wrong.”
Zedd stretched his neck to peer at the lines. “Let’s just say for the sake of argument that you’re right. What do you think it means?”
Richard’s heart hammered as he made his way around the table, swiftly tracing lines through the spell. He used a finger, keeping it just clear of the lines of light, to track the primary pathways, the sweeps of the pattern, the fabric of the form.
He found what he was expecting. “Here. Look here, at this newly formed structure that has built up around these older, original lines. Look at the disordered nature of this new cluster; they’re a variable, but in this emblem of lines it should all be a constant.”
“Variable…?” Zedd sputtered, as if having thought he was following Richard’s reasoning, had instead suddenly found that he was completely lost.
“Yes,” Richard said. “It’s not emblematic. It’s a biological form. The two are clearly different.”
Nathan wiped both hands back over his white hair as he sighed but remained silent.
Ann’s face had gone crimson. “It’s a spell-form! It’s inert! It can’t be biological!”
“That’s the problem,” Richard said, answering her point rather than her anger. “You can’t have these kind of variables tainting what’s supposed to be a constant. It would be like a math equation in which any of the numbers could spontaneously change their value. Such a thing would render math invalid and unworkable. Algebraic symbols can vary—but even then they are specific relational variables. The numbers, though, are constants. Same with this structure; emblems have to be constructed of inert constants—you might say like simple addition or subtraction. An internal variable corrupts the constant of an emblematic form.”
“I don’t follow,” Zedd admitted.
Richard gestured to the table. “You drew the Grace in blood. The Grace is a constant. The blood is biological. Why did you do it that way?”
“To make it work,” Ann snapped. “We had to do it that way in order to initiate an interior perspective of the verification web. That’s the way it’s done. That’s the method.”
Richard held up a finger. “Exactly. You deliberately introduced a controlled biological variable—blood—into what is a constant—a Grace. Keep in mind though, that it remains outside the spell-form itself; it’smerely an empowering agent, a catalyst. I think it must be that such a variable in the Grace allows the spell you initiated to run its course without being influenced by a constant—the Grace. Do you see? It gives the verification web not only the power invoked by the Grace, but the freedom gained through the biological variable to allow it to grow as it needs to in order to reveal its true nature and intent.”
When Zedd glanced her way, Cara said, “Don’t look at me. Whenever he starts in like this I just nod and smile and wait until the trouble starts.”
Zedd made a sour face. One hand on a hip, he took a few paces away before turning back. “I’ve never in all my years heard such an explanation of a verification web. It’s quite a unique way of looking at it. The most troubling thing is that, in a perverse way, it actually makes sense. I’m not saying that I think you’re right, Richard, but it certainly is a disturbing notion.”
“If you’re right,” Nathan said, “it would mean that we’ve been children playing with fire all these years.”
“That’s if he’s right,” Ann added under her breath. “Sounds a tick too clever to me.”
Richard stared up at the woman frozen in space, the woman who could not at the moment speak for herself. “Whose blood did you use to draw the Grace?” he asked the others behind him.
“Nicci’s,” Nathan said. “She suggested it herself. She said it was the proper method and the only way to make it work.”
Richard turned to them. “Nicci’s. You used Nicci’s blood?”
Zedd nodded. “That’s right.”
“You created a
Zedd stretched his neck to peer at the lines. “Let’s just say for the sake of argument that you’re right. What do you think it means?”
Richard’s heart hammered as he made his way around the table, swiftly tracing lines through the spell. He used a finger, keeping it just clear of the lines of light, to track the primary pathways, the sweeps of the pattern, the fabric of the form.
He found what he was expecting. “Here. Look here, at this newly formed structure that has built up around these older, original lines. Look at the disordered nature of this new cluster; they’re a variable, but in this emblem of lines it should all be a constant.”
“Variable…?” Zedd sputtered, as if having thought he was following Richard’s reasoning, had instead suddenly found that he was completely lost.
“Yes,” Richard said. “It’s not emblematic. It’s a biological form. The two are clearly different.”
Nathan wiped both hands back over his white hair as he sighed but remained silent.
Ann’s face had gone crimson. “It’s a spell-form! It’s inert! It can’t be biological!”
“That’s the problem,” Richard said, answering her point rather than her anger. “You can’t have these kind of variables tainting what’s supposed to be a constant. It would be like a math equation in which any of the numbers could spontaneously change their value. Such a thing would render math invalid and unworkable. Algebraic symbols can vary—but even then they are specific relational variables. The numbers, though, are constants. Same with this structure; emblems have to be constructed of inert constants—you might say like simple addition or subtraction. An internal variable corrupts the constant of an emblematic form.”
“I don’t follow,” Zedd admitted.
Richard gestured to the table. “You drew the Grace in blood. The Grace is a constant. The blood is biological. Why did you do it that way?”
“To make it work,” Ann snapped. “We had to do it that way in order to initiate an interior perspective of the verification web. That’s the way it’s done. That’s the method.”
Richard held up a finger. “Exactly. You deliberately introduced a controlled biological variable—blood—into what is a constant—a Grace. Keep in mind though, that it remains outside the spell-form itself; it’smerely an empowering agent, a catalyst. I think it must be that such a variable in the Grace allows the spell you initiated to run its course without being influenced by a constant—the Grace. Do you see? It gives the verification web not only the power invoked by the Grace, but the freedom gained through the biological variable to allow it to grow as it needs to in order to reveal its true nature and intent.”
When Zedd glanced her way, Cara said, “Don’t look at me. Whenever he starts in like this I just nod and smile and wait until the trouble starts.”
Zedd made a sour face. One hand on a hip, he took a few paces away before turning back. “I’ve never in all my years heard such an explanation of a verification web. It’s quite a unique way of looking at it. The most troubling thing is that, in a perverse way, it actually makes sense. I’m not saying that I think you’re right, Richard, but it certainly is a disturbing notion.”
“If you’re right,” Nathan said, “it would mean that we’ve been children playing with fire all these years.”
“That’s if he’s right,” Ann added under her breath. “Sounds a tick too clever to me.”
Richard stared up at the woman frozen in space, the woman who could not at the moment speak for herself. “Whose blood did you use to draw the Grace?” he asked the others behind him.
“Nicci’s,” Nathan said. “She suggested it herself. She said it was the proper method and the only way to make it work.”
Richard turned to them. “Nicci’s. You used Nicci’s blood?”
Zedd nodded. “That’s right.”
“You created a
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