And then I saw what I’d feared.
The rot aspects were trying to push their way into her jinsei channels. The same thing had happened to me, only with fire aspects, when I was working with Hahen. Those had done significant damage, but I’d healed. Rot aspects, though, could destroy flesh. Clem could be crippled.
I moved toward the door again, and Ardith grabbed my arm. His eyes flashed with cold anger at my defiance. For the briefest flicker of a moment, I thought he’d strike me.
A heavy pressure built behind my eyes, and the dark urge wanted this confrontation. If Professor Ardith attacked me, he’d be dead before he knew the mistake he’d made. It’d be Singapore all over again. Only this time it wasn’t a nobody from the camps who’d be dead, but a teacher at the most prestigious Empyreal school in the world. There’d be questions I couldn’t answer, and then they’d put me under a microscope until they figured out what I’d done.
What I was.
“Headmistress Cruzal,” I called out, my eyes fixed on Ardith’s, “there’s a problem in the waste unit.”
“Mr. Warin,” the headmistress responded with an annoyed sigh, “this is not your test. Please allow Ms. Hark to finish what she has begun.”
“My apologies, honored Headmistress.” I slipped my arm out of Ardith’s fingers and bowed low to Cruzal even though I didn’t feel like showing deference to the headmistress. I felt like punching her in the throat for standing in my way. “Ms. Hark was not aware of the multitude of aspects contained in the vessel. She needs a moment to recover, before the rot infests her jinsei channels and she’s injured. I’m certain her mother would be grateful to know that you allowed a fellow student to step in to assist her in this way.”
Cruzal eyed me with shrewd appraisal. A faint smile twisted the corner of her mouth, and she reached out to pat me on the shoulder.
“Yes,” she said, glancing past me at Ardith. “I’m sure her mother wouldn’t want anyone to suggest that Professor Ardith hadn’t adequately warned Ms. Hark of the dangers of the assignment. Your assistance is most appreciated, Mr. Warin. You truly are the School’s champion.”
Ardith glared daggers at me as I stood up straight and headed in to help my friend.
It would be a simple matter to strip the aspects out of Clem’s aura. My Thief’s Shield would do it in the blink of an eye. But I knew that Ardith was watching me, and Headmistress Cruzal might be as well. I’d have to be very careful to keep the two of them from discovering what I really was.
I reached down and grabbed the spigot with my right hand, activating the Thief’s Shield technique at the same instant. I twisted the valve clockwise, stopping the flow of aspects, and let my aura overlap Clem’s.
“Jace?” she asked, her eyes more than a little foggy and disoriented. “What’s going on?”
“I’ve got you,” I whispered. “Keep cycling your breath. You’re okay.”
I’d never done this before, and I wasn’t even sure it would work. I stepped behind Clem, supporting her with a hand under each of her arms. Then I formed a serpent and entwined it with hers. To most Empyreals, it would look like a single serpent, and I hoped it would be enough to fool my instructors.
The second problem I had, though, was hiding the aspects I leeched away from Clem. If they showed up in my aura, Ardith would instantly know something was up. That would not only embarrass Clem, but it might give the professor and headmistress more information about my abilities than I wanted them to have. Ardith was already angry, I didn’t need him looking for more reasons to cause me problems.
The only way to hide what I was doing was to not hold the aspects in my aura at all. I had to pull them out of Clem and immediately push them through my serpent and into the funnel. I’d never done anything like that and wasn’t even sure it was possible. I took a deep breath and gave it my best shot.
My Eclipse nature didn’t make things easy on me. It was greedy and wanted to take more than just the aspects out of Clem’s aura. I struggled to contain its hunger and wrestled with my own serpent to keep it from plunging into my friend’s core and draining her jinsei. As overwhelmed as she was, Clem wouldn’t stand a chance against that attack. She’d be a husk in seconds.
“Hold on,” I whispered to Clem. “Try not to act surprised.”
I took a deep breath and cycled my breath as rapidly as I could. Aspects flooded from Clem’s aura into mine, absorbed by the Thief’s Shield technique. I stifled a groan and forced the rot aspects away from my core, through my aura, and into my serpent faster than anyone could possibly see. The disgusting mess left a foul taste in my mouth and a dark shadow across my thoughts, and then it was gone, safely contained in the transport vessel.
I stepped away from Clem, who only had a few motes remaining in her aura. She glanced back at me, mouthed her thanks, then focused all of her attention on purging the last of the toxic mess from her aura. She’d recover, but she’d have a heck of a headache and it’d be days before she could smell anything but the stink of warm sewage.
I slipped out of the room and past Ardith’s angry gaze and Cruzal’s appraising look.
“You handled Ardith and the headmistress very smoothly,” Rachel said as I returned to her side. “Will Clem be okay?”
“She’ll be fine,” I said. “Just bit off a little more than she could chew.”
“Seems like that happens around you quite a bit,” Rachel said
