Alchemist Academy: Book 2 (13 page)

I looked back at the door. Each one of those people had done horrible things, and that was why my mom kept them in there. The world would be safer thanks to her.

Jackie didn’t say anything else about the prison, but she seemed shaken up about it. I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t think I could have taken an entire day in there. “Allie told you about the Dark Academy we were in, so I assume she also told you how we need to get everyone out. They’re killing those kids, one at a time. Our friends are dying.”

My mom bit her bottom lip and took a deep breath. “Yes, we need to get back there. Let’s go back to my place and we can talk about a plan.”

***

My mom’s place looked as plain and simple as the rest of the houses. We sat at her dining room table and I looked around for anything telling me this was my mom’s house—a picture of me or my dad, or any personal effects. My search came up short. The house felt blank, cold, and devoid of any personality. I shivered and set my hands on the wooden table.

Mark and Jackie were sitting on either side of me. I looked at Mark and he gave me strength. I hated to admit it, but I felt more comfortable under his gaze than my own mother’s.

“Where is everyone?” Jackie asked.

Mom looked out the window. “The day we attacked that Dark Academy, as you call it, they launched a stone we didn’t think anyone was capable of making. That stone vaporized quite a few of us.” She touched her necklace. I hadn’t noticed it before, or maybe she’d just pulled it out from underneath her shirt. It looked like an infinity symbol wrapping around another one. “Do you know who was capable of making such a stone?” Her gaze passed over me and back to Jackie. “An opaque stone with some dusty brown colors in it?”

I wanted to throw up. I remembered the stone Verity had had me and Bridget make. One of our stones had killed people, and had nearly killed my mom, from the sound of it.

“There’s a girl in there who made it. Bridget,” I said, and left off the part where I had made one as well.

“Bridget….” Mom leaned back in her chair and tapped her chin. “If she’s still in there, we’ll have to be very careful. A person who can make a stone of that level can make all sorts of terrible stones. Do you know her room? We might be able to stop her.”

“She helped us escape. We wouldn’t be here without her,” I said.

“Someone like her is a danger to the world, especially in the wrong hands.”

“She’s our friend,” I repeated with more vigor.

My mom smiled and looked out the window again.

“You expecting someone?” Jackie asked.

“Not exactly.” Mom stared at me. “If we’re going to have a chance of getting back into the Academy, we need to make some stones.” She leaned forward with a cocked brow. “Would you mind if I did a little test on each of you? It gives us an idea of your skill level.”

I wanted to show my mom my skill level. I was a special. “Yeah,” I said.

“I don’t need a test telling me I’m a beast with stones, but whatever,” Jackie said.

Mark crossed his arms, frowned, and leaned back in his chair.

Mom stood from the table and walked to a kitchen cabinet. She pulled out a small cloth bag from inside the otherwise empty space. The bag made a clunking sound as she set it on the table. She pulled the drawstrings loose.

I sat tall, trying to get a look inside the bag.

“These stones will let me know, with great accuracy, your potential.”

“Darius, the recruiter from the other academy, gave us a test,” Mark said.

“This isn’t like that one. That one can be fudged by the willing.” Mom pointed to the bag. With this stone, there’s nothing you can do to alter the results. We’re rather proud of it. Now, hold out your hand,” she said. “Palm up on the table.”

Jackie obliged.

A yellow stone with a mixture of browns and a hint of purple specks was revealed.

Jackie took a deep breath. “What does it do?”

“It’s tough to explain, but depending on how strong you are, you’ll be moving in and out of this world. Think of yourself as a body of water. When I toss this stone in, it will create ripples. We’ll count the ripples on this side as you fade in and out. An average stone maker can make three ripples. The most we’ve ever had is nine.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“We’ve never had an injury to anyone, and we’ve used it on many people.”

“Bet I get more ripples than you, Allie,” Jackie said.

I leaned forward as my mom’s hand hovered over Jackie’s.

Mom pulled back the stone. “Now, if you’re truly gifted, there’s a chance you’ll hear a voice while you’re in there. It’s a person lost to alchemy. Memorize anything they say. It can be of the utmost importance.” Mom stared at Jackie until she was sure her point had been made.

Jackie nodded. “All this to test my strength?”

“Just remember, if you hear the voice, listen and remember the words.”

“Fine.”

“Here we go.” Mom dropped the stone into Jackie’s hand.

Jackie sucked in a deep breath as she looked at the ceiling. Her body looked rigid, but I heard the chair shaking against the wood floor, making a clattering sound.

“Wait,” Mom said.

Jackie faded and then disappeared for a fraction of a second. I thought I might have blinked her into my imagination.

“One.”

Jackie’s chair continued to rattle against the floor. Her body didn’t appear to be moving and she kept her head far back, staring at the ceiling. She faded again.

Mom kept counting after each one. She leaned forward in her chair when Jackie had reached six fades. I glanced at her, seeing the sweat on her forehead. She licked her lips and mouthed the word, “Seven.”

“We’ve got to stop this,” Mark said.

As if on his command, the chair stopped rattling and Jackie fell forward. With her face on the table, she breathed hard and looked up at us. I held my breath, waiting to see if she was okay.

“What’d I get?” Jackie asked in a weak voice.

“Seven.”

Jackie inhaled and sat up. “Seven?” She shrugged. “Eh. I thought I’d be a ten.”

“Seven is more than remarkable,” Mom said, staring at Jackie as if for the first time. “Tell me, did you hear anything?”

“I heard Mark, I heard you counting…. I heard a whisper. No, not a whisper, really. It was like someone screaming at me from a distance.”

Mom leaned forward. “What did they say?”

Jackie shook her head and squinted. “I don’t know. He had an accent. Ash Down?” She rubbed her shoulders and looked over her body.

“You okay?” I asked.

“A bit tired. Muscles kind of hurt. But, yeah, I’m okay.”

Mom’s brow furrowed and she tapped her lip, whispering, “Ash Down.” She turned to me. “Now you have me curious. You mentioned that you were in a class higher than her.”

“She can make stuff like no one I’ve ever seen. It comes very easy to her,” Jackie said.

“Shut up,” Mark said. “I don’t think we should take this test. It doesn’t feel right. Something’s wrong here.”

Here we go again, Mark and his conspiracies.
The only place he seemed comfortable was the Rainbow Brite academy of fluffy feelings and no stone-making.

“You just don’t want to take the test, Mark. You’re afraid of scoring a one,” Jackie said.

“It’s not that, Jackie….”

She turned to Mom and explained, “Mark’s a Malki.”

Mark slapped his hand on the table. It rattled, and the loud sound silenced the room. Mom never flinched, but I jumped back at his aggression. My heartbeat picked up and I stared at him.

“I’m sorry, Allie, but this woman”—he pointed at Mom—“your mother, keeps people holed up in some of the cruelest conditions possible. This town is an empty shell save for a few people, and everything I see is telling me this is a lie. I know you want to believe in her so much you can’t even see what’s staring you directly in the face, and Jackie over there has been in hell so long she thinks this place is a vacation. So, I’m sorry if I think taking a stone that makes you disappear just so she can gauge our stone-making ability seems a little over the top. How is any of this going to help us get Bridget, Leo, Carly, and all the rest out of that academy?”

My mouth moved, but no words came out. Mark’s anger lit fires inside me, and all I could do was stare at his red face. He looked away and crossed his arms in silence.

“Wow,” Jackie said. “He’s got a point, though. I could have told you I make stones better than most people. What’s with all this?” She pointed to the bag on the table.

Mom sighed and leaned back. She glanced at the window behind her and then turned back and leaned closer to us. “There are things about alchemy that very few know about. Don’t you ever wonder why we have this ability? Why it’s carried down from generation to generation?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Neither of those academies seems to have a good grasp on where all this actually comes from. But I’m starting to side with Mark on this, Mom. What’s going on? You seem to be holding something back.”

She leaned back and blew out two sharp whistles. The front door was flung open and Niles stormed in, pointing his many-barreled gun at us. “I’m fine, Niles,” Mom said.

In the daylight, I got a better look at his harsh features and the bad burn marks on his neck. He grumbled and hung his gun on his belt.

“Hey there, buddy. Thanks for putting us in that shit box next to Screaming Bob and Crazy Karen. I have a nasty stone with your name on it, pal,” Jackie said.

Niles’ eye twitched and he touched his gun before Mom shook her head. He crossed his arms and glared at us. “We have to ensure the safety of this world, even over the comfort of others.”

“Really? How about I kick you in the balls? You know, to save the world from you procreating.”

Mom stood and walked toward Niles. “Niles Blane here is a direct descendant of someone incredibly important to alchemy, Thomas Blane.” She let the name hang in the air. It seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

“Blane, as in ‘Evers and Blane,’ Blane?” Jackie asked with wide eyes.

“One and the same,” Mom said.

“Dude, don’t you guys remember?” Jackie swung her hand out and slapped me in the arm. “I told this story in Deegan’s class.”

My mom winced at the name.

“I told you about Evers using the suspended animation stone on Blane because he was getting too close to the philosopher’s stone.”

“I’m totally lost here,” I said, shaking my head, trying to figure out what this all meant.

Niles stepped in. “What she’s trying to say, without sounding like a crazy person, is that my dear ol’ fifth great-grandfather is still kicking. And in his stupor, he’s found a way to connect to alchemy like no one has ever done before. He’s reaching out for us. I can feel him sometimes in my thoughts.” He huffed and adjusted his pants. “When we use those stones, we have a chance of reaching him.”

“For what purpose?” Mark asked.

“They think he can tell them how to make a philosopher’s stone,” Jackie answered.

Mom nodded. “We’re nearly certain he has the knowledge.”

“What does any of this have to do with getting our friends out of that academy?” Mark asked.

“As horrible as this sounds, that academy is just one small stepping stone toward what has to come next. We need to prepare for war. The other side is getting stronger by the day. They’re hunting down our children and putting them in that stone factory. They all but rule over L.A., and they’ll keep expanding.”

Niles added, “But with this stone, we can avoid it all.”

“How can one stone wield so much power?” I asked.

Niles fidgeted with his hands and stood straight. “This gift we have is rare, maybe one in a million. Now, not everyone agrees, but I believe we’re the descendants of a powerful race, godlike people who helped build this world. This stone will bring us back to that original power.”

“You think this stone will turn you into a god?” Jackie asked.

“Essentially, yes.”

“This is ridiculous,” Jackie said.

“You think all those stories about the old gods having great powers over their domains were fiction? No, we believe they found a way to make this stone. Now it’s within our grasp to create our own. We can wield a power greater than anyone has known in the modern world. Are you willing to let someone like Verity have that power? Maybe Quinn, or Axiom? They’ll bring war to every door, every home,” Mom said.

The information piled on me like a lead coat. I slumped in my chair and thought about Bridget pushing Verity out of the elevator and giving us that chance to escape. She, Carly, and the others didn’t know about this; they didn’t know about an impending war. They just wanted us to come back and get them out.

I looked to Mark, sitting next to me. He studied the table with his arms crossed. The corners of his mouth moved slightly as if he was talking to himself.

“Allie.” My mom came around the table and knelt next to me. “We think you have the strength to hold past ten on this stone. There’s a likelihood you would be able to fully submerge and directly communicate with Thomas. If you can, we think we can get more information than just ‘Ash Down’.”