00:006:14:07:55

00:006:14:07:54

00:006:14:07:53

Mal watched the clock in the upper right-hand corner of his vision tick down. His eyes had been locked on the clock for almost a full month now. He had a severe case of integration fever, he was well aware. His teachers had called him out over it several times now, but he couldn’t help it. It was integration.

Especially not in this class. History. Mal groaned aloud at the thought of actually paying attention to the droning lecture on the Merge.

“Do you have something to contribute, Mr. Thomas?” His history teacher asked. Mal glanced up at the man. Mr. Samson was average to a fault. Medium height, medium build, medium interest in actually teaching.

“I was hoping you might have some insight for us, actually,” Mr. Samson said, “It might benefit the class to hear from an Eten perspective on the Merge.”

Mal opened his mouth to tell his teacher, again, that Etens did not view history in the same way humans did. In a proper Eten classroom, students would be taught the facts in a way as unbiased and unaltered as possible. The way history was taught in his schools was one of his mother’s greatest enmities with human society. He stopped when he considered that maybe that was what his teacher meant.

“My Eten perspective might not be great,” Mal finally said, “My mother is the only Eten I really know.”

“Even the perspective of one and a half Etens may be enlightening,” Mr. Samson countered. He wasn’t letting him off the hook this time.

“Okay,” Mal repressed a sigh. “What specifically would you like my perspective on?”

“On the topic we were just discussing, Mr. Thomas,” Mr. Samson had a small, amused smile on his face.

“I, uh, might have missed the last point,” Mal said, scratching his neck in embarrassment.

“I see. How long is it until your integration, Mr. Thomas?” Mr. Samson didn’t wait for an answer, instead turning to the rest of the class and continuing, “Can anyone help Mr. Thomas remember what topic we were discussing?”

“It was the Spell, dude,” someone called out, “and integration.”

“Right.” Mal said. If there were a single topic that would never have a unified Eten perspective, it was the Spell. “The Spell. I guess I would say that we do not like the Spell, as a whole.”

“A bit more in the details, please, Mr. Thomas,” Mr. Samson said, “Why do you think Etens do not like the Spell.”

“Because they want to keep magic for themselves!” A pretty girl at the front of the class said. Mal thought he recognized her as a cheerleader. “They don’t want any humans to know magic.”

Mal glared at her. It was something he was accused of regularly by people asking him to show them his magic. He felt a spike of shame with every request.

“That’s enough out of you, Miss Laurant,” Mr. Samson’s voice was sharp, “Mr. Thomas, if you please, continue.”

“I think that’s not completely untrue,” Mal said. “I think a lot of Etens probably don’t like the Spell because it gives humans magic, but it’s not because we want to keep it to ourselves.” Mostly. “The Spell probably did weaken the negotiating position of Etenia,” Mal was pretty sure he managed to say the word without his face twisting in distaste, “But the main agreement between them and Canada had already been signed when the Spell came into place. Etens don’t like the Spell because it gives humans magic the easy way.”

“You mean you are jealous we can learn magic without you,” Miss Laurant said.

“Miss Laurant, I thought I told you enough.” Mr. Samson interrupted, “Please see me after class to discuss this. Apologies, Mr. Thomas, please continue.”

The cheerleader shot Mal a scathing look. Why was she mad at him? It’s not like he forced her to say those things.

Mal continued, “You have to understand, for Etens, magic isn’t a tool to be used or a subject in school. Or it’s not just that. It’s part of everyday life. It’s part of how we communicate, how we emote, how we cook. It is part of our culture and our art. When the spell integrates, it gives humans magic, but it doesn’t give you all that. I think some Etens see this and it feels like a mockery to them. Of their life and of their culture.” Mal looked away from the teacher, his throat tightening. It was something no human could understand. It was something Mal didn’t understand.

“Thank you Mr. Thomas,” Mr. Samson said, “Now, as I was saying the Spell…” Mal let his mind tune out his teacher’s lecture as he slumped back into his chair, his gaze flicking over the half empty classroom. The empty seats were the spots vacated by those who had already integrated with the Spell and chose to move on to other forms of education.

It wasn’t uncommon these days. When the Spell integrated and gave a person access to magic, it was only natural that they would want to pursue it. Mal just wished it hadn’t happened to both Rudy and Adrien. Or that he could have been born earlier in the year.

Mal sat in silence for the rest of the lecture, Mr. Samson’s droning passing through his head without Mal ever hearing a word of what he was saying. Finally, finally, the bell rang for lunch and Mal hopped to his feet, escaping to his locker.

He was in the halls of his school quickly, but they soon filled as teachers let their classrooms out for lunch as well. Mal made it to his locker and pulled out his phone, texting Rudy.

[I hate you]

[Rude]

The response from Rudy was nearly instantaneous.

[You left me here with the dregs]

[So did Adrien]

[I expected it from Adrien]

[Maybe you are where you belong. You know how great I am]

Mal sighed. At least that hadn’t changed in the six months since Rudy left for his extra early college admission.

[How’s the training program Mr. Awesome?]

Rudy responded with a picture. It was of him smiling broadly. He was flanked closely by two blonde women in cheerleader uniforms with UCLA emblazoned across their chests. Rudy had a hand on each of their hips and the women were pressed right up against him. It made Mal nervous just to look at it.

[How long was that taken before they both slapped you]

[About a minute. I got one of their numbers too though]

Of course he did.

[Of course you did]

[I did!]

[Really though, how is the UCLA thing going? Are they still making you complete high school, or are you going to become the world’s dumbest aug athlete]

[They’re making me complete high school and college. It’s hard as hell, but I’ve got it in the bag. There are two Etens in the athletics program by the way]

[Every group has their failures]

[You’re very rude today. I thought you’d be interested.]

[Sorry. I am interested, since you’re replacing me already. Are they cool?]

[More like pretty. They’re both girls. I told them about you, I wanted to know if all Etens are weird or if it's just you.]

Another picture came through, this time of two very pretty. light brown Etens with blue eyes and dark gray hair waving at the camera.

[Thanks. Glad they think I’m weird now.]

[I think they might be weird, dude. They wouldn’t stop talking about your skin.]

[YOU SHOWED THEM A PICTURE OF ME?]

[Relax. They like your skin. Like a lot. One of them wouldn’t stop talking about the color and they both agreed you have very good clarity. They were worse than you ever were.]

Mal rolled his eyes at the phone. He had never been bad at all.

[Tell them my mom is brown skinned. That will get the one interested in the color to relax.]

[Really? Why would she care?]

[She probably thinks I’m from a famous Eten family that all has red skin. There’s a family like that for a bunch of different colors.]

[And they will stop them from being so weird?]

[I can’t help the clarity thing. Like you and Adrien pointed out, it's mostly made up.]

[Awesome. Maybe this will give me a chance. Thanks Mal.]

Mal sighed and put his phone away. So much for that. Texting Rudy didn’t make him feel better at all. Every time they talked it seemed like Rudy was further away from before, even though he wasn’t even living on the UCLA campus and was at most a half an hour away at any given time. Mal kicked his locker closed and glanced at the clock counting down in the corner of his eye again.

00:006:11:29:19

Mal stared at the numbers. The final week was going to drive him insane. Mal looked down the school halls, now mostly empty as the students of his high school made for the cafeteria and courtyards. To the other end of the hall was an exit. Mal took it.

----------------------------------------

Mal knocked on the pristine white door again, not stopping until he heard the rapid thudding of footsteps from inside. There was a softer thud on the door as someone used the door viewer to see outside. A second later the door swung open to reveal Adrien.

Adrien had finally hit his growth spurt over the summer, and while he no longer looked like a fresh faced junior high school student, he was still several inches shorter than Mal or Rudy. Adrien was in his pajamas, even though it was past noon and it looked like he hadn’t showered either. Smelled like it too.

“Mal?” Adrien said. “What are you doing here? If you’re skipping, at least text first.”

Mal shouldered his way past Adrien and into the house, collapsing in a heap on the stairs Adrien had just ran down.

“Sorry. I couldn’t take the day.”

“Someone accuse you of being a moody Eten teenager again? Because they were right.”

“Of hoarding magic. Kind of.”

“And? That’s not even close to the first time that’s happened.”

“And I had to explain why Etens don’t like the Spell in history.”

“Sorry, dude.” Adrien knew it was a sensitive topic. “You alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“No, really, Mal,” Adrien shut the front door. He looked concerned, “This is like the fifth time you’ve skipped in a month. Are you alright?”

“I’m bored. There’s nothing for me at school.”

“You never paid attention in school. I still think the only reason you studied at all was because Rudy and I were studying with you.”

“That was the only reason I studied.” Mal got up off the stairs and started climbing them. “Why are you in your pajamas, Adrien?”

“Because all I’m doing is studying and I don’t need to leave the house. Also stop. You’re literally running away and trying to change the topic of conversation. What’s going on Mal?”

Mal ignored him and headed for Adrien's room. The inside was a mess, the bed was unmade and clothes were strewn all over the floor. A small desk in the corner of the room was the only relatively tidy surface. On it was a familiar white and blue sphere.

“How’s the practice coming?” Mal asked as Adrien entered the room wearing a scowl on his face.

“It’s not. Damn thing is way too hard.” Adrien scooped up a pile of clothes from a chair and tossed them in a nearby hamper.

“And progress at all?”

“On the sphere? No. But I got another point.”

“Really? From what?” Mal turned away from the desk. Adrien was sitting in the now empty chair, his arms crossed.

“The exercises Rudy set us. The hopping one.”

“I didn’t think that one was real,” Mal said, impressed, “I thought for sure he was trying to trick us.”

“Before you ask I put it in Ichor. I looked online and that’s what everyone says humans need the most help with because it barely goes up naturally.”

“You mean because it might make you taller.”

“It’s a fringe consideration at best.” Adrien said. It was a lie and they both knew it.

“So you’re all threes, except for a five in Ichor.” Mal sighed. “I wish I could just hurry up and integrate already.” Mal said, slumping into the chair at the small desk.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Your birthday is in a week.”

“Yeah.” Mal looked down at his knees.

“You sound excited. So excited.”

“I am, it’s just…” Mal looked up at his friend and away again.

“Oh, fuck you, dude.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No? You didn’t mean, “What if I integrate and I get all threes?”” Adrien flipped him off with both hands. “What if I’m like you?”

“I’m sorry. You asked. Kind of.”

“Do you know how insulting it is for your best friend to say their biggest worry is if they turn out like you?” Adrien threw a dirty pair of balled up socks at Mal. “Fuck you.”

“You said that.”

“Is this why you’ve been skipping school? Because you’re too worried about integration with the Spell?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t know.” Mal leaned back in the chair, balancing it on its two back legs. “It feels like everything is moving so fast and I’m moving in slow motion. And I miss Rudy.”

“That’s dumb. He lives a block away from you.” Adrien said.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah.” Adrien said. “I miss him too.”

“You just said that was dumb.”

“I was projecting alright?”

“That’s not what projecting is!”

Adrien laughed and tossed another sock at Mal. “If you miss him now, you’re going to miss him a lot more when you’re off in Canada being swarmed by all the pretty Eten girls obsessed with your skin.”

“Rudy told you?”

Adrien’s grin widened. “They look like twins.”

“God damnit. Maybe I don’t miss Rudy.” Mal said, but with a smile. “Why did the Merge have to happen in Canada? Why couldn’t it have happened in California.”

“You’d rather tens of millions died instead of just millions so you wouldn’t have to leave home for your dreams to come true?” Adrien gave him a skeptical look.

“Yes,” Mal said, “That’s exactly what I meant.”

“We’ll keep in touch, dude.”

“Like we do with Rudy? He hasn’t even moved and we barely see him.”

“It’s not his fault he integrated the way he did. We knew he was going to be a big deal.”

“Yeah. Stupid bastard. Five Power, five Alacrity and SIX in Ichor? Couldn’t he have just calmed down a bit.”

Adrien grinned. “He always knew he was awesome. Now he has proof.”

“It’s funny because now that he has proof he doesn’t say it anymore.”

“He always had proof.”

“Yeah.” Mal slumped into the chair further, causing it to rock precariously on its hind legs as his balance shifted.

Adrien stood up and indicated for Mal to move. “So what are you going to do for the rest of the day?”

“What do you mean? I’m hanging out here.” Mal got out of the chair and flopped on Adrien’s unmade bed.

“Okay, then help me with this puzzle.” Adrien held up the puzzle sphere, “Just give me a hint so I know how to tackle them in the future.”

Mal sat up from the bed. “How will you learn if I tell you what to do?”

“Come on! Just a hint,” Adrien said, “I bet you’ve already finished this thing loads of times.”

“I’m stuck on the last one,” Mal said.

“Still?”

“It’s a lot harder. My mom can’t figure it out either.”

“But you’ve definitely done the first,” Adrien prompted, “So you can tell me what to do.”

“I thought you only wanted a hint.”

“Same difference.”

“Fine.” Mal scooted over to the edge of the bed. “What was the task it gives you again?”

Adrien tapped the top of the sphere a few times and a voice came out from it. “Please weave a spell for putting out a fire. Do not use the Extinguish spell form.”

“So what have you got so far then?” Mal said with a frown.

“Pretty much nothing. I don’t even know where to start.”

“You’re stuck on the first one? Wow.” Mal was teasing and Adrien knew it, rolling his eyes in response. “Do you have the sheet of the basic forms I gave you?”

“Uh yeah, around here somewhere.”

Mal raised his brow, “Somewhere? Get it out.”

Adrien opened a drawer and rustled around inside for a few minutes before moving to another. A few minutes later he came back empty handed. “Sorry, Mal.”

Mal sighed. To Adrien’s credit, he did sound sorry. “It’s fine. Show me the first basic spell form with your hands then. We’ll go through this by looking at how to create fire first.”

“Uhh, right. What was that again?”

“Are you kidding me? After I got all the basic forms recorded for you, you haven’t even watched it?”

“I watched it! I just had a hard time paying attention. You got your sister to do the forms, dude. What did you expect?”

There was a lie somewhere in there, but Mal didn’t say anything. Instead, Mal gave Adrien his best flat glare. It wasn’t very good. “Okay. Let’s go through the first few basic forms.”

Mal spent the next few hours with Adrien going through the basic spell forms. It was annoying how slow he had to move his hands for Adrien to see the proper movements, but progress was steady enough. By the time he was getting ready to head back home, Adrien had not yet managed to figure out the first puzzle, but he at least had a starting point. Seeing Adrien progress had the additional benefit of making Mal feel a lot better too. Something about teaching what he loved resonated with him, even if he couldn’t yet do what he loved.

As Mal left, he spotted a stray paper sticking out of one of Adrien’s desk drawers. It had the unmistakable frayed knot drawings of the basic spell forms. Mal stared at the paper with a little smile on his face. That bastard.

“Thanks for your help today Mal, don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Mal suppressed a snort. Adrien was laying it on a little thick. “Yeah, no problem. Just let me know when you get stuck again.”

“When?” Adrien complained, “You could at least have a little faith in me and say ‘if’.”

Mal shook his head and left.

----------------------------------------

Mal opened the door to his home, finding his sister and his mother doing another bit of spell weaving practice, but this time with actual magic. She was in the middle of creating a shining orb of light inside a transparent ball of ice. Mal closed the front door and sat down to watch his sister weave. Watching her spell forms, he could tell her exercise was one that almost exclusively focused on Power, or whatever the traits that made up the actual facet of Power were. The weave was as simple as they came, with only three forms in total: light, empty, and expel. The difficulty came from achieving the desired result with such a simple weave. It would take exponentially more energy to accomplish the goal with a simpler weave than if Ophi had used a more complex one. Weaving was nothing more than an expression of intent through magic. Technically any weave could function with no spell forms at all, but it would need an impossible amount of energy to accomplish even the most basic of tasks. Even adding a single spell form would reduce the energy cost astronomically.

“Good,” Eeleei said from the couch across from his sister. She was speaking in the Eten language as she refused to teach magic in any other. “It looks like you might want to add another movement to the empty form when you are weaving. Or another spell form entirely.”

“I don’t know if Ophi can hold a weave with four spell forms, Mom,” Mal teased, “It might be too tough for her.”

The ice and light winked out of existence as his sister’s concentration was broken. “I can too!”

“Malenthiar, that’s enough,” Eeleei said, “If you can’t encourage your sister, at least sit quietly and observe.”

“Fine.” Mal said. Ophi stuck her tongue out at him and he made a face at his sister.

Eeleei ignored them both. “Ophi, why don’t you show your brother what you’ve been working on?”

“Okay!” A big smile crossed his sister’s face and she ran off to the kitchen. Mal guessed he could see why Adrien might use his sister as an excuse for not being able to pay attention to the forms video they made for him. She was pretty cute.

Ophi came back with a candle and lit it with a quick flick of her fingers. Creating fire was one of the easiest things to do, so that definitely wasn’t what she had been practicing. Ophi took a deep breath and furrowed her brow in concentration. Her hands flicked through a few forms and the candle went out.

Mal blinked. She hadn’t used the extinguish form. It was the solution to the first of the puzzle sphere puzzles. There was a reason Mal had only been teasing Adrien about not completing the first of the sphere’s puzzles. They were hard. Every one of them required careful thinking and focus to complete, and that was without actually using any magic. Treating them as real spells was another thing altogether.

Mal looked up from the smoking candle. Ophi had a nervous look on her face and his mother wore a proud smile.

“That was from the sphere,” Mal said, “How many can you do?”

“Only the first six,” Ophi said with a shy smile, “All the rest are too hard.”

“You shouldn’t have used it without my permission.” Mal said.

“Malenthiar, don’t you think you should congratulate your sister?” Eeleei said with a pointed tone.

“For what, breaking into my room and stealing my things while I’m not home? Sure, I’ll get right on that.”

Ophi's mouth set into a firm little pout that Mal recognized as signaling she was trying not to cry. “Mom said it was okay.”

“Of course it’s okay, Ophinala.” His mother’s gaze was warning, “Malenthiar is happy that you were able to do so much. Isn’t that right?”

Mal snorted. “I completed the first six puzzles before I even got home with the puzzle sphere. The first one you saw me finish was the tenth. I wouldn’t say it’s far, I'd say it’s sad.”

“Malenthiar Thomas-”

“You’re just jealous that I can do magic and you can’t!” Ophi yelled, “You want to be a mage like Daniel Pewter but you can’t even weave yet. You don’t even use magic when you talk!” Ophi illustrated her point with a waterfall of deep blue light falling from her face.

“Ophinala-”

“Like I’d be jealous of someone who could figure out how to skip a spell form until she was fourteen. I did that with the very first weave I made.”

“Both of you-”

“Rudy doesn’t talk to you anymore because he never liked you!” Ophi said. She still had a stubborn pout on her lips but she was openly crying now. “He only was friends with you because he has a crush on me!”

Ophi spun on her heel and ran from the living room. Mal stood in place, anger and confusion warring in his head. A moment later Mal heard his sister burst out crying and her bedroom door slam.

“Malenthiar.” His mother’s voice was sharp enough to cut. A swirl of red sparks were flickering in the air around her head. “Ophinala worked for months to show you those weaves. She was so proud to have finally caught up to her big brother.”

Oh. Oh no.

“Well she should have thought of a way to do that without stealing from me!” Mal yelled loud enough for his sister to hear. “Maybe you can both learn that I have boundaries!”

Mal followed his sister's example and spun on his heel and marched out of the living room. He slammed his bedroom door shut. Through the walls he could hear his sister crying from the room beside his. Mal buried his head in his pillow, using it to cover his ears.

He wouldn’t cry. He wasn’t a scared little kid anymore.

He didn’t need to say it aloud to know it was a lie.

----------------------------------------

Several hours later a knock came at his door. “Mal, are you in there?”

It was his father. Mal didn’t say anything. He covered his head with his pillow instead.

“If you’re not going to say anything, I’m coming in.”

His bedroom door slowly opened, spilling light from the hall into Mal’s dark room. His father closed the door behind him, walking over to the bed and sitting on the edge. Mal felt the mattress compress by his hips as his father sat down. A firm hand touched his shoulder.

“I heard you had a bit of an argument with Ophi this afternoon,” Oscar’s voice was gentle. “Some things were said that nobody meant and feelings got hurt.”

Mal shrugged his shoulder violently, trying to dislodge his father’s hand. Oscar removed it without a word.

“Your sister worked very hard for a very long time to get those six weaves down,” he continued, “She wanted the first six because she says that’s where they start to get really hard. She wanted you to be proud of her.”

Mal felt tears burn in his eyes. “I know,” he said into his mattress. “I am.” It came out muffled and rough.

“So why did you say the things you did?” His father’s tone was not accusing, but kind.

“I dunno.”

Oscar sat in silence for a moment and placed his hand on Mal’s back again, this time rubbing his shoulder gently. “It must have been tough seeing her do something you’ve wanted to do for such a long time.”

Mal sniffed into the pillow and sat up. “What do you know about it?”

Oscar smiled at his son. “I’m old, Mal, but not so old that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a teenager. I once had a similar fight with your uncle Pat.”

“About what.”

“You know, I can’t quite recall. Something stupid, I'm sure.”

“Liar.”

Oscar’s smile widened. “It might have been over a video game. Your uncle was always better than me at sports, with girls, at school, but I could beat him in video games. I don’t know why I felt so proud of that, but I did. That was my thing. Then one day Pat just kept beating me, I couldn’t win, no matter how hard I tried. We had a big fight after that.”

“Then what?”

“Then nothing. I was mad for a couple of weeks and we never talked about it again. We also never played video games again.” Oscar sighed. “What I should have done was marched into my sister’s room and apologized.”

“You don’t have a sister, Dad.”

“No, I don’t.”

Mal’s father placed his hands on his knees and stood up from the bed with a grunt. He walked out of Mal’s room, shutting the door behind him. Mal sat in the dark staring at the closed door. A few moments later, he followed his father out of it.

Turning immediately to his left he knocked on his sister’s door. “Ophi? Are you in there?”

Silence was the only response he received.

“If you’re not going to say anything, I’m coming in.”

Mal didn’t wait for a response and cracked open the door to his sister’s room. The light was off and Ophi was wrapped in a ball of blankets and pillows on her bed. Mal walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge, feeling the mattress compress with his weight. He reached for a lump of blanket he thought was his sister’s shoulder.

“Ophi, I, I wanted to say I was sorry.” Mal said. “I shouldn’t have said those things about your weaving. I wasn’t actually mad that you used my puzzle sphere. You were right. I was jealous that you were doing magic.”

Ophi poked her head out from her cocoon of blankets. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her purple hair was a tangled mess. “Really?” Her voice was raw and soft.

“Yeah. Getting the first six spell weaves down from the sphere is really good, too. Even Mom has trouble with some of them, and you know she has to do all those complicated logistic spells as a librarian.”

“I’m sorry, too.” Ophi poked her head out of the blankets a little further, “I don’t think Rudy only was friends with you because he likes me. And I know you don’t like that you can’t do magic yet. I know when you integrate you’re going to be really good.”

“I hope so.”

“I know you will be!” Ophi sniffed, “Mom thinks you are a savant.”

“Thanks, Ophi.” Mal smiled and rubbed his sister’s shoulder through the blankets.

“Can you-” Ophi swallowed, “Can you help me with the seventh puzzle?”

Mal looked down at his sister. Her eyes were wide, watering and hopeful. “Of course I can. Let me go get it.” Mal made for the door but his sister made a small sound of protest, stopping him. Mal turned around. She was looking guiltily at her dresser. On top of it was his puzzle sphere.

“Sorry.”

“I told you I don’t mind.” Mal walked over to the sphere and brought it back over to the bed. He manipulated it to the seventh puzzle.

“Please weave a spell that will thicken the air.” The sphere said.

“Oh, this one.” Mal said. “I remember this one. What have you tried?”

Ophi sat up in her bed, letting her blanket cocoon fall from her shoulders. “I don’t get it at all. I tried to make it so the air wouldn’t move, but even with advanced forms it’s way too complicated.”

“The way I figured it out was by thinking about the different ways you can thicken something.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like if you want to thicken soup you can cool it down, or add something to it that makes it thicker, or you can heat it up and get as much water out if it as possible.”

“But you can’t do anything like that with air.”

“You can. You can cool it down and heat it up, but it's a trick. When I was thinking about boiling water out of a soup it made me think about how the steam sort of billows against your face and that made me think about how a fan also moves air enough so we can feel it.”

“So the answer is to make it so that air moves? That just would make wind.”

“No, the trick is to change the way air moves.” Mal smiled, “There’s an advanced form that you should know, but there’s a little nuance to it…” Mal trailed off.

“Mal? Is the form Fluid? I can do that one but-”

“Hold on.” Mal interrupted. He flicked his fingers over the sphere, bringing it to the final puzzle.

“Please make electricity behave like water,” the sphere said.

Mal moved his hands through several complex forms. The sphere flashed green. A moment later it flashed purple and then gold.

“Congratulations on completing Professor Pewter’s Puzzle Pack. Please state your name for the record.”

Mal stared at the sphere. Puzzle Pack. Whatever it was.

“Please state your name for the record.”

“Malenthiar Thomas.” Mal said.

“Congratulations Malenthiar Thomas. Your record has been noted. A copy of your record will be sent to Professor Pewter.” The sphere winked out.

“Mal?” Ophi said, “What was that?”

“I don’t know.”