Alchemist Academy: Book 1 (16 page)

Verity raised an eyebrow. “Does he arouse you?”

My face flushed a bit and I nodded. I couldn’t leave Mark to the attacks the room would be receiving when I was gone. Maybe if I made stones for them in advance to turn in….

“Fine, he can be with you in room ten, but I expect results.” She raised both eyebrows as I stood there in silence, rocking back and forth. “Is there something else?”

I didn’t want to ask, but thinking of Mark and his condition, I didn’t want to leave anything off the table. She might have life stones piled up in the cabinet behind her.

“I have a sick friend, and the only thing that can save him is a life stone.” I blurted out the words before I even realized it.

A wicked smile spread over her face and she leaned back in her chair. Great. She had something on me now. Something she knew I wanted badly, but I didn’t care because I
did
want it badly.

“The ingredients for such a stone are much more costly and difficult to work with than the time stone you just failed to make. If you can show me you can make any stone put in front of you, I will help you make a life stone personally.”

I took in a deep breath and nodded.

“Good. Now get back to your room.”

“Good night, Verity.”

“
President
Verity.”

“Oh. Yes. Sorry.”

The double doors swung open and I walked down the teachers’ hall. Looking for Priscilla, I found the hall to be empty. The doors behind me slammed shut and I winced at the sound echoing through the empty corridor. I took a few steps, studying each door I passed. The teachers probably had piles of books on alchemy stuffed in their quarters. What I wouldn’t do for just one book on the subject. I stopped next to a door unlike any of the others, a plain, painted door with no markings. It stood out like an albatross among pigeons. Had it been there before? Surely I would have noticed it. I ran my hand over the smooth finish and moved to open it.

The handle creaked and the door swung open. It seemed to want to show me what was inside. I stood there, waiting to accept its picture show. In my dreams it might have been a library, but I stared with my hand over my mouth at a tunnel, maybe wide enough for a gold cart, extending as far as I could see. Stepping into the endless hall, I saw it slightly curve, just enough that I couldn’t see where it ended. I pulled the door closed behind me. The air smelled different here; it had more humidity to it than in the rest of the Academy. It almost tasted stale.

I turned around and grabbed the handle, but it wouldn’t move. I pushed down on it with my full weight, but it held. I lifted my hand and stopped short of slamming my palm against it. There had to be another door farther down the hall, and I intended to find it before the walls moved in on me, or the lights went out.

Freedom always felt like nothing more than breathing air until the moment someone choked it from you. I had the freedom to take a single path. The hall’s stone floor didn’t change and after a few minutes of walking, I started to fear there was no other exit. I dreaded going back to the teacher’s door, hitting it and screaming until someone came to my aid. But anything was better than being stuck in some back hall.

Fast walking turned into a light jog, which turned into a run. The stone pattern on the wall and floors repeated as I ran, but still, no door. The path behind me looked identical to the path in front of me. Maybe I had gotten turned around, or maybe the hall was a trap formed by stone magic, a place to keep the exploring kids from ever getting back to their houses.

I ran, staring behind me, wondering if the flickering light I had just passed was the same light from a few minutes ago.

I never saw her coming, and I don’t think she saw me, or she would have yelled a warning. I crashed into her and we both fell to the floor. Pain shot into my chest and legs from the impact. The girl I’d collided with moaned underneath me. Rolling to my side, I took a good look at the person in the hall with me.

“Carly, what are you doing here?”

She lay on the floor, clutching a book in her hands.

“I just knew you’d fall for their door trick. You see, if you don’t know this hall, it will eventually take you back to the teachers’ door. They wait until they hear you screaming for help before they rescue you. It’s just one of their tactics for enraging you.”

“Thank you, Carly,” I said. “But how exactly do we get out of here, ‘cause I feel like I’ve run a mile.”

“This is the place Jackie mentioned. I found the back door to these halls a few months ago. I can show you the way out.”

“Can we get back to the teachers’ hall using this tunnel?” I looked back.

“Not without breaking the door down and causing all kinds of ruckus.” Carly narrowed her eyes. “Why do you want to go back to the teachers’ hall?”

“I need something for Mark.” I put my hand over my mouth.

“What about him?” She moved closer.

I looked to the floor and wondered how much I could trust Carly. Would it even matter if the teachers found out? Verity would probably figure out soon exactly who I’d meant, and once Mark started getting worse, everyone would know.

“Mark’s dying, and if I don’t get him a life stone….” I trailed off, not wanting to put it into words. “That’s why I’m here.”

She looked shell-shocked. “But he looks like he could split lumber for twelve hours straight!”

“I thought the same thing, but his mom told me she’s been helping him his whole life. Nothing is working, and I already see him getting worse. He keeps his hands on his stomach all the time now.”

“I saw that.” Carly took in a deep breath.

“Oh, please don’t tell him. He thinks it’s not serious.”

“Mum’s the word. So, what’s the plan?”

“His mom told me the president would have access to a life stone. I need to get close to Verity and get into her office.”

“She comes into our class sometimes,” Carly said. “But she doesn’t really interact with us.”

“President Verity has me going to room ten tomorrow. Do they make that kind of stone there?”

Carly laughed. “You’re going to room ten? I’ve been here for over a year and I just got to room ten.” She grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the hall a few steps before walking into the wall.

At least I thought it was a wall, but when she entered it, I saw a small space that led into a different hall. I looked back before she pulled me into the darkness. Thankfully, she kept hold of my wrist as we plunged into complete darkness. My shoulder rubbed against the wall and I adjusted my position to what I thought was the center of the hall.

I bumped into Carly and she put a stiff hand on my shoulder. “You hear that?” she whispered.

In total darkness, my enhanced hearing picked up the noises. There was distinct giggling and talking between two people. Carly took her hand off my shoulder.

“This is the only way back to the spoke,” she whispered.

I placed my hand on the wall and looked back at the darkness behind us. Near the end, I thought I saw a faint hint of light. I wanted to turn around and go to the light and get away from whoever was making the sounds. Their laughter continued and I counted two distinct voices, one male and one female.

“We should get out of here,” I whispered to my guide. I couldn’t see her face or hear her. She might have been a mile away by now, leaving me in the darkness alone. Maybe this was her sick game the whole time, another prank by her and Jackie.

“Carly,” I said louder.

The laughter ahead stopped.

“Quiet,” Carly said, and touched my arm. The laughter started up again and got closer. The stone hall echoed the noise all around me and I had trouble defining how far away they were.

“Go,” Carly said, and pushed me back in the direction we’d come from.

I used the wall to guide me through the darkness, scraping my fingertips along the jagged walls. The laughter grew louder and Carly pushed me harder. A glow of light down the tunnel gave me the confidence to speed up.

The sounds behind me grew and Carly kept pushing me along. The female voice sounded familiar.

“Get into the hall,” Carly said.

I jolted past the last few turns at the end of the hall and stopped. Carly slid out behind me and stopped at the opening. She tilted her head and listened.

The whispers of laughter flowed into the hall and grew. Carly frowned and glared into the darkness. “Get against the wall,” she whispered before grabbing my hand and pulling me past the dark hall. She leaned her back against the wall and nodded for me to do the same.

We stayed flat against the wall, ten feet down from the dark hall.

“What—”

“Shh,” Carly said.

“Like you ever say no to anything,” a playful, kind of whiny voice said.

I knew that voice, but couldn’t quite place it.

“Good, ‘cause I have some things I’d like to try,” a male voice said.

The female voice laughed. “Why wait?”

The two people emerged from the hall. The man backed out first, with both arms wrapped around a girl. They kissed as they backed into the wall.

I gasped, and they both turned to face us. “Jackie?” I said.

Carly bounced off the wall toward them. “Freaking
Leo
is who you’ve been sneaking around with?”

The leader of the Blues was with Jackie? Was she sneaking him down here for some diabolical reason? I stared at their ghostly white, shocked faces and knew otherwise. They had just been caught red-handed and were staggering back from the approaching Carly, still holding each other.

“We….” Jackie struggled to talk. “You can’t tell anyone.”

“Tell?” Carly waved her hands around, veins popping in her forehead. “No one would believe it, even if I had pictures. How could you do this, Jackie? He’s a
Blue
. The
leader
of the Blues!”

“I don’t know. It just sort of happened.”

Leo added, “Yeah, you can’t tell anyone. It would hurt us both.” He grasped her hand and she moved closer to him.

“Jackie, you make me sick,” Carly said. “Is this your slutty love hall? How long have you been fouling my halls?”

Jackie looked at the floor. “A few months.”

“Months! The whole year I’ve been here, you’ve done some despicable things to the Blues and even Leo directly. Just today, you hit him with a vomit stone. Please tell me this is some sort of plan, some sort of evil plot against him.”

They held each other for support. “I like him, Carly, and he likes me. So what if we escape together for a few minutes and find a place to be happy? You think I wanted to fall for this Blue douchebag? Things happen.”

“Yeah,” Leo said, and kissed the side of Jackie’s head. “I caught her sneaking around near the portal rooms a few months back. It was like magnetism. We’re just sort of attracted to one another.”

Carly grunted and turned to me. “I can’t stand looking at them together for another moment.” She took my hand and pulled me into the dark hall. I glanced at Jackie and Leo one more time before turning the corner.

Carly kept a brisk pace through the dark hall, holding my hand.

“I can’t see a freaking thing. You know where you’re going?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I won’t let go.”

Her grip loosened on my wrist and I sucked in a breath. The lit hall we’d just left had felt confined, but this hall in complete darkness was much, much worse.

“What’s up with Jackie?” I asked.

“This has to be stemming from Ned. He had a similar look to Leo and all the same kickass, bad boy swagger.” She grunted again. “I should have known, but there’s no way I would have actually believed it.”

The Blues had been nothing but horrible to me and just the thought of being with a Blue romantically repulsed me. Her voice was what struck me, though. I had barely recognized it because that was Jackie’s happy voice. It was filled with girlish charm.

“She seemed happy,” I admitted.

“Yeah, that was the most disgusting part. I almost wish we’d move right now, and let them get lost in the tunnels.”

“What do you mean, move?”

“When this place moves, these tunnels change a little bit. I bet I’m the only one who knows my way around the different variations,” Carly explained.

She stopped in front of me and I bumped into her.

“We’re at the back door to the portal room. We have to move quickly through it or risk them portaling a person inside of us. Just follow me through the room, okay?”

“I still can’t see a thing.”

“Don’t worry. When I push open this door, you’ll be flooded with light. Here we go.”

I wanted to protest, but Carly already had the door open. The light hurt my eyes and I squinted as she pulled me into the small room, the same room I had arrived in with Darius.

Carly slammed the stone door behind us and I glanced back at the hidden door, camouflaged by the surrounding stone. To think I had been in that room not long ago with a secret door I had no idea existed.

The wooden door offered little resistance as Carly shoved it open and pulled me into the hall.

She breathed hard and leaned forward, clutching her folder. “That room freaks me out. I can’t imagine someone portaling into me.”

I snickered at the thought and she glared at me. “Sorry, but the way you said it….”

Carly shook her head and smiled. “You stick around here long enough and I guarantee someone will try portaling into you.”

It had been so long since I’d had anything close to a conversation about boys. I laughed, and Mark crossed my mind. My eyes went wide at my own thoughts and I looked away from Carly. It didn’t make sense, but I couldn’t look at her for fear of her reading my thoughts. She seemed to like Mark, which made it all the more uncomfortable.

“Do you have someone special waiting for you back home?” I asked.

“Yes,” Carly said. “Mr. Snugglebottoms.” She said without a hint of a smile.

I, on the other hand, struggled to stop my laughter. “You snuggle his bottom?”

“He’s a cat.”

“My stepmom won’t let me have pets. She says they’re vile, filthy creatures who wallow in their own poo.”

“And my mom always told me to beware of people who hate animals.”

“Smart woman. I bet you can’t wait to get back to her.”

“Yes, her and Mr. Snugglebottoms,” she added with a smirk. “Jackie thinks there’s a way out, somewhere in those tunnels. I agree with her, for once.”

I looked back at the portal room door. If not for Carly, I would have been pounding on the teachers’ door, begging to get out. She had saved me from the humiliation. “By the way, thanks for getting me out of there.”

“Anything for a special like you,” Carly said. She already seemed over the whole Jackie-Leo thing and smiled. “We’d better get back to our rooms. That Priscilla woman is prowling the corridors tonight. I’m guessing she’s waiting for you not to show so she can go back and be your triumphant hero.” Carly walked down the hall.

“Are there curfews, or rules of any kind? Because it seems like near anarchy here.”

“That’s just surface stuff. And, yeah, you can get away with quite a bit, especially if it’s directed at the opposing side. But if you do the wrong thing, you’ll know it, because you’ll just be gone one day. No retirement or fancy ceremony, just
gone
.”

Like Ms. Duval, I thought. “Well, I’d better be on good behavior.”

“Please. A special like you could get away with murder.” A hint of Carly’s snark came back. “But don’t mention what I did for you. No one really knows about that hall.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“Good. And forget about seeing Jackie as well. If word got out … well, let’s just say people might not be as accepting as we are.”

“Of course.”

We reached the edge of the hall overlooking the spoke. A number of hours ago, I had stood in this same place, looking at the same colored buildings. But now it looked smaller. Some of the wonder had left.

“She’s gone. Let’s go,” Carly said.

The guards who patrolled the street didn’t look back as we glided to our house door. Carly opened the door and waited for me to go in before inching it closed. With it closed, she leaned against it and let out a long breath. “I hope I don’t have to go rescuing you again.”