The Fake Heart (Time Alchemist Series) (33 page)

“Precisely!” he lifted his head and shouted to the moon, as if
Flamel
and Guinevere were watching his sad performance from the skies, “I went through hell to find her! I did everything for her! And how did she repay me?! By stabbing me in the back, that’s what she did!”

I winced as his voice became louder. The sh
aking started again and I would’ve
lost my balance if I hadn’t been holding onto the round stone. Something slim and hard bounced against my foot and I looked down to see Marjorie’s metal flashlight. It was like a beacon of hope, and I scooped down to retrieve it and st
uffed it in the front of my silk dress in hopes Jack didn’t spot it
(Who needs a purse anyway when you have a bra?)
.

I waited
until he calmed down until I tried again, “You loved her, but she betrayed you. You have a right to be angry!” My knees shook as he stared at me—as if he were seeing me for the first time. Before he could explode aga
in, I kept going, “I have pages
of Guinevere’s journal,” I said, although it was sort of the truth. I had the translated notes, but still, “We can fit together the pieces and find another shard of the Elixir. We can do it together.” I felt like I had swallowed something sour at the word “together”, but…it looked as if Ivan was taking the bait.

His eyes narrowed as he looked me up and down, “Why should I believe you?”

I held my breath, refusing to look away. I would not be intimidated and I would not show fear. “Because…I love Jack,” I finally said. And in my heart, it was true. I had loved Jack. Not this person. “I…
I
love you.”

Somebody please shoot me. Please. Jack’s eyes widened a smidgen, but a sinister smile played on his lips. His eyes rolled over me, looking at me in a new light. Now he knew I would do anything for him. I was his new pet to play with. Perfect.

“Take me to the boy,” he said, “Take me to Guinevere’s apprentice, and then I shall decide if you are indeed worthy of sharing a life of immortality with me.” So that’s how he roped Marjorie into this whole mess. He probably promised tons of eager and love struck girls—like, sadly, me—with the powers of immortality and youth if they helped him.

So that’s how you are,
I thought,
y
ou can’t do it by yourself; you need somebody to help you. You need
me.

“To L-Leon?”
I stuttered, gripping my dress with my bloodied hands, “Why do you want me to take you to Leon?”

Without a word, Jack shrugged off his black tux, letting it fall to the floor. He unbuttoned his shirt halfway before pulling it aside. On his chest, right over his heart, was the most beautiful
tattoo I ever saw. It was shaped almost exactly like mine—with the numbers and hands of an old fashioned clock—except the tiny black hands on his chest was
moving
.
Tick, tick, tick.
The smallest hand of the clock-like tattoo was o
nly centimeters away from
twelve. The largest had moved a space past the
eleven
mark
.

“I haven’t much time,” he said, buttoning his shirt back up, “I need another vessel before this body deteriorates. Now take me to that boy.”

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his spot on his chest, even as he walked towards me with briskness. His jacket lay untouched on the ground. “W-what are you going to do to Leon?”

He took one of my cold hands, kissing it with those poisonous lips of his before answering, “He should consider himself lucky—he shall be Ivan Novak’s next
vessel.”

◊◊◊◊◊

We walked back towards where we met, hand in hand. I glance
d back briefly to see the ground
was
as smooth as it was hours ago (well, it certainly felt like hours; it was probably only mere minutes); the cracks in the earth were gone and the headstones sat up right in place; and no dead body of St. Mary’s Headmistress in sight. Jack had used his alchemy to sink Marjorie’s body into the depths of the ea
rth, hidden away from the world—
a crime he would never be accused of.

I shuddered, squeezing back the tears that threatened to spill.

Poor
Marjorie.
  Betrayed in the absolute worst way possible and not even given a proper burial.

Jack’s hand was like a poisonous scorpion wrapped around my hand. I wanted to jerk it away. I wanted to get away from his venomous touch. Our walk is slow because of my ankle, but I pretend like it’s nothing. I didn’t want him holding me to his beating heart and inhaling his familiar scent and being lost in the past. I needed to concentrate.

“I…m-may I ask you something, Jack?”
I asked, throat tigh
tening as I squeezed his hand in
fake ass
urance and a sign of permission,
and to make sure he wasn’t going to explode at any second on me. And it’s not like I was stalling…okay, maybe just a little bit.

He turned to me, smiling like a snake, “What would you like to know, my
dear
Emery?”

The way he referred to me as some sort of possession made my stomach churn, but I forced my eyes to stare right into his, “How did you even know there was a shard of the Elixir around here?”

His eyes gleamed over as he spoke, “I’ve been following my Guinevere and her pathetic apprentices since the
very beginning. It wasn’t hard,
mere child’s play, if you ask me.”

Nobody did.

“About a year ago, I received a clue that Guinevere would be retracing her steps and heading back south,” he continued, “It was certainly a long shot, but I knew Guinevere would have chosen a spot near the water—she so loved the ocean; she was as beautiful and free as the waves that washed onto the shores of my soul, it seemed.
It didn’t take me too long to narrow it down to this quaint city of Savannah—it’s roots deep into history and time itself, murderous secrets hidden
underneath it’s…‘Southern charm’
as they say.”

I swallowed the softball sized lump in my dusty throat as his gaze turned back up to the moon—as if Guinevere was like the moon itself; beautiful, awe-inspiring and illuminating with
power…but just out of his reach
.

“Why St. Mary’s
Academy
?”
I asked as we kept walking, past the statue of Little Gracie again—this time she looked positively heart-broken. As if she already knew of my fate and was crying silent tears.

“I needed to secure a place of power and wealth, a place where I could hide in plain sight—and St. Mary’s was right up my alley. It wasn’t hard to sneak into the school at all.” Here, he gave a bark of laughter; it made me jump from his sudde
n unexpectedly change of tone. “And it was pathetically easy to manipulate that stupid wench. All I had to do was offer her a prize she couldn’t resist.”

My heart felt like it turned into a ball of ice. The Headmistress
of St. Mary’s Academy…she had done all of those things
—the unusual punishments, the nasty cold shoulders (no pun intended) and the near killing threats—because she had loved Jack.
I saw in her eyes that she wasn’t following Ivan just because of his promise of eternal life.

She loved him. She loved him so much that it got her murderer.

Headmistress Marg
aret had been taken over by Ivan,
too.
She was his victim.

Jack, seemingly unfazed by my frozen state, kept on, “And it didn’t take too long to narrow down a list of potential vessels. Jackson Alexander had everything I needed—the
charming looks, the brains, the endless wealth and the social status. But even he
couldn’t get me what I wanted—”

“The Elixir,” I said.

“Precisel
y.
A year had passed and I was
no closer to finding such location—until I found you, Emery.”

“M-Me?”

“Yes. Since we are confessing, I must admit that becoming Jack Alexander was a bit of a pain; I had to make it look
like
I truly was him
, to avoid suspicion
, and continue with those…god awful running exercises night and day. But if I hadn’t run that day through the woods, I would have never spotted Guinevere’s two apprentices together—and you.
I knew you were my key to getting the Elixir. All I had to do was
wait
for you to catch the bait.” He gave a hoot of laughter at my burning face, “And you certainly took it like a dog takes to a piece of salted meat!”

I felt as if I had been slapped over and over again, as he pulled me away from the headstones and angel statues, and the withering flowers to
forgotten
loved ones
,
crusty and brown from the harsh winter air, towards his newest target.

CHAPTER 29

S
oon, we came near the entrance of the secret tunnels that le
d back to the school grounds
. It made me wonder, if a popular junior
like Karin Foster knew the tunnels existed, then maybe Jack did too—and who knows how many other people actually used them.
How did he get here, anyway? Did he take them too, or did he just use Jack’s status to easily snatch a car and a clueless driver and whisked himself away from the part of the Winter Formal to here? There were so many questions my head literally hurt from thinking about it all.

The small area of trees where Dove was attacked was dark and empty. Dove was nowhere to be found. I almost cried in relief.
Especially since Jack didn’t even seem to have noticed!

Thank God. Thank God. Thank God!

But that happiness shriveled like a raisin in the sun. Leon was still unconscious, practically nestled between two headstones. Blood pooled around his body, and his limbs bent at odd angles.

But he was alive. He was breathing. His breath made small clouds in the air and I wanted to race over and become his shield and sword, like he had done so many times for me. Bu
t I stood frozen by Jack’s side
as if my feet had sunk into the ground. He released my
hand and walked forward to Leon,
crouching down to his face before ripping his brown jacket and white tee away, revealing his bruised chest and bleeding stomach. I inwardly gasped, wishing I could do something.

Jack’s eyes were closed as he spoke in some strange, ancient language. He placed a hand over Leon’s heart and a white light illuminated from it. The light grew brighter, as did the spot on Jack’s chest, and I saw Leon struggling and gasping in pain, even though his eyes were still shut.

Leon’s eyes snapped open, his sea-green eyes no longer there—instead it was just all white His mouth was wide open and a strange sort of
pale
smoke was coming from his mouth. His whole body tensed up
as he arched his back. There were
disgusting crackling noises, as if his bones were being crushed by a large semi truck. Jack’s eyes were open now, and the blackness of his orbs was starting to fade to light gray, an
d then white; his skin turned
an ash color. But his smirk—that evil smile—wouldn’t leave.

Leon gasped in pain, mouth trying to form some sort of words as I watched, frozen in horror. His blank eyes were on me and his lips kept moving, forming silent words.

“
Em
…
er
…y…”

A hot flash of anger erupted over my skin, and I pulled out the flashlight from the front of my dress and threw it as hard as my aching muscles could. It landed with a satisfying smack against Jack’s head and whatever alchemy he was doing instan
tly stopped;
the
eerie lights vanished like a fuse had gone out
. Leon’s body flumped against the ground and he breathed heavily,
a sheen of sweat covering his pale skin
.

Jack’s eyes turned back to that inky black shade as he whipped his head around, snarling. But I wasn’t going to stand here
like some scared little sheep in front of the wolf
.
Not again. Not ever.
In
stead, I charged at him
. With a raging yell I threw myself at him, punching and kicking and scratching him with all my weak body could. We tumbled through the dirt and grass as I latched onto him and didn’t let go. My dress tangled around my legs, hindering my movement, but I heard a nice cracking noise when my heel landed on something. I knew they were useful for
something
.