Purple and black sparks shot from Cheyenne’s fingertips, and she hardly thought about where she was aiming or why before those sparks launched across Bergmann’s office. A loud rip filled the room as her spell tore through the upholstery on one armchair. It didn’t register until almost ten seconds later. That was how long it took her to bring up her memory of the woods and let her drow magic fade into the background again.
She frowned at the armchair, blue eyes instead of golden narrowed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Mattie cleared her throat. “I was waiting for a good reason to replace those. You have your new target. Try it again. Faster.”
Cheyenne shook out her hands and got ready to repeat the process. “There aren’t any stories going around about halflings shifting themselves into, like, a puddle of goo or anything, are there?”
Her professor shrugged. “Stories are just stories. If you feel ‘gooey,’ that’s a good sign it’s time to take a break.”
“I hope you’re learning something from this too.” Cheyenne centered her focus on the armchair, shaking her head as her professor chuckled.
“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”
“So the next halfling you train won’t be constantly reminded you’re not an expert on halfling training.”
“I will be after this.”
“Right.” Cheyenne embraced her drow magic and the heat and her anger, her skin tingling into slate-gray even as she unleashed another small attack on the armchair. It felt easier this time to imagine walking barefoot through the woods.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Two seconds.” Mattie nodded and grabbed the handle of her briefcase on wheels. “Not bad.”
“Yeah, for only three days of your weird training methods.” Cheyenne wiggled her fingers in front of her face. Her skin still tingled from the aftereffects of shifting and using so much magic with intent, although she looked human.
“It’s working well for both of us.”
Cheyenne huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“All right. Now I’m heading to the gym. I’ll see you tomorrow. Let me know if you change your mind about a run.”
“I won’t.”
Mattie laughed and stepped through the door. “Just lock up—”
Cheyenne had her backpack over her shoulders and the doorknob in her hand before her professor could finish. “I’m leaving too.”
Casting the halfling a sideways glance, Mattie hid a smile as they walked down the hall together. “You know, you might fool most people with the makeup and your apparent mastery over complete lack of expression. But you look pretty pleased with yourself.”
“That’s what smiles are for.” The corners of Cheyenne’s mouth twitched in what most people wouldn’t call a smile. When Mattie laughed, the halfling let herself join in for a few seconds. “Hey, I have a question maybe you can answer.”
The programming professor stopped in the hallway and glanced around. It was empty. “Is it a question we should discuss in my office and not out here in the middle of a public hallway?”
“Hey, when it’s four o’clock, you don’t even stop to make sure your students are gone and your office is locked up all the way.” Cheyenne shrugged. “I’ll make it quick.”
Mattie sighed. “It better be. I downed an energy shot while you were blowing up my furniture.”
Cheyenne ignored the comment and lowered her voice. “If a certain…organization of people like us, more or less, wanted to find a specific person…like us…how would they do that?”
Mattie frowned.
“An organization that starts with an F.”
“I know who you mean, Cheyenne. My answer is that it depends on the person they’re trying to find. Are there records in the system? Are they registered? Do they carry a high profile on this side, or did they carry a high profile on the other side? Anything that can be found and any connections that can be made will be found and made in covert ways.” Mattie tilted her head at her student. “If there’s nothing in the system, I wouldn’t say this organization is above more old-school routes of finding someone.”
“You mean, in person?”
“Something like that.”
Cheyenne ran her thumbs under the straps of her backpack and glanced down the hallway behind them. “Any chance you know how to get into that system?”
“None.” The professor’s grip tightened around the handle of her wheeled briefcase; Cheyenne heard the handle creak in Mattie’s grip. “And I wouldn’t want to. I’d also advise anyone who thought they wanted to that staying out of that mainframe might save that person’s life. If that person wanted to avoid being found and locked up and shipped out, if you catch my drift.”
“Yeah. I do.”
“They’re doing their jobs, Cheyenne. As long as that’s what you keep doing, too, you won’t have any problems.” Professor Bergmann studied her student with a concerned frown. “Anything else?”
“Just have fun on your run, I guess.”
“Right.” Mattie walked away and down the hall. “See you tomorrow.”
Cheyenne stayed where she was and watched her professor disappear around the corner toward the front of the IT building.
She’s way too afraid of these people to believe that the FRoE’s supposed to keep everybody safe. How bad can they be if a bunch of other black-market magicals have been gaming the system and screwing with their own kind? Not bad enough to stop them, that’s for sure.
It seemed likely someone with no political ties to the FRoE or this “other side” or any of the gangs strong-arming magicals like Ember and her goblin friend Trevor would have more room to operate under the radar.
Someone like me. What’s badder than an unlisted drow halfling no one can find?
Cheyenne pulled out her phone and gave Ember another call. Straight to voicemail again. Still got time to stop by the hospital before heading out to Chez Summerlin.
* * *
A nurse was stepping out of Ember’s hospital room and closing the door behind her when Cheyenne arrived. “How’s she doing?”
“Oh.” The nurse jolted and glanced up from the iPad in her arms. “Hi. Are you here for a visit?”
“Yeah. Is she awake yet? I mean, like, able to talk or…”
“Well.” The nurse
