32. Streaming

I was in bed in the middle of an earthquake. A wall in my room had collapsed, and the rocking motion of the earth was trying to shake me loose and suck me into a big, black hole. My bedroom door opened, and my Mom entered, but she didn’t seem concerned at all.

“Help me!” I cried. “The hole is trying to eat me!”

Actually, it really was trying to eat me.

I looked again. It had teeth.

“Now, now,” my Mom said soothingly. “Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic? After all, it’s not only trying to eat you. It’s trying to eat everything.”

My dresser slid across the floor and into the maw, where it was smashed to splinters and sucked down into the darkness.

“See what it did?” my Mom asked. “It has nothing to do with you. Don’t you feel better now?”

She sat down beside me on the edge of the bed and started to give my head a soothing pat before she jumped to her feet.

“Your bed’s wet!” she said, dismayed. “Did you wet the bed again?”

I felt so ashamed. Had I wet the bed? I didn’t remember. Mom touched my pillow and made a face. She showed her hand to me. It was damp.

The hole snagged my bedspread and sucked it down. Then it ate the end of my bed. I clung to the headboard and cried as Mom stood off to the side sadly shaking her head, and then she walked right out of the room, leaving me with the gaping dark hole.

No!

No! No! No!

Don’t leave me here!

“Stop thrashing around!” Annabeth screamed.

Huh?

I froze in surprise. What was she doing in my bedroom?

“Don’t sit down,” I told her quickly. “I’m wet.”

“No duh,” she shot back, “I’m wet too.”

I felt a warm glow. Annabeth was so nice. She’d peed herself so we could go through this together. She was a true friend.

Wait.

That wasn’t right.

Then it all came back to me. The fight. The hit. The stream.

We were underground, floating somewhere.

At least we were alive.

“Where are we?” I yelled.

‘I don’t know,’ she messaged back. ‘I blacked out just like you did, and I’ve only just started to collect my wits. All I know is we’re alive, we’re in the water, and we’re moving. There’s too much going on at the moment for me to use my echolocation, so I’m effectively blind again. Somehow we have air, though. I’m not sure how long it will last, so don’t panic and don’t use your voice. Messaging is a lot more oxygen friendly.’

‘Got it,’ I messaged back and turned on my magic sight.

We were in the underground stream and moving along at a pretty good clip. We were still tied together, and at a quick glance, we seemed to be okay. At least we didn’t seem to be bleeding, and all our parts seemed to be where they were supposed to be. Our suits looked strange, though.

I flashed what I was seeing to Annabeth and checked in with my Crystal. Without my asking, it quickly caught me up to speed.

When I’d been stunned, my fast-processing Crystal had taken over and come up with a plan to keep us alive. It had accessed my super suit and made it ready for a long immersion. My suit had grown up around my entire body, including my head, and created an air-tight, waterproof seal to keep me dry. The water was cold, so the suit had switched to thermal layering to keep me warm. I also needed oxygen, of course, so it had expanded the suit around my entire body and pulled in enough air to keep me alive for about fifteen minutes.

At the same time, my Crystal had taken over Annabeth’s suit and done the same. That’s why we were still alive and looking like the Pillsbury Doughboy.

Considering all that our suits had done, I was very glad I’d upgraded every option. If the suits had transformed slower, we would have had water instead of air to breathe. I’d also upgraded the range of its transformations, and that had allowed the suits to store more air.

I messaged that to Annabeth and checked in with Tea next.

‘Considering how hard you were hit, you’re doing very well,’ Tea explained. ‘Your ribs were flexible, so they bent rather than broke. You’ve still suffered a lot of damage to your soft tissue and internal organs, so you’re going to need to recover before you can fight again. Fortunately, you’re conscious and you have a reasonable range of motion, so you should be able to still get out of here.

‘Needless to say, my Grove and I are already working hard to get you back into shape. Normally, I’d estimate it would take five days to recover and get back into top form. I’ve been studying your healing cycle, however, and I’ve incorporated it into my rejuvenation abilities. My new estimate for full recovery should be about twenty-two hours.

‘Of course, if you could find time to meditate on healing, like you did after the red-eye popped your spine, then I expect the recovery time to be even faster. Right now, though, what you need most is fresh air.’

‘And that is something I believe I can help with,’ my Crystal interrupted quickly. I sent a quick thought of gratitude to Tea and then gave Crystal all my attention.

‘The suit has another upgrade,’ the Crystal stated, and I gave a mental sigh. Of course it did. And I’m sure it was expensive too.

‘Don’t bother explaining all the options and levels,’ I said. ‘Just tell me what you think I need and how much it will cost.’

‘You need the water to air conversion system for a standard human,’ Crystal replied. ‘Recreation class and guaranteed up to twenty meter depth. Cost is three hundred pearls.’

‘Buy it,’ I said. ‘For both myself and Annabeth. And in the future, if you need to purchase something that will save either of our lives, then you have my permission.’

My Crystal bowed mentally, and my suit shifted. Small black circles appeared all over the surface, and I felt it tug on my magic. I gave it what it needed, and immediately, I started sensing a whiff of clean air. I hadn’t realized just how stale the air was until the fresh air arrived.

‘Why was the upgrade so cheap?’ I asked. I’d gotten used to everything costing thousands of pearls.

‘I was able to acquire this from the recreational branch of upgrades,’ my Crystal said proudly. ‘There is a military version that is many times more effective, but it is also much more expensive. The recreational conversion system, however, is designed to work in calm waters and near the surface, like you were on vacation and wanted to do some snorkeling or amateur diving.’

‘That is just perfect,’ I said happily. ‘Thank you for looking out for me.’

If I’d had time, I would have said more. My Bank Crystal had just been through a big upgrade, and I was sure it needed all the positive reassurance it could get.

I didn’t have the time, though, so I kept going. I mentally turned to my next most important priority—my shield.

Red and every one of his supporting Hexagons were gone. I almost couldn’t believe it. Sure, the final blow had been insanely powerful, but Red had stood up to just about everything before this. I’d poured so much magic into my shield over time, and I felt nauseous thinking about how much power it would take to rebuild it.

Still, Red’s design had done exactly what it was supposed to do. It had cushioned and redistributed the massive attack of the treasure. Without that, I might not be here right now.

Penny had templates of all my soul creations, so it only took a moment to summon Red again.

‘Hi boss! How’s it hitting?’ I thought Red might be subdued after having been overloaded and exploding like that, but he sounded like his normal enthusiastic self.

‘I’m surviving and awake thanks to you,’ I said. ‘How are you doing? Are you okay?’

‘Of course!’ he exclaimed. ‘What a rush! I can’t wait to do it again!’

‘Umm. No. Let’s not,’ I snorted. ‘I’m not exactly in perfect health here.’

‘Yeah, sorry about that,’ Red said, and for the first time he sounded frustrated. ‘We did everything we could to stop it. We were more spread out than normal, as we were also covering Annabeth. There weren”t enough of us at the point of contact to resist it like I wanted. Then, after the blow landed, there weren’t enough of us to fully distribute the force.’

The leaves on his vines rustled, and his force rune twinkled.

‘When you have spare magic, I need like a jillion times more Hexes. That would have done the trick! If I’d had that many, you’d be safe right now!’

‘I’m sure I would,’ I laughed. ‘I don’t have enough power for a jillion, so let’s start with a basic covering for now and see how far we can take it.’

I filled Red with power and duplicated him in all six directions. Then I filled the new Hexagons with power and duplicated them again. I kept them pretty big, about three inches across, but even so, I had to start tapping into Penny before I was half finished.

‘I don’t have a lot of magic left,’ Penny said. ‘I have to maintain enough reserves to help you reinforce your other soul creations, like your Spikes.’

‘Thank you for letting me know,’ I replied. ‘I guess we’ll just see how far we can go.’

It ended up that we could put together a basic shield, but it wasn’t much more than that. It would allow me to block basic magic weapons and protect me against level one red-eyes. Anything more than that, however, would overload it again.

It was better than nothing, though. The Hexagons were once again providing power to Tea and his Grove, which was essential. Red had started out as a battery, after all, before gaining all his other functions.

The whole process had taken less than a minute, so I updated Annabeth and then turned my attention to getting out of the underground stream. I took a quick look at the map and was appalled to realize just how far we’d traveled.

It didn’t seem like we were moving that fast, but our elevation had dropped considerably, and now we seemed to be deep in the heart of the mountain. Fortunately, the stream had looped around a lot, so it wasn’t like we were miles from where we’d started. Still, it was going to be a long uphill slog to get back to the surface again.

My Surfers were with me, of course, so it only seemed appropriate to have them ‘surf’ ahead and scout out our watery tunnel. It seemed like we were still going to have to stay submerged for a while, as the stream didn’t open up into any more caverns. There were a few smaller streams that joined us, but they were too small for us to use. Plus, we’d have had to travel upstream, and that would be difficult, as the rock around us had been worn smooth from years of water erosion.

Finally, the Surfers spotted something that should work. The stream flowed through a wider section, slowing it down, and there was a side tunnel off of it. It was smaller than what we were in now but should still be big enough for the both of us. The Surfers zoomed down the side tunnel, and it looked like it eventually opened up into a cavern.

Finding a cavern was wonderful because we could get out of the water and recover for a bit, but if it didn’t have any exits, then it was just a dead end and we’d be stuck. The Surfers kept exploring, and it looked like there were several minor exits.

Oddly, there was some sort of interference in the cavern, and I had to bring my Surfers back. It looked like there was a lot of magic there, although it didn’t seem to actually be doing anything.

“What do you think?” I asked Annabeth. She’d been keeping up with the map on her own interface.

“Nothing down here has been nice,” Annabeth replied, “so we could run into a lot of trouble. On the other hand, it is our only obvious exit at the moment, and the cave could be filled with lots of treasure.”

She sent an image of a cave filled with piles of gold doubloons and precious stones.

“Maybe pirates have stashed their ill-gotten booty there, and we can walk away with millions of dollars in gold. That would be cool!”

“Sure!” I agreed cheerfully. Annabeth was making the best of a scary situation, and I didn’t want to rain on her parade by suggesting that her image looked more like a dragon’s hoard. And we were a long way from being able to tackle a dragon. “So you think we should take that exit and get out of the water?”

“Yes,” Annabeth replied quickly. “I feel trapped like this. I can’t wait to get out of here.”

“I agree,” I said. “I can’t wait to get out of here as well.”

I thought it would be harder to maneuver and take the branching tunnel when it showed up. But with the large fins from the super suit on my hands and feet, it was a piece of cake. Again, I was grateful I’d spent the extra pearls on all the upgrades. Getting the option for the largest suit transformation had literally been a lifesaver.

The pace of the water in the side tunnel was much calmer. Too calm, actually. I ended up needing to flutter the fins on my feet to keep us moving along.

The tunnel itself got smaller, and it wasn’t long before I could have touched all the walls if I wanted. Then it got smaller still, and I started getting tense. Even with my magic sight, I was back to feeling like the mountain was closing in on me.

Tight spaces were just not my thing.

I breathed a big sigh of relief when the tunnel finally opened up and we gracefully floated into the cavern. I stood up, which seemed weird after being submerged for so long, and stepped to the side, out of the water.

Our super suits morphed back to our regular outfits, and for the first time, I got to look around. I was searching for enemies, but instead, I gasped in astonishment.

The place was a fantastical wonderland. To start with, it seemed like everything glowed with beautiful light. Regular tunnels had tiny glowing rods every several feet. This place had large bunches of them everywhere.

The stream we’d been traveling along flowed over a ledge, forming a small waterfall. I thought I’d be sick of water, but the sounds were delightful and gave the cavern a peaceful, relaxing feeling. From there, the stream split into two and meandered throughout the room, providing life-giving moisture to a large variety of plants and flowers. When it reached the far side of the cavern, it slipped into cracks in the wall and continued its underground journey.

Most of that was on the left and front of us. To the right, a tiny trickle of water had diverted and fed a small tranquil pond. It was about the size of a backyard swimming pool, and it wasn’t very deep, but what made it noteworthy was that it appeared to be literally glowing with magic!

That must be what had caused all the interference when my Surfers had scouted the room. Even standing here, a couple feet from the edge, I could feel a faint radiance, like the warm sun on a winter’s day.

“Jason!” Annabeth exclaimed. “What is this place? The sounds of magic I’m hearing are amazing!”

“I feel like we’ve stepped onto a set of The Lord of the Rings,” I told her. “And not a nasty scene either. This is like something out of the land of the elves. This place is beautiful!”

“Well, it sounds like we’ve ended up in a spa,” she laughed. “You know that ethereal music you hear as they’re wrapping you up in mud and seaweed? It sounds like that—restful and meditative at the same time.”

“I’m sure I can find some mud around here somewhere,” I teased her. “I’ll wrap you up with some soft moss, and you can take a nap for a few hours.”

“Wouldn’t that be lovely?” Annabeth sighed longingly. “I’m not complaining and we have certainly had our adventures, but I’m looking forward to curling up in my own bed again, knowing that we’re all safe and sound and that the worst that can happen is I’ll end up napping longer than I wanted to.”

“That does sound like paradise,” I agreed. The rope unraveled, and Annabeth slipped off my back. Suddenly, I felt exhausted, and all the aches and pains I’d forced into the background crashed over me.

“I’m going to sit down,” I announced and gratefully sank down onto the soft moss.

“I’ll join you,” Annabeth said with a groan. “Now we’re safe, I need to do a few healing cycles before we get up to anything else.”

“Me too,” I agreed, but I took the time to look around again. I didn’t see anything outlined in red on my HUD, so my cartography skill thought we were in a good spot. What I did see a lot of were outlines designating points!

The actual point value wasn’t high, somewhere between one and two, but there were so many rare plants I had to be looking at five hundred points at least. Best of all, I didn’t have to fight or risk my life to collect them!

‘Let”s get to picking points,’ I told my Dudes, and they sprang into action. Soon the air was filled with the scent of fresh-cut flowers and little lights. The Surfers dropped their cuttings on my head, where Penny gathered them up and neatly stored them in my Throne Room.

They seemed to have it well in hand, so I closed my eyes and let my awareness expand into the full range of my magic sight. My physical pain faded as I embraced this new holistic way of existing in the world and started my healing cycle.

I sank into an easy level of meditation, moving through rain, sun, and night. The cycle was soothing and cleansing in a way that was more than physical. It pulled me deeper, and soon, I was the healing rune. Tea and the Grove cheered me on as the active meditation supercharged everything they were doing.

Damaged cells were either renewed, or they died and quickly made way for new ones. I was especially impressed with how my newest cells from my latest healings expended just a tiny bit of their magic potential and sprang back in perfect shape.

Long ago, when I’d first been injured, Tyler had talked about recovering from a fight. He’d said that he didn’t heal. Instead, he transformed back to full health. I’d always aspired to that level of recovery, and for the first time, I saw it happening.

Right now, this was only possible with a tiny percentage of my body. But I was inspired more than ever to continue to grow this ability.

Annabeth hummed her own healing cycle beside me, and once I felt well enough, I synced up with her and we did it together. Once again, the power of the healing rune was so present it began to affect the environment around us. The moss grew thicker, and the plants grew taller. The bud of a plant beside me unfurled into full bloom like I was watching a time-lapse video.

It wasn’t just the plants either. The magic all around us resonated with what we were doing and joined in our meditative rhythm. Soon, it felt like we were dancing, magic waves waltzing across the floor—echoing off the walls—waltzing back.

I felt serene, joyful, and spiritual on a whole new level. I realized tears were gently running down my face, and I let it happen. It seemed appropriate somehow.

This place was a shrine. A sacred place. I felt grateful to just be here and practice a skill that was part of my core being.

As I continued to cycle, I realized this was more than a feeling. More than an experience of being blessed. All the magic resonance was affecting me too. It was pushing my healing to a new level I hadn’t experienced yet.

I made a memory of how that felt. I wasn’t sure I could achieve this level again outside of this cavern, but I wanted to try. And I certainly didn’t want to forget what was possible.

I still kept an eye out for trouble, of course. But the only creatures I saw were the small insects that were necessary to sustain all this plant life. The flowers weren’t going to pollinate themselves, after all.

Even with all the peace and love, I still noted the cavern was messing with my magic sight. Sometimes the cavern seemed huge, like it was as big as the former home of the black ants. Mostly, it just seemed smaller and oddly shaped, like chunks were missing.

I didn’t know how long we sat there, but we recovered in a much shorter time than I’d originally expected. I not only felt healthy—I also felt rested, like I’d had a good night’s sleep and a wonderfully lazy morning. Now it felt like the afternoon, and I was finally ready to get up and be productive for a while.

Annabeth was still humming, and I didn’t want to disturb her, so I pulled my awareness back into my body and opened my eyes. I wiped away my happy tears and looked around.

Other than being lit up like a fantasyland, it looked like a normal-sized cavern to me. It looked so much like a sparkly fairy tale I started to wonder if it was real. Or was it all just magical ambiance?

I switched off my magic sight, and the cavern snapped into view. It was still amazing, but it no longer seemed as fantastical. The lights were still pretty, like one of those light shows at the zoo over Christmas, but the room no longer resonated to a hidden angel choir.

I took a deep breath to clear my head and looked again. The walls no longer seemed fuzzy, and the ceiling snapped into focus. This really was a small cavern—no mystery to it.

The pond seemed less magical as well. I could still see that it contained magic and that it glowed slightly, but it no longer seemed like a powerful body of water. For the first time, I could see past it, and I noticed a plant glowing with power.

The plant was either a small, bushy tree or a sparse shrub. It was hard to tell. It was certainly the tallest thing in here, but that wasn’t saying much, as it was being compared to moss and flowers.

Actually, it wasn’t the plant that had all the power, although it did glow slightly. It was the berries. There were six of them, about the size of large blackberries. They all glowed with magic, but two of them especially shone with real power.

Intriguing.

I was even more fascinated when I felt my Mark of the Lagerel wake up and take notice. It wanted to eat them, just like my Mark of the Deep Earth had wanted to eat the Rat King’s core.

‘Soon,’ I said. ‘We’ll explore the rest of the cavern and the magic pond. Then I”ll get you those berries.’

It did not like that answer. Now it knew the berries were there, it wanted them. It wanted them now!

‘Does Smeagol want its precious?’ I teased it in my best Gollum voice. The Mark of the Lagerel was not amused.

I ignored it for the moment and switched my magic sight back on. The plant faded from view as the pond glowed in power again. That was an interesting camouflage, even if it only worked with magic sight.

Once again, the ceiling and walls seemed indistinct, and the size of the cavern became questionable. I looked around to see if there were any other obvious areas that I should pay attention to in the mundane world.

Nothing stood out, so I turned off my magic sight and looked again.

Again, everything seemed normal. Annabeth was still humming and healing beside me, and I was still supporting her healing cycles. I felt healthy and full of energy, but I didn’t want to disturb her yet. She deserved her healing time after all.

I flipped over to magic sight and then back to normal again.

I felt like I was missing something, but I couldn’t see what it was.

‘OMG!’ my Analytical Side suddenly exclaimed. ‘I figured it out!’

‘Figured out what?’ I asked, getting excited too, although I had no idea what for.

‘Eureka! Eureka! Eureka!’ he yelled. Then he ripped off his clothes and ran down imaginary streets buck naked, his British tallywacker swinging free for all the world to see.

This was so unlike him, as he’s usually all dry and proper, so it must have been good. I was always happy to join in any celebration, so I whisked off my imaginary clothes and ran down the imaginary street with him.

‘Eureka!’ I hollered at the top of my lungs.

‘Eureka!’ he hollered back.

We ran and danced as he cackled with joy. Penny and Eggy joined in as well. Both of them loved a good Eureka fiesta.

‘Why are we celebrating?’ I asked when he finally slowed down.

‘I know why Annabeth doesn’t have magical sight!’ he exclaimed. ‘More importantly, I know how she can get it!’

Oh!?!?!?!

If he was right, then this was huge. Annabeth had accepted her abilities as a sonic mage, and as part of that, she’d accepted that she didn’t have any magic sight. She was a powerful mage, and her abilities with sound made her very versatile. But the lack of magic sight had always been a big hole in her repertoire.

That’s why she was using echolocation, after all. If she’d had magic sight, she’d have just used that. She’d have been able to fight, walk the hallways, and move about our suite like normal. Other than sharing a shield, there wouldn’t have been any reason for us to be roped together.

More than that, though, she’d really missed being able to see magically when it came to ranged magic as well as making charms. If I could help her get magic sight, Annabeth was going to be the happiest sonic mage in the world.

‘So what did you figure out?’ I asked.

‘It’s so simple!’ he whooped. ‘I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.’ His British accent was really showing up, which meant he was extra pleased with himself.

‘What?’ I asked again. I wanted to shake it out of him, but I let him have his moment.

‘The reason Annabeth doesn’t have magic sight is because…’ He paused dramatically. ‘She simply hasn’t turned it on.’

I stared at him in surprise as he grinned in triumph.

‘Really?’ I finally sputtered.

‘Really,’ my Analytical Side declared. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, he was in his full Sherlock Holmes outfit. That seemed very appropriate, so I snapped my fingers and dressed like Dr. Watson.

‘It makes perfect sense if you think about it.’ He waved his pipe in the air. ‘Annabeth was in a car accident with her son, and they both almost died. She transitioned into a mage and used the burst of her creation energy to heal her son.

‘I’m sure her magic sight switched on when she transitioned, but the first thing she saw was the broken and bloody body of the one person she loved most in the world. She healed him instinctively as part of her Waker Moment, just like how you sucked all the life out of that hotel room and escaped into another realm. It was an instinctive reaction, and in that moment, I bet she turned off her magic sight. She didn’t want to see all the horrible things that had happened to her son, so she didn’t. Even when he was healed, I’m sure there was probably lots of blood and guts everywhere. Who would want to see that in full magic detail? It was probably easier for her to turn off her magic sight and keep it off.

‘She didn’t know she was missing anything, as she didn’t know she was a supernatural for months. By that time, her Waker Moment was this big traumatic memory, and I doubt she wanted to examine it too closely. When she got to Louisville, Sandy was new to helping fresh mages, she said so herself. So she probably doesn’t know all the things that can happen to brand new supernaturals. House Chicago wasn’t talking to her, so she just did the best she could with what she knew.

‘And that is why, today, Annabeth doesn’t have her magic sight. And also why everyone accepts it as something unique to Annabeth.’

My Analytical Side gave a wide bow and then puffed on his pipe, looking very pleased with himself.

He seemed especially pleased with how stunned I was. Could it really be that simple?

On one hand, it seemed crazy. On the other hand, it all made sense.

‘So how do we get her to turn it on?’ I finally asked. ‘I can’t explain what you just said, or it will bring back all the memories of the accident. She’ll shy away from the memories of her son again, and as a result, reject her magic sight.’

‘Agreed,’ my Analytical Side nodded. ‘Once we get her to recognize her magic sight and she gets used to it, then we can talk about its history and how we think it got turned off. You certainly shouldn’t lead with it, though.

‘As for how to get her to turn it on, maybe we borrow a page out of Jesus’ playbook.’

He paused and looked at me expectantly. I waited for him to continue, then I realized he wanted me to ask the famous question.

‘What Would Jesus Do?’ I sighed, mentally adding a WWJD bracelet, necklace, and t-shirt to my Dr. Watson outfit. If I was going to give him the pleasure of playing his game, then I might as well go all in.

‘I’m so glad you asked!’ my Analytical Side said delightedly. ‘Jesus added a bit of showmanship to his miracles, and I’m thinking he did that to help the person be more open to the change in their life. For example, there is a story where he spit on some dirt, made mud pies, and then put them on the eyes of a blind man. Then he sent him to a pool to wash it off. Once the guy did that, he could see.’

My Analytical Side used his pipe to point at the ground and then at the small pond.

‘There’s your water right there. You could use the moss instead of mud, although it may not hold its shape as well. Or maybe you could just spit in her eyes and let her wash it off directly.’

‘I’m not going to spit on Annabeth,’ I said firmly. ‘She wouldn’t appreciate that at all.’

‘Well, maybe you could pee on her?’ my Analytical Side said thoughtfully. ‘That would still make a strong impression, so it might work. After all, if you can’t pee on your best friend, who can you pee on?’

‘That is just wrong on so many levels,’ I snorted. ‘I’m sorry I asked. And, no, I am not going to use any sort of bodily fluid on Annabeth. I have an idea I think will work, though, so watch and learn.’

I brought my awareness back to the cavern and gave Annabeth’s hand a gentle squeeze.

“I have an idea,” I told her. “Let me know when you are at a stopping point on your healing cycle.”

She nodded and hummed for a few more moments. Then she opened her eyes and gave me a big smile.

“This cave is amazing!” she said. “There is so much ambient magic here. I don’t know about you, but it took my healing to a whole new level. It”s like the place became an echo chamber for the healing cycle.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” I said, returning her smile. “In fantasy books, there is often a place of power the hero wants to reach in order to cast some sort of spell. That always made sense to me, but now that I”ve experienced it, I can truly appreciate what a magical place can do for a mage.

“I just got the crap knocked out of me, so I should be feeling very sore. But instead, I feel rested and full of energy. How about you?”

“I’m not sure I’m that good,” Annabeth laughed. “I still have some aches and pains.”

“Your eyes haven’t healed yet?” I asked.

“Not yet.” She shook her head, but she didn’t seem too upset. “My echolocation is getting a lot better, though, so I don’t feel as lost anymore. Plus, I still get your messages, and that helps fill in the rest.”

“That’s good,” I said. I got ready to do some fibbing. “I’ve been talking with my Bank Crystal, and I have another idea that may help. You are already tapped into my cartography interface, and we are already open to each other’s magic, so why not see if you can tap into my magic sight too?”

This was mostly true, even if I was giving the wrong impression. I had talked to my Bank Crystal, and I did have an idea that may help. The rest of it was a white lie. I felt bad fudging the truth, but she had a mental block with her magic sight, and right now she couldn’t handle the truth.

I felt a bit like Jack Nicholson from A Few Good Men. “You can’t handle the truth!”

At least I wasn’t smearing spit-mud on her eyes.

“I like the idea,” Annabeth sounded hopeful. “But I’m not sure I can manage your magic sight, Jason. You see entirely too much.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I said confidently. “I’m sure it will scale to something you’ll feel comfortable with, just like the maps do.”

Again, I was weaving truths together. But I kept going.

“I’m going to send you a message, showing how I turn it on and off. Just do the same on your side, and you should be good to go. If it’s too much, you can always turn it off again.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Annabeth agreed. “Until I get my normal sight back, I need every advantage I can get.”

I quickly made a message of me turning my magic sight off and on again and sent it to her. I kept the message as short and simple as possible.

“That doesn’t seem difficult,” Annabeth said. “Hang on a sec.”

I could tell the moment she got her sight, as her face lit up.

“Oh, Jason! It worked!” she exclaimed. I squeezed her hand in excitement as she looked around with her new senses. “You’re right. It isn’t as intense as your sight. It’s much easier to manage.”

“Good!” I said happily. This was an amazing breakthrough!

“Do you think you’ll be able to move around and fight better?”

“For sure,” Annabeth replied. She looked around again, but this time she was pinging the space. “If I pair your magic sight with my echolocation, it”s almost as good as my regular sight.”

She got to her feet and threw a couple blocks and punches. “Actually, I think it may be better than my regular sight. Here, I’ll send you what I’m seeing.”

I opened her message, eager to see how powerful her magic sight was. I was pleasantly surprised to see it had lots of detail, even though it stayed on the surface of things. She couldn’t see through objects like I could.

She also couldn’t see all around her like I did, but on the other hand, she didn’t seem to have any range limit. It was hard to tell just how far she could see, as the cavern wasn’t that big. But she’d be able to see red-eyes approaching and well enough to fight.

Her echolocation enhanced her magic sight, and it didn’t seem to be fooled at all by the size of the cavern. Everything seemed sharp, and I could easily see the small tree and its berries hiding behind the pond.

“Now I just need more magic for my sonic strikes and recharging my shield charm, and I’ll be able to fight on my own.” Annabeth said it jokingly, but I could sense how much she longed for this to happen. Annabeth was a warrior, and I was sure riding around on my back and not being able to fight her own battles the way she wanted was wearing on her.

“Speaking of that,” I gestured towards the magic pond, “how about we check out the water and see just how magical it is?”

What I meant for us to do was to step over to the pool and carefully examine it. There might be piranhas lurking in the shallows and hiding behind all the magical interference. Or maybe it had gotten contaminated and now it was poisonous.

What I certainly hadn’t planned on was for Annabeth to step over to the pond, gather water in her cupped hands, and take a long drink.

“Annabeth!” I hollered, snapping in high alert mode.

“What?” she asked, startled. She quickly summoned her shillelaghs and looked around.

“The water!” I pointed at the small pond. “You can’t just go around drinking magic water. It might have parasites in it that will kill you. Or they mess up your guts and you get the runs for days.”

“Oh,” she said, sounding relieved. She looked around one more time and then unsummoned her weapons. “Don’t worry about that. The water told me it was safe.”

“And you believed it?” I asked. I was still feeling anxious. “Maybe it thought you were a plant, and it was telling you it was safe for your roots.”

“No, silly,” Annabeth laughed. “It knew I was a mage, and it invited me to drink as much as I wanted. Actually, it sensed I have the Mark of the Deep Earth, and it was practically begging me. Try it yourself. It’s delicious!”

I continued to give her the hairy eyeball as she smiled sweetly and took another slurpy drink.

“Mmmm. So good.” She smacked her lips in satisfaction. Then her eyes flew open in surprise.