Monster Mansion 2 by Dante King (best way to read ebooks .txt) 📗

“A ghost stone,” said Kyrine’s voice behind me.

I jumped, looking up. She stood near the desk, wrapped in a towel, her hair wet and plastered to her head, emphasizing the clean lines of her beautiful face.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” I said. “Where’s Astrid?”

Kyrine smiled. “She’s still in the jacuzzi. I… felt the stone when you uncovered it.”

I gestured at the little black metal panel I’d prized off. “Black iron covering it to keep its influence contained.”

Kyrine nodded. Ever since the early days of magic on Earth, it had been known that black iron could contain volatile magical influences. That’s why the enchanting table was made of iron—so that during the dangerous and unstable enchanting process, nothing would be able to escape the bounds of the table. The iron plate had covered the little green stone to contain its magical power and influence.

“You called it a ghost stone?” I said, looking at the restless mist inside the little green crystal. “I’ve never heard of that before, but you seem to recognize it?”

Kyrine looked sad. “It’s an evil technology, knowledge from old Eosor that might have been better left to be forgotten. This is ghost jade, a clear crystal that can capture the living essence of a being at the point of death. It does not contain any of the living being’s personality, you understand, just the pure life force.”

“And that’s cruel? Surely if the personality of the being is not trapped…”

She shook her head emphatically. “The ghost inside the stone can still suffer. In fact, it’s almost crueler, because the ghost doesn’t know what’s happening. It has no reference point, no understanding of why it’s trapped within the stone. They can be used to power engines, weapons, vehicles, that kind of thing. I’ve never seen one used for an application like this before, but I understand how it could be done. The ghost is given simple instructions and sent to do a task. The programming of the drone does the rest. The ghost’s life force is little more than a battery.”

I shuddered again. “That’s grim. I’m liking this Technomancer less and less the more I hear about him.”

“And I,” said Kyrine. She leaned forward and held her hand toward the green stone, but I put my hand on her arm to stop her.

“Wait, what are you going to do?” I asked.

“I’m going to absorb the life force, emptying the crystal and freeing the spirit.”

“Will you be able to learn anything from the ghost?”

She looked doubtful. “It’s possible, but I don’t know for sure. There’s only one way to find out.”

I had a bad feeling about this, but it seemed the only way, so I nodded reluctantly and took my hand from her arm.

Kyrine reached forward and held one finger to the green stone. The mist inside retreated from her finger for a moment, then rushed to where her finger touched the surface of its prison. Like sand through an egg-timer, it flowed swiftly and steadily into her finger through the stone. After a moment, it was gone.

With a sudden cry, Kyrine stumbled backward, reaching out a hand to catch at me and keep from falling. I jumped to my feet, catching her around the shoulders and steadying her. It took her a moment to get her breath back.

“Hey, are you ok?” I asked.

She nodded. “It’s just… ah, it was unpleasant, that’s all. Such confusion and suffering in such a small creature.”

“Do you know what it was in life? A person? An animal?”

“No,” she said. “I don’t think even it knew. But Jeremy, there’s something… it has something, fragments of a memory, I think. There were voices, and a space, a room, I think. Voices… The ghost was there, trapped in the drone, watching people talk.”

“What were they saying?” I asked eagerly. Could this be the information we were seeking about the Technomancer?

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head and looking disturbed. “It’s too confused. I can’t get it clear in my head.”

A sudden idea struck me.

“Do you think you could show me, rather than telling me? Do you think you could create a picture of the ghost’s memory for me?”

Kyrine frowned. “I don’t know… a picture? What do you mean?”

I gestured at the snowy scene outside the workroom’s window. “Like that view. That’s not real, is it? That’s created from a memory.”

“Yes…”

“And the space you made for us to train in, beyond the portal. That’s not real either, is it?”

“I think I see what you’re saying,” she said, sounding excited. “I could use the memories of the ghost stone to recreate what it was seeing?”

“Exactly!” I said. “Do you think you can do it?”

“I’ve ever tried anything like it before. I’ve only ever used my own knowledge and memories to create scenes. But yes, in theory there’s no reason for that not to work. Yes, I’ll try it!”

As we hurried back through to the training room, Kyrine was briefly bathed in golden light. When it cleared, she was wearing her close-fitting skirt and tights again, with knee-high black leather boots.

Astrid was standing beside the jacuzzi drying her hair. She looked up as we entered.

“What is it?” she said, picking up the excitement on our faces.

“Come with us,” said Kyrine. “I’ve something to show you.”

Kyrine pointed a hand at Astrid, and golden light shimmered over the lycan. When it cleared, her hair was dry and she was dressed in her leather jumpsuit and boots again—the outfit I thought of as her battle dress.

Astrid rolled her eyes, looking down at herself. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you dressing me like that,” she said to Kyrine with a wry smile, but the dungeon avatar wasn’t listening.

Kyrine approached the red portal panel on the wall and