Sketch stopped drawing and glared up at her.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I guess. I thought everyone could, OK? I don’t always know what you guys can see and what you can’t. You see more stuff than most people, but I still see more stuff than you, and it’s not cool. I don’t like being the only one who sees everything.”
It was the longest speech Mackenzie had ever heard him make, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise, not sure what to do with it.
“I’m sorry, Sketch,” Kaitlyn said gently. “I can see how that would be hard.”
Sketch had bristled up in frustration, but Kaitlyn’s tone seemed to appease him. He dropped his shoulders back down, and after looking at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable, he turned his attention back to his pad and started drawing again.
“I’m sorry, too,” Mackenzie added. “I didn’t mean to upset you. For what it’s worth, you really saved our butts in there today. You might not be glad you can see things we don’t, but I’m sure glad someone can. Whatever was coming for us, I’m glad you were there to warn us.”
“Yeah, she’s right,” Kaitlyn agreed, and Daniel added his own, “Me, too.” Sam was the only one who didn’t comment, but she didn’t say anything to deny it, either.
Whatever he was thinking, Sketch didn’t reply.
“Maybe we were just too tired,” Sam finally said, and Mackenzie looked at her in surprise.
“I’m still mad at Rush,” Sam clarified. “He shouldn’t have left. I’m just saying I was exhausted, too. I think summoning things probably… drains us, somehow. Like when you study really hard for a test, and then after you take it you feel like you’re ready to just pass out and sleep all day.”
“That makes sense,” Kaitlyn agreed. “I don’t think we should try to summon things on our own anymore, just in case. I don’t want to let Ammu down again.”
“I don’t think we should be doing it on our own, anyway,” Mackenzie added. “Not after today. If Sketch hadn’t been paying attention, who knows what might have come through.”
“Agreed,” Daniel said. Even Sam nodded, and Daniel finally stopped playing and looked pointedly at Sketch. When he didn’t look up, Daniel nudged him gently in the back with his foot.
“What? Oh, yeah.”
But he was still engrossed in his drawing, which was finally starting to coalesce into a meaningful image. When Mackenzie looked over his shoulder now, she was amazed to see a perfect replica of one of the photographs Ammu had shown them that morning: the door of Alexander’s tomb, intricately carved to depict the side view of a life-sized lion, rearing magnificently into the air, with a single, stark lightning bolt running it through.
42
Ammu
It was two more days before they returned to the summoning room. Ammu explained that extra “security measures” were being added after their close call with the unknown, which was just as well. The students of the ICIC finally had forty-eight hours to enjoy everything the resort had to offer—the pool even being open in the afternoons with Staff Sergeant Miller for a lifeguard—but they were too exhausted to do more than nap in the lounge chairs around the water’s edge.
The only one who really took advantage of the time off was Sketch, who pushed the kitchen staff to their limits after testing Christina’s offer to accept unusual meal requests and discovering that the dedicated chefs of the ICIC would at least attempt to create any dish he asked for, bar none. He immediately sat down and made a list, running through every concoction he could remember from the many books he had read, and then asking the others for more ideas.
As a result, they enjoyed a perpetual buffet, transitioning seamlessly from breakfast, to brunch, to lunch, to tea, to dinner, to supper, to dessert, to late night snacking, all courtesy of what they laughingly dubbed Sketch’s Smorgasbord Spectacular. It didn’t make them miss Rush any less, but even Sketch had to admit that eating seemed to be doing as much to restore his energy level as sleeping was. By the time their two days of vacation were up, they were all feeling much more themselves again.
When they arrived in the summoning room the following morning, they were surprised to discover a fully-armed Staff Sergeant Miller waiting for them. He stood in the corner on high alert, wearing a jungle camouflage uniform and a grim expression of determination.
“You realize green camo doesn’t work in a white room, right?” Sam challenged him.
“I’m not trying to blend in,” he said, nodding at her without smiling. “My job is to draw any potential danger away from the five of you, at any cost. Ma’am.”
“Oh,” Sam replied lamely.
“Good job, Miller,” Mackenzie said, grinning at him wryly. “Way to freak out the assets.”
Miller’s eyes flicked to the one-way mirror behind her before returning her gaze. “I apologize, ma’am,” was all he said, and Mackenzie dropped the grin, automatically matching his professional manner.
“OK, people,” she said, looking around at the others to make sure she had their attention. “Everybody ready?”
They all nodded.
“Good. Let’s do this thing.”
Ammu raised his eyebrows in surprise but said nothing, merely handing the book and the chalk to Kaitlyn.
“Got it,” Kaitlyn said immediately, kneeling in the center of the room and beginning to draw out the circle.
“Here,” Mackenzie said, just as briskly, pointing to a spot on the floor before Kaitlyn had even finished outlining the circle. “Start here. We’re going to do this right the first time, today.”
Kaitlyn nodded, moving to Mac’s position and allowing her chalk to hover over the floor, ready to start drawing the runes.
“Count us in, Tick-Tock,” Mackenzie said, rubbing her hands together with enthusiasm. “Here we go!”
“One… two… one, two, three, four!”
Mackenzie circled her hands through the air with renewed energy. She did not move any faster than before, keeping carefully to the pace Sam set for them, but she focused on every movement, no matter how small—aware in every moment of the energy flowing through her back, her legs, her arms, her hands—intending the blessing and protection of the circle with every nuance of position, every gesture, every fiber of her being.
Kaitlyn drew the runes on the floor, tracing each line meticulously, feeling with confidence the absolute rightness of the pattern that glowed in her mind. And as she drew, Daniel hummed the otherworldly tune of the gryphon, calling to it purposefully across the rift between the two worlds.
Sketch watched as the magic began to build, the runes glowing softly this time even before the circle was complete. On Kaitlyn’s last stroke, Sam reached up over her head with just one hand, twisting her wrist gently through the air. Where her hand came to rest, a tiny portal hovered just over her palm. She reached up with the other hand and began to shape it, pausing when it was about the size of a baseball, looking at Sketch for confirmation before she continued.