They designed the protections? I thought Nai Nai had…
“You will not be punished this time, but you will be required to take two cycles of education in the mystic arts and regulations so that your future blunders will be fewer.”
Blunders.I summoned those skreet for a purpose, and they fulfilled it almost perfectly. But mouthing off seems ill advised.
“If I understand correctly, I’m going to witch school?” I ask.
He taps his stony fingers though the magical display. “Yes, though there are none available to take new students on Earth…I’ll find a plane with a timescale similar enough or in the positive, so you don’t lose hours.”
I have no idea what that means, but I thank him anyway.
After a few minutes of air-typing commands, he grunts and nods. “All set up. I’ll have your human interface relay the information.”
“But Officer Ott—couldn’t I work with her?” I ask.
“She’s a correctional officer. It wouldn’t be appropriate,” he says.
“I guess that makes sense,” I say as I rub the back of my neck.
“Amherst is a fine human, very diligent—except in the matter of expediting your registration, for which we’ll have wordsabout. I’m sure she had her reasons…” He trails off, then snaps back to me. “You’re free to go. Officer Ott will escort you back.”
What a brief reprimand. I suppose they’re a busy organization, what with four hundred and whatever planes to monitor.
“Okay, well, sorry, and thanks,” I murmur as I wave and then turn around, the burn of my own idiocy flaring in my face.
“Oh, and Ms. Feng,” he calls.
I look over my shoulder, and he taps one of his kiosks with a resounding gong.
“We’ll be watching you.”
I smile and make a strange noise before power-walking through the wall.
“That’s not ominous or anything,” I mutter when the doorway seals shut behind me.
I follow the light path back to a platform where I’m enveloped in the teleportation magic again, then beamed to the lobby. Jamie is looking at a display of green sparks lying on her lap like a tablet. She manipulates the data for a moment before noticing me and dismissing it.
“Finished?” she asks.
“All properly scolded and such,” I say. “It was actually the most lenient scolding I think I’ve ever had.”
She stands in a fluid movement that reminds me of a snake. “Deputy Chief has a soft heart.”
“I guess he has to compensate for hisstonyexterior,” I say, snorting a laugh.
Jamie rolls her eyes, the third lid blinking in exaggerated slowness. “How original.”
She motions for me to follow, and we head back out into the strange government cave. Another beam of light takes us back to maybe where we came in—it’s hard to tell with everything looking so similar. With one last glance around, we step onto a platform operated by the glowing jellyfish creature, and then my nose starts to itch.
I sneeze, and when I open my eyes, we’re in the café.
“Jiejie!” Ace’s voice tightens around my heart like a vice.
I open my arms and squeeze him in tight. He holds me back just as hard.
“I was so worried you were going to magic prison,” he mumbles over my shoulder.
“Nah, let me off with a slap on the wrist,” I say.
