All our mouths fell open except that which belonged to Eldric. Even his assistant was stupefied. “B-but Professor, the magic under that patch will blow away the house!”
“That’s why he’s going to shove his face into the bell before he pulls aside the patch.”
Marc recovered from his surprise and narrowed his eye at our host. “What are you thinking, Zauberwald?”
Eldric stabbed a finger at the curved cover. “I’m thinking you’re wasting time asking foolish questions when you should be sticking your eye into the hole.”
Marc frowned, but scooted his chair up to the table. Eldric set the simple catcher back onto the table and positioned the bell as close to Marc as possible. Marc grasped the edge of his patch and leaned forward, but paused and frowned up at his friend.
“Go on,” Eldric insisted as he nodded at his invention. “And mind you, don’t leave it open more than a moment. There’s no telling what might happen after that.”
“There’s no telling what might happen before that,” Ramaro quipped.
“Quiet, lizard,” Eldric scolded him as he tapped the top of the bell. “Now open wide.”
Marc shrugged and leaned his face as far into the bell as the opening would allow. He tensed before he lifted the patch. Wind burst out of his socket and dove into the tube. The glass rattled and cracks shot across the surface. The wind met the dust and recreated my tempest. The beaker bounced up and down atop the table, shivering and trembling beneath such fury.
The wind blasted Eldric no less violently, but he kept a tight hold on his instruments. Theo jumped into the fray and grabbed hold of the tube. His whole body vibrated with the gale inside the glass.
Eldric dared to peek open his eyes. “Shut it, Marc! Now!”
Marc dropped the patch, and the tempest immediately subsided. Theo jumped forward and pushed the cork into the mouth, stopping any dirt that tried to escape. Marc fell back, exhausted, and his face was ghastly pale. I grabbed his arm and started back at how cold and clammy the limb felt. There was also a definite hardness to the flesh that was distinctly unnatural, as though his body had grown scales.
Marc’s bright eye fell on me, and a bitter smile slipped onto his lips. “Yes. That happens whenever I open it.”
Eldric leaned down so his face was level with the beaker. His eyes shimmered, and a wide grin adorned his face. “I think you won’t need to worry about the patch opening again for a long while.”
Marc sat up and frowned at his uncle. “Can you skip your usual vagueness and tell me why I just did that?”
Eldric didn’t immediately reply. He grabbed a nearby cork and wrapped his other hand around the neck of the beaker. A drop of sweat rolled down his brow as he slipped the tube off the mouth of the glass and stopped the hole with the cork.
He stepped back, and a heavy breath left him. “There. The deed is done.”
Theo came up to his side and stared at the bottled beaker. “What did you do, Professor?”
Eldric knelt and inspected the contents. The dust had settled to the bottom, but the air held a faint bit of green-tinged fog. His eyes shimmered. “I’ve trapped it.”
“Trapped what?” I asked him.
Eldric stood and turned to us with a grin tinged with a touch of insanity. “I’ve captured the might of your Draconis Veil in this bottle.”
Marc stiffened, as did the other two men, including Ramaro. I stared blankly at them. “The what?”
Marc’s eyebrows crashed down. “You used Rose’s ability to gather magic to gather the Veil.”
His uncle could hardly keep from clapping. “Exactly! If she could gather the dust in this room, why couldn’t she gather the fury under your patch?”
“Are you sure it isn’t going to break that beaker any time now?” Ramaro questioned him.
“Nothing is certain in experimentation,” Eldric pointed out as he grasped the top of the glass. “But it seems to be holding.”
“And how is this going to help with the patch and its sacrifice?” the agama questioned him.
“I can use the very strength of the Draconis Veil to craft a better bind to itself,” Eldric revealed as his eyes shone in the flickering firelight. “The magic won’t reject itself, and its desire to be whole will keep the patch in place.”
Marc frowned. “That was a lot of risk, uncle. The Veil could have destroyed your glass and destroyed all of you.”
“And you said you didn’t want to mix magics!” Ramaro chimed in.
