As soon as Cal had returned to the void house, he had sent Libby to go work out the rest of their plan with Andrew while he and Bug finished testing the kids. For this to work, they would need to get them all ready, and that would be a big process in itself. There were still forty-two of them to test, and even splitting that up between those of them who could do it was going to take a lot of time. Despite that, he planned to start immediately.
“Bug, go find Twonger and Serilina and meet me in Ethel’s realm,” Cal said to his sister as they walked the halls of the void house.
“Okay, are we testing the kids?” Bug asked before running off.
“We are, if you see Alfred or Gretel grab them too, actually,” Cal said. Bug nodded her head and ran off, checking rooms for the four as she disappeared ahead of him, leaving Cal to make his way back to the gardens alone. His thoughts were focused on the kids as he made the short walk and the hope that they were all willing to do this. He would not force any of them, even if it meant there were too few for this to work.
As soon as he entered Ethel’s realm, he began the search for Sarah and quickly spotted her, with several of the kids passing out some snacks from a platter that looked like the capybaras had dropped off. Cal walked up to that group first. There were eight of them. It was as good as any place to start.
“Hey guys, it’s time for a new round of testing. You’ve all seen what Rusty was able to do, so who wants to go next?” Cal asked, smiling at them. There was no point in worrying if anyone didn’t want to join the loops until they were even sure they had enough kids to attempt in the first place.
“I do!” one of the girls yelled. Cal was reasonably sure her name was Catherine, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure.
“Alright, just to make sure I can remember names, you’re Catherine, right?” He asked.
“Yes, but I prefer Cat,” she answered back, laughing at her full name.
“Cat, it is. In just a second, we will head over there,” Cal pointed to one of the empty clearings. “And see if we can’t get you to manifest a spirit. As for the rest of you, whoever wants to go next should start thinking about it. We are going to try to get everyone tested as quickly as possible. Bug will be here soon with some others to help. So I want you to split yourselves amongst her, Serilina, Twonger, Gretel, and Alfred, okay?” Cal asked.
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The kids answered with several shouts of excitement. Every one of the kids in this group wanted to be tested. That made things a little easier, at least. Cal motioned for Cat to follow him as he walked toward where he had previously pointed out to the girl.
“How do we start?” She asked the moment he stopped walking.
“Well, first, I want you to sit on the ground and try to clear your mind as much as you can and see if you can hear any voice trying to talk to you. If you can, talk back,” Cal said as he sat down to give her an example.
“Okay!” she said with another cheery shout and plopped herself down on the ground, mimicking Cal’s own stance. He closed his eyes, hoping she would follow suit.
While she searched inside herself for her spirit, Cal reached out to Fulginanis in his head. “Anything you can do to help coax that any mana spirit out she may have inside her?” Cal asked mentally.
“Possibly, though, you’d be better off with Sleek once she has returned. It is easier for an unbonded spirit to reach into someone else’s soul and find a lurking mana spirit,” Fulginanis said in Cal’s head. Cal, too, wished Scrump and Sleek were back. He would have loved their help in getting people tested as well.
“Alright, why don’t you go and poke around everyone as best you can and report back what you find? I’ll stay here and work with Cat,” Cal replied back.
“As you wish,” Fulginanis said before Cal felt the presence vanish from his mind. He hoped that would make things even easier, but he had his doubts. Fulginanis would likely have already approached him if they expected any real success with this new idea.
“You have a very shaggy coat, ma’am. How did it get so untamed?” Cal heard Cat ask, and his eyes snapped open. The girl was still sitting there, unmoved. Whoever she was talking to was in her head. If she had managed to make contact that quickly, that would be an amazing feat. Cal found himself incredibly impressed.
“Well, you look like a Daisy to me. My uncle had a dog named Daisy, and she had the same colors you do. So I think it fits,” Cat said. Cal could just barely make out the form of a mana spirit coming into being in front of him. While his vision could only just see it. He could very easily sense the mana flows, though. He wondered if Cat would be stronger than all of them at this rate.
The mana spirit barked loudly. Several other barks came back from the opposite end of the realm. The dogs had arrived, and it seemed they were curious about who the new source of barking was.
“Hey, Cat, it’s safe to open your eyes now. She’s fully manifested,” Cal said to the girl as he watched the dog pace around Cat’s form, scanning everything for any potential danger.
“Daisy, look at you; now everyone can see how great you are. This is Cal. He saved me. And those dogs are Bug, Gretel and Alfred. They are great, I bet they let you join their pack,” She said as she ran her fingers through the mana spirit’s fur. Cal wondered about that, could a mana spirit join their order? He supposed if a cat could, it should be possible.