by Matt Ryan
“We’ve been there, my mom and I. She even hopped the fence and used some stones on the door.”
“So, this door is the end?” I asked.
“Yes and no,” Blane said. “Better that we get there, and then I can explain things as needed. But before all that, we need to make some more stones. We also need to gather the master stones, the soul stones, and the seer stone.”
“We’d better prepare for Quinn as well on this one.”
“We purged the mole, Cathy. You promised me a smooth creation.”
“Shut up, Blane. I didn’t know we’d be at the damned alchemists’ door. You think Quinn won’t have at least one person watching over it?”
“Just put enough bodies around me until I can get through the door and I’ll be fine,” Blane said.
Mom groaned but agreed.
We hurried off to the stone-making room and got to work. After everything was done, we returned to the hub. Jackie had gotten Carly and everyone else to go. Mom said she’d take every able body to face the enemy in this final battle. I didn’t like the idea that a battle was imminent, but the looks on everyone’s faces around the hub said it was.
Blane was right. I felt closer to the final stone. The idea of being in the group who would make it gave me chills, and I wondered what powers the stone would bestow.
Mom stood on her tiptoes and addressed the group as Niles stood behind her with his hands ready to catch her. “We’re going to the Porta Alchemica.” The crowd rumbled. “I’m sure many of you know about this door, but it will not be your primary target. Each of you will have a group leader who has been instructed regarding your specific duties. I can’t stress enough that this is the final moment. This is the time where we make history and save this world from an onslaught of war and strife.”
One person coughed in the back of the room and a few scattered claps spread among the crowd, then petered out.
I cleared my throat and raised my hand. “We’ve all lost in this war. Lost our friends, our families, and for some of us, our innocence. But the end is near, and we’ve chosen the right side. Your entire life has built up to this moment in time. This is when we say no more! Today we make the philosopher’s stone.” I raised my water master stone and the crowd cheered.
“Now, let’s gather close,” Mom said, giving me a look.
We bunched in close, elbow to elbow, with Mom at the center. Mark held my hand and showed me the stone in his palm. A flash stone, perfect for blinding the enemy. I looked around at the stones in other people’s hands, Jackie was holding a nightmare stone, one of her go-to favorites. I rolled my own stone around in my hand. I felt nervous just having it. It felt heavy and I knew I couldn’t throw it far, but I wouldn’t need to.
The world between worlds swirled around us until grass formed under our feet and a vibrant city popped into existence. The sights and sounds of a foreign city struck me hard and I looked around at the architecture, not giving much notice to the people walking by.
We were standing in what looked like a park the size of a couple of football fields, surrounded by multi-story buildings. A road wrapped around the whole park, with cars cruising by. Around us stood many trees. They peppered most of the park, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. Near us stood a shambles of a building. It might have once been a mighty structure, but it had collapsed and the park had overgrown into it. I searched for a door, but nothing on the old house had anything of note on it.
Then I spotted it: a door in the middle of a dirt wall, flanked with two white statues, not far from the decrepit building.
Our group fanned out as planned, but I didn’t see any sign of dark alchemists. A few people were walking past on sidewalks and a dirt trail nearby, but nobody looked dangerous.
“Ehi, non si può essere lì,” a man in a blue uniform yelled, and then blew his whistle.
“Carly,” Mom called out.
Carly stepped forward and threw a stone at the man. It struck him on the neck and he fell to the grass.
“What happened to this place?” Blane asked as he turned in a circle, staring at the surrounding city and the moving cars. “This is nothing like it was.”
“Things rarely are, “ I said, and pointed at the door. “Is that it?”
“Yes, that’s the door. Thank the heavens it’s still here.”
A few more people were now yelling at us in Italian. I sighed. I knew things were going to escalate quickly, and we hadn’t even seen a single dark alchemist yet.
“Open the door, Blane. We won’t have much time before the rubes start gathering against us,” Mom said.
Blane looked at the brown structure that might have been a house at one time and then back at the door. He walked up close to the door and ran his fingers over the engravings. “This door should still work. Below, it will connect to the others—if they’re still there.”
Mark and I walked closer to the door and watched Blane pull out a white stone. He rubbed it on the engravings around the door, leaving what looked like a chalk line around them. Then he took out two stones and pushed them against the top of the door.
Mom blew two sharp whistles and the members of our group who had spread out ran toward us. I fixated on the door and what Blane was doing. He kept pressing the two stones against the top of the door until they were about half their original size, then he let go and took a few steps back. “Get ready. It takes a few minutes for the portal to open, and it won’t stay open for long,” Blane said.
“Spread out,” Mom said. “How much longer for the door, Blane?”
“Maybe another minute or so.”
“We don’t have a minute.”
Blane stood next to the door, rubbing his hands over the white inscriptions surrounding the door.
“There!” my mom yelled, and pointed at the parking lot. Nothing was there, but dust swirled around and formed a dome shape. She threw a stone at the dust and it struck the asphalt, cracking open. A green cloud poured out.
A sound like a cork being popped echoed through the park, and then a small army appeared in the domed dust. The second they did, a large explosion blasted around them, launching many of them into the air and sending the rest to the ground. Some got back to their feet and scattered.
Niles turned his gun on them and fired. His stones hit the parking lot area, popping and exploding around the few alchemists who were left. One disappeared, portaling away, but there were still more making their way toward us. Mark threw a stone of his own and struck a man on the throat, sending him to the ground.
Jackie and Carly ran up to me, followed by Bridget. “They’re attacking us from the other side as well,” Jackie said.
I turned around and saw Quinn leading that group on the far side of the park. There must have been fifty of them.
“We need that door to open now, Blane,” Mom said.
“I can’t rush it. It’s on its own. You people need to stop them,” Blane said, shaking his hands and splitting his attention between the door and the approaching group.
Several of what must have been their best throwers launched stones at us. They were way out of my range. Mark and several of the Minis retaliated. I watched as our stones passed theirs in the air. Stones splattered around us, breaking open and freezing two men. A woman screamed and fell to the ground not five feet from me. I narrowed my eyes and searched for additional stones being thrown. Two men in particular caught my attention. They stood next to Quinn and tossed two stones high in the sky. They struck midair, and blackness spread out, covering the whole area.
Jackie threw a stone directly into the middle of the blackness. It exploded and dissipated the dark cloud.
Quinn stopped his advance, hatred on his face. He was out for blood.
“You guys ready?” Jackie said.
“You think this is the time?”
“There’s no time like the present,” Jackie said, and held the stone in her hand. “Cathy, you got the parking lot covered?”
“Yes,”
Mom said as she threw another stone.
“Mark, you’re the striker. Don’t miss,” Jackie said.
Quinn tossed a few stones around his group.
“He’s doing something,” I said.
“He can’t do shit against this one,” Jackie said. “Here we go.” She threw the stone high in the air. Mark threw another stone and struck Jackie’s. A heartbeat later, he threw a follow-up stone and struck it again.
The stone exploded in the sky and broke into a hundred pieces. The bits rained down over Quinn and his group. Many grasped for their necks and covered their faces as they fell to the ground. At least half of their ranks had been thinned by Jackie and Mark. Quinn hadn’t moved. He kept his horrible stare on me. Two women now flanked his sides. They were wearing black hoodies and were too far away for me to see what type of stones they had in their hands.
“Roy, Boyd, the twins,” Niles yelled.
Roy and Boyd walked past us toward Quinn’s group.
“Blane?” Mom said.
“Should be any second,” he said as he continued to pace next to the door.
Quinn let out a war cry and held his fist high.
“Get ready!” Mom yelled. She was holding an unfamiliar blue stone in one hand and two more in the other.
Quinn lowered his hand, gesturing toward us, and his army marched forward.
“Two more seconds,” Mom said, then threw her blue stone as hard as she could.
Quinn stopped and grabbed at the people around him to do the same. He spotted the shaking blue stone and turned around. The stone broke open and the ground erupted like a volcano of dirt. The mound continued to spew its contents around the epicenter, creating a hill of tumbling and partially liquid-looking earth.
When it was done, I spotted Quinn moving off to the side of the hill wearing his typical smug smile. He pointed and conversed with a few in his group and they spread out around each side.
“Jackie, Bridget, take left,” I said, and moved to the right. I kept my gaze on Quinn as he approached. Another hundred feet and he’d be within my throwing distance.
He stopped just out of my range and held out his hands to show us his stones.
“Oh, shit,” Mom said, and grabbed me. I felt a stone between our hands at the same moment I watched Quinn’s hands slap together.
A wave of energy spread out from Quinn toward us. It plowed through the dirt hill and hit us with a thunderous sound. Niles and Mark flew back in the air from the wave, but I didn’t feel anything other than the ringing in my ears from the noise.
I looked back at Mark, who was lying motionless on the ground next to Blane. I moved toward him, but my mom pulled me back.
“I need you to face Quinn,” Mom said.
I pulled away from her and ran to Mark. He blinked hard, and a trickle of blood fell from his nose. “Mark!” I shook him as I heard Jackie screaming for murder. “Mark!”
He groaned and tried to sit up, but grabbed at his head and lay back down.
“The door,” Blane said, pointing at it while crouched on his hands and knees.
I gasped at the opening, which was like a mirror; if you looked close enough, you could see what was behind it. Blane was crawling toward it.
“Jackie, Bridget!” I pointed at the door. My mom heard my cries and ran toward the door as well.
“Help me,” Blane said, and reached for Mom’s hand. She took him and dragged him to the door.
I pulled at Mark as well, and that was when I felt a stone strike the back of my hand. I couldn’t move Mark anymore; he’d frozen in place. The whole world had frozen around me. The screams and explosions had been silenced. I’d never heard anything so quiet. My mom had frozen, and so had Blane. Jackie and Bridget were stopped in time, running toward me.
I was still able to move, so I let go of Mark to look around. Something had gone terribly wrong. I knew a stone had hit me, but this wasn’t like anything I’d ever experienced before. Was I stuck in another type of limbo? Were my friends being attacked right now and I was just missing it?
“Interesting stone, isn’t it?” Quinn said, walking up.
I startled and grabbed a stone to throw at him. As soon as the stone left my hand, it froze in the air.
“That won’t work,” Quinn said. “Not in here.” He smiled and took a few steps around a person on the ground, taking his time to admire his surroundings. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure this stone was going to work. I’ve held on to it for many years. I was too nervous to use it until now. Seeing that portal door open, I really had no choice.”
“Go to hell,” I said, and my voice echoed.
Quinn laughed. “This is the only thing that will take me or you out of this state.” He held a stone up in his bare hand. “I think,” he added.
Something inside me snapped. Maybe it was his smug, I’ve-already-won face, or maybe it was because he was hurting Mark and those around me. I plucked the stone floating in front of me out of the air and ran at Quinn. If the stone wouldn’t fly, I’d fly.
He stilled as I approached. Trying to fake him out, I juked to one side and leapt at him with the stone leading the way. Quinn reacted quickly and leaned to the side. I stumbled past him and landed on the grass next to Roy. I scrambled backward, searching for the stone that had fallen during my tumble.
Quinn grabbed the back of my hair, lifting me off the ground. I frantically pulled at his hands.
“Let me go!” I screamed.
He laughed and set me on the ground before pushing me with his foot, making me fall once again. Jerk.
“What do you want?” I asked, lying on the grass.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? I want the stone. I want everything you have to make the stone, and I want Blane.”
“So, you don’t know how to make it, do you?” I asked.
His eyes twitched and he stepped closer to me. I got back to my feet, wary of another kick from him. “What I know doesn’t matter. I just can’t have your mother taking the stone. You and she have already taken a great deal from me,” Quinn said between his clenched teeth.
I pulled another stone from my pocket and Quinn eyed it in my hand. “The stone I just used, the one that put me and you in this state, was as difficult to make as the philosopher’s stone will be. I assure you, there is a reason I had you join me in suspended time,” Quinn said as I gripped the stone in my hand. “I wanted to get you alone. I miss you.”
I nearly dropped my stone. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“We spent nearly a month together. Some nights, I’d wipe your memory. Other nights, I’d let you remember it all. We went nearly a week at the end, before . . . well, let’s just say we had an argument and I struck you.” He held his hand out, and I backed away.
“Lies,” I said.
“Your cheek must still hurt.” I touched my tender cheek, and he went on, “I couldn’t live with myself after that, so I used a powerful stone, hoping we could start the week over, but I made it too strong and you lost nearly the entire month.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said, lowering my hand away from my face.
“It’s true, and it was one of the best months of my life. You have a spirit I can’t resist.”
I wanted to throw up. I wanted to scream. I wanted to take a strength stone and kick him in the balls so hard, it’d send him into the sky and out of sight. None of it could be true. I put a hand over my stomach and shook my head. “I’d rather die than be with you.”
He laughed. “You said that the first day. Don’t you see? We’re getting a second chance to explore each other, as if for the first time.”
“You’re just a sick old man, and when I get that stone in my hands, I’ll make sure you’re the first one to pay for what you’ve done.”
“Once I get the stone, I will make sure you and I have all of eternity to find again what we once had.”
I tried not to let him get into my head, but he already had. I felt the bruise on my face and struggled to r
emember anything about my missing past. Chang had thought I was stuck in limbo, but what if he was wrong? What if this disgusting man was telling the truth? The blank spot in my memory was driving me crazy. I had to know the truth. If this man had put his hands on me . . .
“I know you don’t believe me, but touch this stone.” He reached out and released a mostly clear stone. “Do it and you will remember every single moment we had together.”
I stared, terrified and curious all at the same time. Why would he want me to remember something so awful? I gazed at the clear stone and reached out for it. My fingers hovered over it. Then I realized Quinn was standing next to me. I reacted, but he punched out, striking me in the face, and I felt the stone dissolve into me. I fell in slow motion, watching the clear stone rotate above me. I was such a fool for falling for his trick.
“I’ll see you soon, my love.” He touched my hand. My eyes blinked shut and then opened to a different world. There was nothing around me but white. I tried to focus, but I knew where I was. I’d been here before. This felt like his home.
“Hello?” I called out.
The whiteness around me didn’t respond, and I floated forward. Or I thought I did. I might have been doing cartwheels, for all I knew. Everything looked the same in all directions and there was no gravity.
Panic built inside me as I thought of how Quinn had used a suspended animation stone on me. Horrible images bounced around in my mind about being buried alive. Even worse, maybe I’d be a discarded Jane Doe corpse in Italy, on her way to the crematorium.
“Mark?” I called out, thinking of him being in here with me last time. I knew he wouldn’t answer, and the reality of where I was started to crush my spirit. How could I have let Quinn do this to me?
I screamed into the void and thought I heard an echo. Turning around in the hope that another person would be there, I thought I heard something again—like a faint whisper, or even a conversation.
I closed my eyes and tried to locate the noise, but it seemed to come from everywhere. What were they talking about?
The sound faded out and silence took hold.
The last thing in the world I was going to let happen was me being stuck in this hell. With my eyes closed, I concentrated on the hate inside me. I focused it into a bright pulse, mentally pushing the white away from me. The conversation came back, and I even made out a few words. It was Blane. I’d recognized his British accent, but I couldn’t hear the second person clearly. I opened my eyes and I saw a speck of black directly in front of me.