I looked at the girls to make sure they were ready, I wasn't sure what for, but I had never done this before so it wouldn't hurt. I closed my eyes and slipped my mind into my mana core. The first thing I did was to bring up the how of using the wisps. The information I had told me I could, but I needed to think about it specifically to recall exactly what I needed to do. Once I had it learned it was simple enough.
To increase an ability I only had to mentally command a wisp to leave my mana heart and enter the ability I wanted. To form a random ability I had to command three wisps to leave my mana heart and combine. For a specific ability I needed to do the same for five while thinking of the ability. If the ability was real and I was compatible with it I would gain the ability. If not the five wisps would return to my mana heart.
Having learned what I needed I started to concentrate on the wisps in my mana heart. Commanding three to leave my mana heart then commanded them to combine. Immediatly three wisps left my mana heart then circled each other forming a smaller and smaller circle until they touched. There was a flash of golden light then a new ability had appeared. Staring at the ability I saw a bodybuilder flexing his muscles was the image for the ability. The ability was 'physical' which was a pair with my 'mental' ability. It focused on my body's strength, density, ability to heal, immunities, reflexes, and more. Looking at the ability I got the impression that this ability and 'Mental' were both considered basic abilities. They covered a wide range of things, and would improve all of those things as it grew stronger, but at a much slower pace then a specialized ability. Not that I was given any hints at what a specialized ability would be.
I was a bit curious to see how Megan and Karen would react to the fact that my physical appearance improved again. I doubted I had abs yet, but I was sure I was a lot closer than I had been before.
Satisfied that I knew as much as I could about my new ability without diving deep into the information I turned my attention back to my mana heart to form the second ability. I realized that with the reduced number of wisps it was easy to see exactly how many I had. Instead of having seven I seemed to only have six. Now that I had used three I only had three left.
While that did leave me enough to form a second ability it would leave me without any extra wisps. I considered that for a moment then decided it would be fine. While I would have liked to have an extra wisp in case I needed a quick increase in power, I was sure my physical and fire abilities, along with Enya should be more than enough to protect me and the girls if we ran into any trouble. Besides I wasn't sure I would have the time to use a spare wisp in an emergency.
Satisfied with my own reasoning I called out the last three wisps then commanded them to form another ability. Again the three wisps left my mana heart to circle each other drawing ever closer to each other until they touched. A bright flash of golden light seemed to signal success as a new ability appeared within my mana core. It took me several moments to understand what the image of the new ability was supposed to portray. It looked like a wire frame of a cube with a door set into it. Only after I received the download of the information was I able to understand what it was. Spatial Storage. It was a specialized version of the spatial types of abilities. It would allow me access to a subspace region where I could store just about anything. The space was a total void, so while I could place living beings inside of it, they would not live for long if I didn't keep suppling air, water, and food. The last two seemed obvious, but I wouldn't have thought about the first. The space had a limit of ten cubic feet but I was able to shift the space into whatever shape I wanted or needed.
Unfortunately despite the awesomeness of the ability, it didn't seem like I could gain anything more than additional storage space by increasing the strength of the ability. For a moment I wondered if I could give access to the space I created through my bond ability, but I got nothing. No confirmation or denial. That seemed odd to me, but with both abilities awakened I had nothing else to do.
Leaving my mana core I opened my eyes to see the television was now on. It was set to a news channel which was showing rough footage of a large red skinned being that resembled the hulk in shape, though the face was less than human. It had a vague human appearance in that there were two eyes, a nose, mouth, and a pair of ears, but the eyes were completely black, the nose was squashed, and the mouth was full of sharp teeth much like shark teeth. Each of the beings thick fingers had a long black claw, which it seemed fairly adept at using as it attacked the people around it ruthlessly and relentlessly.
Karen and Megan had shifted to sit beside me. As close as they could without being in my lap.
I shifted so that I could move my arms then wrapped one around each woman.
"You back now?" Megan asked as she leaned into me.
"Yeah, was I out long?" I asked.
"About twenty minutes." Karen replied leaning into me like Megan had then turning her head into my shoulder so she couldn't see the screen.
"If it bothers you, you should turn it off." I told the girls.
"Pretending it isn't happening doesn't make anything stop." Karen retorted as she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight while her slim figure shivered.
"Is it getting worse?" I asked.
"No." Megan said. "There haven't been any new appearances for a few hours now. There have been a dozen confirmed appearances here in Phoenix, and another four dozen across the US. New York, Miami, and Seattle seemed to get most of those with a couple around Denver and Kansas City."
That was pretty spread out.
"They are still trying to determine the number of dead and injured." Megan added woodenly. Then a moment later Megan looked up at me. "Do you have any idea where Micheal is?" she asked "I tried to call him, but neither he or Courtney are answering their phones."
I was a bit surprised, but I shouldn't have been. For Megan to come here, she would have been seeking comfort from her cousin. I wasn't exactly one to garner a sense of safety, or at least I hadn't been. I also realized how much time had passed, it was abnormal for Micheal to have not called, especially with all that was going on.
"Anything around Courney's place?" I asked.
Megan shook her head, making me relax. "Good, Courtney and him were supposed to hang out over there today. I think she has a new friend she wanted to introduce to Micheal." I told her. "I bet they haven't even touched their phones or checked the news."
Megan frowned but nodded.
"Give it a bit longer then try them again, they should have to come up for food sooner or later." I told her. "Speaking of food, we should get something for ourselves." I told her.
"I already ordered pizza. Megan said it wasn't great for your diet, but it's what I wanted." Karen said into my shoulder, tightening her hold on me.
I rubbed her back a bit surprised by the way she was behaving, then I remembered what they said. Some of those attacks had been in New York. That was where she had spent the last two years.
"Was there an attack by your college?" I asked quietly.
Karen's arms tightened then she sobbed which quickly turned into a full out cry. Almost instantly my shirt was soaked by her tears.
I glanced over at Megan but she seemed just as surprised as I was. I retrieved my arm from around Megan then wrapped it around Karen then pulled her up onto my lap. I held her there and let her cry it out.
Megan started to rub at Karen's back while making soothing sounds as I held the woman.
After several moments Karen slowly began to calm down. Then she finally stopped crying. Despite that she remained where she was while holding tightly to me. We gave her time to gather herself. I loosened my hold on her a bit so she could sit up when she was ready, but that only made her hold onto me tighter. I tightened my hold on her again which seemed to relax her as her own hold on me relaxed a bit.
Finally she turned her head so we could see her face. She wasn't a woman who could cry and still look good. Her eyes were red and her skin blotchy. "Sorry." she told us in a quiet voice.
"It's okay." I told her gently.
Karen smiled at me then leaned back from me. I loosened my grip on her so she could move, but rather than pulling away from me she shifted then leaned back in and planted a chaste kiss on my lips. "Thank you." she told me.