Kendra the battery

A pair of short copper rods rested on the table. The Sphinx picked up one and handed it to Kendra. "Hand me the other one," the Sphinx said. After Kendra complied, he held his rod in both hands, one at each end of the rod. "Hold your rod like me," he instructed.


Kendra had been holding the slender rod in one hand.


The instant her other hand touched it, she felt a sensation like she was falling backwards through the chair. And then it passed. And she was inexplicably sitting where the Sphinx had been sitting, and he was seated in her chair. They had instantaneously switched places.


The Sphinx released one hand from the rod and then grabbed it again. The moment his hand came back into contact with the rod, Kendra felt her insides lurch again, and suddenly she was sitting back in her former chair.


The Sphinx set the rod down on the table, and Kendra did likewise. "We teleported?" Kendra asked.


"The rods enable users to trade locations over short distances. But that is not what makes what happened unusual. Those rods have been dead for decades, useless, drained of all energy. Your touch recharged them."


"Really?"


"Fairykind are known to radiate magical energy in a unique way. The world is full of burned-out magical tools. Your touch would revitalize them."


Chapter 9