll take it.”
I blinked. “The bracer?”
“No, the mana watch. While I find the idea of a mana regeneration item delightful, and the idea that you were interested in trading me an untested one even more amusing, I would prefer something more practical. You may give me the mana watch now, in exchange for my services.
“When you have properly tested your mana regeneration item, I will consider another trade with you at a future date.” Sheridan opened a hand. “Given how creative you appear to be, I foresee great possibilities for a future business relationship between us.”
Their hand was open, waiting for the mana watch.
I hesitated.
Of all the items I’d made, the mana watch was the one with the greatest personal value. It was how I’d managed to convince myself to use my mental attunement, even if only a little bit.
It felt necessary to me. It wasn’t just a magical item, it was a staple of my way of life now.
Could I use my mental attunement without it? I’d turned it on for a few minutes here and there, of course, but that wasn’t anything like what I’d been doing to train the attunement. That took either hours of keeping the attunement active or directly transferring mana from the attunement into an enchantment.
How could I do that without knowing how much mana I had left?
I could make another one, of course. It wouldn’t feel the same as the original, but I’d survive.
I comforted myself with that thought. For the moment, it was enough to keep the fear at bay.
I put the mana watch in Sheridan’s hand. “Thank you. I’ll look forward to doing more business with you in the future, then.”
Sheridan slipped the watch into their robe. I felt something in my heart disappear along with it. “Excellent. Shall we get to work?” They turned toward Sera.
“What…like right now?” Patrick stammered.
Sheridan chuckled. “Why ever not? I imagine Miss Cadence would appreciate a resolution to this.”
Sera stood up and nodded once.
I agreed with Sheridan. “Are we doing this right here?”
“Goddess, no. There will be blood, and as much as it might amuse me to leave Derek’s kitchen strewn with viscera at some point, it would presently be in poor taste. I do believe Derek has a room upstairs for alchemical experimentation, however. That should have everything we need to take the precautions. Patrick, do be a dear and fetch Derek from whatever shadow he’s managed to hide in?”
“Sure thing!” Patrick waved and headed up stairs.
Patrick brought Derek back a minute later, and Derek grudgingly led the way toward his alchemy room. “I’ll have to clear off the table, but it should be a good place to work. Easy to clean, and I have healing potions if something goes wrong.”
Sheridan chuckled. “Nothing is going to go wrong, darling. I’ve been doing this for years.”
Outside the door, Sheridan stopped me. “You probably don’t want to see this.”
I shrugged. “I’ve seen blood before. Sera, do you want me there?”
Sera nodded emphatically.
“I’ll be in there, then.”
Sheridan turned back toward the door, but continued speaking. “No interrupting me. Regardless of how much she struggles or how bad it looks. You’ll only make things worse.”
With that said, she walked into the room. Derek was already clearing off a large central table, as he’d explained earlier. I recognized most of the equipment from Vellum’s lab and the one alchemy class I’d attended, but it wasn’t important right now.
We helped him move some of the potions onto shelves, then Derek waved at the empty table.
Sheridan nodded. “Good. Sera, take off your shirt. You can keep your undergarments on, but I need to be able to reach the whole front of your torso. Then lie down.”
Sera frowned, but followed their instructions. She waved me over, and I pulled up a chair to sit down next to her. She reached for my hand after she laid down, so I gave her one.
For the moment, her discomfort was going to be a lot worse than what I felt just from holding hands, so I’d tolerate it.
“Not going to give her a speech about how this won’t hurt?” Derek inquired.
“Why lie? All I can promise is that I’m not going to kill her. Provided none of you interrupt me. In fact, none of you are essential, so you should just leave. The brother can stay.”
Derek folded his arms. “I sort of own this house.”
Sheridan pointed at the door. “It’s a big house. Why don’t you find a mirror and gaze at the person you most adore?”
“Now, that’s not fair, Deni. There’s no point to staring at myself all the time — I need to study other people for contrast.” He shook his head. “But fine, I’ll leave. Patrick, come on. I have this great story about when Deni had just turned twelve…”
“Oh, you wouldn’t.”
Derek waved as he dashed out the door. Patrick walked over to Sera before leaving, giving her a brief hug and some presumably comforting words before disappearing and closing the door behind him.
“Goddess, you’re all building this up too much. This isn’t a funeral.” Sheridan shook their head. “Sera, are you ready?”
Sera nodded.
I was thinking about whether or not I had any final questions when Sheridan snapped their fingers in front of Sera’s face.
Sera’s eyes slammed shut, and I felt a wave of drowsiness and vertigo. I tipped backward, but Sheridan caught me before I fell backward.
“Sleep spell. Wasn’t expecting to catch you with it, but physical contact must have passed a bit through.”
I raised a hand to pinch myself in the arm, trying to shake off the sensation. “Ugh. Could have warned us?”
“Nonsense. If she was ready for it, she’d have braced her mental defenses, even unconsciously. The spell probably still would have taken hold, but I wasn’t going to take the risk. Steady yourself.”
I did my best. I’d read a little bit on how to defend myself against mental magic after seeing what had happened to Derek, and that little bit had taught me something important. Since I had an attunement with mental mana, that would give me a degree of resistance, even if mine wasn’t built for casting mind-influencing spells — and I could actively resist mental magic by converting more of the mana in my body into mental mana. By cycling that fresh mental mana through my body, I could burn away the spell.
So, I started doing that.
It wasn’t fast.
I was so distracted with trying to break the spell that I scarcely noticed when Sheridan started the procedure in earnest. Sheridan pressed their hand against Sera’s neck, frowned, and shook their head. “More severe than I expected, but still workable. Let me see the attunement.”
Sheridan flipped Sera over and pressed a hand against the modified attunement mark over her lungs. “Remarkable. I’ve never seen anything quite like this. I can sense the damage, but I’m not sure how much I can treat. The throat will come first, and then I’ll see if I can handle making any improvements here.”