Page 71 of Cerulean Truth
"To that end, we have some books on the way to your dorm, and we have this..." she continued, offering me a small sleek black device.
"A Nexus?" I asked a little impatiently while unpacking it.
"Yes, James mentioned this might come in handy," Simon replied.
Little understatement.
"Do you know how to use it?" Sam inquired.
"Kind of," I admitted shyly. "It only works when I'm holding it in my hand, right?"
Simon smiled. "Something like that, yes. It only reacts to your energy signature, making it useless in the hands of another. But look!" He took out his own Nexus and held it in his palm, the intricate spiral at its core faintly glowing. He motioned for me to do the same, and as I followed suit, the black circle transformed,its spiral design seeming to pulse and adapt to the shape of my fingers, fitting perfectly in my hand like it was made for me.
Withing a few seconds, it generated small, multicolored drops, all hovering over my hand.
"See? It doesn't even need translation to activate. It recognizes the user from their energy signature or 'DNA', if you will," Simon elaborated.
"Like the river," I muttered under my breath.
"Exactly!" Sarah nodded approvingly. "We've added red drops to your Nexus, only in case your transition into translation is a little, um...rocky."
“Red drops?”
"The red ones are the only ones activated by touch. The others work with will. Use the blue drops for communication, the yellow drops for information, and the green ones for transportation," Sam explained with a smile.
The what for the what now?
My mind was spinning, yet I hesitated to ask. With James' injunction to keep my troubles with translation under wraps, I pondered how honest I could truly be about my lack of understanding regarding the Nexus. What was the worst that could happen? After all, I wasn't disclosing anything about untraceable translation, so my promise would remain intact.
"So sorry, don't really know what you mean by drops," I said lightly, as if asking for a weather report.
The triplets glanced at each other, their brows furrowing in unison, exchanging silent but urgent messages of concern.
Crap.
"You don't know…how to work the drops?" Sam asked softly.
I shook my head. "No, sorry. No phones with drops in the Human World," I said, trying to lighten the mood.
Simon cleared his throat. "Well... This actually makes it a little easier to discuss what we called you in for."
"You didn't call me in to give me my Nexus?"
Sarah shook her head. "We also wanted to meet you in person because we feel that your, uh, specific educational requirements are in need of some personal attention."
Well, that didn't sound so good.
I remained silent. They exchanged glances, obviously grappling with the delicate task of addressing the elephant in the room without causing offense. Simon cleared his throat again, summoning the courage to tackle the challenge.
"So, we understand you don't know much about anything," he attempted enthusiastically. Epic. Fail. Even his sisters winced at his words. It would have been laughable if it weren't so darn offensive. And true.
"Sounds about right." I managed a painful smile.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so blunt about it."
"Don't worry about it," I mumbled, staring down at my hands in my lap. How was I ever going to cope with this overwhelming sense of inadequacy?
Sarah took over from Simon's feeble attempt. "We don't mean to insult you, Emma, but your situation presents us with a rather unique, um, dilemma. At your age, most magi have already completed their entire basic curriculum at the Scola and find themselves in advanced programs at the Academy. However, we feel we can't place you in the same classes as your peers, given your lack of basic training."
