Alchemist Academy: Book 2 (16 page)

“I’ll make some calls and arrange some things.”

Verity’s shoes clicked along the metal hall as Niles dragged her back to her cage. When he returned, he was rubbing his hands on his shirt. “She’ll be out for an hour, at least.”

“We need to get another stone on her. She was on the verge of telling us.”

“It would kill her if we did it right now,” Niles said. “Besides, I bet the next stone won’t even work. You saw how she put up a struggle with this one. Each one is weaker than the last.”

“I know.” Mom took a breath through her nose and pursed her lips together.

“I think we should go get our friends now. With Verity locked up here, we can portal to the Academy and attack them from the inside. Deegan was the only one I saw who was any real threat,” Mark said.

“You know the room she means?” Mom asked.

“I do,” I said.

“I don’t trust her,” Jackie said. “Her answer could have been misleading us.”

“She can’t lie with that stone,” Niles said.

“Yes, but even truth can be told in a way that’s harmful. There could very well be a pallet of stones right where we want to portal,” Jackie pointed out.

“Then where would you have us go?” Mom asked.

“The portal room. It’s got to be the safest bet. I’m not sure if Verity knows about the secret passageway attached to the room. We could easily get anywhere from there, plus they wouldn’t put things in that room for their own safety. I doubt Darius has stopped his snatch-and-grab program.”

“She’s right,” I said.

“Cathy, the others could help us with this,” Niles said.

She shook her head. “No, we go into this with a small group. Maybe the twins and that’s it.”

Niles huffed and adjusted his gun. “If the Intrepid hear about this, they’ll be upset they weren’t in on the action. It’s bad enough keeping Verity out of their hands.”

“That’s enough, Niles.”

I studied my mom, trying to find the mother I knew from my memories. This was a different person. Maybe Jackie had been right about my looking at the world differently as a child. I couldn’t believe this was the same person who had read books to me, kissed my cheek and told me to have pleasant dreams. She looked different, and it wasn’t just the crow’s feet and unkempt hair. Her eyes were harder, her shoulders slumped. I used to think my mother walked on air, the way she moved. How could my memories be so wrong? What else in my life was I getting wrong?

My mom paced near Niles. The look of deep worry spread over her face. This was a woman who wasn’t a stranger to hard decisions. Maybe that was why she was slumping now. She looked like she was holding up the world on her shoulders, much like Clymene. I wanted to take some of the load off of her, but I felt a wall between us. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but it was there.

She was holding back things from me. This whole place, with the prisons and vacant houses, reminded me of Verity’s Academy—the appearance was the lie. Something was behind those doors, secrets my mom didn’t want me to know about. Which told me she didn’t trust me. It didn’t help that I was the one who’d made the stone that had killed her friends. She might even hate me for it. Each time someone mentioned it, she touched her necklace as if in memory.

The idea of her being with another man hadn’t crossed my mind until that moment. I stared at her face with an open mouth. She wouldn’t cheat on Dad, would she? If she would abandon her daughter to fight off the world, what wouldn’t she be capable of doing?

Damn Jackie and her warning. I could have been ignorantly blissful just being with my mom, and now I was questioning it. She wasn’t some drug addict dying in a bed, asking me to sell my body for her, but she had talked me into making a stone for her within minutes of us being reunited.

“Niles, get a portal stone from Eli and meet us back here in two hours.”

“I can’t get there in an hour. The Jeep’s been acting up, so I’ll have to take the car.”

“Just hurry.”

“Fine.” He rushed toward the door.

“And, Niles, grab the twins.”

“Aye.”

“Niles,” Jackie called out, and he stopped at the doorway. “Are the Intrepid nearby? Where are you going?”

He glanced at Mom. “I’ll be back as quick as the Taurus will allow.” With that, he left.

Jackie stared at the door for a while before turning and pacing near the kitchen. She glanced at the cupboards and stove, covering her stomach with her hand.

“You guys hungry?” Mom asked.

“For the love of all that’s holy,
yes
,” Jackie said.

***

Mom gave us some stale military surplus bars and more dusty bottles of water. The conversations were mostly us talking about the different academies. My mom didn’t say much, and after a few hours she began to look at the door as much as anything else.

“Should they be back by now?” I asked, watching the door.

“Probably car trouble,” she said, but she didn’t sound confident.

The front door swung open and I jumped to my feet, turning toward it.

Niles stomped in, favoring his right side. His right arm and pants leg were singed black. The look on his face told me something had gone terribly wrong.

“Axiom found our base camp. He attacked with two cinder stones. I barely got out alive.”

Mom winced and gritted her teeth. “It won’t take him long to trail you back here.”

“The twins are outside.” Niles held up a purple stone. “I got the last portal stone.”

“The last one?” Mark asked.

“Yeah. You left our portal maker, Gwen, back in that Academy.”

“Bring it to me,” Mom said.

Nile’s limped across the room and handed her the stone.

“How can we all go with one stone?” I asked.

“We can’t,” she replied. “This stone will only take four of us, and I need one of you to take control of the portal. Allie, I think Jackie knows the place the best. She’s been there the longest. Niles can take you and Mark to a safe place until we—”

“No,” Jackie said. “I might know the stone room, but Allie and Carly know the back tunnels. We need her to navigate them.”

“And I won’t go without Mark,” I added.

One of the twins, Roy, ran into the house. “We have incoming, a couple of miles out.”

My mom sighed and stared at me. She wasn’t mad, but she looked flustered. “Allie, I don’t want to put you in any more danger.” She looked at the floor, shaking her head. “To be honest, with only one portal stone, this is going to be a one-way street. Once we’re there, we’re going to have to find another way out. And let’s face it, you guys aren’t exactly battle-ready.”

“We fought our way out once. We can do it again,” Mark said, grabbing my hand.

“He’s not far out now,” Roy warned.

“I know. Thank you.” Mom took a deep breath and continued, “Fine, you three kids are going with me. Niles, open Verity’s cage. Let him have her. If he has her first, he won’t touch any of the others. Then go to section six, spread the word and be ready for my call. If you can gather enough Intrepid, take this place back.”

“Aye.” Niles left the room with Roy in tow.

“Hands together,” my mom said. “We all have to clear our minds. If we don’t, we could end up in—”

“We know,” I said.

She nodded. “You ready, Jackie?”

“Yes.” Jackie held her hand out, palm up. “Let’s just hope nothing’s changed.”

I intersected my hand with hers, and Mark did the same. Mom placed her hand near mine, touching the edge of my hand. It made her more real to me, skin-to-skin contact. I wanted to have more connections with my mom, and going to the Academy with her filled me with confidence that we’d get the job done.

I cleared my mind, thinking of white noise. Jackie kept her eyes closed tight. I didn’t see the stone drop, but I felt it on the edge of my hand. Then the floor fell out from under our feet and I yelped. I hoped the portal room was empty.

I fell to the floor of the portal room. The stone surface felt gritty against my palms and I wiped the dirt off as I got to my feet.

“This it?” my mom asked.

“Yes,” Jackie said.

“Let’s get to this stone warehouse first and see if there are any stones we can use.”

“The stone door is over here.” Jackie pointed and pushed against a stone.

“I thought you said only Allie knew about this,” Mom said.

“You think I was going to let you not take her?”

She smiled. “If my daughter gets hurt, I’m going to blame you. I don’t like careless decisions based on emotions.”

“I guess that’s how you were able to leave your eight-year-old daughter.”

Mom’s fist clenched and I saw another flash of her scary side.

“We need to get out of this room before another person portals in here and into us.” Jackie pushed the stone door back and entered the dark hall. It felt familiar, and when we closed the door, it plunged us into complete blackness.

My mom produced a green stone that glowed and lit up the chiseled stone walls around us. The idea of being back there with my mom was overwhelming. I’d known I could make it happen, but actually being here…I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to run straight down the spoke and directly into Carly’s room. I wanted to let everyone know I was back and was taking them all with me this time.

“This way,” Jackie said.

We followed her down the side hall and into the endless passage, which was already lit up. Jackie and I dragged our hands along the left wall, trying to find the space indicating the hall leading to the warehouse.

Jackie stopped a few feet in front of me, nodding toward the opening. We followed her into the warehouse. Was the man still in here? I was sure of it, and the anticipation of being in that room was making me anxious. I glanced back at Mark and my mom. I wanted to show Mom how cruel this Academy had been to me and anyone who entered.

              I held my breath as we rounded the pallets stacked high. I even noticed the box of stones we’d knocked over, the few stones still scattered across the floor. Grow stones, from the look of them.

I crept past the last pallet, bringing the middle area into view. First I saw the empty chair where the boy had once been sitting, and then the man came into view. He was sitting in the same position I had left him in, sitting back and looking at the ceiling. His eyes were open and even though I knew he wouldn’t, I expected him to react to us approaching.

“My heavens, Jason.” My mother rushed to him and pulled on his shoulders, trying to wake him.

“Suspended animation stone,” I said.

“I know, you told me. But to actually see it….” She looked at me with wonder and confusion. “You made the stone?”

I hated to admit it. “Yes.”

She tilted his head and closed his eyelids. I hadn’t even known his name until then. Jason, I made a promise and I intended to keep it. I would find a way to revive him and make sure what had happened to his son would never happen to another student.

“We need to take him with us as well,” I said.

My mom nodded. “One thing at a time, though. We need to find out how many guards they have in the building and how many teachers will pick up a stone against us. If we’re stealthy, we might be able to take out most of them before the others are alerted.” She stood next to Jason, adjusted his shirt and folded his hands over his lap. If someone came, in they might think he was taking a nap.

“If I can get to Carly, she can give me the skinny on the guards and teacher stuff,” Jackie said.

“Good. You go to her while we search this warehouse for useful stones,” Mom said. “I don’t think they’ve been here in a while.” She rubbed her foot on the thin layer of dust coating the floor.