Adriel kissed her softly. "Have fun," he said, winking at her.
"I don't think I have a choice when Meryn is involved," she said.
He gave her one final kiss then left, closing the door to the hub behind him. Eva got comfortable in one of the high back leather manager chairs while Meryn tapped away on her laptop. She had just started to doze lightly when the door swung open and slammed against the wall.
"Meryn! We did it!" Nigel announced, bursting through the door. Neil was right behind him, beaming proudly.
Eva jumped a mile. "Dammit boys, y'all trying to kill me?" Eva clutched at her chest.
Meryn jumped up. "Seriously! Already? High five!" Meryn held up both hands, and the twins clapped hands with hers.
"It was in the book you got us from Kendrick. Once we were able to wrap our heads around the theory of trapping winds in crystal, it was surprisingly easy to do." Nigel handed Meryn a small stone. "Later we can see if we can make these into key chains or something easier to carry."
Neil handed one to her. "We were going to do these for the refugees, but it takes a lot out of us. We actually had to wait until the housing project was done before we did these, otherwise we would have been useless. Besides, Adriel isn't comfortable with the refugees having access to the entire city. He said trying to keep them safe was hard enough when they were all in one place."
Eva turned the stone over in her hand. "Is this pumice?"
Neil nodded. "Air stone. Each tiny hole captures air and holds it."
"I wanna try it!" Meryn exclaimed heading for the door.
Eva reached out and grabbed her collar. "Hold it right there, cub. Don't you have more messages to respond to?" Eva pointed to Meryn's laptop. "You promised Beth you would post an explanation."
Meryn's face fell. "But I want to see how these babies work."
"I'll tell you what. If the twins promise to stay with you, I'll head to the tunnel and try it out. That way I can help you later. Deal?" Eva looked at the twins.
Both nodded. "We were going to study some more anyway. We can do that just as easily here as in our quarters."
"Fine, Facebook posts then I'll just beat my head against my laptop trying to figure out the killer's pattern. To me, it looks like he's just picking whomever he can get to, like crimes of opportunity, but ferals aren't like that. They're like 'braaaiinnnns' and randomness. What really has me curious is figuring out how this sucker is getting around. If he's feral, he can't fly anymore. It's not like he has one of those stones; the twins just made them."
Eva stopped and looked at the stone in her hand. In all the conversations she had been a part of, no one had brought up how the feral was moving around the city. If Meryn was correct, then wouldn't he be confined to the Grand Hall? She forced herself to smile. "You'll figure it out," Eva said encouragingly, a plan already forming in her mind.
"Maybe. Go on, but you have to tell me everything as soon as you get back." Meryn climbed into her chair and pulled her laptop onto her lap.
Eva twisted the stone in her hand. "Boys, how does this thing work anyway?"
Nigel laughed. "Say autem to go up and descendit to go down."
Eva memorized the words. "So what should I expect, like a whoosh or what?"
Nigel frowned. "No idea, we came directly here after making them."
"I'll go with you in case it doesn't work," Neil offered.
"You're making me feel real nervous about this," Eva grumbled.
"Relax, if anything goes wrong, Neil will just float you back up here." Nigel waved a hand at him.
Meryn stared at her. "You know what? You testing it out first, great idea."
"Be back soon," Eva said, pulling Neil behind her by his collar.
They headed out of the hub, through the prince's quarters and out the door. Together, they walked up to the transport tunnel and looked down. "Kinda dark down there," Neil commented.
"If I end up in that net..." she let her threat trail off.
Neil gulped. "I won't let you drop, swear!"
"Right." Eva held the stone in her hand. "Autem." She began to lift steadily off the ground. When she got close to the ceiling, she pulled herself to the edge and into the open air in front of her in the tunnel. She continued to float upward.
"It works!" Neil exclaimed, jumping up and down.
"Don't sound so surprised; it's making me nervous," Eva said.
She kept floating upward. "Neil! How do I stop?"
"Say prohibere," he shouted.
"Prohibere?" she asked. Suddenly, she was falling.
Neil jumped into the tunnel and caught her. "Try not to say that until you're at your level. Maybe later, Nigel and I can work on a pause command."
Eva swallowed hard a few times. "Right. Makes sense."
Neil returned her to the platform. She took a deep breath and tried again. "Autem."
Again, she lifted up, this time she kicked off the ground into the tunnel. "I think I got the hang of this. I'm heading to Level Six, keep an eye on Meryn and under no circumstances is she allowed to try this by herself. I don't care if you have to sit on her."
Neil gave her a salute. "Be safe."
"Thanks."
Eva floated gently upward, passing all the other levels until she was at the Marketplace. She reached out and grabbed the ceiling and pulled herself into the launching platform. "Prohibere." She dropped the distance from the ceiling to the floor. She couldn't help but smile. It felt good to have her independence back.