Alchemist Academy: Book 1 (20 page)

“Fine….”

“And I want your stone. You know the one I’m talking about.”

Jackie crouched behind the fence line. The Blues couldn’t see her as she hunched over, cursing at the street below. She rose up, staring at me.

Closing the distance between us, she whispered into my ear. “I need you to make a stone.” After the details had been revealed, she turned to the Blues. “Give me a few minutes. You touch her or the other guy and it will be a war.”

I grabbed Mark and pulled him toward me. “I’ve got to make a stone. Can you help me?”

“Yeah.” He looked back at Jackie.

I didn’t wait for him to figure it out. I couldn’t stand Ira being in their hands for one more minute.

The Reds moved aside for me as I ran to the door and to the back room Jackie had shown me the night before. Mark and Carly ran in behind me. I hadn’t invited Carly, but I didn’t have time to protest her presence.

“Get me sulfur, pencil shavings, and a solvent.”

Mark’s eyes went wide at the ingredient list, but he and Carly rushed around the room, gathering the materials.

“Do you know what you’re making?”

“Yes.” I didn’t, really, but Jackie needed it to trade for Ira.

“Okay,” Carly said in a dragged-out way as she pulled a jar of sulfur from the shelf.

With a bowl and spoon in hand, I waited as Mark and Carly placed the ingredients in front of me. Thinking of Ira being held by Leo sent enough anger through my core to mix the ingredients together the right way.

The stone clunked, and I used a black cloth to hold it as I rushed back out the door. The Reds turned to me as I walked past them with the stone in hand.

Jackie narrowed her eyes as I handed her the mustard-yellow stone. She took her time in the transfer, holding it away from her body. “I knew you could make it. Can you take this bag?” She handed me the bag of goodies she had taken from the Blue house.

Jackie closed her hand over the stone wrapped in black cloth and a wicked smile appeared on her face again. I sucked in a breath and hoped I had done the right thing.

“Are you ready for the trade?” Jackie said.

“I don’t believe you,” Leo said, and shook Ira. She whimpered and clutched her chest with both arms. “Place the stone in a bag and toss it over.”

“Fine.” Jackie’s eye twitched. She dropped the stone in a bag and hunched over it before clutching it in her fist. “Put Ira and Dennis next to the fence and I’ll throw it over. Allie will throw the bag of stones I took from you.”

Leo pushed Ira toward the fence and kicked Dennis as he walked by.

“The stones, now, or I freeze them and let the house do whatever they want with their bodies.”

The Blues grumbled in agreement. I saw the hunger on some of the boys’ faces and I wanted to plow through the fence to get Ira away from them.

Jackie leaned close to me and whispered, “Don’t throw that bag, no matter what.” She winked. “You’re going to love what you just made.”

I didn’t have time to protest her schemes, but if she messed up the trade and something happened to Ira….

Jackie stood tall. “Okay, on a count of three.”

Mark stood next to the fence, ready to snatch up Ira and Dennis.

“One. Two.” She glanced at me and moved her hand back. “Three.” She tossed the black bag. I couldn’t help but stare at the high arc she threw it in. All eyes were on the bag sailing high above us. I barely noticed Mark grabbing Ira and Dennis from the fence opening. Other Reds took Ira and shuffled her off toward the house. All that mattered was they were safe.

Leo smiled and raised his hand to catch the bag.

The black bag spun in the air and as it neared Leo, I saw the pieces of bag break away, revealing the stone. Leo’s eyes narrowed and when it got within a few feet of him another Blue jumped up and grabbed the stone.

It dissolved into his hand. The Blue grabbed at his arm, shaking and straining.

“What have you done, Jackie?” Leo demanded.

The Blue screamed as red marks streaked across his arms. He fell to his knees and tore off his shirt. The red streaks moved across his neck and down his chest. He screeched, and the Blues took steps back from him.

A girl pushed people aside and slid next to him. She hesitated at touching him at first and then grasped his hand.

“You are one sick bitch, Jackie,” Leo said. He raised his hand and made a swirling motion. “I will personally make you pay for this, soon.”

The Blues mumbled and groaned but started walking toward their houses.

“Wait.” Jackie snatched the bag from my hands. “Don’t you want your bag?”

Leo sneered at her and kept walking toward the houses.

“No, no, we need a teacher!” the girl next to the red-streaked boy pleaded. “Please.” She glanced at the Reds.

Near the hub, I saw a person running down the spoke. Deegan, it looked like. His portly figured bounced as he advanced.

Jackie blew three sharp whistles and the Reds rushed to the nearest house door.

Mark moved to the fence.

“Mark, no,” Carly said. “The teacher will help him.”

The girl on the other side sobbed and screamed for help. The red-streaked boy collapsed to the ground.

“We need to get out of here,” Carly said. “They’ll pin this on Mark if he’s out here.”

We followed Carly. “Aren’t we going back to the house?” I asked.

“No. I want to show you two something.” She didn’t go toward the house; she went back to the portal area at the end of the spoke. We entered the small hall and the screams diminished in its confines. I glanced back to see Deegan reach the boy and pull out a stone from his pocket.

“Is he going to be okay?”

“No,” Carly said simply as she opened the door to the portal room.

My hands shook and I leaned against the door next to her.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Carly said. “Every day I’m here, it becomes more and more evident that we need to leave before it’s too late.”

Mark nodded.

“You okay, Mark?” Carly asked.

“Yeah, it’s just that my stomach is in knots.”

My stomach turned as well. With each passing hour, he touched his stomach more. The corners of his eyes creased, his breathing got more rapid, and he walked with a little less pep in his step. He tried to hide it, but I knew suffering when I saw it. The urgency of getting that life stone amped up each time I looked at him. “I don’t know how much more of this Red versus Blue crap I can take.”

“That’s just surface stuff.” Carly sighed. “It’s not by mistake that people like Jackie and Leo are in charge. Sane people would try to work out a treaty of some sort, or at least find a civil medium to coexist in….”  She glanced at the portal room. “After the jump, I did some exploring in the tunnels. I found this room, and if it’s real, we need to find a way out of here. For everyone, if possible.”

“Take us to this room,” Mark said.

Carly held the door open for us as we ran across the portal room. Crossing the portal room freaked me out and I was happy to be in the dark hall beyond it. The hall illuminated as Carly held up a stone.

“Glow stone. Pretty cool, huh?” Carly said as she walked down the hall. “Ira figured it out in our stone room.”

I ran my hand over the jagged divots and chiseled lines of the walls. The other parts of the Academy were smooth, stacked stones, but this hall looked as if it had been chopped out of a single block of rock.

Mark motioned for me to go first. The last time Carly had pulled me down this hall in total darkness, it had felt like the longest hall ever; with it all lit up, I could see it was only a hundred feet long. After a curve, light from the main hall bled into ours. Carly squeezed through the opening and into the main hall.

I rubbed my sweaty palms down the sides of my shirt and looked at the dark hall we’d come from.

“Don’t worry, it isn’t too far. But don’t make a sound,” she said. “I have a feeling the teachers might use this room.”

I nodded and walked down the hall. Carly stowed her glow stone and kept another bag open, walking sideways with her hand near the bag.

“Expecting trouble?” I whispered.

“I don’t like surprises.”

“Why don’t you let me go first?” Mark said.

“Please.” Carly rolled her eyes.

He huffed, but kept to the back.

Carly kept a slow pace and glanced back as much as she glanced forward. I matched her and kept looking around. I had no idea what she expected to see, but it kept our mouths shut. She walked close to the wall and rubbed her hand along the stone as we moved.

She raised a hand and we stopped. “You hear that?” she whispered.

I squinted and turned my ear in the direction she pointed. I did hear it, a conversation not far away. Carly crept toward the sound, hunching low. Her hand moved along a wall and she stumbled forward. I grabbed her arm and saved her from falling over. She looked back and mouthed a “thank you” to me.

She pointed to the hall she’d found. The voices got louder as we tiptoed down the hall. I couldn’t see the people behind the voices, but I understood the words and knew who was talking.

Verity’s voice sounded weak, but her words were firm. “Who do you think you are, dropping in on us? I won’t let any of you get a single one of them back.”

Carly stopped near the end of the hall. I looked past her to the expansive room beyond. Small boxes filled most of the area, stacked high on pallets with shipping labels. She crouched low and ran behind a stack of boxes. Mark and I ran behind her and I did everything I could not to breathe loudly enough for Verity to hear it.

Carly slid a box over a few inches, which revealed Verity standing in a cleared area with the dad who had dropped from the ceiling sitting in a chair in front of her. He didn’t move or even blink.

Suspended animation, courtesy of a stone I had made.

I covered my mouth and felt stuck in place myself.

Verity glanced our way, her gaze passing over our area without noticing us. “Bring the boy in. Let’s make this quick. That damned booster stone our special gave me nearly sent me to the grave.”

Carly looked at me and then back to the scene. If my heart beat any harder, they might hear it. Snooping and exploring were one thing, but this felt like we were about to witness something horrible.

Verity pulled over a chair. It scraped over the stone floor and she slammed it down five feet in front of the dad.

Priscilla and Professor Dill dragged a boy toward the seat. He tried to yell and fight but the tape covering his mouth muffled every protest. The boy’s eyes went wide as they plopped him on the seat in front of his dad.

Verity moved behind the boy and ran her hands over his hair. She smiled and pulled on it. The boy struggled before Priscilla brought out a knife and cut his hand restraints and he yanked the tape off his mouth.

“Don’t move,” Priscilla said, pointing the knife at him.

“What did you do to him?” He bounced on the chair, moving it closer to his dad until Verity pulled him back a bit.

“He’s fine. Think of it like he’s frozen, but forever.”

“Dad, can you hear me?”

Mark shook next to me and I knew he was thinking of rushing out there. I squeezed his arm hard and shook my head. I knew if we stepped out there or were found, we’d disappear like the students Carly had mentioned earlier.

“He can hear you, he can see you, and if you hugged him, he could feel you. Tricky stone, this is. One of the cruelest I can think of.”

The boy wrenched at his chair and reached for his dad.

“Do you know why your dad came here? Why he attacked us?” Verity asked.

“I don’t know. He’s just an IT guy back home. He fixes phone service computers. I didn’t know anything about his alchemy. I thought it came from my mom.”

“I believe you,” Verity said and motioned for him to go to his dad.

He stood and rushed to hug his dad. His dad’s body didn’t move and he patted him, as if he was trying to feel whether his dad was real or not.

“We have to do something for him. He can explain, I know it. He’s not a dark alchemist,” he said.

“There’s only one thing that can bring him out of this.”

“What is it? I can make it for you.”

“It’s a life stone, actually. We’ll have the ingredients for it tomorrow.”

I almost fell against the boxes in front of me.

“A life stone? I’ll do anything to save him.”

“Don’t worry about that. Think about your dad and what he needs right now. Can we trust you to stay in this room with him until tomorrow?” Verity asked.

“Yes. You couldn’t drag me away.”

“Good,” Verity said, and smiled. She walked away with Priscilla and Dill. They left through a door at the back of the room. When I looked past the door, I saw another room, filled with boxes.

“Don’t worry, Dad. I won’t leave your side until we get you cured.”

The idea of the life stone being created sent chills down my arms. If they had a life stone, I could get it from them and use it to cure Mark. It might be cruel to the boy sitting in front of his dad, but his dad had all the time in the world to find his own life stone. Mark needed one now.

Carly touched my arm and pointed to the hall we’d come in through. We left the storage room and walked down the dark hall before entering the main hall.

“This is just as bad as I thought. They’re making a life stone.” She threw her arms out.

“Well, it’s actually something I’ve been looking for,” I said.

“Ugh. Didn’t you hear Deegan in class today? It takes a life to create one. Maybe multiple lives. They’re going to kill someone.”

I had heard Deegan and vividly remembered the exchange. A life for a life, or as Carly had said, many lives for a life.

Mark rubbed his stomach and closed his eyes. Why did he have to keep reminding me of his impending doom? Dang Ms. Duval for not getting a life stone for Mark before I came into the picture.

“If they’re going to take someone’s life, who do you think they’ll be taking?”

“If my suspicions are right, we’ll be getting a new student tonight and a retirement tomorrow. God, I hope I’m wrong,” Carly said.

The glow stone lit our way down the dark hall attached to the portal room. Carly pushed the door open and paused. She looked from me to Mark and then ran to the wooden door. She flung it open and we both ran through the room and into the next hall.

With the portal room door closed, we ambled toward the houses. My shoulders slumped and I dragged my feet with each step. The look on the boy’s face as Verity told him the only way to save his dad stuck with me. If there was a chance to save one of my parents, I’d do anything too. The idea of the life stone being so close, yet still out of my reach, weighed on me. Getting it directly from Verity wouldn’t be easy. I’d have to make the right stones, but even then, I’d have to be nearly on top of her to get a stone to touch her.

“What are you doing down here?”

I looked up to see Darius standing at the end of the hall.

“Uh … nothing much.” Carly went to Mark and played with his arms and chest and gave me a sexy smile.

“Just don’t get pregnant,” Darius said as he marched past us. He entered the portal room.

Carly kept rubbing against Mark until he cleared his throat.

“Do you know what this means?” Carly said, slowly letting go of him.

“Darius thinks we’re into some triple sex action now?” I said.

“No. Well, maybe.” She raised an eyebrow and looked at Mark again. “Darius only comes here when he brings in a new student.”

“Wonder who the poor sucker is this time?” Mark said.

“A new student means someone’s getting retired tomorrow. I’d bet the farm on it.”

“Great,” I sighed. “How do they choose who gets retired?”

“It’s usually someone who’s been here for a while and isn’t performing.”

Jackie seemed worried enough for me to create her a memory-killing stone. She thought she’d be the next student retired. Even with Jackie’s peculiar ways, I’d grown to really like her and the idea of her leaving sent me into a near panic.

“We have to stop it, then.”

“Stop what?”

“I don’t know. Stop the retirement.”

“Don’t get your panties in a wedge just yet. It should be a Blue.”

I hated to admit it, but I felt relieved at it being a Blue. “I hope it’s Leo.” I tried to grab the words before they fell out.

Mark frowned.

“I didn’t mean that,” I said, but my slip showed on Mark’s face and I saw him judging me. I was the worst person ever.

“Please. We all want Leo gone. That asshole’s been here longer than anyone, but he keeps making rocks. His hate well must be infinite.”

“What happened to make him so angry and filled with hate?” I wondered aloud.

“Well, he’s with Jackie. So that shows he’s insane. Maybe crazy people have a different level of emotions,” Carly said.

He hadn’t looked angry when Carly and I had seen them kissing.

The small hall ended and opened up to the long spoke. A group of Reds were staying near their houses while the Blues huddled around someone.

“There you guys are.” Jackie ran up to us while glancing over at the Blues. “I’ve been looking everywhere. Why were you back in the portal area?”

“We—” I started to say.

“We just wanted to console Mark,” Carly interrupted. “He’s been crying a bunch over these stone wars. Kind of wanted to get him away from the Blues. They’d never let him hear the end of it if they saw him crying like a man-baby.”

Mark pursed his lips. “Niagara Falls.” He ran his fingers down his face. “Thanks for being there, ladies.”

Jackie scrunched her mouth to one side and frowned as she stared at him. “Forget about the Blues. The Reds would tear him apart for being a little crybaby. Suck it up, Mark. You’re not in grade school here. This is where the big boys play.”

“Okay,” Mark said. His fist was clenched at his side.

I covered it with my hand.

“And stop being a little bitch where Allie is concerned. She likes you, and if you don’t start proving your worth, she’s going to skip right down the road, leaving your Malki ass behind. A special like her could have any guy she wanted. Don’t rest on your good looks. They don’t amount to anything here.”

Mark chuckled and shook his head. “Jackie….” I saw the witty retort building in his head, but he pressed his lips together and stopped.

“Good boy, Mark. Save it for the Blues. Speaking of the Blues….” She ran to the fence. “Your new member looks as pathetic as the rest of you. Nice heels. Did your pimp give those to you, or was there a sale at Whores ’R’ Us?”

Jackie seemed to have a never-ending supply of insults ready. I wondered if I should make her the memory stone. I was really interested in seeing what had made her this way, nature or nurture.

“Bitch, you’d better be stepping back. I can smell your wretched breath from here.”