Page 10 of A Door in the Dark
Timmons looked shocked. She pulled Ren into another hug. “Their loss, dear. When you invent the next brilliant spell, it will be even more their loss. Go on. I’ll help you with whatever you’re working on. Just this once.”
Her friend retreated to the back wall and took a seat. Turning, Ren prepared the practice magic again. She and Timmons had been best friends since sophomore year. Their paths had crossed in a few classes, as well as while taking the school’s waxway portal home. Both of them attended on scholarship. Ren had been plucked out of the public schools down in Kathor for her exam scores. Timmons had been chosen because she possessed one of the rarest and most sought-after genetic traits in the world.
She was an enhancer.
Enhancers were born with the natural ability to increase the potency of magic. Every great house courted people like her and barely managed to keep from drooling in the process. Timmons had been pursued since her first day on campus. None of the houses wanted to appear too publicly desperate, because the founders of the city would not stoop so low as to beg, but secretly they all left her gifts. High-end dresses made of specialized weaver’s thread. Small trinkets wrought from gold. Marriage proposals to their second- or third-born sons. Anything within reason to lure a powerful commodity like Timmons into their family. It was also why the two of them rarely discussed Ren’s recruitment. The chasm between their experiences was too large for her to stomach at times.
As Ren settled into her stance again, she could feel the power waiting in her friend’s veins. The magic re-formed into another projectile in the distance. It took aim. Timmons acted like a funnel. Whatever magic Ren might have wasted alone, Timmons gathered and honed to a fine point. Her presence made executing the spell impossibly easy.
Ren completed all four steps before the spear was halfway through the air. The weapon’s tip caught. Its momentum circled in a tight sphere. And then the imagined spear planted in the ground directly behind her. Just as intended.
“Flawless,” Timmons announced. “Though, I’d recruit you on looks alone.”
Ren laughed at that, dabbing the sweat on her forehead with a sleeve.
“I won’t always have you to amplify my magic.”
“No, but it’s easier to use a spell than it is to learn the spell in the first place. All you have to do now is practice.”
“Very true. Which will mean more time down in this archive room, to which I am recently wed. We will live a very happy life together, I think.”
“That is… pitiful,” Timmons replied. “Speaking of pitiful, I think the best way to get you out of the societal basement is to attend a festivity.”
Ren rounded on her friend. “No.”
“And there happens to be a festivity tonight.”
“Timmons, come on.…”
“And considering the favor I just extended to you, I think it only fair that you return said favor by coming to a party I am practically obligated to attend.”
“I have homework.”
“Actually, I checked the itinerary board. You don’t have any assignments.”
“Exams—”
“Just finished. The next round are nearly five weeks away, Ren! We’re about to be on break.”
“Devlin might be there.”
“I daresay he considers himself above such debauchery.”
She had a point. Ren groaned. “Do I have to go?”
“Ren Monroe. Did we not recently discuss your prospects? Did we not discuss the idea that you have, until now, failed to properly kiss the rings and asses of the city’s elite? Are you not down here bemoaning the cowardly ignorance of House Shiverian? This is your chance to shake a few hands and remind people that you are more than a walking textbook.”
“Ouch,” Ren replied. “A walking textbook? Really? Is that how you see me?”
“I know better, but they don’t. Come to the party. Smile and drink and prove them wrong. I am not going to let the smartest girl in our grade go belly-up in graduate school. You deserve a spot in one of the big five houses. It is time to dig in and fight for it.”
Ren snorted. “I’m confused. Is this about making me feel better? Or finding me a job?”
“Both,” Timmons replied. “Two wyverns with one stone, as they say.”
Deep down Ren wanted to disappear into the comfort of her bedroom and be alone. Timmons had come through plenty of times for her, though. And she was right about making some social strides. Even if she didn’t land a job tonight, it’d be nice to get out and have a proper drink.
“Fine.”
