Part 16 (1/2)

I'll be Indians, Kendra said. She had played some Foosball at the rec center back home. Seth usually beat her two out of three games.

Let me forewarn you, the Sphinx said, I am not very good. There was a mellow quality to his voice that evoked images of old-time jazz clubs.

Neither am I, Kendra admitted. My little brother usually beats me.

Would you like to serve the ball?

Sure.167 He gave her the bright yellow ball. She put her left handon the handle that controlled the goalie, dropped the ball into the slot with her right, and started wildly spinning her nearest Indians as it rolled across the center of the table. The Sphinx controlled his cowboys with more calm, using quick, precise jabs to counter Kendra's reckless spinning. It was not long before Kendra scored the first goal.

Well done, he said.

Kendra marked the goal by sliding a bead along a bar at her end of the table. The Sphinx took the ball out of his goal and served it through the slot. The ball rolled to his men. He pa.s.sed it up to his front row of cowboys, but the Indian goalie blocked the shot. The Indians spun madly, mercilessly pounding the ball at the cowboys until they scored a second goal.

The Sphinx slid the ball into the slot. Her confidence boosted, Kendra attacked even more aggressively with her Indians, and ended up winning the game five goals to two.

I feel like General Custer, the Sphinx said. Well played. Can I offer you something to drink? Apple juice?

Cream soda? Chocolate milk, perhaps?

Cream soda sounds good, Kendra said. She was feeling more at ease after trouncing him.

Excellent choice, the Sphinx said. He opened a freezer and withdrew a frosty mug with ice in it. From a small refrigerator he removed a brown bottle, uncapped it with a little tool, and poured the yellow soda into the mug. It was surprisingly foamy. Please, sit down. He nodded to a pair of chairs facing each other with a low table in between.168 Kendra took a seat and the Sphinx handed her the mug.Her first few sips were all froth. When she finally reached the soda, it was a perfect mix of sweet, creamy, cool, and bubbly. Thanks, this is delicious, she said.

The pleasure is mine. A miniature gong sat on the table between them. The Sphinx tapped it with a small hammer. While the gong vibrates, none can overhear our conversation. I have at least part of the answer you came here seeking. You are fairykind.

I am very kind?

Fairy... kind, he said, enunciating carefully. It is written all over your countenance, woven into your speech.

What does that mean?

It means that you are unique in all the world, Kendra.

In my long years and many travels, I have never met anyone who was fairykind, though I am familiar with the signs and see them expressed plainly in you. Tell me, did you sample the elixir you prepared for the fairies?

There was a hypnotic gravity to his voice. Kendra felt like she had to snap out of a trance in order to answer the question. Yes, actually, I did. I was trying to convince them to try it.

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, showing dimples in his cheeks. Then perhaps you gave them an incentive, he said. They had to either make you fairykind or watch you die.

Die?

The elixir you ingested is fatal to mortals. You would169 have eventually suffered a torturous death had the fairies notchosen to share their magic with you.

The fairies cured me?

They changed you, so that you no longer required curing.

Kendra stared at him. People have said I was fairystruck.

I have met individuals who were fairystruck. It is a rare and extraordinary occurrence. This is much more rare, and much more extraordinary. You have been made fairykind. I do not believe it has happened in more than a thousand years.

I still don't understand what it means, Kendra said.

Neither do I, not entirely. The fairies have changed you, adopted you, infused you with their magic. A semblance of the magical energy that naturally dwells in them now dwells in you. The diverse effects that could flow from this are difficult to antic.i.p.ate.

That's why I don't need the milk to see anymore?

And why Warren found himself drawn to you. And why you understand Goblush, along with, I imagine, the other tongues derived from Silvian, the language of the fairies. Your grandfather has been in touch with me regarding the new abilities you have been manifesting. The Sphinx leaned forward and tapped the little gong with the hammer again.

Kendra took another sip from her mug. This morning, Coulter was showing us a ball protected by a distracter spell.

Seth couldn't pick it up; he kept losing focus and getting170 redirected someplace else. But it didn't work on me. I couldgrab it just fine.

You have apparently developed resistance to mind control.

Kendra wrinkled her brow. Tanu gave me a potion that made me feel ashamed, and it worked just fine.

The potion would have been manipulating your emotions.

Mind control functions differently. Pay close attention to all the new abilities you discover. Report them to your grandfather. Unless I am mistaken, you are only beginning to scratch the surface.

The thought was thrilling and terrifying. I'm still a human, right?

You are something more than human, the Sphinx said.

But your humanity and your mortality remain intact.

Are you a human?

He smiled, his teeth shockingly white in contrast to his black skin. I am an anachronism. A holdover from long-forgotten times. I have seen learning come and go, empires rise and fall. Consider me your guardian angel. I would like to conduct a simple experiment. Do you mind?

Is it safe?

Completely. But if I am right, it could provide the answer to why the Society of the Evening Star has shown such interest in you.

Okay.

A pair of short copper rods rested on the table. The Sphinx picked up one and handed it to Kendra. Hand me the other one, the Sphinx said. After Kendra complied, he171 held his rod in both hands, one at each end of the rod.Hold your rod like me, he instructed.

Kendra had been holding the slender rod in one hand.

The instant her other hand touched it, she felt a sensation like she was falling backwards through the chair. And then it pa.s.sed. And she was inexplicably sitting where the Sphinx had been sitting, and he was seated in her chair. They had instantaneously switched places.

The Sphinx released one hand from the rod and then grabbed it again. The moment his hand came back into contact with the rod, Kendra felt her insides lurch again, and suddenly she was sitting back in her former chair.

The Sphinx set the rod down on the table, and Kendra did likewise. We teleported? Kendra asked.

The rods enable users to trade locations over short distances.

But that is not what makes what happened unusual.