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Impara turned the pointer toward a nearby empty pool and the funnel disconnected from its crack to flow across the floor to another crack. The professor removed his hand from the glass and the light vanished. The water crashed into the pool and slowly drained into the crack, leaving behind only a few wet stains.
“An ingenious method of using the elements to do one’s bidding,” Impara mused as he turned to face us. “Particularly if one isn’t too skilled in using magic, or does not have a great deal of natural talent.”
I studied the talisman with a curious eye. “How easy is it for someone to get one of these talismans?”
“They can be custom-made at a handful of the higher-end shops along the Plaza border,” Impara told me as he turned the machine over in his hand. “However, one must have a license to use one in public. They are not as easy to control as they appear. A single mistake and-”
He spun around to face the last crack and slammed his hand against the glass dome. A huge column of water burst out of the floor and shot up to the ceiling, creating an indent in the concrete. Impara removed his hand and the water crashed back to the ground, sending droplets flying in every direction.
The professor wrinkled his nose as he flicked some of the water from one sleeve. “Catastrophe.”
A dark thought struck me. “Why would anyone want to have this machine in the first place except to make trouble?”
Impara faced me and held up the talisman. “It is very good at detecting water sources and minerals for mining. One need only have a little bit of the natural element to find more of it.”
“You don’t happen to have the names of those shops, do you?” Ben inquired.
Impara furrowed his bushy eyebrows and he wrinkled his nose. “I believe Tony’s Trinkets would sell them, and then there ishershop.”
I cocked my head to one side. “Who’s her?”
“Much obliged for the information,” Ben replied as he set a hand on my shoulder in warning. “Now what did you find out in the first-hand accounts?”
The professor moved back over to the table with its busy manuscript. “That each witness saw something different when the staff was used.”
I lifted an eyebrow as Ben and I joined him. “That doesn’t sound like reliable witnesses.”
He shook his head. “On the contrary, that proves that the staff was always meant to be able to change its form. Each specific form may perhaps increase its abilities in certain situations.”
I pulled out the flute and turned it over in my hands before my attention fell on the talisman Impara had set on the table. “So why did the flute work yesterday?”
Ben’s eyes danced with mirth. “The broom and staff would have hardly helped you with battling the wind spirit, but the flute fought wind with wind and the more powerful of the two magics won.”
I blinked at the instrument a moment before I shrugged. “I guess that makes sense, but I still wish I could ride that broom again.”
Ben turned to our host. “Have you found any instructions on how to control its forms, or how many forms it was able to take?”
Impara scoffed. “If such manuscripts exist then they would have been written by the first emperor himself and thus be too valuable to leave the current emperor’s private collection. As it stands now with the information I have discovered, I cannot see that the first emperor left any detailed instructions outside of what is written on the staff itself.”
My shoulders slumped as I recalled those cryptic words carved into the wood of all three forms. “‘My script is simple, my thoughts are kind. You’ll find the symbol within the mind.’” A sigh escaped me. “Those haven’t exactly helped me learn how to use the staff.”
“You used the flute quite effectively yesterday,” Ben pointed out.
I snorted. “Thanks more to Elias’ teaching than anything I learned myself.”
He smiled down at me. “You’ll figure out your own way of controlling the staff. In the meantime, there is a book club to attend.”
I winced. “You just had to remind me.”
Ben nodded at Impara. “Thank you for the information.”
The professor half-turned away from us and cast a dark look in our direction. “You can thank me by not mentioning that I told you to visither.”
Ben bowed his head to our host. “Your wish is our command, though we cannot stop her from suspecting.”
Impara waved his hand. “I don’t care whatshesuspects, I only care that you don’t tell her that I advised you to visit her. Now if that’s all you need from me tonight, I’ll get on with my research.” He picked up his magnifying glass and resumed inspecting the manuscript.
Ben caught my eye and jerked his head toward the door. I followed him outside and into the noon-hour sunlight. I was bursting with curiosity and hardly waited until we were out of earshot of the cistern door when I leaned forward to catch Ben’s eye.
