She felt his hand on her wrist again, and then a warmth to her muscles. The pain lessened just a tiny bit, and she managed to croak, “What…?”
Mike seemed to understand as he spoke soothingly, “Shhh, just focus on drinking. I didn’t really heal you. I just gave you a bit of energy to tide you over.”
She heard footsteps rushing back into the room and felt Jessica take the cup away briefly before bringing it back with something that smelled like apple juice. As the sweet calories hit her tongue, she found that with Mike’s little injection of energy, she could at least swallow properly now. Much better than drowning.
“Is she okay?” Why did that sound like Will’s voice? What was he doing in her room?
“She’s going to be fine. However, I think it would be best if everyone else waited downstairs. Let’s give her some privacy while she recovers.” His stern tone seemed to remind everyone that they had barged into her room while she was ‘sleeping.’ She heard them complain, but start moving towards the door. She figured they had all left when she heard Mike say resolutely, “You too, Raphael.”
“I’m staying.” Raphael’s voice was firm, but Mike seemed to be set on kicking him out.
“And who’s going to keep that lot under control? She’s going to be fine. You’re needed more out there, though it would be best if you could procure more food that’s simple to eat. What we have here will help, but I have the feeling she’s going to need a lot more.”
Raphael finally grunted in agreement at that, and she heard him leave, closing the door behind him. Jessica was still holding her head and tipping apple juice down her throat, so she figured the other person in there was Kaylee, who from the sound of it, was getting the next dose of whatever ready.
When the cup was removed temporarily from her face, she croaked again, “Thanks…”
Jessica immediately shushed her, and she felt Mike pat her comfortingly again on the arm. Still, she felt his magic move through her once again, though this time he was just checking. He reassured her, “Don’t worry about it. Just work on getting better so you can reassure all the people downstairs before they wear holes in the floor with their pacing.”
“Mmmm.” That was all she said in response. She didn’t need to say more, though she was curious about who all would be pacing downstairs. She figured only a few of them were really worried about her; the rest were probably just curious or watching for entertainment.
Feeling a tiny bit better, she decided that she could multitask, since thinking didn’t interfere with her drinking down whatever they offered, and she didn’t need to open her eyes to pore over her profile. She mentally clicked on the little blue dot, examining the changes that were causing her so much pain.
Name: Jade Winward
Age: 18
Strength: 10.16
Dexterity: 11.21
Constitution: 10.14
Intelligence: 17.07
Magic: 12.89
Charisma: 11.12
Luck: 14.53
Special Abilities: Siphon
Skills: Acrobatics, Appraisal, Archery, Athletics, Blood Magic, Bluff, Cleaning, Compulsion Magic, Dark Magic, Deception, Diplomacy, Dodge, Earth Magic, Eating, Fire Magic, Glasscraft, Haggle, Healing Magic, Heat Resistance, Herbology, Illusion Magic, Information Gathering, Insight, Intimidate, Life Magic, Light Armor, Light Magic, Lightning Magic, Mathematics, Mental Fortitude, Metal Magic, Modeling, Nature Magic, Navigation, Perception, Perseverance, Persuasion, Running, Sense Motive, Singing, Sleight of Hand, Small Blades, Speed Reading, Stealth, Tailoring, Unarmed Combat, Walking, Water Magic, Wind Magic
Acrobatics
Beginner 5
86%
Appraisal
Intermediate 1
56%
Archery
Beginner 6
85%
Athletics
Intermediate 3
86%
Blood Magic
Beginner 5
16%
Bluff
Intermediate 2
72%
Cleaning
Beginner 7
23%
Compulsion Magic
Beginner 1
50%
Dark Magic
Beginner 3
7%
Deception
Intermediate 1
3%
Diplomacy
Intermediate 4
47%
Dodge
Beginner 4
60%
Earth Magic
Beginner 9
28%
Eating
Beginner 10
3%
Fire Magic
Beginner 6
5%
Glasscraft
Beginner 3
53%
Haggle
Beginner 10
90%
Healing Magic
Beginner 10
98%
Heat Resistance
Beginner 2
60%
Herbology
Beginner 2
45%
Illusion Magic
Beginner 4
10%
Information Gathering
Intermediate 7
23%
Insight
Intermediate 3
38%
Intimidate
Beginner 9
26%
Life Magic
Beginner 8
23%
Light Armor
Beginner 2
50%
Light Magic
Intermediate 5
43%
Lightning Magic
Beginner 5
6%
Mathematics
Beginner 6
80%
Mental Fortitude
Intermediate 2
54%
Metal Magic
Beginner 4
65%
Modeling
Beginner 6
3%
Nature Magic
Beginner 4
48%
Navigation
Beginner 9
40%
Perception
Intermediate 4
51%
Perseverance
Intermediate 2
28%
Persuasion
Intermediate 3
56%
Running
Beginner 4
5%
Sense Motive
Intermediate 1
79%
Singing
Beginner 3
33%
Sleight of Hand
Beginner 10
79%
Small Blades
Beginner 6
3%
Speed Reading
Intermediate 6
57%
Stealth
Beginner 4
50%
Tailoring
Beginner 4
93%
Unarmed Combat
Beginner 3
90%
Walking
Intermediate 5
63%
Water Magic
Intermediate 3
7%
Wind Magic
Beginner 6
48%
Oh. No wonder she was in pain. Appraisal, deception, diplomacy, persuasion, sense motive, and water magic had all passed the barrier into intermediate. That wasn’t mentioning the fact that she’d learned seven new magics, six of which were at levels four to nine that she’d siphoned, as well as three new craft skills and cleaning.
It all made sense; everything on that list was stuff she’d siphoned from people who were really good at it, except for deception and cleaning, but she figured she’d been deceiving everyone about her ability and why she touched them so often that it was going up naturally on its own, and she’d spent a while scouring the walls of her workshop with magic.
No, the one that stuck out to her like a sore thumb was her only beginner one skill, compulsion magic. As far as she knew, she’d never compelled anyone to do anything with magic. Persuaded them, sure. She’d done lots of that, as evidenced by how high that skill was getting. But she hadn’t siphoned it from anyone, and she didn’t know when she used it. Puzzled, she started paying attention to the quiet conversation Mike and Kaylee were having.
“She’s lucky you found her when you did. Much longer and she might not have made it.”
Kaylee’s response was almost too quiet for her to hear. “It wasn’t luck. I heard her call me.”
“Call you?” Mike’s voice was curious.
“She was screaming for help. It was brief, but I swear I heard it.”
Jade spluttered on her juice a little bit, then quickly calmed down when they came over asking if she was okay.
“I’m good, thanks.” Her voice was slowly recovering, and they switched her over from juice to some beef flavored broth thing intermixed with some sort of creamy oatmeal. Jessica was still feeding her, considering she still couldn’t lift her arms.
Silently, she came to the conclusion, maybe I did compel her after all… Of all the magics she’d read about, there had been uncommonly little information on blood, compulsion, special, spiritual, and summoning. She had finally figured out why. Not only was it rare, but it could also be very, very dangerous.