"This?" Noble glanced up from her inspection at the surprised man.
She held up the little black ball so he could get a closer look. Aiden stared politely with raised eyebrows.
"It's called the [Portcullis Key]," the professor answered casually. "I study it to clear my head sometimes."
"Study it? Do you not know what it does?" Aiden seemed both bothered and intrigued by the little ball in her hand.
"I do, mostly..." Noble had run many tests over the ball in the past couple of years.
After the city train had come to a sudden stop, Noble had discovered that the ball seemed to feed off of emotions, mainly fear.
That was a problem.
She could use her own genuine fear to power the ball, but trying to force the feeling of fear did not work. Of course, she could have made the people around her afraid with her ability, but that seemed highly unethical and even cruel just for her to be able to activate an enchantment.
Thanks to her experiment at the movie theater–and a few more 'proof of concepts' after that by going to other horror films–Noble had been able to prove the little orb could permeate walls and let the user pass through like there was nothing there.
Strangely, the information had only made Catphine even less inclined to get back the Memory. Before leaving with the army, her beautiful former student had only made two requests: to keep an eye out for her brother and to remember the key.
The first part was easy. The boy was in Honey's class at school, and Noble checked in with the young man weekly to make sure he had all he needed. She made sure to let Cat know how he was feeling and if he was remotely tired. Honey, of course, noticed the sudden attention.
The teen had accused Noble of trying to fix them up until her mother had explained the situation. After that, Honey did what she could to make sure Catphine's brother had at least one friend he could talk to.
The second part of Cat's request had seemed unnecessary. Noble studied Memories as part of her job. It was unlikely that she would forget about one in her possession. Especially one as fascinating as a little ominous ball.
That would be like telling a duck not to swim. If ducks were still around, that was.
"If you know what it does, then why study it?" Aiden asked. His honest question brought a smile to Noble's face.
"To honor a friend's request," she answered.
Because there was no reasonable way to activate the enchantment, Noble had used the strange, almost imperceptible patterns of the Memory to distract and entertain her on long rides.
The current trip across the NQSC still had another half hour before she would be close to her station. Which meant there was plenty of time to get lost in the tenebrous mystery in her hand.
If Aiden was confused by her answer, he did not say so.
"That's nice," he smiled and gave a short nod. The pair fell into another comfortable silence. The world whizzed by them while the train continued its never-ending path.
Looking at the key, Noble watched the streaks change at different intervals. She had theorized that they were the emotions of the people around her, but there was no proof this was true. Her only reason for thinking this was that when she was alone in her protected dojo, there was less fluctuation in the shadowy discoloration.
'And it is going wild right now.'
With so many people coming in and out of its range, Noble could sense hundreds, even thousands of different emotions at any given time. If she opened herself up fully to the sensation, she could easily get lost. When the professor first acquired the ability, it had taken some time to learn how to separate and ignore extra stimuli.
Now it was second nature to have her feelings in the forefront, the person she was focused on second, and everyone else in the periphery. Only occasionally did those things go out of order, like when Sleepless had fueled Noble with his anger or when Lost had pushed his senses on her own. Fortunately, those instances were few and far between.
The portcullis key glowed for a moment as the train descended to the next stop. Noble wondered who was having a bad enough day to cause the ball to react in such a way.
People's responses to things were often unpredictable.
'Hopefully tonight will not induce any fear.'
It was possible that the information on Noble's flaw would affect Honey deeply. It would be disorienting to learn that one of the closest people to you was never really touching the ground and could float away if she fell asleep in the wrong place.
'Maybe I should lead with that and my first nightmare and end with the Dreamscape. That way things can end on a high note.'
Though doing it the other way around was tempting as well. Once Honey knew her secret identity, surely everything else would pale in comparison.
'No, no. I need her to take what I say seriously. If she is picturing me in duels, she won't listen to anything that comes after.'
With that Noble began crafting her speech. This was somehow much harder than other parental talks that the woman had needed to give. Instead of speaking about the Birds and the Bees, she would be speaking about only one Bee–herself.
The personal nature of the talk was part of the issue. Too little information and Honey might not get the full picture of how things were. But too much information would qualify as oversharing. She didn't want to give the girl second-hand trauma.
'It will all be fine. Perhaps I should just take the questions as they come and go from there.'
As she thought, the train had raised and lowered into yet another station. This one was still more than twenty minutes from home. Time felt like it was crawling.
The doors opened and people filtered in and out. Their emotions filtered in and out of Noble's consciousness with them.
The professor looked up and surveyed the newcomers. One of their emotional signatures caught her attention immediately.
'Can it be?' Noble furrowed her brow.
A stately man wearing a grey jacket entered the car with a grim expression. The government insignia on his collar and his imposing aura made others give him a wide berth. Clearly, the powerful Awakened was not someone to be trifled with.
As he entered, his curly hair was blown against his light brown skin. It would have been mesmerizing if the man had not been so forbidding. The most notable thing, though, was the man's hands
Even though it was swelteringly warm, the seer wore gloves to prevent accidentally touching any of the unwashed masses around him.
A moment after passing through the doors, the man's piercing eyes met Noble's.
"Emer!" The word escaped her mouth unconsciously.
The scowl on the emissary's face gave way to a look of pure, unfiltered dread.
"Nope!"
Emer turned around…and fled.