According to the map on my pad, the Resonance Hall and Building 7 were on opposite sides of the academy. In fact, looking at the map, every building where the testing was taking place was in a different quadrant. On top of that, the order they were in had us crossing through the center between tests.

  While that was weird, that wasn’t what had me confused. No, that honor fell to the fact that, while the number of students heading down the halls were fairly numerous, there was nowhere near enough to have filled that auditorium. In fact, now that I thought about it, I had yet to see even one person heading in a different direction than the rest of us.

  It was like every test was being kept separate. But that wasn’t possible. Sure, if one had enough mana and the right power, they could separate a single room into two versions, but the person holding the two apart would be strained beyond the point of breaking within minutes. There was a whole experimental study on the power the first time it appeared. The experiments were halted the moment the person's mind started to fracture.

  So where was everyone? I had no real choice but to do something that was a tad bit shady. To use a tracker that I had secretly installed the first time I had fixed his pad. A little thing that had been useful early in our friendship when someone did or said something that had made him question everything.

  Still, even with that justification, it was something that many out there would find questionable. Bert, however, would simply nod and ask me to do the same to my pad so that he could track me down if needed. And I would. In fact, I already had the device installed. He just needed to know where to look on his pad for the setting that allowed him to find me on a map.

  A few taps and some typing later, a little dot overlayed itself onto the academy map. For a few minutes, it wandered from place to place. Almost like Bert couldn’t decide where to go. Then it started to head for the center of the academy. While there was a lot listed there, I had an idea where he was going and why.

  I turned and pushed against the crowd. Forced myself to go against the flow as I made my way away from the Resonance Hall and toward the central cafeteria. Given how close I was, I reached the place before Bert.

  As I entered, I nearly walked back out as it reminded me of the cafeteria from high school. From the ugly trays to the tables. Even the bored-looking staff would have fit in perfectly.

  The only difference was the food. Every option looked, well, not great, but not bad either. There wasn’t even a trace of the ever-present cardboard pizza. Which was great because that stuff tasted horrific. But what would anyone expect when most of the ingredients had to be replaced with some substitute that was cheap and readily available?

  Sitting on the wall was a sign that proclaimed that everything in the first section was free. Every section after it increased in price. I wasn’t all that surprised by this. Though the denomination they used was a little weird.

  Usually, prices were presented with a capital C with a line in the middle to denote credits, but that wasn’t always the case. Mostly due to those who still dealt in old-world money. Though, to be honest, that system was more volatile than even bartering for what you needed due to the fact that the money was no longer being made. Well, that and most of the paper and plastic bills were degraded or outright falling apart.

  As I didn’t really want to spend money on some food, I grabbed one of the premade and covered platters from the free section. Not bothering to find out what it was as I moved to the far end of the room. In part because I wanted to get away from the large clusters of people congregating around a few of the tables. But mostly so that Bert would see me the moment he stepped into the room.

  The lid of my dish came off to reveal a small assortment of rice balls and some greens. It didn’t look like much, but the moment I bit into one of the balls, I discovered they were filled with something akin to a soft paste. It tasted sweet with a hint of something meaty. Like someone had used a meat broth in it.

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  As I finished my plate, I tossed my platter into the bin and moved to rejoin the line. The platters were listed as free, and it wasn’t like there was a sign saying we couldn’t. As I stood there, waiting for the people in front of me to make a decision on which platter to get, I pulled out my pad to see what was taking Bert so long.

  To my surprise, he was across the room. According to what I was seeing, his table wasn’t all that far from where I had just been sitting. A bit irked at the fact that he had somehow passed me without stopping, I yanked the nearest platter and stalked in his direction.

  Just before I reached him, I found myself blocked. Not by a person. Nor even by a sign. No. There was a fucking wall in the way.

  Still, it was little more than an annoyance. All I had to do was leave the room and find the door for this other cafeteria. One that wasn’t marked on the map.

  Only, there were no halls that led in that direction. The doors on either side of the cafeteria had only two options. Forward or follow the wall around to the back of the cafeteria.

  This confused me as the signal wasn’t distorted in any way. He was right there. Yet there was no way to get to him.

  The situation annoyed me as it meant they were keeping us separated on purpose. Not overtly, and not with any power I knew of. Then again, there were as many powers as there were people. Sure, some might be the same type or even the same name, but how that person used that power helped to shape it. Sort of like muscles.

  I put my hand on the wall at the back of the cafeteria. Focusing on it with every sense I had as I tried to parse out its secrets. To force it to tell me what was going on and how to get around it.

  Then I felt it. A soft but constant thrum of mana flowed through the structure. Sure, it could have been a mana cable running through the wall, but those were localized to one line.

  Now that I knew what to look for, I felt further. Reached as high and as low as I could. Looking for some break in the flow. A pooling of mana. Even the smallest ripple. But there was nothing. The mana flowed across the surface without issue.

  “So,” a voice to my left caused me to nearly jump out of my skin. I had been so focused that I didn’t even realize someone had joined me. “Figured it out yet?” As she asked that, I got a good look at the speaker.

  While she looked a little older than my mother, her face was lined with a few more creases. Her outfit made me think that she had been in the back of the cafeteria making food to replace what was eaten. This served to confuse me a bit more because it meant that she had left whatever she was doing to check on me. To ask me a question.

  Well, then again, I had been checking on this wall. Searching for a way through. If the academy was responsible, they would want to stop me before I did something.

  But what if they were not responsible? What if they didn’t know what was going on? Was that even possible? Could they be just as in the dark as the rest of us?

  I mentally slapped that idea away as I recalled her question. She hadn’t asked me what I was doing. She had asked if I figured it out yet. That suggested to me that she knew what was going on and was wondering if I knew anything.

  But why? What would happen if I said yes? Would she haul me out of here? Report me? I really didn’t want to know. So I played dumb. “Figure what out?”

  “The wall.” She gestured at it.

  “It is a nice wall.”

  Her lip twitched a bit. “Oh, don’t give me that. You were clearly checking out the thing. Though, maybe if you have a fixation on walls…” She let her words trail off. As if challenging me to correct her.

  “No.” I shook my head while I pulled the tray of food over to me. Neither of us spoke as I chewed. It gave me time to come up with a reasonable excuse. “I was just curious about how the mana flowed through this place.”

  “Technomagic?” She asked. Something about her words whispered a mixture of disappointment and approval.

  “Yeah.” With another bite, I decided to poke my finger at the issue. “Though, there is something a bit weird about this wall. Though I cannot put my finger on it.” There. I broached the topic without giving anything away.

  “That would make sense.” She nodded as she gave the wall a once-over. “Always surprises me what we can do with holograms these days.” With those words, she got up and went somewhere. I didn’t pay her any attention as everything clicked.

  Sure, the testing spaces had holographic walls with a physical component, but they had been basic. Simple shapes with no real texture. Had I assumed that whatever they were using to create them was limited because of what I had seen?

  As my fingers trailed against the wall, I found that the feel of the mana, the pulses that raced through the construct, was practically identical to that given off by my phone and every other holographic interface out there. Given time, I could break through the structure, but was that really the best idea?

  With a shake of my head, I gave up on seeing Bert. We would meet up eventually. If not tomorrow, then sometime this week. Though if this separation continues into the weekend, I might come back to this idea.

  Tray set into the bin, I made my way to the Resonance Hall for my next test.