“Mike?”
“Down here,” called Mike, turning from the bookshelf. He went up the stairs and met Jack at the top. “How did–”
Jack held out his hand, something in his fist. Mike put out his hand, palm up, and Jack dropped the bracelet into his hand. “I’m contaminated.”
Mike took one end of the bracelet and whipped it out. It changed into the long cursed black chain. “It doesn’t work for you?”
Jack handed over a folder. “Here’s Vulkan’s report.”
Mike reeled the chain in and walked over to the desk. He opened the folder: “Magic can be explained in quantum phenomena by strongly interacting systems, but this is a challenge in modern physical science. Approaches ranging from topological projection to quantum photography are currently being explored across many experimental platforms. Although photon interactions are typically negligible in conventional optical media, strong interactions–” Mike paged through the twenty-page report. He looked up. “What the hell does this all say?”
Jack sighed. “Basically, I have a disease at the atomic level. My, um, protons are all mutated.”
“That happened when you got shot?”
“Not immediately. Vulkan said it probably took a few hours. He said that the magic is going somewhere.” Jack motioned to the report. “He has a picture of the proton’s surface in that report.”
Mike turned pages and found a full-page black and white grainy picture. It looked like the surface of the moon, but there was a pattern to the etchings on the picture. “It looks familiar.”
Jack shrugged. Mike looked up at him. He closed the folder and said, “Jack, I’m sorry.”
He shrugged again. “It’s all right. I just can’t be around magic items.”
“Or magic creatures?” Mike said.
“Vulkan doesn’t know about that.”
“Just to be sure, I would suggest that you and I limit our contact, if that’s all right.”
Jack nodded. “I understand.”
“Are you going to be all right?”
“Scott said he was setting up a fund for me.”
“I know. I didn’t think this would happen.”
“In a way, I’m glad it did.” Jack looked down. “That chain, it was cursed. Who knows if it was ripping my soul out bit by bit every time I used it, right?” He pointed to the chain. “Put it away somewhere. Make sure someone doesn’t use it.”
“I’ll lock it up.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you need some time off?”
“No, I’d like to get back to work tomorrow.”
“Okay. Thank you. Really.”
Jack gave him a wan smile. “At least I’m not dead.”
