One of the older women shot me a kind smile as she passed me a steaming cup. “This should take the edge off.” fused, I shot her a quizzical look but heless accepted the proffered drink. It smelled of some flower I could identify. Uhat, I got a hint of something else. Something a bit cooler. Which was odd given the amount of steam wafting off the white and brown liquid.

  Given that this was a random drink I had been handed by a stranger I should have either faked a sip a down or simply offered a polite refusal. Especially when one sidered what I had been given by Linda in the guise of sauce. Hell, I knew someone had already tried to poisooday – or was that yesterday? Yet something about the way the two dies had spoken to me. They sounded grandmotherly. Fully expeg the worst, I took a sip.

  The fvor of mint coated my tongue for a moment before it was overtaken by something else. Maybe I could have identified it if I tried to do so, but my mind was focused elsewhere. As if by magic, every muscle in my body slowly released. The tension ahat had been building in my core dissipated, taking with it the majority of the hat apa.

  Sure, it wasn’t everything but it was as if my heat went from a to a two. The pain was there but I could easily ig. Of course, it wasn’t the only biological process that dematention. My stomach chose that moment to growl out its frustration at being ignored for so long. Laughter erupted around the table at the sound.

  A young dy, no youhan me, sat on my other side. She reached out and spun a circle set into the table and pushed it to the side. The entire ter of the table spun, bringing with it all the food and drinks stationed on it. “Eat!” “Eat something!” “Feel free to get some food!” “Fill that belly young’un!” Called a few voices.

  Heat blossomed in my cheeks as I lowered my head to hide my embarrassment. Still, I reached out and took a pte with a sandwi it. Or at least I thought it was a sandwich. Between two fluffy pieces of bread, there was some sort of meat and sauce. I tried to suppress the groan that threateo escape as I took my first bite.

  Sure, the meat had the expected earthy fvor, but it wasn’t alone. Interwoven irands of fvor presented by the meat was a hint of sweetouched with a bit of something savory. As I worked my way through the sandwich, there were a few gossipers who filled the room with chatter.

  “I heard that Beatrix was killed yesterday. Head cut right off.”

  “How horrible. At least it was quick though. Poor Christian was killed with radiation of all things.”

  Someosked. “Horrible way to go. Had a friend go that route after bei into a reactor to fix a loose fuel rod ba the day. The poor fellow didn’t live out the week. Sometimes I still hear his pained cries as his skin…”

  Someone else hissed. “Not while some of us are eating Daryna.”

  “Just telling it how it is.” Daryna’s heavily ated voice paused for a sed as if deep in thought. “Though that begs the question as to how the person pulled off such a feat. I don’t think any of the people have found a source of radiation.”

  I choked down what was in my mouth to ask “Magic?” Quite a few eyes turo look in my dire. As they bored into me I dropped my eyes back toward my pte as I mumbled out “Sorry.”

  “No,” the ated voice was short and sharp as she spoke. “What did you say?”

  I tried to act as though I hadn’t said a word but it made the situation more awkward as the other versations around us went quiet. Likely as they tried to figure out what was going on. Finally, I gave up and answered her. “Could they have created a source of radiation with magic? Or at least created something with a simir effect?”

  “Nemaye.” Not uanding what Daryna just said, I lifted my head to see that she was shaking her head.

  “Not possible.” Another woman agreed.

  “No, it is possible,” Came a soft voice from one of the ers of the room. Everyouro look at the speaker. A skinny elven woman with ptinum blond hair sat in the grass pying with some flowers that were actively blooming around her even as she picked them. “Sure, all of the tested methods have failed to yield results, but that does not mean there isn’t a method. Who is to say that one could not use Spatial magic to create a small star to create fusion? Add a shell of Time magid you have yourself a portable bomb. Separate out just the radiation, tain it, and you have a damn fine bomb that no one would be able to track.”

  Yeah, the whole room stayed silent as we all took in the idea. Sure, I khat a bomb ossible with Fire mana, hell that was the basis of a fireball, yet the thought that one person could create a tactical on was on another level. What would stop such a person from demanding whatever they wanted?

  “Though,” the elven woman broke the silence. “I doubt any such persos. At least not yet. Such a bination of spells would require quite a number of experiments and a massive mana pool. It may not even be possible without a few massive mana ste devices. Holy, it wouldn’t be worth it. Not when there are quite a few other, easier methods of killing armies.”

  With those words it was like the room as a whole let out a breath of relief. “Leave it to Adalind? to figure out ways to blow up everything and then tell us it was not realistic.”

  “Still,” the teenager had a bit of a quaver in their voice as they spoke. “What is with all of these deaths? Are we ?”

  “Why do you think they gathered all of us here?” The older dy o me scoffed.

  “So they keep us safe?” Daryna’s voice was full of s. “See how well that worked before. And even if it did, trapped here until someone decides that we are needed for something. Nothing more than sves.”

  “Wait,” I asked as I reached for a sed pte. “Who is supposed to be keeping you safe here?”

  “The guards,” A young voice I reized spoke up. My head whipped in its dire to find Philipa half-hidden behind a hunched figure. Seeing her sitting there, alive and lookihy, I felt relieved. “But not the usual guards. These guards were new. Off.” The group’s nods and affirming words filled the pce as she finished speaking.

  An odd thought occurred to me, ohat didn’t make much sense given that these people were supposedly being protected. “If there are guards preventing people from attag you, how did I get here without seeing one, let aloing stopped?”

  Once again, the room went silent at the thought. The old woman who had opehe door for me was the first to break the silehis structure, while well explored, still holds mas. ging on a whim, as if it is alive as it tries to guide people where they o be when they o be there. Something tells me that, if you were to follow the route you took, you would find it is no lohere oes in a pletely different dire.”

  The idea that a building could be alive, if not se, was absurd. But, then again, how else could I expiunnels I had used to get here? Very few pces left such areas open to the public. Add to that the fact that I seemed to have bypassed every security measure that surrouhese people, what other expnation was there?

  “Ahh…” A well-worn and quiet voice caught everyone's attention. While it wasn’t loud, it felt as though the words that came from it mao fill the room. The speaker sat oher side of the table from me. Her back was so bent over that her head nearly rested against the table.

  That didn’t stop her misty white eyes from meeting mine as she spoke. “Child, you have doo igemptation but I see a rough road filled with tough decisions id out before you. While I see a possibility of happiness, I also see much pain and suffering. Just remember that you are not alone. Never alone…” It was as if she lost her train of thought or was falling asleep because her voice drifted off at the end.

  “Don’t mind her.” The younger of the two sittio me said as her hand grabbed mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Her predis are always right but only because they are so vague. So, what is it like being part fox?”

  Her sudden ge of topic, coupled with the ges in tone, caught me off guard. “Jessica!” Someone called out.

  “But mom!” The woman called back. “I always wondered what it would be like to have a pair of ears and tail for myself. It isn’t my fault the stupid stone gave me su annoying power set.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, curious as to what the SoulStone had given her.

  “I was lucky” she she word as if she didn’t really sider herself all that lucky. “Enough to gain the use of the Time Element. Too bad it is limited to peering into bits and pieces of the future and little else. The stupid element has no use in bat no matter what the elf over there says.” Her head tilted toward the elf who looked to be nearly doh a wreath made of flowers. “If it did then the people running this damned pce might have let us live on our own.”

  “What about using another element? And what about leveling up? Surely there is another way to defend yourself.”

  “Sure,” one of the dies nodded. “We use other elements but we are disced from doing so. They refuse to provide any training or spaces to practiything other than what is required for our jobs.”

  Someone scoffs “And anytime someone argues that we need a way to defend ourselves they wave off our ents and say that that is the job of the guards and that we need not worry our heads about any of that.”

  That sounded as though the people running this pce were trying to keep trol over this group. To make sure that they were always avaible and uheir trol. Which made some se they were not tools but people.

  Without warning, one of the only men in the room hacked violently. Every eye swiveled as oo look at him. While one hand covered his mouth, the other lifted up to show that he was fine just as another hag cough wracked his body. Uhe previous ohis one sounded wet and didn’t stop after one or two hacks. It went on and on, growing worse and worse with each hag cough.

  Finally, after a good three minutes of straight coughing, it stopped. He lifted his head but his eyes did not lift to look at the rest of us. They were locked on whatever was in his hand. A moment ter, his body shuddered as he colpsed. Particles of light flit off his body as it dropped toward the ground.