I rubbed my eyes. “I can’t believe I’m trying to do this without coffee.”
“Okay,” Pellini said. He scrutinized the ring of sigils and gave a satisfied nod. “Okay.” He stepped carefully between two sigils and made his way toward us. Bryce holstered his gun but didn’t relax one bit.
“When did you learn how to do that?” I asked Pellini, pointing at the circle of sigils.
He stepped off the nexus and glanced back. “Just now, I guess.”
“I don’t understand,” I said with gross understatement. “How did you know what to do?”
“Mister, um, I mean, Kadir said I’d know.” He shrugged. “It’s for you and Idris.”
Without warning, Idris grabbed the front of Pellini’s shirt with both hands to yank him away from the nexus. My gut clenched as potency shimmered on Idris, but I’d underestimated Pellini. The surly detective was overweight and out of shape, but he knew his training. In quick, reflexive movements, Pellini trapped Idris’s hands against his chest, twisted, swept his leg, and shoved him facedown on the grass with his right arm up and held in a wrist lock.
“Fucking snot-nosed know-it-all punk,” Pellini growled. “Do not lay hands on me unless it’s a Heimlich or CPR.” He released Idris and stepped back.
Idris rolled away and sat up, features twisted in anger and humiliation. “Won’t happen. I wouldn’t be able to get my arms around you to do the Heimlich.”
Hurt flashed across Pellini’s face before he buried it under a scowl. “That shit won’t last long.” He jerked his head toward the sigils. “Make the most of it.” With that, he stomped away toward the woods. “Sammy!”
Bryce offered Idris a hand up. “I hope you know you brought that on yourself,” he said to Idris—to my enormous relief because that meant I didn’t have to say it.
Idris took Bryce’s hand and stood. He muttered a couple of words that could have been either fuck you or thank you, then marched toward the ring of glowing sigils. Off to my right, Pellini disappeared down the trail that led to the start of the obstacle course, his dog cavorting around him.
Bryce pursed his lips. “Need me to follow him?”
“No, it’s cool. He just needs some space,” I said. “Can you hold down the fort? I need to take care of this nexus thing.”
“I’m on it.”
I turned to the nexus in time to see Idris attempt to disrupt the circle of sigils. “Hey!” I called out. “Hold on. Who put you in command here?”
The ring remained unaltered despite his efforts. He cursed and dropped his hands. “Someone has to deal with this crap.”
“Not by destroying it before we check it out!” I moved forward and examined the slowly spinning ring of sigils. Though most of the sigils weren’t familiar, to my delight I understood the whole of it. “It’s a simulator,” I said. “It’s what we can use to learn how to symmetrize a valve without screwing up a real valve or blowing ourselves up.”
“And you know this because Kadir told you.” Idris made no attempt to hide the scorn in his voice.
I scowled. “Kadir said I need to learn how to symmetrize a valve, Pellini said this was for us, and that sigil,” I pointed to three interlocked triangles, “is like one Mzatal always includes in his training patterns, only Kadir-style.”
Idris folded his arms, face set in a frown. “Maybe it is a simulator, but what else? I don’t intend to get influenced by Kadir.”
“It’s simple then,” I said. “Don’t use it.” Part of me knew he had a point, but I did, too, and I was completely over his bullshit.
Without another word, I stepped through the gap between two sigils and onto the center of the nexus. At least that’s where I thought I’d stepped. My heart pounded as the world faded to endless, silent grey. If it had been like this for Pellini, it was no wonder he hadn’t answered us. Shivering, I gulped down my unease. The ominous feeling that Kadir stood right behind me was so strong I glanced over my shoulder to confirm he wasn’t there. Marginally reassured, I watched in fascination as a replica of a standard valve, much like the one by my pond, appeared at my feet.
An ice-cold electric charge ran up and down my back, and understanding of the Earthside structure of a valve poured into my mind. Potency twisted along the valve boundary. Aspects that appeared flawless to my untrained senses resolved into subtle irregularities, like hair escaping a braid.
“Asymmetry,” I murmured, ridiculously pleased that I could see it. I followed my Kadir-enhanced intuition to smooth out the flaws and, after what felt like half an hour of work, the valve emitted a flash of arcane blue light then settled into pulsing shimmery blue-green.
I did a fist pump and examined my work. Whereas Kadir’s barricade seal inhibited the effectiveness of a valve or node, his symmetrization technique enhanced it, like clearing roots from a drain.