Alchemist Academy: Book 1

by Ryan, Matt

  She raised a hand and kept walking.

  Carly walked next to me and we watched Jackie leave through the door. “She had a guy. They were inseparable, but shortly after I got here, they retired him. It was a retirement we’ll never forget. Jackie and Ned wouldn’t let go of each other, and eventually the lifers pried them apart and all but shoved Ned into the dome. He cried out something, but I was too far in the back to hear it. She made some real whoppers of stones after that.”

  “Why doesn’t she just get retired?” Mark asked.

  “I don’t think she believes we really go home in there. I have my doubts as well.”

  I was beginning to have some doubts too, but I never liked to judge things based on other people’s opinions. People seemed to look at things through warped prisms, or maybe I just wanted to see everything for myself. If the dome really didn’t send the students home, then what did it do? Where did they go? This whole place felt magical and terrible at the same time. The hate they instilled and perpetuated felt as if it had a purpose, but if in the end this dome thing did something to you other than send you home, then this entire place was a lie. Either way, I had a mission, and this day I hoped had brought me one step closer. Tomorrow, I’d push even harder.

  Lying in bed, I stared at the ceiling. Closing my eyes didn’t work because the thoughts came too quickly when I did. Looking at the dimly lit ceiling gave my mind a resting space. I needed to think of something besides the truth around me.

  I rolled to my side and looked at the door. The hand-carved wood seemed too intricate against the plain floors and walls. But I wasn’t really thinking about the door; I was thinking about the guy who was just beyond the door. The guy who, just a few hours ago, had been with me on this bed.

  It was terrifying and exciting how I had been willing to do anything with him. I’d felt some heat for boys in passing, but I’d never had a moment like the one I’d shared with Mark. How far would I have gone if not for the interruption?

  The door handle moved. I stared at it and heard a faint click as it turned all the way down. The door crept open and my heart began to race, thinking it must be Mark. I felt confusion slamming against me in a split second. Not knowing what I would let him do, what I wanted to do. I still had my shirt on, but I had taken off my pants before I got into bed. The door opened all the way and a person too small to be Mark glided into my room. I was about to scream when I saw Jackie’s face in the shadows.

  “You awake?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Remember the Blue who grabbed you today at the fence?”

  “I don’t think I’d forget that.”

  “How would you like to play a little prank on him?”

  “Hell, yeah,” I replied. It was more about doing something other than lying there, thinking about stuff, but it did sound interesting. “Can you turn around? I’m not wearing pants.”

  She crossed her arms and turned a tad. I flung the blanket off and walked to the armoire.

  “I wish they gave us panties like that,” Jackie said, staring at mine over her shoulder.

  I sighed at the privacy breach. I didn’t think they were anything special; they had a hint of pink with a red floral pattern on them. I opened the armoire and pulled my jeans from it.

  Jackie pulled the front of her pants down a tad to show the top of her panties. “Before long, this is what you’ll be wearing.” She snapped the elastic band of her plain white undergarments. They could have been guys’ underwear.

  “They don’t look bad.”

  “Yeah, well, they give us okay clothes, but the underwear is a constant complaint from the women here.”

  I slid my legs into the jeans and wondered what I was going to wear tomorrow. If I had thought about it more, I would have gone back to my house and packed.

  “How long have you been here?”

  “Three years.”

  I sat on the bed, dumbfounded. “And you’ve never left?”

  “Nope.” The fake moonlight lit enough of her face for me to see the hurt. She tried to smile, then looked away.

  “Can’t you ask to be retired?”

  Jackie laughed. “It’s not so simple. Listen, you’re a day one girl. You don’t need to hear about my problems. We have a Blue to get back at.” She winked.

  I did want to hear about her problems, but I didn’t push it any further. I put my black boots on. They reached just past my ankles and I clasped the leather straps.

  “Those shoes are amazing.”

  “Thanks.” I stood up from the bed and looked at Jackie. “So, what are we going to do?”

  “First, we need to make a few stones, if you’re up to it.”

  “I am. I should wake up Mark and get him.” I was more excited about making stones than getting back at the Blue.

  Jackie frowned. “No, he looked awfully tired. Why don’t we let him sleep?”

  We tiptoed down the stairs and into the entryway. Nobody was in the main room. Jackie turned to the door under the stairs and opened it. She motioned for me to follow and we entered. A small hall opened up into a large room where several people were working with bowls and vials.

  Ira looked up from a bowl and quickly looked back down as we made eye contact.

  “You guys make your own stones here?”

  Jackie smiled and slid a finger across a highly polished table. “Let’s just say it’s a well-known secret.”

  The few other people in the room stopped whatever they were doing to give me their attention, or at least Jackie’s, as she raised her hand.

  “Reds, I’m sure you know who this is by now, but her name is Allie. She’s the new girl who’s going to help us take out the stupid Blues.”

  The introduction seemed awkward. I didn’t know if I should say something, so I just stood there and gave a small wave.

  “Allie, I heard from the room twenty-eight Reds that you were somewhat of a specialist at making stones.”

  “I guess. I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

  “Good. Ignorance actually helps the process. The more you think about it like a science project, the less it works.” Jackie looked me up and down. “How much reserved anger do you have in this body?”

  “Plenty.”

  “Good, because I bet everyone here could use your help in making stones. That’s what this room is about, helping each other.”

  “Jackie,” a guy sitting at a desk said, and cleared his throat. “I’m having a bit of trouble making this falling stone.” He pointed to the bowl and the materials sitting on the desk.

  “Do you need a buildup, Walt?”

  “I think it could help.”

  Jackie walked toward the guy, but turned back to talk to me as she did. “Something the teachers won’t tell you is that there are other ways to make stones. For some stones, different emotions are needed … as with this particular mix.”

  “What’s a falling stone?” I asked.

  “It’s like a nightmare stone. It gives you the sensation of falling. Your body and mind are certain you’re are falling, even though you’re not. It’s really a terrible feeling and can last for a minute or even an hour or two, depending on the alchemist. A perfect stone to give to a Blue.”

  It seemed like a nasty prank, but the Blues probably deserved it, especially after the way they had grabbed me and thrown stones at my party.

  Walt faced forward as Jackie walked behind him. He kept trying to stuff a huge grin away, but failed miserably.

  “You ready to make that stone?” Jackie whispered in his ear as she massaged his shoulders.

  “I need a bit more than that,” Walt said.

  “I haven’t even started.”

  Jackie grabbed the sides of his head and ran her fingers through his hair. She bent over, tilted his head and licked his neck. Then she moved to Walt’s side and grabbed one of his hands, guided it over her neck and down her arm. He grabbed her and reached for a kiss on the mouth, but Jackie deftly dodged it and work
ed on his neck for a moment longer.

  “Mix it,” Jackie said with a heated breath.

  Walt tentatively used both hands and mixed the ingredients as Jackie whispered into his ear. His lips parted and his eyes rolled up. He looked like he might pass out, but he kept the spoon in his hand and stirred. He spun the spoon around with the limpest of wrists, swaying in his chair as Jackie slid her chest against the side of his face.

  A stone clunked around in the glass bowl.

  Jackie shot up and pushed Walt’s head away. “You have B.O.,” she said with a disgusted look.

  I looked at the door, wondering what the hell I was getting into.

  Walt didn’t respond, just breathed deeply and focused on a spot on the wall.

  With a cloth in her hand, Jackie reached into the bowl, grabbed the rock and wrapped it up. She dumped it into a tiny bag and pulled the string tight, then held the bag high and admired it.

  “This is really going to freak him out,” Jackie said to me.

  Walt looked as if he wouldn’t be standing anytime soon, which creeped me out. I turned slightly to block him from my view. Everyone else seemed to take it as something normal.

  “How are you going to get that stone to him?” I asked, trying to get past what I’d just witnessed.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll help you get it over there.”

  “Me?” That would mean going into the Blues’ houses. A while ago, I was merely standing next to the fence and they’d gone bonkers. What would happen if they found me in one of their houses?

  “But this isn’t the stone I wanted to show you.” Jackie stuffed the bag into her pocket. “I have a special stone, something I’ve been trying to make for a long time. Do you think you could give it a go?” Jackie pointed at a table.

  “I can try.”

  “I’m sure you can.” Jackie pulled out a chair and placed on the table a small box filled with what looked like salt, but the grains were a bit larger than table salt and clearer. A flask of brown liquid sat next to the box. A glass bowl with a wooden spoon topped off the trio of tools all the alchemists here seemed to use.

  I sat in the seat and scooted forward. Jackie moved in behind me and I tensed as I thought she might start doing to me what she’d done to Walt. Jackie was cute, but I was sure I wouldn’t have the same reaction Walt had had to her tongue.

  “You’ll have to summon some real hate for this one. Thankfully, from what I hear, you don’t seem to have any trouble making stones.”

  I took a deep breath and looked at the ingredients near me. Everyone else in the room had stopped mixing their stones and was staring. Even Walt looked past Jackie to me.

  “What does this make?”

  “It’s a secret. If you can make it, I’ll tell you what it is.”

  I didn’t really understand not being able to make a stone. Every time I had tried, I’d been able to make one. It didn’t seem like a major feat of strength.

  The salt-like crystals were as coarse as sand. I pinched some of it into the bowl. Jackie leaned close behind me, next to my head. I turned to her and she backed away, taking a place next to me at the table, leaning on it with her hand, watching.

  They were all watching.

  “Is this enough?” I pointed at the salt stuff in the bowl.

  “It doesn’t matter much. Whatever your gut tells you is the right amount.”

  I took a small bit of the salt crystals and looked at Jackie as she frowned. I dipped in and pinched a larger portion and Jackie’s eyes narrowed. “I really don’t know what I’m doing, Jackie. I mean, I don’t even understand how these stones are made. What makes you think I can make something you haven’t been able to?”

  Jackie took her hands off the table and laughed. “This isn’t something you learn.” She pointed at the bowl. “It’s something you’re born with. If anyone says they understand exactly how we make these stones, they’re liars.”

  “Yeah, but you all know what the hell you’re doing, and I don’t.”

  “That’s one of the reasons we can’t do it as well as you. We’ve become so used to making stones, we’ve lost the edge. When you summon the anger again and again, you become desensitized to your triggers. I bet you don’t think about your trigger much, do you?”

  “I don’t….” I wanted to say I didn’t think I could ever get used to Janet’s comments, or Spencer tearing up the letter from my dad. The thought of not being mad terrified me. It would be like forgiving all the people who had done wrong things, forgiving the Dolls for their years of hate and crappy looks. “I shouldn’t have a problem.”

  “Okay, but make sure you use your biggest trigger on this one. It’s a special stone.”

  All the people in the room had left their tables and formed a small circle around me. What in the world was I making, and why had no one else been able to make it?

  Going off my gut, I poured more of the salty substance into the bowl. Walt raised his eyebrows at my move, but I didn’t care. I had already started thinking about something that always got me angry, something which made me hurt so much, I rarely went to it.

  My mom’s face had once been a sharp memory, but over the years I’d had to use pictures to cement it back in my mind. But pictures weren’t memories; they were a snapshot in time, and I felt my heart beating hard in my chest as I struggled to find that stark image of her. I hated that my mom had left me as a child. She had hurt me deeply and it wasn’t even her fault. I hated the fact she hadn’t seen me grow into a woman. But what I hated most of all was not being able to forgive her for dying.

  I lifted the brown liquid up into the air. A deep mixture of emotions filled me and I had trouble steadying the liquid over the bowl. Jackie leaned in close, her rapid breath pulsating near my ear. The wood spoon struck the sides of the bowl, and I winced at the sound breaking the silence.

  “Allie, stop!” Mark yelled.

  I jumped at the interruption and dropped the container on the table. Jackie snatched it and kept it from spilling more than a few drops.

  Mark was standing in the doorway.

  “Great. Thanks for the interruption, Malki,” Jackie seethed.

  “I can’t believe what you were having her make.” He stormed past the doorway to the edge of my desk.

  The wind he’d created blew against the perspiration on my face. The anger slipped from my consciousness and I looked to Mark for an explanation. Jackie crossed her arms and scowled.

  “I don’t know—” Jackie began to say.

  Mark raised his hand toward Jackie’s face. She gasped, and I didn’t like it much either. I didn’t like this angry Mark who wouldn’t explain himself.

  “That is a memory stone.” He glared at Jackie. “Right?”

  Jackie looked at the floor. “Yes, but—”

  Mark interrupted her again. “That kind of stone, in the wrong hands, can do a lot of harm.”

  I looked at the salt in the bowl and wondered what a memory stone did. “Like, it removes memories?”

  “Exactly.”

  “How would you control something like that?”

  “You don’t. It could wipe the last ten minutes of your life from your memory, or much longer, depending on the potency. And from the look of the diamond dust in the bowl, I bet it would have been much longer.”

  I stared up at Jackie and rose from my chair. She wouldn’t look at me at first, then met my eyes.

  “You were planning on wiping a Blue’s memory?” I asked.

  “Everyone out!” Jackie yelled, and glared at everyone in the room. Mark crossed his arms and stood like an unmovable stone.

  The other people in the room darted out, leaving just the three of us.

  Mark staggered toward my table and leaned on it with one hand. His other hand clutched at his stomach. His face contorted with pain and he struggled to stay standing. I rushed to his side. He righted himself and gave me a weak smile.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. “And don’t tell me it was something you ate.
”

  “It’s nothing. I just get these stomach pains sometimes.”

  “You’re sweating. You don’t look right.”

  “You look like hell,” Jackie added.

  “Thanks. It’s just something that comes and goes. It’s been happening my whole life. I just get used to it most of the time.”

  I took in a deep breath and gazed at the perspiration on his forehead. My stomach wrenched in pain as well. He wiped his face and within a minute, he had smoothed out his face in an attempt to look normal, but the corners of his eyes were creased. Before I could ask him about it, he glared at Jackie.

  “I don’t like you using her like this.”

  Jackie crossed her arms and huffed. “Please, you Malkis all use us to get by. You couldn’t create a simple growth stone, from what I hear.”

  “This isn’t about me, and you know it.” Mark moved closer to Jackie. “She’s special, and people like you want to suck her up, drink her down, and piss her out. I won’t allow it.”

  I thought Jackie might have tears in her eyes, but I must have been mistaken. She pointed at me. “Allie won’t have it in her forever to make these kinds of stones. The anger fades over time. I need that stone.”

  “Why?”

  “Don’t you get it? I’ve seen too much. I’ve been here too long, and I’m numb to it all. I have rages, but they burn out like quick fuses. I’ve almost lost all of my deep anger, no matter what I do.”

  Being numb to the hate seemed foreign to me. I couldn’t imagine getting used to, or even forgiving, the things people had done to me. Most of the time, I felt as if I was suppressing the anger versus trying to summon it. I had felt it for so long, it was a relief to finally find a way to express it. Making the stones let me take the cap off the bottle. The rage jutted out and seemed bottomless. I lowered my head, staring at the diamond dust in the bowl. Maybe it wasn’t bottomless. Maybe if I let it pour out long enough, I too would empty out.

  “You think you can wipe your memories and get back the hate you once felt?” I said.

  “Yes. It’s my only option. Will you help me?”