by Matt Ryan
Jackie rushed down the hall as I ran my hand over the smooth stone. I expected it to be rough, but it felt as if someone had sanded down the edges. Then my hand fell through the wall. I moved my body into the space and looked into the hall with the fading light of the glow stone. The side hall wasn’t more than a few feet wide, but it would be enough for us to walk down single file.
“Here,” I said, and stepped back out.
Jackie turned back and stepped into the side hall. She looked at me, then went farther into the darkness. I followed her in, and the narrow passageway rubbed both of my shoulders. Near the end, it opened up enough for me to stand next to Jackie as she gazed ahead.
My foot rubbed on the ground and the small noise echoed through the mighty chamber in front of us. Being in such a tight space made the next room feel even more enormous.
“This must be it,” I whispered, and heard my voice travel into the cavern.
“The seer stone . . .” Jackie said, then added, “Let’s not forget Lupe said they were in here not long—” She stopped abruptly and put her hand up. “You hear that?”
Only a few lights were hanging from the ceiling, but the darkness swallowed the light, giving a faint scale to the massive structure. I leaned closer and thought I heard something as well.
It sounded like footsteps echoing through the void. A shadow moved under a lit area and the outline of a woman appeared.
“Verity,” I said under my breath. She was too far away to hear me, but I could still see her smug smile.
“I should have figured it would be you three,” Verity said, her words bouncing off the walls.
“Spread out,” Jackie whispered, and I moved to her far right. Mark went to her far left.
Verity laughed. “There’s no Quinn here this time to stop me from doing whatever I want to you, Allie.”
“She’s not into women, Verity. So go peddle your fantasies elsewhere,” Jackie said.
“Ah, yes, Jackie,” Verity said. “I’ve heard you’ve become quite the lap dog for Cathy. Well done. I’m so glad to see all the years you made stones for me didn’t go to waste.” Her sarcastic tone echoed around the chamber.
“Why don’t you come a little closer and I can show you my gratitude?” Jackie said, holding a stone in her hand.
Verity ignored the remark and continued. “Mark, I know you don’t really want to be involved in all this. Why don’t you just tell me where my brother and my son are, and I promise I’ll let Allie live.”
“Go to hell,” I said.
“Did you know all your friends upstairs have either fled or been killed? They put up a pathetic fight.” She waved her hand forward. Footsteps sounded and a group of about ten men and woman walked into the light next to her. “This is just a taste of what you’re up against. You don’t have a chance.”
I looked back at the hall we had come through, then addressed Verity and her posse. “You give us the seer stone, and I’ll tell you where your brother and your son are.”
“It’s right behind me.” Verity crouched and held out her hand. Even from this distance, I could see the black stones at the ends of her fingertips.
My shaky hand struggled to hold on to the stone in its grip. Mark and Jackie gave me a strong look. They didn’t seem to be suffering from a lack of confidence, which helped fortify my backbone. Plus, if things got really bad, I had a couple of nasty death-blossom stones on me.
“Verity,” I said. “You really want to know what happened to your brother?” I let the words bounce around the walls and settle in.
Verity held out her hands, stopping the rest from moving. “Where is he?”
I felt bad taunting her with the death of her brother, but I didn’t need to face a calm and calculated Verity. I needed a maniac. “You brother was a tough man. He held out much longer than anyone expected, really.”
“You killed him?”
“Worse. We used him for the creation of a life stone. He put up a good fight, but as you know from experience, they all succumb in the end. No need to worry, though. We put him to good use. Blane has been really helpful.”
She screamed, full of rage, and hurled the stone at us. It struck the ground and exploded. I ducked as the blast wave slammed against my body and popped my left eardrum. My ears rang as I looked to Jackie, who threw a stone of her own, not at Verity but into the darkness.
The flying stone got lost in the darkness, but I heard it strike the ground, then two bloodcurdling screams reverberated off the walls.
“I’m going to kill you all!” Verity screeched, running directly for us.
“If they get close, fall back to the hall,” Jackie said. For the first time, I saw a nervous look creep into her facial expression.
With Mark and Jackie at my side, I gripped my death-blossom stone. I didn’t want to use it, but they left me no choice.
“Run to the hall in three seconds.” I held up a stone—and another stone landed next to me. A gas cloud poured from it. I coughed and reeled back. Covering my mouth, I threw the stone in a rush, then realized what I had just done.
“Run!” I yelled, and darted into the small hall.
Mark and Jackie rushed in behind me. Jackie yelled out and grabbed the back of her neck. She fell to the floor and Mark grabbed her by the arm, pulling her down the hall.
Twenty feet down the corridor, my stone exploded, and a bright light flooded into our small hall. Mark and I crouched down and covered Jackie. I buried my face in my arms and hoped I hadn’t just killed us all. The heat pelted my back and singed any exposed skin. I screamed.
The light went out and I stopped. The sound of my rapid breaths was the only noise reverberating around the hall. I dared to look up at Mark. The tips of his hair had been singed, but he looked good, considering.
“You okay?” Mark asked.
“Yeah.”
With our immediate danger subsiding, the heft of my actions hit me like a ton of bricks. I’d done it again. I’d killed another group with one of my stones. Only this time, I’d chosen to do it knowing the outcome.
Mark hovered over Jackie’s face. She looked pale, and I slid past Mark to get closer to her. Even in the extreme heat, Jackie felt cold.
“Did you get a look at the stone they hit her with?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Something deadly, I bet.”
“We’ve got to get her out of here.” I rummaged around in her sack and found a portal stone, then pulled off her glove and dropped the stone in her hand. It dissolved and I leaned back, waiting for her to disappear.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking to Mark. Neither of us knew, so I grabbed her hand and looked at it. Nothing appeared to be wrong. I pulled out my portal stone and used it on her. It dissolved again and I stayed back, waiting for her to disappear.
Nothing.
Peeking into the main hall, I saw that the foam wall Lupe had put in place was still there.
Mark touched Jackie. “She’s looking worse, and getting colder.” He shook his head and looked up at me. “Maybe it’s this chamber area? I’ve heard of places having shields so you can’t portal in or out.”
“Just like the Academy. Remember, it had a shield of sorts, and that’s why we had to go to the basement.” The idea seemed right, which meant we had to get Jackie out of this area. “There’s only one way to go.” I looked back at the massive chamber ahead of us and thought of the horrible fate I’d just delivered to those people.
“I’ll carry. You lead.” He reached down and deadlifted Jackie onto his shoulder.
A single light was all that remained of the chamber. The place had turned into an oven, with the heat radiating out to the floor and walls. Mark looked at me with a worried expression. He fished in his pocket and pulled out a glow stone. It wasn’t very powerful in such a large space, but it gave everything a dim green tint.
The first body appeared off to the right: charred, with little remaining but a pile of dark ash. The sight of it made me stop and bend over,
fighting to keep from passing out. I felt dizzy and swayed toward Mark.
“They would have killed us, you know,” he said, and adjusted Jackie.
I looked up at him just in time to see a stone strike his face. He froze in place, then teetered, fell back and landed hard on the floor. Jackie’s limp body fell next to his. The glow stone fell from his hand and rolled along the floor until it was stopped by a foot.
Verity bent down and picked it up. “Did you really think I would allow you to beat me twice?”
“I—”
“Don’t talk. You make me sick. I could have killed you a hundred times over, but the world’s powers deem you some kind of special. Maybe you are, but the second you admitted to killing my brother, all of your immunities disappeared.” She growled and shook with anger.
I took an inventory of the few stones I had left. A couple were of a horrifying level. I was sure Verity had equally awful stones with my name on them. Then I thought of Bridget’s stone, the one she had planned to use on Quinn. If I timed it right, I might be able to use it on Verity. I glanced back at Mark and Jackie. I’d have to make this quick. If I failed, they would die.
Verity looked rabid, and I knew no words were going to calm her or change her mind. This came down to a duel, and I sucked at throwing.
“You stupid little girl.” She shifted, making me turn to the side to give her the smallest target I could. “Your time ends here. Maybe I’ll even let Quinn take on Jackie. He loves the fiery ones.” She pointed to the darkness, but I kept my eyes on her hands and face, looking for the motion. “Quinn should be down shortly, after he disposes of the last of your group.”
“Your son will be awfully disappointed in your treatment of Jackie. He loves her, and has defected to our side,” I lied. “But maybe you didn’t know that, since you’ve been preoccupied with finding your brother.”
“I don’t believe a word you say! Just shut up and die—”
I saw my opening and threw the stone, then grabbed for the second one.
Verity’s stone flew past me as I watched mine miss her by several feet. Our stones bounced along the stone floor, looking for the skin of their victim.
Fear built inside me, and I took deep breaths trying to quell it. “Verity, I’m sorry about your brother. I didn’t like what happened to him, and you should know he went out like a warrior, holding back the soul stone for hours.”
“You tortured him for hours?” she fumed.
I tossed the stone up into the air, in a long rainbow, headed straight toward Verity. She looked up, but before she knew what was going on, I had cleared half the distance between us. She tossed a stone at me, which struck my chest and fell to the floor. She tried to grab another stone, but I was too quick. She braced herself as I ran full speed into her, striking her neck.
Verity groaned and coughed and fell to the ground. I stepped on her hand as she reached for a stone. She laughed, and I saw the tears in her eyes. She stopped moving when she saw Bridget’s stone in my hand. “Go on, do it.”
I leaned down, steeling my nerves. It gave me no pleasure to see her squirming under me.
“Do it!” she shrieked.
When the stone struck her chin, her eyes dulled. I knew the look of death. Her face wrinkled, and I stepped back as her chest sank in. I watched until it looked like loose skin hanging on her skeleton.
My heart pounded in my chest as I stepped away from her, unable to look away.
“I didn’t have a choice,” I said into the dead air. “I’m sorry.” Shaking my head, I fell backward and landed on top of Mark and Jackie. I scrambled back on my hands, looking at the scene before me. I had to get my friends out of here before Quinn showed up. But more than that, I wanted to get away from Verity.
I ran to the glow stone and picked it up. Then I headed toward the center of the place; at least, what I thought was the center. Sticking out of the ground was a pillar with indentations on it, reaching about the height of my waist. I slowed down and stopped right in front of it. There was a circle around it on the floor. On the top sat a metal saucer holding the seer stone. The yellow dot and the red surrounding it made it look demonic.
I held my breath and touched it.
A million noises packed into a single nonsensical scream filled my head and I jumped back. I yanked off my glove and stared at my finger, thinking it might have been burnt or damaged in some way, but it didn’t have a mark on it. I got back to my feet and paced near the stone. I dumped the couple of stones I had left into my stone sack, then moved it close to the stone, pulled it open as wide as I could and ran the bag under the stone as I scooped it up and felt the weight of it.
I stuffed the stone into another bag and tied it off on my belt. Taking another breath, I let the bag dangle and touch my leg. I heard the noises again, but they stayed back, like an observable riot that seemed to be on the edge of running right through you.
I needed to find an exit.
The glow stone lit up the wall. I ran along it until I found a large wooden door with a shocking mural. It portrayed people screaming in pain as a man hovered in the sky, shooting bolts from his hands. I twisted the handle and opened the door.
A light, fresh-smelling breeze passed over me. I walked into the next room and kept a stone in my hand, preparing to meet some resistance, or even Quinn himself. What I wasn’t prepared to see were the shelves full of soul stones. Rows and rows of them. I held my hand over my mouth at the enormity of it all, at how many lives it would’ve taken to accomplish.
Were these from the old Academy? The thought made me remember the one soul stone I had kept: Ira’s. Each of these stones could be a lost child or another missing family member. There had to be a thousand of them.
Walking through the wide, soul-filled hall, I spotted another door. I ran to it and flung it open to find a stairwell. I only hoped it was far enough away to allow for a portal stone.
I ran back and grabbed Mark first. It took nearly all my strength to drag him into the stairwell. He felt so cold. Next, I took Jackie. She felt lighter, but most of my energy had already been expended.
I linked their hands together, then brought out Mark’s portal stone and intertwined my hand in theirs, praying it’d work. The floor dissolved from beneath me and the dread left. The in-between world swirled around before the ground firmed.
“Help!” I screamed into the utter chaos surrounding me.
People screamed orders while others lay on the dirt, moaning and groaning, calling out for help. Many of the alchemists were being helped with stones or a comforting hand. Others ran to and from the main stone-making building nearby, delivering the stones.
“You made it back,” Bridget said, and half-hugged me and then helped me move Mark. Next we carried Jackie out of the circle.
As soon as we were out, another small group of people appeared. They had burns on their faces and some were crying. They pulled each other from the circle as I looked on in horror.
“What happened to Mark and Jackie?” Bridget asked, touching Mark’s face. “He’s cold.” She reeled back and her face went white. “Is he . . .”
“Verity hit them with a stone. Some kind of cold stone,” I said, looking for someone who could help us. Not finding anyone, I bent over Mark and kissed him on the cheek. It felt cold to my lips and I waited to feel his breath against my ear. When I felt it, I jumped up. “Where’s my mom?”
“She’s in her room, recovering. Hey, what about them?” Bridget said as I ran toward my mom’s house.
I got there in less than a minute and flung open the front door. I spotted her in her bedroom, with Chang standing next to her. “Mom, it’s Mark and Jackie. Verity hit them with a stone and now they’re unconscious and turning cold.”
She lifted up, looking droopy in the eyes and shaky in the limbs. “Are they still breathing?”
“Yes.”
“Chang, help her create the cures.”
“What about you?”
“Go!” Mom order
ed weakly.
“Fine.” Chang walked out of her room and gestured for me to follow him.
“How is she?” I asked as we left the house.
“Not well. I’m not familiar with whatever they hit her with.”
I looked back at the house and wondered if I should have shown more sympathy for my own mother, but Mark and Jackie seemed to be the more immediate problem. “We should create life stones. They would cure them all,” I said.
“Got any volunteers?” Chang asked. He opened the door to his classroom, jogged to his desk, and leaned behind it. “No. There’s another way.”
“Like the way Mark healed Niles?”
“What do you mean?”
“Mark used some of himself to create a special stone to save Niles.”
Chang’s eyes narrowed and I thought he looked confused, but then he ducked behind the desk.
“Can’t we just use the method Mark used on Niles?” I asked again.
Chang looked over the top of his desk and then stood, holding a box. “What they have will needed to be countered with a heat stone. It should be simple to make for someone like you.”
He quickly collected the ingredients for me to mix. The stones were easy to make, and I rushed through their creation. When they were ready, I grabbed them and rushed toward the door. “Just use these on them and they’ll be fine?”
“They should be. Your mother—” he started to say, but I was out the door.
I ran with the stones in my hands, passing too many people who were in pain and crying out. I wanted to help them all, and would do what I could, but I had to be selfish and cure Mark and Jackie first. Then I’d take care of the others.
I approached Bridget, who had laid a blanket over Mark and Jackie. I didn’t like the look of it and yanked it off. They weren’t dead. I moved to Mark and held his hand, pushing the stone into it. Then I moved to Jackie and did the same.
“Please work,” I said, watching them intently, moving back to hold Mark’s hand in my own.
Nothing happened, and I looked to Bridget, who shrugged. I felt tears building before I felt the warmth in Mark’s hand building. His fingers loosened and gripped my hand. He blinked and focused on me.