Chương 57: The Bell Rings

Enzo stepped outside and stopped on the porch. The sun was well past its peak and the settlement was fully awake. He closed his eyes and took a breath. A screech cut through the air. Distant, but clear. Enzo opened his eyes and looked eastward. Everywhere, people had stopped what they were doing. A woman stood with wet clothes in her hands. Kids stared, while their soccer ball rolled away. Then, one by one, they went back to what they were doing. Enzo kept looking.

The first few weeks after arriving, Eater cries had been rare. The Riders, the 101s, and the smaller groups in and around Mill Valley had been aggressive about clearing them out during the first days after the rain. There was evidence that Beasts hunted them, too. And the number of Eaters in the area had simply been lower than in places like San Francisco, or Santa Rosa, based on what Signe had told them. They'd chalked it up to people being at work or away on summer vacation when the rain hit.

Fewer people caught outside meant fewer deaths, which meant fewer Eaters. But the cries were getting more frequent. The question was whether they were hearing more because of the Riders' experiments, or because Eaters were filtering in from the cities to the north and south. Or maybe Sharon and the others were an indication that a second wave of awakenings was coming. Which would inevitably mean fresh Eaters from those who failed. That thought intruded more often than he liked.

He was worried about their settlement in general, of course, but the truth was he was more concerned about his own parents. If both of their kids had one of the genes, then the odds were good that they had it, too. Enzo pushed the thought aside again. There was nothing they could do about it. He'd considered it from every angle he could think of, but the reality of their situation was simple. Mana was permanent. It was here to stay.

Had been here all along, apparently, just in low enough quantities that activation didn't occur. Yet. If the stars generated mana, then it was always just a matter of time. Though, why Earth and its sun had been trapped in a barrier was one of those conspiracy theories he really wanted to discuss with someone. He turned and headed for the guild hall. A guard stood on the front landing, hands clasped behind his back, with a machete belted to his waist. Enzo recognized him as he got closer.

He'd been one of the escorts who accompanied Matt the day he'd arrived. He was also the same guard who'd stood first watch outside Sharon's door last night. The guard dipped his head and pulled the door open. Enzo stopped.

"Did Frank decide we need a permanent guard?"

"Yes, sir. He set aside a small team for a full rotation. The boss thinks it'll be a pretty cushy job, but he wants people who won't get lazy about it." He paused.

"I was told to inform you that both Director Valentina and Commander Yamamoto signed off on the idea." Enzo stared at him. It was already spreading.

"Director Valentina and Commander Yamamoto, huh?"

"Yes, sir."

"And what is Frank going by, if Kenzo is the Commander?"

"Me and the boys have been floating the idea of calling him Captain, sir."

"Right." Enzo leaned on the cane.

"And your name?"

"It's Alan, sir." Another pause.

"I was instructed to call you Master Locke, but I remembered what you said last time. That Mr. Locke is your father. I got the feeling you don't really like titles." The corner of his mouth twitched.

"And I assumed the Director was trying to give you shit again, sir." Enzo reevaluated the guard. Frank had put someone who paid attention on the door.

"Alan, huh?" He clapped him on the shoulder.

"Good man. Keep it up."

"Thank you, sir." Enzo headed inside, then stopped and stared. The foyer had changed. Again. It had been five hours since he was last here. Velvet ropes now cordoned off the hallways leading deeper into the building. Signs hung on the walls, though calling them signs was generous. Handwritten notes on paper, taped at eye level.

'DO NOT ENTER. MAGES ONLY.'

'RING THE BELL FOR ASSISTANCE.' He glanced at the table by the stairs. Someone had set out a small brass bell, a stack of paper, and a row of potted plants. Enzo walked over and tapped the bell twice. Then he tapped it a few more times because it had a satisfying ring to it. There was a thump from above, then a muffled shout.

"I'll be right there!" Sumi. A door opened. Hurried footsteps crossed the house, followed by the sound of someone going down a flight of stairs. Then even more hurried footsteps crossed the ceiling above. Sumi appeared halfway down the stairs a few seconds later, slightly out of breath, her wrapped arm tucked against her chest. She stopped when she saw him. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Oh, it's just you. Why didn't you just come up to my office?" Enzo almost laughed.

"I wanted to know what the bell was for." He looked around the foyer.

"And I have no idea where your office is." He frowned.

"Or mine, come to think of it." Sumi smiled.

"Right. Follow me, I'll show you around." She turned back up the stairs, then stopped.

"Grab one of the potted plants." He looked at the row. They all looked the same, just in different pots.

"Which one?"

"Any is fine." Enzo picked the nearest one and tucked it under his arm. Then he followed her up the stairs, cane tapping on each step. Sumi waited for him on the second floor landing, then started down the hallway, pointing with her good hand as she walked.

"We're setting these two rooms aside as classrooms." She glanced back.

"We don't need them yet, but we figured we will eventually." Enzo nodded. The doors were open, revealing empty rooms stripped of furniture, but with good natural lighting.

"These next two are Kenzo and Val's offices." Enzo glanced through one of the doorways. A desk, a chair, nothing on the walls yet.

"Thought Val was keeping the admin building?"

"She is, but we decided she still needs a mage space." At the end of the hall, Sumi made her way up to the third floor. Enzo followed. She pointed again.

"This is Signe's office. This is the breakroom." She gestured to the next door.

"Storage closet for magical materials, though we've also set aside the basement for that." She stopped at the last door and turned to him.

"And this is my office." Enzo looked up and down the hallway.

"What about my office?" Sumi pointed at the ceiling.

"We set aside the attic for you. You just need to grab the handle there and pull the stairs down." Enzo looked at the pull-down attic hatch in the ceiling. Then at Sumi.

"Who picked the attic?"

"Val."

"Of course she did." Sumi's eyes went wide.

"Oh, no. It wasn't like that."

"I am skeptical, but I'm listening."

"She thought you were going to need the most space for your crafting benches and any equipment and materials you want to keep." Enzo raised an eyebrow. Sumi continued, speaking faster.

"I suggested that the basement could be your office and Kenzo said we could just knock out some walls and give you two rooms on this floor. Val said we couldn't stick the Guildmaster in the basement, but you also needed to be put somewhere out of the way so people wouldn't bother you all the time."

"That… actually sounds kind of thoughtful," Enzo said. Sumi nodded.

"I'm sorry. None of us thought about the cane."

"What?" Enzo glanced down at his hand.

"No, that's fine. I just thought she was being a brat by sticking me in the attic." Sumi laughed, sounding relieved.

"Oh. No. Not this time, at least." Then she pushed through the door into her office.

"Come in." Enzo followed. Where his own workshop was a comfortable chaos of sketches, tools, and half-finished projects spread across every surface, Sumi's office was compartmentalized. Everything had a place, and everything was in it. A desk sat in the near corner, a box of chalk and a stack of notes arranged neatly on top. Behind it, a chalkboard had been nailed into the wall with more enthusiasm than was strictly necessary. It was covered in diagrams and notes in Sumi's small, tight handwriting.

He was pretty sure the chalkboard had come from the elementary school down the hill. The chalk, too. The rest of the room was dominated by three tables pushed against the walls in a U-shape, forming a workshop area at the far end. The left table sat beneath the window. Potted plants lined the sill, catching the afternoon light. An optical microscope, the old concave-mirror type that didn't need power, was positioned to take advantage of the same light source.

Beside it, a cutting board with a partially dissected leaf, a pair of tweezers, and a small rack of jars that looked like it had been a spice rack in a previous life. Instead of oregano and cumin, the jars held pressed leaves, dried roots, and seed pods. He needed a microscope himself, but Sumi's research had priority. He'd have to wait until they found another one. The right table held larger jars. Chunks of meat suspended in liquid. Strips of fur. Sections of leather cut from what looked like Beast hide.

Gerald's contribution, probably. Each jar was labeled in the same tight handwriting. But it was the center table that drew his attention. A flat, polished metal plate had been laid across the surface. Painted onto the metal in what looked like ink mixed with crushed crystal dust was a complex pattern he couldn't make heads or tails of. It wasn't geometric the way his spell forms were. The lines curved and branched and reconnected in ways that followed a logic he didn't recognize.

Two small saucers sat at opposite ends of the plate. He set the potted plant down on the windowsill with the others, then turned back to the metal plate.

"What is this?" Sumi smiled.

"I figured it out! You came at just the right time." Enzo couldn't help but smile back, though he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Figured out what?" Sumi moved to the chalkboard.

"It was your crystal mana that gave me the clue. I can't convert it at all, but when you said it allows you to reorder the structure of other materials, I started thinking." She turned back.

"What does mana do?" Enzo frowned.

"It… makes itself. And it carries concepts that relate to its type?"

"Yes! Exactly!" She was more animated than he'd ever seen her before.

"Except that didn't add up at first, because some mana types don't appear to make anything."

"Like life and body mana." Sumi nodded.

"Because only elemental mana types make themselves. But what you discovered with crystal mana proves that mana can also have a distinct function!" Enzo shook his head.

"I feel like I'm missing a key detail here. We already knew all of this." Sumi took a breath.

"Sorry. I'm just really excited." She took another breath.

"Okay. I think Elemental is a category of typed mana. When we make fire mana, it is capable of becoming fire, right?" He nodded.

"But fire mana can also produce heat without fire." He frowned. That was true. Sumi continued.

"I've tested some of the others, too. Wind mana can generate motion without air. Metal mana adds persistence. Earth makes things more stable. There are more I don't quite understand yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time."

"So, Elemental and what?" Enzo asked.

"Fundamental? Conceptual?"

"Oh. I like that." Sumi turned back to the chalkboard, grabbed a piece of chalk, and wrote 'Conceptual.'

"Let's go with that for now. Elemental and Conceptual mana categories." Enzo read the information below where she'd just added the new terminology. Arcane had 'elemental and non-elemental' written next to it, and 'foundational' circled in thick lines. Sumi dropped the chalk.

"That wasn't it though." She made her way to the other end of the room, to the table with the enchanting setup.

"That's all theory. But it's what led me to wonder what arcane mana did besides applying force." Enzo followed.

"And because it produces force, it's elemental?" Sumi stopped at the table.

"Well, maybe." Then she turned to him.

"What does arcane mana do?" He frowned. It produced force. It was in everything. It was everywhere. But that wasn't what she meant. Crystal mana produced crystal, but it also changed the underlying physical structure of materials. It tried to reorder matter into a crystalline structure. What did arcane do when it wasn't hitting things? Enzo's gaze fell on the two saucers. In one was a pinch of crystal dust. In the other was a teaspoon of water. His eyebrows shot up.

"It changes."