The Alchemists Academy Book 2: Elemental Explosions (3 page)

“What are we doing out here?”

“Trying to help you reach your potential. Weren’t you listening?”

“Um…” Wirt couldn’t help a glance down at the distant ground. “How exactly do we do that?”

“Like this.” Ms. Burns didn’t push him hard. But then, she didn’t have to. Wirt wheeled his arms for a moment in an effort to keep his balance, and then fell, unable to keep from screaming as the air rushed past him. This wasn’t the safety of the transport tubes. This was outside the tree, where falling meant making an unpleasant dent in the ground below, not to mention being spread over more of it than Wirt really wanted.

The only glimmer of hope came when Ms. Burns appeared across from him, falling into view having obviously stepped off the branch too. She didn’t seem concerned by the prospect of imminent death.

“Do something,” Wirt urged.

“You do something,” Ms. Burns shot back.

“What can
I
do?”

“Think of something. What do you wish to happen?”

Wirt didn’t know what Ms. Burns meant but at that moment he was willing to try almost anything. Already, the ground was approaching far too fast, rushing up to meet them in a way that suggested Wirt didn’t have time to think. He had to go with what he knew. And what he knew right then was that he needed something soft to land in.

He hit water, plunging through it so fast and deep that it drove the breath from his body. For a moment, it was all Wirt could do to keep from panicking at the sudden, disorienting shock of the water. He couldn’t even tell which way was up. Then though, something touched him on the arm. Wirt turned in the water and saw Ms. Burns pointing. Sure enough, the direction she indicated seemed lighter than all the others, and Wirt swam for it, not knowing what else to do.

He surfaced, spluttering, his lungs heaving as he sucked in great gulps of air. Ms. Burns broke the water a little way away, and floated on her back, laughing.

“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“You…” Wirt struggled for the words. Struggled to stay afloat, too. Swimming was a lot harder when you were wearing ordinary clothes. “You’re mad.”

“Now, that’s no way to speak to someone who has helped you to unlock a gift, is it?” Ms. Burns thought for a moment. “Or to a teacher, for that matter. I should probably give you a detention, or something.”

Wirt wasn’t listening. He was too busy looking around him. He had briefly assumed that he had used his skills in magical transportation to move them to the existing lake near the tree that housed the school, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Instead, he and Ms. Burns were treading water in what appeared to be a, brand new small lake directly under the part of the tree where they had fallen. Where she had pushed him, Wirt corrected himself.

“What did you do?” Wirt demanded.

“Me?” Ms. Burns raised a quizzical eyebrow. “This was all you. Well done, incidentally. Though obviously, I knew you had it in you.”

“Had what in me?” The teacher wasn’t making much sense to Wirt.

“A talent for reshaping the natural elements, of course. Earth into water, in this case, though I’m sure you could do much more if you put your mind to it.”

Wirt looked at Ms. Burns, suddenly suspicious. “You’re not planning on pushing me off anything else, are you?”

Ms. Burns smiled. “Would it bother you if I did?”

“Bother me? You almost killed us both!”

“Almost doesn’t count.” Ms. Burns pulled herself from the large pool, her clothes drying instantly as she did it. “Besides, I knew you’d save us, so it wasn’t a particular worry.”

Wirt looked at her in astonishment. “It was for me!”

“Oh, don’t be such a spoilsport. This was a valuable experience for you. Interactive learning, I think they call it.” Ms. Burns smiled as she thought of something that obviously amused her. “Though I guess it was almost a crash course.”

Wirt groaned inwardly at that one, then took another look at the lake around him. Idly, he wondered if he would get into trouble for such a major reshaping of the school grounds. Ms. Lake would probably like it, obviously, lakes being her sort of place. Somehow though, Wirt suspected that Ender Paine wouldn’t see Wirt’s mere survival as a sufficient excuse for it. On the other hand, it was quite impressive.

“I really did all this?” Wirt asked. “I made a whole lake?”

“Ah, now you’re getting into it,” Ms. Burns said. “And yes, this was all you. I mean, who else could have transmuted this much at once? At least without a lot of preparation and focusing items? I certainly couldn’t. That trick with the wall was about my limit, when it comes to water.”

“You couldn’t?” Wirt found himself latching onto the obvious consequence of that. “You mean that you really couldn’t have saved us if I hadn’t-”

“Oh, I’m sure something would have come up. Besides, I had faith in you, Wirt.”

“You really are mad.”

“I’m sure I warned you about that,” Ms. Burns said. “Incidentally, you might want to get out of there. The transformation isn’t permanent.”

Wirt followed the line of Ms. Burns’ gaze, and found that the lake was indeed shrinking. Though that was probably quite a poor way of putting it. Actually, it was more like when a lake froze over in the deep winter, except that instead of ice, this one was becoming covered in grass. Wirt hurriedly swam to the nearest bank and hauled himself out of the water as best he could. He noted rather bitterly that
his
clothes didn’t dry out instantly.

“You really jumped off a branch because you thought I would deal with it?” Wirt asked, trying to make some sense of the situation. By the standards of the academy, it probably counted as an acceptable teaching method. By any other standard though, it was utterly crazy. “What if I hadn’t managed it? What if my ‘latent talents’ hadn’t shown up to save the day?”

Ms. Burns shrugged. “But they did, Wirt, and I knew they would. I was certain of it. As I said before, I have faith in you.”

“So much faith that you were prepared to bet your life on me?” Wirt demanded. “That you would bet
my
life?”

“Ah, Wirt, if only you knew. If you could see some of your own future, all this would seem so unnecessary. You would know that trusting my life to you is one of the easier decisions I have made today. But you can’t, I guess, and that’s that. So instead, why don’t you just thank me for showing faith in you?”

“And pushing me off a branch,” Wirt pointed out.

“And that. You do realize that you’re starting to sound ungracious?” Ms. Burns smiled as she said it, but it was clear that she was serious. Wirt couldn’t help wondering what kind of game she was playing. Not to mention how he had come to be picked to take part in it without getting any choice.

“Thank you, Ms. Burns, for having so much faith in me.” Wirt parroted it obediently. “Though I’m still not sure why you would have.”

“Why?” the teacher asked. “Don’t you think that you’re worth having a little faith in, Wirt?”

Wirt shrugged. It seemed enough. “I just mean… well, you don’t even know me. Not really.”

Ms. Burns nodded. “Oh, I know what you mean. Probably better than you do. And as for not knowing you, I think you’ll find that I do.”

“What? How?”

Ms. Burns reached out to take Wirt’s face in her hands, cupping it softly. “Can you keep a secret, Wirt?”

“Um… yes?”

“So can I. Suffice it to say that I have seen more of the future, of
your
future, than most people.”

“Do you mean like clairvoyance?” Wirt asked.

Ms. Burns shook her head. “Do I look like some sort of fortune teller?”

“Then what?”

            Ms. Burns smiled to herself. “You know, Wirt, you ask even more questions now than I remember. Of course, that might just be a consequence of growing up. Still, I think we should leave it at that for now, don’t you?”

            Wirt certainly didn’t think that. Not with what Ms. Burns had just implied. Everything she had just said seemed to suggest that they knew each other. Or at least
would
know each other. Because Wirt was almost convinced that the teacher in front of him was somehow from his future. Which was so close to impossible that you could probably see it on a clear day. Ms. Lake had said as much about time travel in their transportation lessons. That only the most powerful could ever hope to open that sort of portal.

            One thought occurred to Wirt instantly. Was
he
that powerful? Had he somehow done it, at some point in the future? If so, why had he done it? Why had he sent Ms. Burns back, and just who was she? He didn’t know, but Wirt was determined to keep asking until he got an answer.

            Perhaps Ms. Burns sensed that too. “We should get you back inside. You’ll want to change before your next lesson.”

            She didn’t give Wirt the chance to reply. Instead, she reached up to place her hands over Wirt’s eyes, murmured the familiar words of a transportation spell, and sent them both on their way in a flash of light. When it faded, Wirt was standing outside the door to the room that he shared with Spencer. There wasn’t any sign of Ms. Burns, whoever she really was.

Chapter 3

D
eciding that he’d feel better once he’d had a chance to change into some dry clothes, Wirt walked into the room he shared with Spencer. Or tried to, anyway. It turned out that the door was locked, and wouldn’t open. That was strange. Spencer hardly ever did that. Still, Wirt didn’t feel like waiting around outside, so he knocked.

            “Spencer? Are you in there? Let me in, would you?”

            No answer, and Wirt didn’t have a key to the door with him, since students generally didn’t bother locking theirs. Booby trapping them with spells designed to give people warts or turn them bright purple, yes, but not locking them. Wirt guessed he could spend his time out there knocking, but there was at least one quicker way.

            Wirt whispered the words to a transportation spell, the same one he had used when he had broken into Urlando Roth’s office last term. He was getting good at it by now, and the short hop from one side of the door to the other was nothing. Wirt just hoped that he wouldn’t be walking in on anything embarrassing.

            “Spencer… hey, you’re not Spencer.”

            A boy got up from Spencer’s bed, annoyance clear on his features. Wirt recognized Roland Black from the class he’d just had.

            “What are you doing in here?” Roland Black demanded. “Are you some sort of thief?” He looked like he was half hoping that Wirt would say yes so that he would have an excuse to do something unpleasant.

            “What am
I
doing here?” Wirt looked at him in incredulity. “This is
my
room. The one I share with Spencer Bentley. What are
you
doing here?”

            “You think this is Spencer’s room?” Roland Black waved a hand at the rest of the place. “Look around. Do you see any signs of him here?”

            Wirt looked, and sure enough, Spencer didn’t seem to have moved his things back in after the summer yet. Instead, the space that Spencer’s possessions would have occupied was taken up with things Wirt didn’t recognize. There were expensive looking black t-shirts and hooded tops on the clothes rack at one side, a small selection of papers showing magical symbols taped to the walls, while the desk held a complex arrangement of silver wire entwined with gemstones and small objects that ranged from animal bones to less pleasant things. Wirt recognized it as a kind of magical focus to let the user perform spells more effectively. Though it was certainly an expensive version.

            There were a couple of books on top of the desk, though not nearly as many as there had invariably been when Spencer had been there. They had cracked leather covers, runes on them in a language Wirt couldn’t read, and looked like they would have cost a small fortune. Wirt finished looking and shook his head.

 “What happened to my room? Where’s Spencer?”

            Roland shrugged.  “Beats me. This is my room, and whatever happened to Spencer, I wouldn’t know. All I know is that you shouldn’t be here.”

            Wirt walked over to his side of the room. His things, such as they were, were still there. The boxes Ms. Lake had given him that produced clothes. A few small items he needed for his classes. Nothing much. Certainly when compared to the amount of stuff that Roland Black owned. So why were his things still there when Spencer’s were nowhere to be found?

            “Look, have you seen enough?” Roland Black demanded. “I’ve got things I need to get on with, so maybe you should just-”