“I have already anticipated that problem,” Pash said with an amused smile.

“Of course you did,” Richardson said.

“Naturally,” Pash said. “She distrusts information from me, but I have been making progress in that regard. As far as her loyalty goes, she appears quite loyal to those she calls friend.”

“You’re talking about getting them on our side,” Richardson said.

“They’re a paranoid lot,” Pash said, to which Richardson smirked. “I doubt we’d have much luck with them.”

Richardson said, “Get to the point, then.”

“There are a few avenues I would suggest pursuing,” Pash said. “The simplest would be to foster an attachment between her and a soldier. However, that would likely prove difficult, as she has grown to deeply distrust the military as a whole.”

Richardson nodded.

“Didn’t you say she has some sort of sight, lets her judge people?” Richardson said.

“Yes,” Pash said cautiously. “Is there someone you have in mind?”

“I picked Private Marshall because he’s a solid young man,” Richardson said. “Not important enough to get in the way, but as reliable as they come. She might judge him well.”

“From what I’ve seen, she will likely only trust someone in the military if she’s permitted to judge their souls,” Pash said, distaste clear in his voice.

“I’ll talk to Marshall,” Richardson said. “What was your plan?”

“The plan of highest degree of success, by my measure, would be to pair her with Albert Einstein,” Pash said, making Richardson’s eyebrow raise in surprise.

“He’s a pacifist,” Richardson said.

“The primary problem with the idea, yes,” Pash said. “However, as he did sign off on a letter urging research into nuclear weaponry, he may agree with offensive use of her ability to forestall the Germans doing the same.”

Richardson nodded slowly.

“And his pacifism may not be so bad, come to think of it,” Richardson said. “Considering what she told me, I don’t think she can be too cautious.”

“Perhaps,” Pash said. “Further, he is a humanitarian, which I suspect would appeal to her sensibilities, and believes that America is the finest country for someone with those values.”

“I see,” Richardson said. “You believe he’d be amenable to this use?”

“Not if he knew it were intentional,” Pash said. “I do have a plan for a way to bring them together, as though it were Ms. Koryn’s idea. I have already planted the seeds, and she would eagerly cooperate. Mr. Einstein would unquestionably be interested in her power, but in an academic way, which she would not protest.”

“I’m not especially familiar with Einstein’s opinions,” Richardson said. “I take it you’ve done some reading.”

“Naturally,” Pash said.

“Worst case scenario?” Richardson asked.

“If either realizes the arrangement was purposeful, I doubt it would disrupt whatever friendship they form. Mr. Einstein would still wish to influence Ms. Koryn, and she would simply blame me,” Pash said.

“That would be fine with you?” Richardson asked.

“She does not seem vengeful,” Pash said. “I doubt it would matter, especially in comparison with what she believes me guilty of already.”

“Hmm,” Richardson mused. “We’ll try multiple angles. Go ahead and try the Einstein approach. I’ll see if I can get Private Marshall to befriend her, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll find some other trustworthy men to give it a try. In the meantime, I will try to get her to accept proper authority. I also want whatever information you can give me on her companions.”

“I have a great deal,” Pash said. “Is there anything in particular you want to know immediately?”

“She indicated that she’s trained two of them in magic,” Richardson said. “You know who they are?”

“Two?” Pash said, and frowned. “The likely candidates would be the police officer, Liam O’Brien, and the siblings Slick and Louise Williams.”

He considered. The witch had implied that O’Brien had magic at their dinner. Ms. Williams had claimed her bullet deflection was due to an enchantment, which apparently they all wore. The Cocoanut Grove fire had reports of Mr. Williams levitating people out of the building.

“I suspect it is the officer and the brother,” Pash said.

“Get me what you can on those two, then,” Richardson said. “There’s one last issue to discuss, and I’ll need you to be discreet on this.”

“Beyond my usual degree of discretion?” Pash asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Beyond the USA itself,” Richardson said.

“I’m listening,” Pash said.

General Richardson leaned forward and his expression was as cold as Pash had ever seen it.

“What she talked about, with what magic would do to the world,” Richardson said. “It must not happen. Ever. All of the magic in the world has to be eliminated.”

Pash nodded, looking speculative.

“After dealing with the German threat, do you have a plan for... local containment?” Pash asked.

Richardson’s demeanor relaxed minutely.

“I’m glad you’re on board,” Richardson said. “We need to keep knowledge of this as limited as we can. She cannot be permitted to reveal herself to the public. No one can know about this.”

“And Albert Einstein?” Pash asked. “And her students?”

“Einstein won’t have anything but words,” Richardson said. “Without evidence, he’d look senile. As for her students… let’s see if they can be drafted, which makes things easier.”

Pash nodded, his chest tightening in sympathy for the pain on his friend’s face, however well hidden it was.

“What of the rest of the military’s involvement?” Pash asked.

“I’ll be very careful about who I go to, and how,” Richardson said. “This must not get to the president.”

“Speaking of the president, there is a detail you may not be aware of,” Pash said. “His health is poor, and Aera has demonstrated remarkable skill at healing.”

“That’s exactly the sort of thinking we have to avoid,” Richardson said. “Everyone and his brother’s going to want to have magic for themselves, and that’s exactly what’ll set the world toward its end. It doesn’t matter who needs her help - she must remain secret until the German spellcasters are dead, and then she and her students must join them.”

A memory pushed at him - his daughter’s limp hand in his, as he helped her to walk despite her disfigured legs to her mother’s grave. It was too late for his beloved, but…

“Certainly,” Pash said, without hesitation, with no sign of the memory that had flashed through his mind and heart. “You can rely on me, old friend.”

----------------

Private Marshall must have gotten over his shock, because after my talk with the general, followed by a little time in the room they’d set aside for me, he was friendlier. He said he’d spoken to the general and would be taking me back to Boston as soon as I was ready.

Since there wasn’t anything for me at the base, I went ahead and took the ride back.

We chatted on the way, and I couldn’t help but kind of feel bad for him. He was so obviously nervous. I found out that his name was Nicholas, and that he’d gotten into the military as a sure-fire way of supporting his new wife. They had a baby girl, and he confessed that he was extra happy about that, since it meant he probably wouldn’t be deployed overseas when the time came. His wife lived on the base, taking care of their daughter.

I impulsively asked about possibly meeting them, and he spluttered an apology, before I realized the obvious, and apologized myself. Of course I couldn’t see them, if I was a national secret. He was relieved at my understanding.

I tried to get him to get more comfortable with me, and even resorted to doing silly magic tricks. By the time we got to Boston, I had him honestly smiling and laughing.

Once at the house, I called Lou at work. She told me to wait at the house and she’d meet me there. She wanted to grill me properly on how the day’s events had gone.

An eyeroll and an explanation later, Nicholas and I sat and chatted until Lou managed to swing by. She didn’t want to talk around Nicholas, which I thought was odd, but he was entirely understanding. He had no problem going for a little walk outside while we discussed.

Lou had me recount every single detail about Pash and the General I could. When I told her that I’d mentioned that I’d trained some people, she looked like she wanted to strangle me. She did understand the reasoning - that the military had to be advised of the possibility of magic use spreading - but she seemed certain that it was dangerous to Slick and Liam for the military to even know about it.

I reassured her that I’d gotten the General to agree not to be reckless with their lives, and she begrudgingly went along with that. She was very nervous, but in the end, didn’t caution me against any particular course. She wished me luck, muttered to herself about wishing me luck with observation in particular, and let me on my way.

Nicholas and I didn’t have to pack much for purely living purposes, but I thought it’d be best to bring most of my lab equipment. He was nervous, but excited about stepping into my lab, and then, strangely, disappointed.

Apparently, he’d had a different image in mind for a spellcaster’s lab.

The only parts that weren’t able to be moved were the protections on the walls and such, in case of explosions, but I figured I could set up a new lab at the base. We left the unstable, experimental pieces behind, but brought everything that I thought could possibly be useful along with.

We finished packing in scarcely fifteen minutes, and were back in the truck. Nicholas was timid, at first, about his curiosity about the lab, but when I proved happy to share, he engaged his curiosity in full.

I prattled on, content as could be, for the entire drive. It was nice to have company who was interested in magic, not intimidating, and who actually had time to talk.

When we returned to the base, the general seemed pleased - maybe even relieved - at Nicholas and I chatting like friends. I suppressed a giggle - what had he expected? Me to turn into a monster and eat him, or something?

The general had chosen a roster of soldiers who would rotate for guard duty for me, so it was time for Nicholas to take a break. I wished him well and greeted the next soldier. The pair took me back to my room and helped me put all the enchantments in place. Once they left - with the new guard posted outside my door - I decided to take a well deserved, luxurious shower, enjoying the time to myself to think.

A problem occurred to me, under the steamy waterfall. On one level, I’d accepted the danger to myself, after the fear that my companions had shared. But I also had no interest in dying before I was well and properly old - at least two hundred years.

The day’s tests had revealed two flaws. The higher speed rifles went right through my standard defenses, and just a few machine guns broke my barrier in seconds.

I’d made the standard mistake of revealing my actual limits, in my eagerness to prove myself. So it seemed the correct course of action was to improve my limits, and keep the improvement secret. The reveal of limits was two way, after all - the general learned my weaknesses, but so did I.

The more critical of the weaknesses was the rifle, since it could strike me at range, whereas the machine guns would have to be wielded by people, giving me a chance to recognize the threat before it hit me.

Which… would require me to pay attention to that. I frowned. My parents had mastered the art of keeping their magesenses open without accidentally examining the souls of others. I’d need to learn that skill, and quickly.

So, two things, then. One, I’d start keeping my senses open, at all times, as gently as I could, so my awareness would do no more than brush against human souls, giving me a minimum of information.

And I’d need to work on a secondary, supplemental barrier enchantment. I’d have it manifest within the bone of my skull, so that the bone itself would help slow down any bullets before it hit. Between that and my normal enchantment trying to stop bullets from the moment they got to my hair, I should have no trouble stopping any bullet before it did brain damage.

It’d have the side effect of making a huge mess of blood and bone… but maybe that was actually a bonus. Whoever shot me might think I’d died.

I nodded grimly. I hoped the barrier would never have to manifest, but it definitely seemed like a good idea to have it, just in case.

And it inspired another idea in its wake. If it did happen, I could potentially lose consciousness very quickly from blood loss, with that major of an injury so close to my brain. Creating an enchantment designed to keep my brain healthy, sustained, and fully conscious in the event of injury would also be a good idea. It’s all I needed, after all - so long as my magic remained, no other part of my flesh mattered.

They were frightening enchantments to work on, but both used magics I’d already mastered. In fact, the brain sustaining effect could be done simply by activating the first part of the enchantment I used to shapeshift into Comet, which would be useful to remember if something happened.

I got the framework for the new enchantment complete, and then yawned. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed. I stuck the little diamond sliver that held the framework up against my spine, behind my heart, where the shapeshifting enchantment stayed.

Another yawn took me before I quickly settled off to sleep.

The morning arrived before I was done sleeping. The guard woke me up bright and early, and I declined breakfast. My sleepy self was led down to a warehouse. Pash wasn’t present, but I gave a hazy wave to the general. The six soldiers that were my guard roster were also present, and I also waved at Nicholas. His hand twitched a little, like he wanted to wave back, but had to stay stupidly rigid, according to military rules.

“G’morning,” I said, stifling another yawn.

“Good morning, Miss Koryn,” Richardson said. “Are you prepared for more demonstrations?”

“Yes, yes,” I said, rubbing at my eyes. “What would you like me to destroy, and do you have any preferences on how?”

“For now, I’d prefer you to use the most effective techniques you know of,” he said. “We’ll start with seeing how well you can destroy various materials.”

“Let me save you some time,” I said. “The material type doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t?” he asked, surprised.

“I guess, a little,” I amended. “The… what’s the word… um, the weight it has, only, it’s more than that. Sort of the weight, the density…”

“The mass?” he said.

I shrugged.

“I don’t know the word,” I said. “But, probably? Anyway. If it has ‘mass,’ it bends to my will. The more it has, the more it resists, but control and speed matter more. And range, of course. If I can rip things apart as haphazardly as I please, a wall of solid diamond would scarcely slow me down.”

“Are there any risks to you tearing things apart haphazardly?” he asked.

“Yep,” I said. “Some materials don’t like that. I don’t really know why, or how to predict it. But if I’m not careful, there can be all sorts of strange consequences to tearing apart materials. Explosions, light, fire, heat, cold, electricity - all sorts of things.”

“Which isn’t a concern, if used offensively,” he said.

“Right,” I said. “Hence why the material type doesn’t matter for such a test, other than possibly making a mess I’ll need to clean up.”

A faint smirk tugged at his lips, but quickly went away.

“Let’s take a different angle,” he said. “What would your assessment of your own offensive capabilities be; alone, as well as contrasted against what you expect of the Germans?”

“My strength is the reordering of matter,” I said. “Skill is what permits it to be beneficial, such as in healing. The primary limit is range, and the amount of exertion per second. Within those constraints, neither materials nor life will stop me.”

The general did not look entirely happy about this.

“As far as the Germans,” I went on, “from what little I’ve seen, they have Aeros magic. Aeros isn’t great against physical objects much at all, but unlike my specialty - Aquas - it has access to the mind. Both of our types of magic can be resisted by any form of life. The more intelligent the life, the more capable it is of resistance. And humans can be trained to resist it.”

“That is very useful information,” he said. “In the meantime, I would like to see for myself how quickly you can get through the various obstacles I’ve set up.”

I nodded. A speed test - it’d been years since I’d done one of those. I used a spot of magic to accelerate my heart rate and drop a bit of adrenaline into my system. I shook myself a little, to get my blood everywhere it was supposed to be.

“With everything I’ve got,” I said, grinning a little. “Everyone needs to stand back. Way back.”

This was going to be fun.

The general ordered everyone to fall back immediately, and I turned my attention to my objective.

There was what amounted to an obstacle course in front of me, in the form of a series of walls. Nothing fancy in the least, and they looked cobbled together from the construction material that the base was supposed to be using elsewhere.

I took a breath and charged.

The wooden wall fell as distorted, bubbling goo before I got to it. A quick breath at the surge of power, and I launched at the next. The brick wall resisted me enough that my run brought me to it before it dissolved. A tiny barrier around me to protect me from whatever weird things the goo might be doing was all I needed to get through the flimsy remainder. I broke through without slowing down.

The concrete wall did make me stop, unfortunately. But only for a moment. I bore down on my magic and pushed with enough force to make me dizzy, and the concrete exploded into disparate bits. They glowed as though burning and bounced off my personal barrier as I charged through the hole.

The slab of six inch thick metal broke the trend of increasing difficulty. I didn’t even bother breaking the “atomic bonds” that Pash had described, aside from a slice down the middle. The rest of it, I was able to easily bend back, and like the brick barrier, was able to get through without slowing down.

As soon as I did, I collapsed, panting and laughing between breaths.

“That was fun,” I said, rolling over to my back and grinning at the soldiers. “What was that - five seconds?”

They were looking at me like I was a monster.

“Oh, come now,” I said. “I did nothing you didn’t already know I could do!”

“Seeing is believing,” General Richardson said, his tone heavy. “Will you need long to recover?”

“Not really,” I said, sitting up and shaking off the dizziness. “I didn’t push myself hard enough to damage myself. I’ll be good to go in a minute.”

“Do you think the Germans might be able to pull that off?” he asked.

“Depends,” I said. “You want to mess up material like I did, you need Aquas. No other element could bore a path quite like that.”

“What about the one you know they have - Aeros?” he asked.

“We’ve already seen they can teleport,” I said, shrugging. “That’s Aeros’ best way through something like that, but I don’t know if they’ve strength enough to keep it up.”

“And if they don’t teleport?” he asked.

“Aeros is wretched at getting through solid material,” I said. “Best they could do is try to make it explode, a little bit at a time, like drilling through it with tiny explosives. Not very effective. If they have literally any other element - wait... except An Lum, that is - then they’d be better off switching.”

“I see,” he said.

I stood up and brushed off my dress.

“I had fun,” I said with another grin. “What are we doing next?”

General Richardson looked at the walls with vaguely Aera-shaped holes in them for a moment, then turned his attention back to me.

“Can you repair them?” he asked.

I tried to keep a disappointed look off my face.

“Yes,” I said. “Though that will require vastly more effort than destroying them.”

His lip twitched in amusement.

“What we’ll do next is the same exercise,” he said, “except that you will be behind the soldiers and opening the way for them all to go through first, without harming them. We’ll see how fast you can manage that.”

I couldn’t help but think it was a bit unfair to add that many constraints all at once.

But then, I had complained profusely about the tests being boring, when it was with Rhine. I supposed this was better. My parents would be proud.

The day’s tests went as expected. As I expected, at least.

Range once again proved to be the largest limiting factor. When the general realized that I could use magesense to “see” through objects, that ability was quickly added to his account of my offensive and defensive ability.

Magesense, I could reliably get information about anything from material, construction details, amount and type of life, their innards, and so forth, within about twenty feet. Up to about fifty feet, I could judge approximate density of objects, track life, and get a general idea of the health of my target. The soldiers were creeped out by that exercise, which was such a powerfully projected feeling that I couldn’t help but notice it.

The furthest I could push my magesense to any degree of usefulness was about two hundred feet. Best I could do was get a sense of numbers of people, the direction they were in, and whether there was any collective intention. For instance, if they were all afraid of being attacked, or psyched for battle, or creeped out.

The general was pleased to discover that he could order his troops to think certain types of thoughts, to try to feel a certain way, and it would fool my magesense. It took the soldiers only about a minute of practice to learn how to project certain feelings.

I privately estimated that I could double all those numbers, in the right frame of mind, but I didn’t tell the general about the significance of emotion on magic. The best reason was because I wanted to keep my true limits a secret, but the most honest reason for my choice was that I didn’t want the general to emotionally badger me into revealing those limits.

I did, however, confess to the general how pathetic those numbers were. I told him that, while I didn’t have a good measure of my parents’ defensive ability, since they mostly seemed unquestionably immortal, I had seen their offensive and other skills in action. I thought it would be a useful second point of information, since we didn’t know where the Germans fell in terms of skill or strength.

For magesense, I knew my parents could extend their range for miles - maybe even a hundred miles or so. For offensive strikes, I could only effectively cause destruction up to about forty feet, whereas my mother could fashion attacks that didn’t deteriorate, meaning she could effectively strike as far as she could see, and she could fly up past the atmosphere of the planet, which gave her extraordinary range. Though, naturally, the accuracy was wretched.

One offensive idea that the general had made me decidedly uncomfortable. He suggested the idea of making “super soldiers.” This was well within my skill set, and as long as the skull was large enough, I could change them into anything. If I were provided with certain animals to use as a framework, such as an eagle for vision, the potential stretched towards the infinite.

I was easily able to get him to back down to simply enhancing the human body, rather than creating monstrosities. A major part of that was the fact that it was very time consuming to design such an entity, and would likely be plagued with the trials of “trial and error.”

When he realized the extent to which I could enhance the human body, he was curious why I didn’t always have such enhancements. I explained how gauche it was to do so, among spellcasters. One, it felt disingenuous, in that by seeming other than you truly were, physically, it made it harder to judge you as a prospective breeding partner.

Two, it was a very, very slippery slope, down which a great number of spellcasters had gone. On Earth, they considered people to be different human races based on such trivialities as skin color. In my world, they considered people to be different human races based on things like the presence of fur, or wings, or what-have-you.

Many spellcasters made their enhancements able to breed true, in which case they were considered a different race. It was considered a grave sin to make small enhancements breed true, because you would be altering the entire human bloodline, without it being able to be distinguished. While no bloodlines had confessed to doing so, some alterations were more obvious in hindsight. Especially after coming to Earth and seeing how similar the races were here - I was now of the opinion my father’s bloodline had been altered for its porcelain white complexion, and my mother’s for their unusually brilliant red hair.

If the enchantments did not breed true, though, they were simply considered “fallen humans,” who effectively did not have a race at all. They were considered subhuman, and socially isolated, but they’d formed their own nation. It was a land of monsters, with no two residents alike, and was even more hostile to humans than humans were to them.

We considered the races to be “true human,” and “variant humans.” While all fully intelligent life was considered more or less equal, there were decidedly… awkward… interactions between races, from time to time. It made me a little sad to think that my world probably didn’t actually have true humans after all, since true humans were supposed to be the unifying factor for the entire world - the common blood of all races.

He found that tidbit to be absolutely fascinating, and honestly seemed a little loathe to bring the topic back on point.

Regardless of social conventions of my world, he thoroughly approved of the idea of making super soldiers. He agreed with my suggestion to hold off on doing so just yet, though - I couldn’t help but wonder if his quick agreement meant he had other reasons than mine.

The day was exhausting in a way that the defensive testing hadn’t even gotten close to. The power required for defenses was an arbitrary line - you needed enough to stop the offense, and no more. Offense, however, had no such limit. You could always destroy things faster, more thoroughly, more at once, and so forth.

I was always inclined to do my best, and as such, I found myself pushing too hard. The general called the tests done before I did, since I was pale and wavering on my feet. A side effect of using too much magic was a sort of numbness and tunnel vision - I hadn’t realized how bad the overexertion was.

The general was fascinated to discover that magical overexertion was lethal, if it went too far, though most spellcasters didn’t have the emotional fortitude to push it that hard.

I was only exhausted, and hadn’t “burned” myself like I had at the butcher shop. It was like the difference between walking to the point of collapse versus tearing a muscle - both would stop you, but one would put you out of commission for days, whereas the other just needed a bit of rest. “Burning” yourself with magic overuse was excruciating, and I certainly wasn’t going to do that by accident.

That afternoon, I passed out in bed without even bothering to get changed. The growling of my stomach woke me later that evening, and as I sat up, I noticed something on the end table beside my bed.

It was a note from Pash.

Good day, Miss Koryn,

Once you feel refreshed, I have a pleasant matter to discuss with you. I have managed to acquire an opportunity for you that I believe you will find most appealing.

The guard posted at your door will know where to find me.

I look forward to our discussion.

Lt. Mikhail Pash

That seemed intriguing. I assumed it was another avenue by which he intended to acquire my goodwill, and I briefly collapsed in bed with a sigh as a result.

I felt like I had overwhelmingly serious problems to sort out.

The Germans had spellcasters, and I was the only one who knew how to deal with that fact. Odds were quite good that the German spellcasters either wanted to kill or capture me. Probably capture; nothing is more valuable to a spellcaster than knowledge. But even so, I couldn’t be sure.

The military required my help, I required theirs, and so we had to work together - except I’d been thoroughly warned that I might be betrayed, mostly due to my being a foreigner.

Both of those problems required me to be very paranoid about my own survival.

Pash was probably not particularly motivated by morality. Whether or not he was as evil as Lou believed him to be, or as simply untrustworthy as Liam believed him to be, was uncertain. What was fairly certain was his attempt to manipulate me into goodwill.

My parents had told me about that sort of thing, and their recommended approach was straightforward. If you found out what it was they wanted, what reason they had to curry your favor, then you simply leveraged that desire to your ends.

If it was an ongoing desire, such as for ready access to power in case of things going wrong, then they made for excellent servants. If you fulfilled their needs, they were happy to serve you.

If it was a one time benefit, such as acquiring some specific item, then you weighed the loss of that asset against the potential for their use. If you decided to use them, either trade it for some service outright, or give them the object of their desire, and see if their gratitude made them servile.

It sounded fantastic in theory. Yet, the application felt daunting. Here I was, in exactly the situation they were talking about. And the idea of asking Pash exactly why he was trying to curry my favor…

How was I to understand his response? Would he give me truth? That seemed doubtful.

I sighed. There was nothing to it but to try, I supposed.

I got up, cleaned myself off, and with the guard leading the way, headed off to find Pash.