An Odd Sort of Magic

Chapter Twenty-One

"That was way to easy," Vanessa murmured, "there's got to be something else."

"Well, that would be me, wouldn't it?" A door had opened behind them, without them noticing.

"You again," Jayan glared at Jasmine, "would you just give up already?"

Jasmine studied her nails for a moment, "um, how about no? Does no work for you?"

"Actually," Jayan heard a different voice, this time from the door they had entered, "it does't."

"Beta!" Jayan hissed, both annoyed and glad for the girls stubborn refusal to stay out of a fight.

At the same time, Drew three up his hands in annoyance, "these doors seriously need bells on them. People really need to stop sneaking up on us."

"So what's the deal here?" Jasmine asked casually, "are we going to jump right into fighting, or are we going to trash talk first?"

"Definitely trash talk," Beta muttered. Kiya shot her a look, and she backed down.

"This is how we're doing it, Jasmine," Kiya said, the leader once again, "we are not going to fight you, and you are going to tell us why destroying the generator seemed ineffective."

"Why would I do that?" Jasmine asked.

"Well, for starters, your powers are blocked. Also, any attempts at hand to hand combat, we let Beta have her fun. And I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Oh yeah, and if you don't answer our questions willingly, Jayan will shock them out of you," Kiya ticked off the reasons on her fingers, looking as calm as if she was making a shopping list.

"I will?" Jayan whispered.

Kiya nodded, "I didn't say you had to kill her."

Jasmine looked genuinely worried. But she clearly lacked good judgment, although that had been evident from the start. She moved to strike, and Beta was on her in an instant.

The girl was violent, and she might have been a little on the small side, but she packed a punch. Jasmine looked utterly miserable before even ten seconds had gone by. Beta had her pinned to the wall, her cheek pressed against it, one hand sprawled across it, the other behind her back.

"Beta," Kiya warned, and Beta loosened up just enough to allow Jasmine to breathe.

The dark girl gasped out, "okay, I'll talk."

"Excellent," Kiya said, "so you can start with the generator. What's the deal?"

"I'd have thought it would be obvious," Jasmine mumbled, having trouble talking with her face smashed against the wall, "it's not the real power generator. That one's a literal generator, for heating the building. The one you're after is down one of these hallways."

"Which one?" Kiya coaxed, stepping closer.

"I don't know," Jasmin said a little stubbornly. Jayan sighed. If Jasmine wasn't going to talk, then she knew what was coming next.

"Need I remind you," Kiya said warningly to Jasmine, "that Jayan here can shock the very life out of you if she so choses." Jayan shuddered at the thought, but Kiya kept talking, "I know from personal experience how much it hurts, so I can tell you the way it feels like fire going through your veins, acid in your bones, like your whole body is engulfed in a huge bolt of lightning. And then, if she holds on long enough, your flesh will start to char. Doesn't that sound lovely?"

"No," Drew muttered, "it sounds disgusting." Jayan had to agree. Kiya was being downright morbid with all this talk of charred flesh.

"I don't know," Jasmine repeated.