Another Pawn

“This doesn’t feel right. I don’t know if I can control it.” Heather murmured, but Smiley wasn’t going to let her give up.

“Just move the warp charge closer before extracting it.” Smiley said, and Heather did so.

It would help a little, but just keeping it from exploding was a challenge. It was clear that the blue energy kept it subdued in some way.

“You can do this.” Smiley said, encouraging her as he stood at her side and patted her shoulder.

Loki watched from afar, but his mouth fell agape. He was more shocked at this comment than the portal experiments; if he told anyone at the academy that the smiling demon encouraged someone, he would be laughed out of any class in an uproar.

The warp charge responded to Heather’s power as her mind went under strain, her brows furrowing and teeth clenching as she wrestled with the unstable red energy, but she slowly seeped it through the glass containment chamber.