Whatever she is, the woman knows more than I do. Maybe she knows more about this too.
* * *
Professor Mattie Bergmann’s office door was wide open when Cheyenne stopped in the hall. She reached out to knock anyway, but Mattie beat her to it.
“Door’s open, Cheyenne. Just come on in.” The woman didn’t look up from her desk and whatever work had most of her attention, but her mouth quirked in a private smile. “But feel free to—”
The door clicked shut behind the drow halfling. “Shut it? Yeah, I figured.”
Finally, Mattie looked up at her student, those hazel eyes glinting. “I’m glad you came back.”
“You didn’t leave me that much to work with yesterday.”
“Well, you know what they say. It took more than one guy to raze Rome and all that.”
Cheyenne snorted. “That is what they say.”
“So.” Mattie folded her hands and thumped them on her desk. “How have things gone for you in the last twenty-four hours?”
“That’s kind of a loaded question.” Cheyenne stepped across the office toward her professor’s desk. “The whole ‘find my happy place’ thing came in handy a few times, though.”
“Good for you. I guess you just needed to know it was possible, huh?” Mattie sat back in her chair and nodded. “And you’re able to let all the drow fall away just like that, huh?”
Cheyenne squinted and fought back a laugh, running her tongue along the inside of her cheek. “I kinda redefined that happyplace.”
Mattie’s eyes widened in confusion.
“I can slip into drow mode pretty much whenever I want. So far. And I broke the record I set with you yesterday.”
“Wow.” The programming professor smiled and rolled her chair back away from the desk. “By how much?”
“A long time. Hey, is there any way for me to use my magic without going full drow? You know, like if I wanted to, I don’t know, knock something out of someone’s hand without them seeing the skin and the hair and everything.”
“I don’t think so.” Mattie blinked at the ceiling in thought. “Not unless you can cast a full illusion spell.”
“Like yours.”
“Yes. Like mine.”
Cheyenne leaned toward the woman’s desk. “So you can teach me that?”
“I can, but not yet. If you haven’t perfected your ability to shift in and out of your dual forms, Cheyenne, an illusion spell will be useless to you.”
“Right. No playing the system on that one.”
Mattie chuckled. “Definitely not. It’s a build-as-you-go kinda deal.”
“Okay. How about this?” Cheyenne set the copper box on the professor’s desk with a thunk and folded her arms. “You ever seen one of these before?”
Professor Bergmann looked down at the box, licked her lips, and cocked her head with a quick jerk. “Where did you get this?”
“Someone gave it to me. Technically to my mom, I guess, but if I’d been born already, she wouldn’t have had to keep it for me.” Mattie had not taken her eyes off the box, and Cheyenne nodded at it. “You know what it is?”
“This came from your father, didn’t it?” The woman tapped a finger on her lips and frowned.
“Yeah, great guess. Care to tell me why?”
“These are drow runes.” Mattie gestured to the symbols etched into the copper and cleared her throat. “I recognize only a few, Cheyenne, but even if I knew them all, I couldn’t tell you what they mean.”
“Why not?”
“This…” The professor took a sharp breath, then met her student’s gaze. “Someone intended whatever’s inside this box for you and no one else. I’d be doing us a disservice if I tried to solve this one on your behalf.”
The halfling stared at her professor and shook her head a fraction of an inch. “What do you mean, ‘solve’ it?”
“It’s a puzzle box.” Mattie shrugged. “For lack of a better term. The drow call it something else, and I’m not important enough to have that kind of information. It’s your legacy, Cheyenne. For whatever that’s worth.”
“I’m supposed to get it open?”
“Hmm.” With a tight, regretful smile, Mattie stood and tapped the surface with her fingers. “You weren’t exaggerating when you said your mom wasn’t involved, were you?”
Cheyenne raised her eyebrows and grabbed the box again. “More like an understatement.”
“Fair enough. When it’s time for you to open that box, you’ll know what to do. Or so I’ve heard. It’s not a commonly practiced ritual anymore.”
“Neither is knocking up a high-profile research economist before disappearing and leaving her to raise a half-magical baby by herself. Probably.”
“True.” With a knowing smirk, Mattie walked around her student until she stood at the other end of the office in front of the armchairs. “I’m assuming you didn’t come here just to talk about drow artifacts most people have completely forgotten. We both have better things to do with our time, don’t we?”
Turning the copper puzzle box in her hands, the halfling nodded and set it back down. The chains on her wrists jingled when she shook out her hands again, and then she turned from the desk to face her magical mentor. “So, teach me some stuff.”
“All the stuff.” Mattie chuckled and folded her arms. “Show me how much easier it is for you to bring out the dark elf.”
Casting her mentor a sideways glance, Cheyenne stifled a smirk and closed her eyes. She opened her hands at her sides and thought about guns being pointed at anyone. Heat bloomed at the base of her spine. She counted to three as it washed up and over her, then she opened her eyes and met Mattie’s gaze.
The other woman clicked her tongue. “Very nice. You look grounded in it today. How about—”
A line of purple and black sparks erupted at Cheyenne’s fingertips, and she wiggled her fingers, letting her magic play in the electrified air around her hands.
“Okay. Show-off.”
The drow halfling grinned. “Get the jar.”
A surprised laugh burst from Professor Bergmann’s mouth, and she blinked. “What was that?”
“The jar.” Cheyenne nodded sideways
