I looked the thing over. “Are you launching me into space?”
Bishop grinned maliciously. “I'm through playing games with you, Amanda. I'm taking your magic now. Don't worry, I'll just extract a little. Your healing ability should be able to recharge it.”
“You can't recharge magic, you imbecile,” I growled.
My life force would heal if he took that, but not my magic. Magic, once taken, was gone forever unless whoever or whatever took it gave it back. I had just learned that recently when a Danutian drained the Hearts of Elemental Magic in Danu. So, whatever Bishop took from me now would be gone forever.
“We'll see.” Bishop waved toward the seat. “Get in or I'll have you put in.”
“You do know that you won't face trial in a human court for this?” I asked casually as I climbed in the ball. “You'll either be executed or face a judge in a supe court.”
“A supe court?” Bishop scoffed.
“How do you think supernatural criminals wind up in America's supe prisons?”
“They can't put me in a supe prison; I'm human. And I'm not in America.”
“Getting you out of China won't be a problem.” I grinned as the guards strapped me into the machine, wincing at the one that went around my neck. “But don't worry, if you're dead, we'll just leave you here.”
Bishop snorted and slapped the button on the side of the machine. “See you in a few minutes, Ms. Redding. Enjoy the ride.”
The door slid shut and absolute darkness enveloped me. But a few seconds later, the machine whirred and soft lights flicked on. The entire sphere started to spin around me while my chair remained stationary. The lights and movements threatened to make me dizzy, so I closed my eyes. I felt a pressure against my skin, then a sting like a minor burn. Inside me, I felt nothing, but I knew that even if my magic hadn't been suppressed, all I'd have felt would have been a draining sensation. I'd had my magic—the power inside my life force—taken before. The loss of life force had weakened me briefly, but not the loss of magic. I had felt fine even though my power had been diminished. This time, however, I was full of life energy from the numerous supes I'd just fed on, so I doubted I'd feel weak even momentarily. Any energy that was taken would come from that excess first.
The machine stopped after only a minute or so, winding down until it went still. The panels opened on Bishop's grinning face. He held up a sealed test tube for my inspection. Within it, golden liquid glowed, sparkling with colors.
“I have never seen magic like this, Amanda,” Bishop declared. “Is it the famous Triari halo that makes it glow like that?”
“How the hell would I know, Bishop?” I said breathlessly, my stare locked on the vial. “It's not as if I've seen my magic in a liquid form before.”
How much had he taken? The tube was only an eighth full, if that, but I didn't know what that meant.
“How many vials do you usually get from one person?” I asked.
“It depends.” He shrugged as the guards helped me out of the sphere. “Four or five. As I said, I only took a little. It's merely for testing purposes. Once I know what I'm dealing with, I'll make a larger withdrawal.”
“Don't spend it all in one place,” I quipped. “AsIsaid, magic is finite. What you've just taken from me, I've lost forever. No amount of healing can replace it.”
“What a shame,” Bishop said in a careless tone. “I was hoping I could keep you a while. Oh, well. As long as there's enough left for me, my work won't be in vain.” He looked at one of his security men. “Bring me one of the prison guards.”
The man nodded and hurried off. Bishop followed him from the room, and the remaining guard motioned at me to follow as well. We went down the hallway and into the laboratory. It was empty now, all the scientists gone, which didn't bode well. The first guard headed upstairs while Bishop stepped up to one of the work stations in the laboratory. This one had a small refrigerator beside it. Several test tubes stood upright in plastic holders on the other side of the refrigerator's glass door—vials just like the one in Bishop's hand, all with labels pasted on them. None of them glowed like mine, though they each held a uniquely colored liquid. I gaped at the amount of magic stored in that small space. How many supes had Bishop murdered? How many humans had died thinking they would become supes?
The guard motioned me into a white chair. I sat down while Bishop surveyed the refrigerated test tubes and finally made a selection. Black liquid roiled with green in his chosen vial. I cringed. Black, as I've mentioned before, isn't always a bad thing. Malik had black in his aura and all it indicated was authority. But I instinctively felt that magic shouldn't be black. That particular shade wasn't evil, but I didn't recognize it, and that, in itself, was troubling. The best I could come to describing it would be metallic—a gleaming, unnatural black. Conversely, the green that swam in its murk was a natural forest green, representing physical strength as opposed to the mental strength of inky black. In any other situation, I would have been fascinated.
Bishop placed both vials—mine and the black one—into a holder on the counter, then opened a drawer. A shiny, gun-like object rested within a foam cushion molded to its contours. He pulled it out and placed my vial into a port on the top. Just as Bishop finished fiddling with the gun, his guard returned with one of the prison guards and waved the man into another chair.
“What is this about?” the man asked in Cantonese.
“You've been chosen to receive supernatural powers,” Bishop responded in the same language.
The man blanched and hurried to say, “No, thank you. I don't want them.”
“You don't have a choice.” Bishop nodded to his men.
Bishop's guards grabbed the man's upper arms and shoulders, holding him down as Bishop pushed up the man's sleeve and pressed the barrel of the injector against the man's inner elbow. He pulled the trigger, and the vial emptied with the sound of an air canister releasing. The Chinese man started panting and trembling, but I think that was more from fear than any reaction to my magic. Then Bishop loaded his injector with the second tube and administered the black magic.
“You will be monitored for the next several weeks.” Bishop replaced the injector as his guards released the man. “You'll remain here, but we will—”
The man started screaming. All of us lurched back, even me. I fell out of my chair and scrambled backward until I hit a counter. This gave me a perfect view of the Chinese guard when he crumpled to the floor and started convulsing. Blood seeped from his eyes as he continued to scream. Then his screams turned into pitiful gurgling as blood bubbled from his mouth. I shot to my feet and eased down the counter, watching in absolute horror as the man disintegrated in seconds, becoming a puddle of gelatinous, dark liquid. Not even a single bone was left.
