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need you, Kal. The world needs you. Kellar is not the only one who values persistence and ambition. Give
me your best effort, and I promise I’ll open doors to places you never dreamed
of.”
    I
laughed. “That line might work on all your other recruits, Dominique. But I
learned magic. I can dream of a lot of things you can’t.”
    Dominique
paused for a moment. Then she said, “Point taken. So what can I offer you as
additional motivation?”
    “I
don’t need additional motivation,” I said. “We both want to find a way to stop
the nightcrafters from putting people in danger. That’s enough for me. You
could fire me the day after it’s all done. I wouldn’t care.”
    “Very
noble of you,” Dominique said. “But I’ve been in this business for a long time.
Lots of people start out with the belief that virtuous acts are their own
reward. But, after a few years, even the best of us get jaded. It helps to have
some added perks to work for. The job has a way of grinding optimism and honor
out of you after a while.”
    “Well
then,” I said, “I guess I’d better get this shit done quickly.”
    * * *
     
    The
next two months were intense.
    Dominique
put me on a NATO training crash course designed to cram half a year’s worth of
preparation into 21 days. I had no time off. There were no lunch breaks with
the coworkers, and there weren’t any water cooler chats either. I just had one
training session after another. I learned the ins and outs of the NATO
organization: who reported to whom, what the rules were, how the rules could be
bent, and when the rules could be broken. I learned interrogation techniques
and basic firearm skills. Dominique even tried to get me into a lock-picking
course, until she realized there would be no point. My nightcrafter training
gave me many of the skills I’d need for my new job, including the ability to
soak up all this new information. As grueling as it all was, it was nothing
compared to Kellar’s unforgiving tutelage in the ways of the dark.
    During
this training process I occasionally played the role of lab rat while Newton
performed his experiments. He was never pushy about it, and none of the tests
hurt so I didn’t have much to complain about. I even used some of the time to
get some naps in since Newton wanted to see if my dreams had any effect on my
abilities. But whatever Newton learned from me, I think I learned twice as much
from him. He gave me a clear perspective of the Rift and my magic from a
scientific perspective. It didn’t make my magic any better, but it did make me
feel a lot smarter.
    Once
Dominique was satisfied that I’d learned enough to not embarrass her, she gave
me my first real assignment. I was going to Europe with a specialized NATO
team, and Newton. Dominique had two objectives for us to achieve. The main
point of the mission was to chart out NATO’s first accurate map of the Rift’s
boundaries and hot spots in Europe. But we were also supposed to get a feel for
where the European nightcrafters were hanging out.
    As
a kid, I’d often fantasized about touring Europe with a rock band (I’d be the
lead singer, of course). Dreams of groupies and crazy sex in exotic places like
the Netherlands danced in my head. But this trip definitely fell short of the
fantasy. Instead of groupies, I had a gaggle of NATO chaperones tailing me.
Instead of sex, I was usually freezing my ass off in some forest.
    Newton
was by my side during nearly every waking moment. He had a menagerie of devices
used to measure everything from heat signatures to the dew point in the air.
But most of his time was spent searching for that 214 Hz ELF field, and using
it as a guide to create his map.
    I
spent all of November searching the frigid hinterlands of Europe at night. By
the time I was done, I wanted a vacation somewhere hot and sunny and full of
vibrant life — like Vegas or Tijuana. But the pain was all worth it because, at
the end of it all, we had our map.
    When
all