by Ryan, Matt
“What the hell do we do?” I asked, staring at Jackie.
She smiled and pointed to room ten and to the teacher’s door. “Watch. They just don’t use these stones for making the world better. They use them as weapons and defense mechanisms.”
The building shook again, much harder than before. Deegan’s door was flung open first. A black ribbon was strung across his chest like a Girl Scout sash, but instead of badges, it held stones. Deegan rushed down the line of doors and stopped at the elevator. With gloved hands he grabbed several stones from his sash, opened a hatch and stuffed them in. It sounded like a vacuum hose sucking up a stone. He waited a few seconds, then sent up another set.
“See?” Jackie pointed. “I don’t know what they’re sending up, but I bet it’s nasty stuff.”
“Get to your classes,” Verity yelled. Her voice carried over the hubbub. Everyone who had been walking started running.
“Come on,” Carly said.
We jogged to room ten just as Deegan showed up at the door. The Blues came in behind us as we entered the classroom. I took my same seat and everyone rushed to their own chairs.
Another explosion shook the building and the lights flickered.
“Get your bowls and spoons ready, kids,” Deegan said, and he rummaged through the lower cabinets behind his desk. He plopped a five-gallon bucket on his desk, then went back to the cabinet.
Carly slid a bowl and a spoon across my desk. “Here. I think we’re going to need you for this one.”
“What are we making?” I asked.
“Booster stones,” Deegan answered as he set another five-gallon bucket on the table. “We need to boost Verity’s portal stone enough that we can move this entire place. Unfortunately, they have the shelf life of a gnat, so we make them quick and get them out to her.”
Everyone rushed around me to get to the two buckets on Deegan’s desk. They formed two lines, Blues and Reds, and in an orderly fashion took a scoop out of each bucket, filling smaller bowls. Carly rushed to my side and pushed the bowls in front of me.
One looked like black sand, and the other looked like vegetable oil and reeked like a dead fish. Carly pushed a group of blue vials towards me.
I stared at the mixture and looked up at Mark sitting in front of me. He hadn’t gathered any ingredients and no one had brought him anything.
“What do you think, Mark?” I asked.
The building shook again and I grabbed at my supplies, keeping them from crashing to the floor. The sound of glass breaking and the subsequent cursing told me several others hadn’t been as successful.
Mark looked to the ceiling and shook his head. “I don’t know, but I really don’t want to find out who’s trying to break in.”
“Five minutes, everyone.” Deegan held a finger to his ear.
“Five! Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” Jackie said. “Let’s make some freaking rocks, Reds.”
Jackie started mixing in the black sand and oil. Finally she dropped in the blue liquid and stirred. No mist or anything seemed to be happening. She grunted and grabbed the bowl, rushed to the trash can and scraped the contents into it.
“Pick it up, Allie,” Jackie said upon returning.
“I’ve got one,” a kid on the Blue side called out.
“Good! Keep it going. Two more minutes.”
“Done,” Leo said. He smiled smugly as he held the stone over his head, wrapped in a black cloth.
I didn’t like getting beaten, especially by some Blue who’d had his hands all over me just a day ago. I felt my anger build. I always felt anger simmering, but I’d spent my entire life it keeping at bay. Here, and with these stones, I didn’t have to pretend not to be mad. I could push my rage to its limits.
I dumped the entire container of metal shavings into my bowl while I shook with anger at Bridget’s stupid comments about me and what a freak I was.
Carly said something, but I didn’t listen as I took the oil and poured it in. My thoughts traveled to Janet and Spencer. The anger enveloped me, like throwing gasoline on a fire, making my hands shake and my vision shrink down to a narrow tunnel.
I thought of my dad and why he hadn’t been coming home anymore. It’d been too long. He’d left me, just like my mom had. It was a thought I usually never dared to think, but it skittered across the edge of my consciousness and once I grabbed it, it overwhelmed me.
The half-dozen blue vials clattered as I scooped them up. Blackness filled the edges of my vision and I hoped the blue liquid made it into the bowl as I turned my wrist. But really, I didn’t care. I grabbed at the spoon, pulling and yanking it around the bowl. Mist covered everything, like a deep fog had just rolled in. The spoon broke free from its stubborn path and I heard a plunking sound at the bottom of the bowl.
“Holy salt on a cracker,” Jackie said, fanning the fog away from me. “You actually made one.”
Sweat beaded on my brow and I leaned back, staring at the bowl. A metallic silver stone looked back at me.
Deegan emerged from the fog and leaned over my desk with a concerned expression. He tilted the bowl and watched the stone roll around before leveling the bowl back down.
“That isn’t supposed to be possible. Not using that much,” he whispered.
The speaker blared with Verity’s voice. “All students to the hub, and bring your stones.”
Deegan adjusted his sash. I noticed the stone I had made not long ago, the suspended animation stone, sitting in a pocket on his sash. “Let’s go,” he instructed.
The stone glimmered as it reflected the light from the ceiling back at me. I stared at it until Mark used a black cloth to pick it up.
“That stone is going to hit Verity like a ton of bricks,” Jackie said. “I can’t wait to see it.” She pulled out a small bag from her pocket. “Here, Mark, put that thing in here before you hurt yourself.”
He pursed his pretty lips, but complied and handed the bag to me. I clasped it with my shaky hand. The weight of it shocked me. It must’ve weighed several pounds.
“You guys coming?” Deegan popped his head back in the room.
“Yeah,” Jackie said.
The hub was full of motion, everyone moving for positions near the center statue. I followed Jackie and Carly as they led the way through the crowd. The Blue and Reds moved aside as she forced her way to the front. Verity was standing barefoot on the edge of the water fountain. She held her hands high above her and tried to silence the crowd.
“All those with stones, I need you up at the front. Everyone else, back up and make room.” She walked on the edge, looking over the groups as they rearranged in priority.
Jackie stayed by my side, as well as Mark.
“There’s no way I’m missing this,” Jackie whispered to me. “I have no idea how the woman holds a stone for as long as she does. Her anger’s the freaking Mariana Trench.”
“As soon as I place the portal stone in my hand, nothing can interrupt me, and no matter what happens, you need to keep putting your stones on mine until it’s powerful enough to move us.”
The building shook again. I looked to the ceiling where a deep crack had formed. Drips of water fell from the crack.
“Get ready, everyone.” She nodded to a few teachers. They looked on high alert as they scanned the walls and ceiling. Verity took a deep breath and placed the portal stone on her bare palm. Her face contorted with strain as she kept it from dissolving into her hand.
A person nearby pinched their booster stone with a cloth and touched it against Verity’s portal stone. It absorbed into it, and the next person did the same.
Jackie nudged me, wearing a wicked smile. Most of the people had walked in front of me and I got in line maybe ten people back. I watched Verity as she received each stone; the strain grew in her face and she shook. Not just her hands, but her whole body.
Two more people placed their stones on hers. I opened my bag and used a thin cloth to lift the stone. It wanted to slip from my fingers, so I gripped it tight.r />
Something slammed against the building. I stumbled and Mark held me steady. Bits and pieces of the ceiling rained down. Some screamed and ran from the falling debris. A small beam of light shone through the ceiling. I stared at the light and something dropped through the crack. As it got closer, I saw it was a stone.
Deegan ran toward the falling stone, holding one of his own.
The stone struck the floor and bounced. An instant later, a man appeared in its place. He was wearing a sash much like Deegan’s, and he pulled a stone from it. He searched the people around him, looking over the heads of many.
“Dad?” a Blue called out. “Dad!”
“Son—”
Deegan threw a stone at the man, striking him on the side of the face. I recognized the stone, as I had just recently made one like it. The suspended animation stone dissolved into his skin and he fell to the floor. Wait—had he said son?
Jackie nudged me again. I turned to face Verity. She shook violently and stared past me, through me. Her look made me take a step back, but there were no more students to add to her portal stone. They formed a half circle and nudged me toward her shaking arm.
As I got close, I heard her teeth chatter and saw in her eyes that she was somewhere far, far away. I took the heavy stone, pinching it with all my might, and placed it against her stone.
Verity’s head jerked back and she exhaled a long breath as she fell backward into the fountain. The water splashed around her body.
I gasped as a wave of air pushed past me. I fell through the floor … at least I thought I was falling. It felt just like the time stone, a feeling of falling. I grasped for the air around me until the ground firmed under my feet once more.
The water sloshed around the fountain, and Verity stayed under the surface. Priscilla rushed to her with a couple of other students and they pulled her out. Her arms and head bobbed around with no muscle control. Her eyes stayed closed as they laid her on the floor.
“Is she breathing?” Deegan asked.
Priscilla put her ear near Verity’s mouth and nodded.
“Then get her to her room. I’ll handle the intruder,” Deegan said.
Priscilla and a couple of other teachers lifted Verity and carried her past me. As she passed by, my mouth hung open. The woman had sacrificed her body to protect us. I didn’t know why I thought it was so weird. I guess I just hadn’t thought the woman had it in her. She’d saved us all from the dark alchemists. They were about to start falling from the ceiling, like that Blue’s dad.
“You okay?” Mark asked and rubbed my shoulder.
“Yeah, just a bit freaked out.”
He and I looked at the kid on the ground, holding his dad, sobbing into his black jacket.
“What did you do?” the Blue asked no one in particular.
Deegan rushed to the boy’s dad but didn’t answer. I could have answered. I’d made the very stone which had put him in the stupor. I resisted the urge to tell the Blue that his dad had become a modern-day Sleeping Beauty.
“Get him out of here,” Deegan said, and pointed to the Blue holding his dad.
The Blue fought and screamed, but a group of Blues pulled him away all the same.
Deegan motioned for the bald teacher and a few others to grab the practically dead man and pick him up.
They discussed something in a hushed manner as they carried him toward the teachers’ hall. In another minute, the teachers, the dark alchemist, and Verity were gone. Most of the students stayed in the hub, looking more like zombies than anything else. They staggered around, looking at the ceiling and floors. I felt the same way. Confused and scared, mixed with angry.
Someone had attacked us. Not just someone, but a student’s dad.
Carly rushed to our side. She smiled and pulled me away from Mark and Jackie, moving close to my ear. “The halls can change some when we jump. I think we should explore them tonight. You in?”
“Um … sure.” Curiosity overwhelmed my common sense.
Carly smiled and scurried off toward the Red house.
“Well, that was awesome, wasn’t it?” Jackie said. “I mean, that dude dropped through the ceiling in a flippin’ stone. I had no idea a person could do that.” She gazed at the ceiling in astonishment.
“Pretty strange, though, you know, with him being that guy’s dad and all?” Mark said.
“No. I bet my mom was a dark alchemist.” Jackie shrugged.
“You think Verity is okay?” I asked, and glanced at the closed teachers’ door.
“Please. That bird is immortal as far as I can tell.” Jackie laughed. “I knew your stone would send her to the plunge. Man, she is one tough woman.”
“Where are we now, do you think?” Mark looked at the ceiling.
I searched for the hole in the ceiling and thought I saw something, a black hole where everything else was gray. Nighttime, I thought.
“Who knows, and who cares. This event probably just sparked enough in me to keep it going for days.”
The hub started to clear out as everyone went back to their houses. I assumed there wouldn’t be any more classes. There wasn’t a teacher in sight.
Jackie brightened. “Oh my god, I just realized we get to have a jump party now.”
I started to feel as if she found a reason to party every night. She bounced around me for a little bit before running toward the Red house. The party didn’t interest me, but finding Carly and figuring out where we moved did.
A hand touched my shoulder. I turned to find Mark.
“Don’t you think it’s weird that that kid’s dad dropped in to say hi?”
“Yeah, I think this whole place is pretty strange.” I leaned closer to Mark. “Carly wants to go exploring down the tunnels I told you about. She says things change when we jump.”
“Fine, but if I find a way out of here, we’re gone. Deal?”
I nodded, looping my arm through his.
Jackie didn’t mess around when it came to a jump party. I don’t know how she got it together in less than an hour, but from my window I saw how the entire spoke in front of the Red house had turned into a street party.
The Blues hadn’t emerged from their houses … at least not in force. A few mingled near the fence line, probably waiting for a person to get too close.
Mark leaned on the windowsill next to me. I stared at him while he took in the jump party below. He would probably be the life of the party back in Summerford, but he was standing next to a window, an outsider, much like I used to be at school.
I didn’t get too close to the window because they called for me each time I did. Part of me wanted to join in and another part of me wanted to stay in the room with Mark.
“I can see you looking at me,” he said, not turning his head until after he spoke. “Do I have a booger or something?”
I smiled and took a step closer, inspecting his nose area. “Nope, shipshape! You know I’d tell you if you did.”
“A true friend. Thanks.” He turned back to observing the party.
Digital music was playing and I peered over the sill to see the bodies dancing.
“You think over time, they just get used to it?” he asked.
“Used to what?”
“Being here.”
“Oh, I suppose most people can get used to just about anything.”
“I suppose.” He rubbed his chin and stepped away from the window.
“Something’s bothering you. Why don’t you just say it?” I asked.
He turned to me and opened his mouth.
The bedroom door was flung open and Jackie strutted in. “There you bitches are.” She walked to the bed, sat down, and proceeded to rummage through my nightstand drawer.
I raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Why are you two in this room? I thought you might have been naked when I came in here, but here you are, fully clothed and not at my party.”
My mouth hung open. If she thought Mark and I were naked, why wou
ld she have just flung the door open? The idea of her thinking we might have been naked warmed my cheeks and choked the words in my throat.
“Please, don’t be all shy about it. It’s not like I don’t see you checking out his junk every chance you get.”
I didn’t think I could be more shocked. I had never checked out anyone’s junk, ever. Great, I’d just checked out Mark’s junk.
“What do you want, Jackie?” Mark asked.
She sighed and looked at me. “I need you down at the party, and you can bring your man if you want to. Maybe you can get him to loosen up a bit with a little dancing. Plus, I have a plan for the Blues in a little bit and I know you won’t want to miss it.”
The words finally loosened from my throat when she led the conversation away from discussing me and Mark. “What plan?”
“I don’t know what’s up with them, but after a jump we usually have a party, sort of a competition to see who can get louder and rowdier. I win at parties, but they’re just sulking in their houses. I aim to raid their stone room.”
“You want to go into their houses?”
“Yeah, if we do it as an all-out assault, they shouldn’t know what hit them. We could be in and out in a few minutes.”
I shook my head and glanced out the window to the Blue houses across the street. What were they doing in there? The last time we had a party, they’d gathered in force outside and everything had ended in a stone war.
“I don’t—”
Jackie jumped from my bed and grabbed my wrist. “I won’t allow you to be up here, fully clothed, with Mark.” She stopped and turned to him. “Unless you were going to get naked. I mean, he is cute.” She eyed him up and down. “For a Malki.”
“We weren’t going to get naked.” I glanced at Mark and wondered what he was thinking. It wasn’t as if I didn’t wonder what was underneath his shirt. I felt his hard body from time to time and from what I could tell, he’d look incredible shirtless. More heat entered my cheeks as Jackie pulled me out the door.
“Guess we’re going to the party,” I called to Mark, and he followed.