Myke Cole - Shadow Ops - Control Point

“Therese, this doesn’t work for me,” Wavesign said. “We’ve been through this.”

“Then let’s go through it again.

“Here, look,” she said, taking his hand. “Can you feel my current? It always starts off intense. I used to try to haul the magic back, but now I realize that all I have to do is let it go.” She let out a deep breath for emphasis. “Can you feel my current change? That’s the Dampener at work. You just let the tension go. Remember, it’s emotions you’re dealing with, so try to center yourself.”

Britton marveled at the clarity of the explanation. It was exactly how he’d been managing the magic, but he’d never put words to it before.

“I can’t,” Wavesign said. “I don’t know how to explain it…”

“Is something bugging you?” Britton asked.

Wavesign jerked to look at him, glowering in silence. “I’m just saying”—Britton patted the air with his palms—“it’s emotions that cause the problem here, so if you’ve got something on your mind, that could be the root of the issue.”

“Whatever,” Wavesign said, folding his arms and returning to the No-No Crew. “This is stupid.”

“You’re wasting your time,” Tsunami said, trotting over. “It’s nice of you, but I’ve tried with him before. He’s completely committed to throwing his lot in with those idiots. I thought, because we were both Water Sorcerers, that I could get through to him, but he’s young. He’d rather be cool than competent.”

“I don’t know about that,” Britton said, cocking an eyebrow. “Kids can go either way. He just needs a nudge in the right direction.”

Tsunami snorted. “Like Swift? That a-hole has been nudged every which way since I got here. If Wavesign’s anything like him, it’s a lost cause.” She gestured at the squeaking of a metal door.

Over Wavesign’s shoulder, Swift was already being hauled out of the pillbox. He was even paler than before, shaking. He slumped in the guards’ arms, pliant and passive. A soldier gestured back toward the group, and he nodded, offering no resistance as he made his way back toward the rest of the enrollees, his head down, meeting no one’s eyes.

Britton suddenly felt sympathy for the man, despite the injury to his cheek. “Jesus, what happened to him?” he asked Therese.

She shrugged. “Scylla’s extra creepy. You’ll see her eventually, when they exercise her around the yard. She gives me chills.”

“Who is she? Why is she in there?”

But before Therese could answer, Fitzy’s voice barked from the SASS gate, motioning Britton over. “Playtime’s over, Novice! Get your ass in gear. School starts for real now.”

Britton knew better than to argue after the drubbing Fitzy had given him that morning and headed over to him. He had already forgotten Therese’s words as his mind focused on the new challenge of dealing with Fitzy’s ire, but as he moved past the pillbox, he heard the panel in the doorway slide open.

“Such pretty doorways, Oscar Britton.” The voice that drifted through the panel was liquid amber, rich and haunting. “Oh, they are beautiful.”

Britton turned to answer, but the Suppressor guarding the door kicked it hard, then again, and finally the panel shut. For all his show of force, the man looked terrified as he turned away.

Britton had jogged the rest of the way toward Fitzy before he realized that chills had run up his spine.

Truelove and Richards met them outside the P pods, where another converted trailer bore the Shadow Coven logo of the ghosted star behind the moon.

“It was awesome!” Downer gushed, but her voice trailed off as she saw Truelove and Richards standing in silence. Britton followed their gazes to where a huge man walked, hands thrust in his pockets, shoulders hunched. His nearly shaved head sported ginger-colored hair to rival Richards’s own. His cold blue eyes took in Shadow Coven as he pushed past them, his camouflage-pattern parka not matching anything Britton had ever seen before. As the man passed, Britton caught the flag sewn onto his shoulder even as the man’s magical current hit him hard enough to make him grimace. Whoever the stranger was, he was highly Latent.

Their eyes followed him, staring unabashedly as he moved along until he was gone from sight behind one of the concrete blast barricades.

“Who was that?” Richards asked.

Britton shook his head. “Russian army, I think. At least, that was the flag sewn on his jacket.”

“Didn’t know they had a SOC.”

Britton thought of the giant snake creature he’d seen when he’d first arrived on the FOB. “Everybody does. Harlequin said we’re not to talk to them unless authorized.”

Downer opened her mouth to say something, then shut it. An awkward silence followed.

Richards broke it, grinning. “I thought you might like it,” he said, clapping Downer on the shoulder.

“Like what?”

“The training. The SASS. The Dampener. All of it.”

“SASS isn’t so bad,” said Truelove. “The videos are pretty annoying, but once you get your magic down, it’s actually a lot of fun. Did you meet Swift?”

“That guy was a piece of work,” Britton said.

“Yeah,” Truelove said. “If the guy would let the Dampener scale back his anger, he’d be set, but he just can’t stop fighting. He rode me pretty hard when I went through.”

“The Dampener is incredible,” Britton said. “Skill really does beat will.”

“Yeah, it is pretty incredible…” Truelove said.

“What’s incredible, needledick,” Fitzy cut him off as he tromped toward them, “is your unrivaled ability to state the obvious. Perhaps if you had Manifested in the magical ability to shut the hell up, you’d say less stupid stuff. Now, if you’d be so kind as to refrain from teaching our new arrival how to be a moron, maybe I won’t have to break another nail administering a repeat ass-kicking to him.”

Truelove stood at attention, his eyes focused on the middle distance, but not before Britton caught him casting an embarrassed glance at Downer, who didn’t appear to notice.

Fitzy warmed to his task, stepping closer to Truelove. “You put on a brave face, little man, but we both know that if it weren’t for this ‘incredible’ Dampener you keep going on about, you’d be crying all four of your eyes out right now.”

Thanks for reminding me that I’ve got to get out of here, Britton thought. For a minute there, I was starting to enjoy myself.

“All right, I suppose some congratulations are in order,” Fitzy said. “Not that learning a little basic control is much of an accomplishment. The Novices in the SASS are raw meat. If you hadn’t mastered the basics so quickly, I’d have been disappointed. Well”—he looked back to Truelove—“more disappointed than I already am, anyhow.

“You all just remember one thing: You are Coven Four, Shadow Coven, the magic behind the magic. You are this Corps’ secret weapon against all that is unknown and terrible in the world. When the army can’t cut it, they call the SOC, when the SOC can’t cut it, they call us. Like it or not, that’s your role, and I expect you all to act like it. Almighty God must have a particular sense of humor to have Manifested such rare and precious abilities in a pack of imbeciles like you, but we will all simply have to cowboy up and go to war with the army we have.

“And that, folks, is exactly what we intend to do. We’re going to get started right now.”

He led the Coven back into the converted trailer, stomping up a small flight of wooden steps, the Coven following, pushing past a cluster of Goblins hauling bags of trash out of the room.

Inside was a simple classroom that was a near-exact copy of the SASS schoolhouse, complete with whiteboard and plastic folding chairs. The Coven sat while Fitzy stood in front of the board.