by Ryan, Matt
I covered my mouth and felt stuck in place myself.
Verity glanced our way, her gaze passing over our area without noticing us. “Bring the boy in. Let’s make this quick. That damned booster stone our special gave me nearly sent me to the grave.”
Carly looked at me and then back to the scene. If my heart beat any harder, they might hear it. Snooping and exploring were one thing, but this felt like we were about to witness something horrible.
Verity pulled over a chair. It scraped over the stone floor and she slammed it down five feet in front of the dad.
Priscilla and Professor Dill dragged a boy toward the seat. He tried to yell and fight but the tape covering his mouth muffled every protest. The boy’s eyes went wide as they plopped him on the seat in front of his dad.
Verity moved behind the boy and ran her hands over his hair. She smiled and pulled on it. The boy struggled before Priscilla brought out a knife and cut his hand restraints and he yanked the tape off his mouth.
“Don’t move,” Priscilla said, pointing the knife at him.
“What did you do to him?” He bounced on the chair, moving it closer to his dad until Verity pulled him back a bit.
“He’s fine. Think of it like he’s frozen, but forever.”
“Dad, can you hear me?”
Mark shook next to me and I knew he was thinking of rushing out there. I squeezed his arm hard and shook my head. I knew if we stepped out there or were found, we’d disappear like the students Carly had mentioned earlier.
“He can hear you, he can see you, and if you hugged him, he could feel you. Tricky stone, this is. One of the cruelest I can think of.”
The boy wrenched at his chair and reached for his dad.
“Do you know why your dad came here? Why he attacked us?” Verity asked.
“I don’t know. He’s just an IT guy back home. He fixes phone service computers. I didn’t know anything about his alchemy. I thought it came from my mom.”
“I believe you,” Verity said and motioned for him to go to his dad.
He stood and rushed to hug his dad. His dad’s body didn’t move and he patted him, as if he was trying to feel whether his dad was real or not.
“We have to do something for him. He can explain, I know it. He’s not a dark alchemist,” he said.
“There’s only one thing that can bring him out of this.”
“What is it? I can make it for you.”
“It’s a life stone, actually. We’ll have the ingredients for it tomorrow.”
I almost fell against the boxes in front of me.
“A life stone? I’ll do anything to save him.”
“Don’t worry about that. Think about your dad and what he needs right now. Can we trust you to stay in this room with him until tomorrow?” Verity asked.
“Yes. You couldn’t drag me away.”
“Good,” Verity said, and smiled. She walked away with Priscilla and Dill. They left through a door at the back of the room. When I looked past the door, I saw another room, filled with boxes.
“Don’t worry, Dad. I won’t leave your side until we get you cured.”
The idea of the life stone being created sent chills down my arms. If they had a life stone, I could get it from them and use it to cure Mark. It might be cruel to the boy sitting in front of his dad, but his dad had all the time in the world to find his own life stone. Mark needed one now.
Carly touched my arm and pointed to the hall we’d come in through. We left the storage room and walked down the dark hall before entering the main hall.
“This is just as bad as I thought. They’re making a life stone.” She threw her arms out.
“Well, it’s actually something I’ve been looking for,” I said.
“Ugh. Didn’t you hear Deegan in class today? It takes a life to create one. Maybe multiple lives. They’re going to kill someone.”
I had heard Deegan and vividly remembered the exchange. A life for a life, or as Carly had said, many lives for a life.
Mark rubbed his stomach and closed his eyes. Why did he have to keep reminding me of his impending doom? Dang Ms. Duval for not getting a life stone for Mark before I came into the picture.
“If they’re going to take someone’s life, who do you think they’ll be taking?”
“If my suspicions are right, we’ll be getting a new student tonight and a retirement tomorrow. God, I hope I’m wrong,” Carly said.
The glow stone lit our way down the dark hall attached to the portal room. Carly pushed the door open and paused. She looked from me to Mark and then ran to the wooden door. She flung it open and we both ran through the room and into the next hall.
With the portal room door closed, we ambled toward the houses. My shoulders slumped and I dragged my feet with each step. The look on the boy’s face as Verity told him the only way to save his dad stuck with me. If there was a chance to save one of my parents, I’d do anything too. The idea of the life stone being so close, yet still out of my reach, weighed on me. Getting it directly from Verity wouldn’t be easy. I’d have to make the right stones, but even then, I’d have to be nearly on top of her to get a stone to touch her.
“What are you doing down here?”
I looked up to see Darius standing at the end of the hall.
“Uh … nothing much.” Carly went to Mark and played with his arms and chest and gave me a sexy smile.
“Just don’t get pregnant,” Darius said as he marched past us. He entered the portal room.
Carly kept rubbing against Mark until he cleared his throat.
“Do you know what this means?” Carly said, slowly letting go of him.
“Darius thinks we’re into some triple sex action now?” I said.
“No. Well, maybe.” She raised an eyebrow and looked at Mark again. “Darius only comes here when he brings in a new student.”
“Wonder who the poor sucker is this time?” Mark said.
“A new student means someone’s getting retired tomorrow. I’d bet the farm on it.”
“Great,” I sighed. “How do they choose who gets retired?”
“It’s usually someone who’s been here for a while and isn’t performing.”
Jackie seemed worried enough for me to create her a memory-killing stone. She thought she’d be the next student retired. Even with Jackie’s peculiar ways, I’d grown to really like her and the idea of her leaving sent me into a near panic.
“We have to stop it, then.”
“Stop what?”
“I don’t know. Stop the retirement.”
“Don’t get your panties in a wedge just yet. It should be a Blue.”
I hated to admit it, but I felt relieved at it being a Blue. “I hope it’s Leo.” I tried to grab the words before they fell out.
Mark frowned.
“I didn’t mean that,” I said, but my slip showed on Mark’s face and I saw him judging me. I was the worst person ever.
“Please. We all want Leo gone. That asshole’s been here longer than anyone, but he keeps making rocks. His hate well must be infinite.”
“What happened to make him so angry and filled with hate?” I wondered aloud.
“Well, he’s with Jackie. So that shows he’s insane. Maybe crazy people have a different level of emotions,” Carly said.
He hadn’t looked angry when Carly and I had seen them kissing.
The small hall ended and opened up to the long spoke. A group of Reds were staying near their houses while the Blues huddled around someone.
“There you guys are.” Jackie ran up to us while glancing over at the Blues. “I’ve been looking everywhere. Why were you back in the portal area?”
“We—” I started to say.
“We just wanted to console Mark,” Carly interrupted. “He’s been crying a bunch over these stone wars. Kind of wanted to get him away from the Blues. They’d never let him hear the end of it if they saw him crying like a man-baby.”
Mark pursed his lips. “Niagara
Falls.” He ran his fingers down his face. “Thanks for being there, ladies.”
Jackie scrunched her mouth to one side and frowned as she stared at him. “Forget about the Blues. The Reds would tear him apart for being a little crybaby. Suck it up, Mark. You’re not in grade school here. This is where the big boys play.”
“Okay,” Mark said. His fist was clenched at his side.
I covered it with my hand.
“And stop being a little bitch where Allie is concerned. She likes you, and if you don’t start proving your worth, she’s going to skip right down the road, leaving your Malki ass behind. A special like her could have any guy she wanted. Don’t rest on your good looks. They don’t amount to anything here.”
Mark chuckled and shook his head. “Jackie….” I saw the witty retort building in his head, but he pressed his lips together and stopped.
“Good boy, Mark. Save it for the Blues. Speaking of the Blues….” She ran to the fence. “Your new member looks as pathetic as the rest of you. Nice heels. Did your pimp give those to you, or was there a sale at Whores ’R’ Us?”
Jackie seemed to have a never-ending supply of insults ready. I wondered if I should make her the memory stone. I was really interested in seeing what had made her this way, nature or nurture.
“Bitch, you’d better be stepping back. I can smell your wretched breath from here.”
The Blues oohed and awed, exchanging high fives as the girl emerged from the Blues surrounding her.
I knew that voice. My heart stopped and I walked closer to the action. I had to be wrong.
“Is that…?” Mark began to ask.
I looked at him and shook my head in complete disbelief.
There, dressed in her tight Tetons shirt with her Friday F-me T-strap heels, stood my worst enemy. She faced Jackie with the same expression she’d given me for the last few years.
“Bridget?”
She did a double take and some of the bitchiness left her face.
“Allie? What are you doing here? Mark?”
“You two know each other?” Jackie said with her hands on her hips.
“Yeah, we go to high school together,” I said with a transfixed gaze. Had she let go of her high school ways and adopted a new attitude toward me?
“Well, I go to school. You more or less loiter around with your stench,” Bridget said and looked back at the Blues.
Nope.
“Hey, Mark. Good to see you, though. Is this where you two have been? The cops were at school today, asking about you. They think you two ran away together.”
“Why are you here?” I interrupted her conversation.
“Same reason you are, I’m sure. We’re alchemists, right?”
“You’re an alchemist?”
“What, did you think you have to be all emo to be special? Oh, you did, didn’t you?” She leaned forward, putting her hands on her knees and pushing out her bottom lip.
I wanted to jump over the fence and punch her in the throat. I didn’t want to hear any more words coming out of that face. My body shook, and I felt Mark putting his hands on me. I had felt wonderful coming here; it was a place where I could get away from my past and have a new fresh start, where I was special. A person like Bridget couldn’t be the same as me.
“Oh, my, this is just sad,” Jackie said. She reached into her pocket and threw a stone at Bridget, striking her in the neck. Choking, Bridget clutched her throat and struggled to get her next breath. After a minute of the Reds gathering to laugh at the spectacle, Bridget got to her feet and sneered at Jackie.
“Real mature, Jackie,” Leo said, throwing a stone at me. I saw the black object flying at my face. Mark jumped in the way and it struck him on the chest. The rock broke and black goo spread over his shirt. Mark yelled and ripped off his shirt, flinging it to the ground.
“Oh my god,” I heard Bridget say.
Turning to see what her codfish face was gawking at, I saw Mark picking his shirt up off the ground. I stared, much in the same way as Bridget. Those abs and chest. Ms. Duval had said, “Stay strong,” but this was Photoshop strong. Even the guys were lowering their brows, and probably questioning themselves.
“Put on your shirt, Malki. You’re ruining every pair of panties in this place,” Jackie blurted. “And probably some briefs as well.”
Prying my eyes away from Mark, I looked at Bridget and we made eye contact. I thought I saw some of the hate leave her face and I hoped maybe my being the only person she knew here might smooth out the distance between us. Then she flipped me off and turned to the group of laughing Blues.
“What a skank,” Jackie said with her hands on her hips and her head tilted. “She’ll fit right in with the Blues.”
I wished for a favor from the Almighty then. Please retire Bridget tomorrow.
Deegan was wearing his sash with the stones in class the next day. He jumped at each sound and kept looking at the ceiling while reaching for one of his stones. “As you know, the Academy was breached yesterday by a dark alchemist. Who knows how many would have gotten in here if not for Verity jumping us to a new location.” He tugged on his sash. “In light of this, we’re going to train room ten in some basic self-defense.”
The class rumbled with enthusiasm. My stomach knotted up, thinking about that kid and his dad in the storage room. I was also worried about the impending retirement and Bridget being in the same building as me. The Blues seemed to know it as well. They didn’t have the same spunk they usually did.
“Jackie, I hear you have a good throw. Can you come up here?”
The Reds applauded her as she stood up from her chair. She took a deep bow and then walked over to the teacher.
“Here, put on a glove.”
Jackie slid on a thin glove and held it up for the Reds to see. She turned back to Deegan. “Who do I get to peg?” She glanced at Leo sitting in the middle of the Blues.
“We’re not hitting anyone. In fact, if we’re attacked on a large scale, I expect all of you”—he gestured across the entire class—“to act as a unit.”
“That’s fine. I think most of the Blues are already a eunuch.”
“No, I said….” Deegan shook his head and took a deep breath, then walked to the far side of the room. He pulled down a long sheet of paper with an outline of a human printed on it. “This represents a typical person. They will have their hands, face, arms and neck exposed. It’s your task to hit them in the vulnerable areas.”
Deegan walked back to Jackie and handed her a stone. “This is a practice stone. It doesn’t do anything.”
Jackie inspected the stone and then threw it at the paper target. The stone went through the paper and left a hole where its mouth would have been.
“Nicely done,” Deegan said. Looking around the room, he said, “Let’s get a Blue up here, Leo.”
The Blues cheered and Leo took his time getting to the front of the class as Jackie took her seat. She leaned back in her chair and booed. He’d passed by her, touching her shoulder as he rounded the corner.
Leo threw and struck the neck. The Blues cheered at his accomplishment.
“Very good. Why don’t we see what our special can do?” Deegan pointed at me.
I raised an eyebrow and he confirmed his point.
“Come on up, Allie.”
The Reds applauded while the Blues jeered. I got up from my desk and knocked a spoon to the floor. After picking it up and placing it back on my desk, I made my way up to a toe-tapping Deegan.
“Okay, Allie. You can make stones, but can you use them? Sometimes it’s more about the throw than the mix.”
“Okay.” I looked back with wide eyes at the Reds. Mark smiled and gave me a nod.
Deegan took my hand and put a stone in it. “Just do your best.”
I gripped the golf-ball-sized stone and stared at the paper person on the wall, a mere outline of a person with two holes in it already. I glanced at the Blues. They were already snickering. I saw it in their stupid faces. I cl
osed my eyes, as I really didn’t want to see them watching me throw. The term “throwing like a girl” had been coined exclusively for me.
“Come on, you got this. Hit the thing in its paper balls,” Jackie said.
I stared at the crotch area, reeled back and threw the stone. Maybe some divine intervention might happen and I’d strike the target … but no. It streaked across the room and struck a glass bowl five feet to the right of the paper man. The bowl shattered, and the pieces fell onto a stack of glass vials, breaking them and sending a million shards to the floor.
I winced and crunched up my shoulders at each of the horrific sounds. The Blues laughed and I couldn’t bear to look at the Reds. Looking at the floor, I found my way back to my desk.
The rest of the class took a turn at the paper target and most made contact with it in some way. The target was a tattered mess by the time Deegan called Mark.
“I guess we should see what Mark can do,” he said on a long exhale.
I alone started the clapping for him. The rest of the Reds joined in with a couple of soft claps before stopping.
Mark took the dummy stone in a gloved hand. “Name your part?” Mark asked.
Deegan rolled his eyes. “Fine. Right ear.”
“His right, I assume?”
“Yes, his right.”
Mark stood sideways. His eyes narrowed and I leaned forward. No one else had called out a target, and the ear was just a tiny bump on the outline of the paper man. Mark hurled the stone and it struck the paper with such force that it rippled. I couldn’t see if he’d struck the ear or not.
The whole class leaned toward the shaking paper. Once it steadied, we could all see that what had been the right ear was now a hole.
“Very, very impressive.”
No one in the room responded, but the Reds watched Mark walk back to his desk and for the first time, I saw something they had never given Mark before … respect.
“Nice throw,” I whispered.
“I liked yours better,” he replied, and I giggled.
The intercom warbled to life and I looked at the speaker on the wall. “All students, report to the hub for a retirement ceremony,” Verity said in an upbeat tone.
Jackie clapped her hands and jumped up from her desk. The Blues slumped in their chairs at first, but Leo stood and soon the rest followed.