The chair where Nickel had just sat down was empty. The man was nowhere in sight.
"Is his new Ability invisibility?" Sarai raised her eyebrows and waved her hand over the chair.
Noble felt for his emotional signature. He was here, she knew it. She focused on his form and let her second sight take over.
Like before, he flickered in and out of existence in her world of strange colors. He was moving swiftly, and Noble struggled to connect the blips of motion to make a cohesive picture. Fortunately, there was a discernible pattern to his actions even in the chaos.
So when Nickel turned to head for the palace door, the professor was ready.
'Got you.'
Locking onto the black-clad man, Noble lifted Nickel into the air, resulting in a cry of outrage.
"Blast it! Put me down!"
"Are you going to come back and talk to us?" The professor asked as she released the man from her grasp.
Nickel returned to the table full of dejection. "There goes that test," he sighed.
"You were testing us?" Sarai raised her eyebrows. "You just disappeared. Can you turn invisible?"
"Sadly, no. That would have actually been cool. My Ability has to do with remaining hidden. I was curious if Noble could still find me like she did one time on the rooftop. It turns out she can." Nickel rolled his eyes. "Just as I suspected, another useless Ability to add to the list."
Noble's eyes opened wide. "It's not useless at all! If I hadn't known to look for you, I wouldn't have even been able to detect you. As it was, I had to remember your emotional signature and your shape to lock onto you at all. You were coming in and out of my sight like crazy."
"You are just saying that," the librarian clicked his tongue.
Noble held up her hand. "I am not. With a little practice, you'll basically be a ghost."
"I already was." The man chuckled darkly. "With what I do, people don't find evidence that I've been somewhere unless I want them to."
Noble wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she shared a different thought instead. "For a moment I thought you might also have Derik's skill of slipping through my levitation Ability."
"That would have actually been helpful. Your little pick-me-up trick is too powerful." Nickel scoffed. "I shouldn't have admitted I wanted a combat Ability. Maybe if I had pretended like I dreaded getting something to do with combat, the Spell would have given one just to spite me."
"That's not how it works…probably," Noble amended.
No one knew exactly how the Spell worked or how sentient it was. She couldn't deny that it seemed to reward some actions over others.
If it could value some choice over others, then it could also value people differently. Did it do things to spite people though?…that was unclear.
What was clear was that Nickel felt slighted.
Sarai picked up the tray of sweet bread and held it out to her discontent companion. "Keep your chin up, I am sure there are plenty of ways to use that skill in combat, like you did when you snuck up to the balcony. A large part of battle is being elusive."
Nickel took a slice of something chocolately from the tray and returned to his seat. "You are just saying that because you already have a combat Aspect."
Dismissing his headwear, he stuffed the pastry in his mouth. A small smile formed on his face.
"This is good stuff. You should consider opening a bakery in the Dream Realm. Just because you don't want to be a courier for other people's things doesn't mean you can't bring over ingredients from the waking world for yourself."
"I am glad you like the food." Sarai wiped her mouth daintily with a satisfied grin. "I had already thought about the possibility of a second location here in the Dream Realm. We shall see."
"Right now all I want to see is more of these baked goods and the loot you two got in that final battle." Nickel nodded firmly.
"Not so fast. Only if you show all of yours too," Noble could feel that hint of dishonesty in Nickel be snuffed out as the man sighed.
"Ugh, fine."
A moment later, around a dozen Memories littered the table around the food. That was in addition to the three weapons that appeared in the cohort members' hands.
"Whoa! You guys got so many!" Noble had thought getting three Memories in one day was a lot, but her new stash only accounted for two of the items on the table.
"Don't look at me," Nickel shook his head. "Only three on the table are mine."
That meant…nine belonged to Sarai!
The impressive display included a charm, three utility items, a lavish gown that had no right to be a Memory, an unconventional suit of armor, and three more weapons in addition to the Amber.
"Sarai, you have bewitched the Spell!" Noble's mouth opened wide.
"I thought the Spell hated me before. Now I know it does." Nickel rubbed his forehead.
Sarai bit her lip as a blush crept onto her cheeks. "You can each have one if you like."
"I'm happy with what I have," Noble shook her head. "But you really should take her up on that offer, Nic. I think that gown would look stunning on you."
The man gave her a withering glare. "Everyone knows blue is not my color." He added more seriously. "I don't want any favors. I don't want to owe anyone anything."
The ladies knew better than to argue with the fiercely independent wraith. Instead, Sarai explained what each of her items did. Noble was intensely interested in getting a closer look at two of them.
"Bring them by the Academy when you can," she asked politely.
Nickel's explanation of his three tools was vague at best. Even after all they had been through, he liked to keep his secrets.
"They do stuff," he waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing too interesting besides the axe."
Noble's eyes were immediately drawn to two familiar-looking gold bracelets.
"What about these?" The professor lifted them from the table. "Do they do what I think they do?"
"They have the concealment aspect of the original bands, but not the power-up, sadly. And since I have an Ability that already hides my presence, they are a bit redundant." Nickel was about to add that he didn't look good in jewelry when Noble interrupted.
"I'll trade you!"
Without hesitation, the professor held out a dagger from her pair of new Memories. "It isn't the best quality weapon, but it can dampen any noise made by the wielder. I know..."
"Done." Nickel nodded, immediately transferring the bracelets into Noble's soul.
[You have received a Memory.]
"No refunds," Nickel smirked.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Noble transferred the dagger to her companion.
Noble motioned to her final Memory on the table. "Since you already have seen the Zenith in action, I'll just tell you about this one. It's called Hummingbird's Wings and gives short bursts of speed. I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm hoping since there is a reference to flight in the name that it will also work in the air."
The other two looked at the small charm. Noble already had a fire charm, so she would either have to switch out the Memories as needed or use extra essence to wield both. Time would tell what the best use of resources would be.
"Anything else of note?" With a full stomach, Nickel seemed just about ready to go. Noble couldn't blame him too much. There were a lot of things that needed doing both here and in the waking world.
"I got a true name. Before you ask, it's Child of Promise," Noble breezed through the information, "But I don't think that will interest you as much as my other news..."
The professor paused and frowned.
"But I am afraid it will have to wait. We have run out of time."
Noble's words were punctuated by a loud pounding on the front door. She smiled apologetically.
"It seems our neighbors are already here to pay us a visit. We shouldn't keep them waiting."