My Defender(64)

Ellie stared. "How are you doing that?" He had pulled a freaking table out of his pouch!

Kendrick held up his bag. "This is called the Bag of Wishes; it holds whatever I need, no matter the size, and it never fills."

It didn't take long for Kendrick to set up his own testing station, the twins helping him every step of the way. When they were done, they stepped back, and Kendrick began to explain.

"The reason I needed a boost of your magic is because you're both extremely powerful earth magic users, and I am of fire. Earth magic tends to deal more with living things. Your magic is like mine in that it's more elemental and less about learning arcane spells. The virus itself is organic, but the magic in it is not. That's what we are testing for." He held up an orange-red stone plate that looked like it had been sliced out of a huge rock and polished. "This is carnelian, a fire stone." He held up another plate; this one was a milky green color. "Jade, earth stone." He put those two down and picked up three more. One was a brilliant yellow, the second a royal blue, and the last one was clear as glass. "Citrine for air, lapis lazuli for water, and quartz crystal is neutral." The twins nodded as their hands reached out. Kendrick put the plates down and stepped between them and the twins. "You'll get to play with them in a moment; I'll need your power to charge them." He pointed to the table. "The first test will take the longest, five to seven days, but it will identify which element of magic is in the virus, and from there we can test even further."

"What good will that do?" Grant asked.

Kendrick frowned. "I'm not sure how to explain this to a non-magic user." He tapped the table as he thought. "If you were given three substances to blow a hole in a wall, but they appeared to be identical and you had only one shot to complete your mission, how would you know which one to use?"

Grant thought about it a moment. "I'd smell them to see which one held any trace of explosives."

"Right. Would you try burning them?"

"No, that might ignite the material." Grant stopped. "I get it. In trying to treat the virus without knowing what the magic is, you could make it worse."

Kendrick nodded. "Exactly. If we identify which element we're dealing with, I'll know which tests are safe to use."

Ellie chewed on her lip. "What do we do in the meantime?"

Kendrick looked at her, Rheia, and Anne. "You keep the children alive. Use whatever you know of human medicine and treat the sickness. I'll worry about the magic."

"What do we tell the others?" Rheia asked.

"Leave that to me. Once everyone is together at lunch, I'll soundproof the room and let everyone know." He pinned the twins with a meaningful stare. "You cannot say anything to anyone, including your unit leaders. This cannot leave the room."

Nigel and Neil nodded. "We don't blab."

Kendrick's fierce glare softened. "Didn't think you did. Also, I'm going to get Aiden to pull rank and get you both assigned as my assistants. I'm going to need your magic to keep the plates charged."

The twins beamed. "Yes!" The bumped forearms then turned back to Kendrick. "We won't let you down," they promised.

Grant chuckled. "Poor Travis and Leif were looking forward to training you two."

Nigel grinned. "They can have us after this virus is taken care of."

Neil frowned. "If Meryn doesn't need us first."

Nigel nodded. "Yeah, unless Meryn needs us."

Kendrick looked from one twin to the other. "Why Meryn?"

Neil straightened, looking pleased. "She adopted us. We're her brothers now," he announced proudly.

Ellie expected Kendrick to smile at the news, but instead, he frowned. "What?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing, well, nothing I can say for sure. It just means I will have to keep a closer eye on our Menace."

"Ryuu does that," Neil commented.

Kendrick's expression eased. "Very true, young Morninglory. Very true. All right brats, let's get these plates charged."

Nigel and Neil stepped forward eagerly, their faces alight with excitement. The moment they each touched a plate, it blazed with light. Ellie, Anne, and Rheia had to turn away while Grant shielded his eyes. When the plates dimmed to a soft glow, Kendrick was blinking repeatedly. "Well done, boys."

Ellie shook her head to clear away the floating circular images that filled her vision.

Grant steered Ellie, Rheia, and Anne toward the door. "I'm taking the ladies for tea. Did you need us for this?"

Kendrick waved them off. "No, we'll be done here soon."

"Good, we have a one last unit project to do with Aiden before we're assigned to you," Nigel added.