by Matt Ryan
Opening my eyes, I knew this stone, and took each ingredient and placed it around the mixing bowl in the order I wanted to mix them in.
I took a scoop of the metallic powder and dumped it into the mixing bowl, watching Blane, who kept glancing from me to the bowl. Moving to the next ingredient, the sulfur mix, I took another scoop and emptied it into the bowl. I again looked to Blane, but he didn’t move to add the missing element.
“Are you going to give me everything I need to make this stone or not?” I asked. “Or I’ll dump this whole mixture in and ruin it.”
His mouth dropped and he looked at me sideways, squinting. “How can you know that? None of these people have a clue how to make good stones. Who told you?”
“You did.”
He put his hands on the sides of his head and shook it. “You took my thoughts. No, I didn’t give you anything but my location.” He sped around in a tight circle, holding the sides of his head. “No, no, no. I gave you too much. Too much.”
“Blane!” I yelled. “Stop messing around and get the battery. It’s all for getting you your stone in the end, remember?”
“You’ve been holding out on us?” Mom asked. “Because that would be extra-foolish.”
Blane grumbled and stomped to a cabinet against the wall. He flung the door open and proceeded to toss more items to the floor before pulling out a car battery with two wires running from it. He carried it over and slammed it against the table, rattling the containers.
“Do you know what I had to do to get an electrical charge in my day?” he mumbled to himself as he pulled the two wires over to the metal bowl and clamped one on each side like a set of jumper cables. “There. Now you can mix it up.”
I glanced at my mom, and she gave me a slight nod. I didn’t need to look at Mark to know he didn’t want me mixing anything for any of these people, and maybe he was right. But after seeing what we were up against, I knew I had to make this stone, and many more coming up.
The metal powder in the bowl floated up in small sections, like tiny trees. It formed a pattern until I picked up the glue and poured some in. I knew this stone was important, but I didn’t have trouble stirring up the emotions with Blane looking on. I imagined Mark and me back in Blane’s world, with him trying to take Mark from me, trying to put things into my head. Flashes of Quinn mixed in, and I poured in the solvent and stirred.
When I got like this, the world around me silenced and I could feel the energy around me as it flowed down my hand and into the mixture. I never knew how long I was stirring for, but as always, but the distinctive clunk sounded and the resistance of the mixture left my spoon.
I looked up to Blane, standing no more than a few feet from my face, looking into my bowl.
“Better take a step back there, Blane,” Mark said.
“She made it.” He looked dumbfounded. “Do you know how many times I tried to make that stone before I got it right? And you did it on the first try.” Blane ignored Mark and reached for the stone.
I yanked the wires off the bowl and pulled it close to my chest. “You don’t get this stone until you tell us about the next one.” I set the bowl back on the table and waited for Blane to speak. It took some willpower not to throw this binding stone in his face and leave the room entirely. I couldn’t stand being near the man. His thoughts were somehow in my head, and I didn’t want to have any connection between us.
“We’re down to the last two ingredients, Shulman’s metal and after that . . . well, I’ll wait for that once you’ve procured Shulman’s for me.” His stupid smile spread over his face. I didn’t need to share thoughts with the man to know that whatever made up Shulman’s was something weird, like puppy screams or tears from a widow.
“What do we need to get to make Shulman’s? What kind of metals are we talking about?”
“Oh, it’s not that type of metal,” Blane said. “You have all the ingredients here but one, the seer stone.”
Mom gasped and looked to me.
“What? I’m sure I can make it.”
My mom was as white as a sheet of paper. “There’s only one seer stone in the world.”
“Okay, let’s go get it.”
“Quinn has the only one.”
“No, we can make another,” I said. “There has to be a way. Mark and I can make any stone in the world.” I winced at the knowledge I had just given Blane, but there wasn’t any going back.
“There is only one, sweetie. There is no other way. We have to take it from him.”
Of course Quinn would have the stone. Nothing could be easy. The idea of having to see the man again made me cringe. He probably used the stone for something sick and nefarious. “What does this stone do?” I asked.
“It gives insight, like the insight stone, but you can use it anywhere in the world. Quinn could be getting thoughts from us, in this room, right now. They might be just whispers, and mostly they end in confusion, but if you can pull in that one errant thought, it can be a very powerful stone.”
“And something I bet he doesn’t just have lying around,” Mark said.
“No,” Mom agreed.
“Go get my stone!” Blane yelled, and slapped the table. “Standing here isn’t getting my stone. I need it. I need it. I need it.” He fell to one knee and grabbed his head again. “It’s starting again.”
“What?” I asked.
Blane screamed. “I need my medicine! I need it! Where is my medicine?”
Sarah ran to a cupboard, picked a container and opened it. She plucked out the stone with her gloved fingertips and brought it to Blane. He snatched it from her hand and smashed it against his neck. It dissolved, and he let out a long breath of relief.
After standing for a bit, he went to two knees, then his shoulders slumped and he fell face-first onto the stone floor.
“Is he dead?” I asked, looking over the table, but I knew he wasn’t. As sick as it was, being that close to Blane, I could feel him.
“No,” Sarah said with disgust. “He’s hooked on euphoria stones, and him on the floor means my damn shift is over.” She put the metal container back in the cupboard, then locked the door. “So, we finally have a reason to attack the beast straight on. This should be interesting.”
“There’s no reason to think he doesn’t know we’re coming,” Mark said. “If he’s as close as we think he is, then he’s holding that seer stone close, maybe even on his person.”
“No, he can’t. That stone would be in a large, underground place. It’s the only way it works and no one would carry it around on them. The concentrated thoughts of the world would drive you mad,” Cathy said. “My guess is, it’s at his house.”
I felt panicked. Any place in the world, any place but that one. I couldn’t go back. I’d just gotten back to my life and to Mark. We’d just escaped there.
My mom looked at her phone, then dropped it back into her pocket. “We shouldn’t waste any time on this. No reason to let him prepare for us.”
“Agreed,” Sarah said.
“We’re going to need Bridget as well. She knows his house as well as Allie.”
“I’m going too,” I blurted out. As much as I didn’t want to be within a continent of Quinn, I wanted to hurt him just as much.
“You have the Minitrepids at your disposal on this one as well,” Mark told my mom. “We’ll be with Allie.”
Mom crossed her arms and opened her mouth, then paused, looking down at Blane. “Maybe we should discuss this away from here?” She turned and walked into the dark hall.
I began to follow, then turned back to Blane. “Are we going to leave him there?”
“Next shift is going to be here in a few seconds,” Sarah said, looking at her watch. “Ah, there they are.”
Two young women entered the room, walking past my mom, looking nervous. I didn’t recognize them, but they didn’t look to have the mettle to control a man like Blane. Unless they served a different purpose.
Mark nudged me forward with an ar
m around my lower back. I let him guide me out of the room and down the hall. The farther we got from Blane, the more I felt my head clearing, as if we’d shared thought strings and they were breaking with the distance. Being in the same room with that man made my whole body and mind feel different.
“You feeling better now?” I asked Mark, hoping he’d get what I was talking about. If he didn’t, then I’d know it was just me and I’d keep it to myself.
“Just glad to get out of there.”
Mom beckoned us to the end of the hall. “Mark, gather your little group. Allie, you come with me and make some attack stones I know only you can make.” She smiled a wicked smile, not unlike Blane’s. “Sarah, I want you to contact Niles and have him arrange the Intrepids to meet at the center of the hub in three hours.”
“Three hours?” I asked.
Mom looked at the ceiling. “I wish we could go now, too, but we have to prepare, and hope Quinn isn’t home.”
While we were making stones in Chang’s classroom, Chang, Mark, my mother and I had a lengthy discussion about the possibility of me getting stuck between places. Chang had heard of it before and said an alchemist in China, experimenting with portal stones, had gotten lost for an entire year. By the time he got back, his wife had left him, because she’d thought he was dead. Chang theorized that there could be travelers who’d get stuck forever between places, if the stones were of the exact same potency.
If I had, in fact, experienced neither of those options, then it was quite possible Quinn had had me the whole time, using memory stones to keep me in the dark. Chang mentioned there were stones we could use to dislodge any forgotten memories, and I wasn’t so sure about that option. Did I really want to remember what had happened? What good would it do?
My mom and I spent the next two hours working with Chang and a few others, creating all kinds of nasty and disturbing stones. I’d never had so much fun with my mom. It took me back to the days when we’d make cookies and cake, feeding anyone and everyone who came over with our baked goods.
“What is it?” my mom asked when she caught me staring at her. She was having just as much fun as I was.
“It’s really great to spend some time with you.”
Her smile broadened. “I’m so proud of you. I only wish your father could have seen what a fine young woman you’ve turned into.”
I looked down at the mixing bowl and dabbed at the dark, thick liquid inside. I’d never really spoken to anyone about my dad, but when I looked to my mom to start the conversation, she was waving at Chang to come over.
“Have we got enough stones, Chang?” Mom asked.
“We should, unless we encounter a holdout,” Chang replied, touching his scruffy beard.
Mom leaned closer to him and looked across the room to Angela. “Make sure you personally inspect each portal stone.”
He nodded.
I’d nearly forgotten about the mole. Was it Angela? I shuffled closer to my mom and widened my eyes, trying to get her attention.
“What?”
I looked back at Angela. “Is she the one?”
“One what? Oh, the mole. That’s right, you’ve been gone for the whole drama. Yes, it was Angela.”
I shook my head. I didn’t know Angela that well, but it seemed crazy to keep her around. “What’s she doing here, then?”
“Don’t worry. We used some stones on her and I think she’s happier now. At least she’s not feeding our every move back to Quinn. In fact, she’s most helpful in sending Quinn the wrong information.”
Angela moved ingredients around before putting them into her bowl. She wasn’t a special like me, but she had a rare talent for making portal stones. I felt jealous about it sometimes, and had even tried a few times, to no avail.
“What did you do to her?”
“It was mostly Jackie. She’s become the most helpful person since you’ve been gone.”
“My ears are burning,” Jackie said as she approached the table.
“Jackie!” I stood and hugged her.
“Whoa, don’t get all emo on me,” she said, but hugged me tighter. She whispered in my ear, “Glad to have you back, girl.” Then she let go and addressed the rest. “What’s up, Mark, Mrs. C?”
“Mrs. C?” I asked. How much had happened while I was floating around?
“What, you want me to call her Mom?”
“How about Cathy?”
“I’ve never cared for that name.” Jackie shrugged.
“Thanks,” Mom said.
Niles walked up next. He was wearing a sash, holding various stones, and his large gun was sitting at his hip. “The Intrepids are ready, Cathy.”’
“And the Minitrepids as well,” Mark said.
Niles let out a huff and Mark glared at him. The tension between them built before Mark looked back to me. It appeared as if a rift had been created in my absence. It made sense. Mark’s only reason for allying with them would be to find me.
Mark waved at Kylie as she stood at the door. He’d taken a quick trip back to base camp while we were making stones. I hadn’t liked being apart from him, and had waited anxiously for his return.
Mom stood and addressed the group. “I guess we’re all ready. We’ve made stones for everyone.”
We distributed the stones to the group waiting in the hub. Or, should I say, to the two groups. A clear divide split them up: Mark at the head of the Minis and Niles fronting the Intrepids. Each group shot each other dirty looks and laughed in close conversation. I knew this crap. People were so cliquey. It felt just like the Blue and Red days.
There were at least thirty people waiting around, and I saw Bridget standing near Kylie as she handed out stones to the Minitrepids. Bridget spotted me and shoved the box of stones into Kylie’s arms.
“Hey, you ready to go back?” she asked. I took a deep breath and nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ve got each other’s backs on this one, okay? I won’t let anything happen to you, and you do the same for me.”
“Deal.”
Jackie walked up next to me and looked from Bridget’s black leather shoes all the way up to her straightened hair. “If anyone is getting Allie’s back, it’s going to be me,” she said.
“Won’t you be too busy riding her mom’s back?”
Jackie had a stone in her hand and I grabbed her arm in warning. “Stop it. We all have each other’s backs.” I spoke loud enough to silence their bickering.
“We aren’t going to any old place to get an ingredient; we’re going to Quinn’s house. All of us are going, together. The only way we’re going to make it out of there is if we work as a team. Roy and Boyd, I need you working with Kylie, David, and Wes. If we don’t work together, we’ve already lost. You think Quinn and his alchemists will be bickering back and forth?” I crossed my arms. “I’m not jumping us until the Intrepids and Minis form one group.”
David shook his head, but made the first move toward the Intrepids. With him moving, the rest of the group shrugged and formed one solid team, facing me.
“Nice work,” my mom whispered in my ear. “You ready to jump us?” She handed me a portal stone and I rolled it around in my gloved hand. I’d made the booster stone and Mark was holding it next to me.
“Everyone get ready. This won’t take long. Follow the plan and we should be okay,” I said, with no idea if I was lying or not.
I looked to Mark for strength, and his sharp eyes told me everything I needed to know. He’d already attacked Quinn and his men today, and he’d do whatever it took for us to get our happy ending.
I dropped the stone on my bare hand.
It stayed in place, but I felt the urge to let it dissolve. Not yet. I felt the stretch of the stone passing around me, in maybe a ten-foot radius. If I held it too long, I’d have no energy left on the other side. Mark touched the booster stone with his and the weight of it pushed against my arm. I felt the stone’s radius expand as the booster stone connected to mine. It passed over the others but they couldn’
t feel it like I did as I waited for it to rush past the last person. I released and felt the stone shake, then disappear.
We jumped.
The floor firmed under my feet and I looked at the group of people standing in front of me. They turned and fanned out with stones in their hands, but there wasn’t another soul in the room.
“Clear,” I heard Kylie say from the far end of Quinn’s dungeon. Another person—Roy, it sounded like—announced his side was clear.
“Come on,” Mom said, bringing me closer to her. “We need to split up and cover this entire place. I see three doors in this hall, so form up and move out. You all know what we’re looking for: a red stone with a yellow dot. It will be somewhere secure. If you encounter anyone, throw first.”
Although I was surrounded by people, the feeling of being alone rushed to me. The cage that had held me for untold hours and days was sitting mere feet from me. As most of the others rushed around, I stared at the bars of my prison. At my lowest, I’d thought I would die in that cage, my body rotting away, falling between the bars and down into the funnel below.
“Niles, go with the Minis,” Mom said.
“Aye,” Nile said, and walked off toward the group. They were heading to the door Quinn had taken us through.
“Is this where he kept you?” Jackie asked.
I nodded and bit my lip, unable to take my eyes away from it.
“I can’t wait to get a piece of Quinn,” Jackie said from behind me.
“If anyone is going to get Quinn, it’s going to be us,” Bridget said, nodding to me. Then she faced Jackie. “You weren’t here. He didn’t have his hands on you.”
“If I had been, Quinn would be nothing but a corpse,” Jackie said.
“Oh, please—you think you could have done better at escaping this maze, right under the noses of both Verity and Quinn?”
“Yes, I do.”
My mom rushed in to interrupt. “Stop it! What are you, toddlers? We’re taking that door. Get your stones ready.”
Ahead of us was a door marked with a lightning bolt and a danger sign. “What makes you think it’s that door?”