Alchemist Academy: Book 3

by Matt Ryan

  The hate filled me again and I blasted out, trying to push my essence into the black speck. The black hole increased in size—or was I moving closer to it? Soon, it filled a space the size of a basketball, and it was continuing to grow. I pushed on, feeling the strain in my head. It felt as if I had a mile-wide portal stone pulling at me. I groaned and wanted to give in, but knew everything depended on me reaching that black hole. It grew and grew until I was able to pull at the edges, tugging to get my body through.

  Something popped, and I blinked. I was now lying on the floor, staring up at a stone ceiling. The smell of the room hit me—it was the stale air of an underground room with no circulation. I wanted to fist-pump, or scream with glee, but I didn’t dare move. Quinn and Blane were only twenty feet away, discussing the creation of the stone.

  Blane’s monotone voice made me think he was under the power of Quinn’s special compulsion stone. That, and the fact that Blane would rather die than devulge the secrets of the stone. Over the past five minutes, I had been listening intently to the steps for making the philosopher’s stone.

  “So, we need a special?” Quinn asked.

  “Yes.”

  Quinn glanced back at me, but I had my eyes closed and my body still before he could catch me awake. At least, I hoped I had.

  I opened one eye and dared a look when Quinn and Blane went back to talking. I carefully moved my arm and felt a person next to me. Turning my head, I saw Mark, with my mom on his other side. Mark’s body was carelessly thrown on top of her arm. If I could reach Mark, I could reach my mom.

  Taking his hand in mine, I closed my eyes, trying to get back to the place of white. It took me about a minute, but I got back to the nothingness of the white world.

  “Mark?” I called out.

  He appeared in front of me and looked at his hands and touched his body. He then floated to me and embraced me. “That bastard got us with suspended animation stones, didn’t he?” Mark said. “If I’m going to spend an eternity with anyone, I’m glad it’s you.”

  “Eternity is going to have to wait. We’re getting out of here. I just need to summon my mom. Hold on.” I closed my eyes in the white world and pictured my mom. I imagined I was gravity and pulled her to me. When I opened my eyes, there she was, a few steps away, crying.

  “I’m so sorry, Allie,” my mom said. “I got you involved in this, and now look at us. Quinn probably has Blane right now and is making the stone. Or it could be a hundred years from then, and Quinn has control over the whole world.” She sobbed and put her face in her hands. “I failed you and the others.”

  “We haven’t lost yet. I found a way out.”

  Mom sniffed and looked up. “That’s impossible.”

  “I’m not even really in here right now. This is only a projection of me.”

  Mom shook her head and floated closer to me and Mark. “What’s going on outside? Did he get the stone?”

  “No, they’re twenty feet away from us right now, and they’re only discussing the logistics of making it. Apparently, they need a special.”

  Mom looked around the empty whiteness. “Show me how to get out of here. Quinn will never in a million years think we escaped this stone. We’ll have the upper hand.” She clapped her hands; her excitement was palpable.

  “You think Bridget and Jackie and the rest are okay?” I asked.

  Mom crunched up her face and put her hands on her hips. “Wait. How did we get here? The last thing I remember was you getting hit with a stone.”

  “He stopped time for everything but me and him.”

  Mom shook her head. “Another impossibility. And why did he want you with him?”

  I opened my mouth and then closed it, daring a glance at Mark. I hated lying. “He just wanted to gloat about how he had won and stuff.” I looked down at my hands. God, I was terrible at lying.

  “I’ll bet Quinn didn’t count on how special you are, Allie,” Mom said.

  Just thinking about him got my anger raging. “Are you guys ready to get out of here and end this?”

  “Hell, yes,” Mark said. “What do we do?”

  We connected hands and formed a small circle.

  “Let yourselves go. I think I can push you both out.” With so much anger bottled up inside me, it didn’t take me long to find the black hole above us, then push Mark and Mom through it.

  I opened my eyes and moved my hand to touch Mark’s, hoping for a response from him. His fingers glided over mine and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. We were together again, and Blane and Quinn were still talking about the stone.

  “I’ll take the young one back there first and see if she has the ability,” Quinn said. “How do I keep her from absorbing the stone in the end?”

  “The stone is a relic. It can’t be absorbed,” Blane said. “I plan on implanting the stone next to my bladder.”

  Quinn laughed. “You’re never going to get that chance, now, are you?” He slapped Blane on the back.

  I looked at Mark and nodded. He turned and did the same to Mom. I fished out a stone from my pocket and grasped it in my hand. I couldn’t see which one I had, but all the stones I was carrying were of the nasty sort.

  We got up quietly and stood next to each other, facing an unsuspecting Quinn’s back.

  I raised my hand, and they followed suit. I nodded and we threw. We must have made a noise, because Quinn turned around just as the first stone struck him in the face. It bounced off and fell to the floor, where it cracked open. My stone flew past its mark by over a foot, and Mom’s landed at Quinn’s feet. Mark’s stone spread a sticky foam over the lower half of Quinn’s body. Mom’s sent a puff of gas around him and Blane.

  Quinn screamed in anger and reached for his eyes. “Impossible!” he yelled. The foam traveled up past his knees and ended around his waist. He tried to free himself as he clawed at his eyes. “Blane, kill them,” he ordered, and Blane walked toward us.

  “Don’t do this, Blane,” I said.

  Blane stopped.

  “Kill them,” Quinn said.

  “Stop, Blane. You don’t want to kill us.”

  Quinn reached out, searching for a stone in his pockets, but they were encased in the foam around him. Mark kept a stone in his hand and looked from Blane to Quinn.

  “Your compulsion stone has no master,” I said.

  Quinn’s ragged laugh made him sound like a crazy person. “I was your master for over a month.”

  “Blane, kill Quinn,” I said.

  Quinn laughed again as Blane approached. “If I can’t have the stone, no one can.” He flicked a stone and hit Blane in the neck.

  Blane didn’t stop or take notice as he went to Quinn.

  “No, stop!” Quinn yelled frantically, but Blane didn’t listen.

  His already large body began to expand, and he pushed himself against Quinn, getting stuck in the foam. Quinn pushed and hit at Blane, but he kept expanding.

  “Oh, crap.” Mark grabbed me and pushed me against the wall, covering my body with his.

  That was when I heard the most sickening pop and splash I could ever imagine.

  Mark let go of me and turned around. Blane was gone and so was Quinn. All that remained were bits of Blane’s body and an empty shell of foam. I wanted to throw up at the gruesome display.

  “No, no, no,” Mom said, running toward Quinn’s last position.

  “He used a portal stone?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Mom said, pacing around in what was left of Blane. “And now we’ll never get the stone. Quinn will, eventually. He knows how. I’m sure he got Blane to spill every last detail.”

  “Before he exploded,” Mark added.

  This wasn’t ever going to end, and I knew Mark wasn’t going to like it, but if we were ever going to see an end to this, there could only be one way. Looking at my mother, I said, “I know how to make the last stone.”

  “What?”

  “I heard Blane explain it. We can make it in the next room.”


  Mom laughed and hugged me, lifting me off the ground. “You’re so amazing.”

  The next room was a large circular room with a stone jutting up from the center. I spotted the place I would need to stand, as described by Blane, and saw each of the four columns where I’d need to place the master stones. Every line and groove in the room led to the center stone.

  I walked up to it and saw the spot for my hand and the hole underneath it. There was another thing I had to tell my mom. “Mom?”

  “Yes?”

  “I want you to take the stone.”

  Mom walked toward me. “Why?”

  “I don’t want it. I don’t want any of this, and seeing Blane explode only reaffirms it. After this, Mark and I are leaving. We don’t want anything to do with alchemy.”

  Mom gazed at me, trying to judge my sincerity, I suspected. Maybe she thought I was testing her, but I wasn’t. I really did want her to take the stone.

  Finally, she spoke. “I understand. I hate that you’re even part of this now. I want you to be happy, but I think we all know I’m not the purest person, Allie. And none of us are even sure what this stone will do. If it turns me into something I don’t want to be, I might need your help. Just know, you and Mark are better people for this task.”

  “I don’t. Not anymore.” I pictured Quinn’s face and his smug smile—like he knew what I looked like naked. “I don’t care what you do with it, as long as you leave Mark and me and my friends alone. Do I have your promise?”

  Mom nodded. “Of course. But I still think either of you would be a better bearer than me.”

  That wasn’t too difficult, although I had my suspicions that she would never let me or Mark carry the stone in the end. I wanted the stone, and that was what scared me the most. Feeling the pull to it, I knew I couldn’t allow myself to wield it. Mark was right, again; that stone would change me, change us.

  “Ah, the soul stones,” Mom said, then knelt down and unzipped one of the large duffel bags Niles had carried. Inside were thousands of souls. “What do we do first? I don’t like the idea of Quinn being able to pop back into this place.”

  “He can’t,” I said. “The only way in here was through that portal door.”

  Much of what I knew came directly from Blane’s mind. In a strange way, I felt sad not having that connection with him anymore. Just thinking of the way Quinn had killed him made my anger pick up. I pushed my emotions away for later. I didn’t want to waste a single drop of anger. Making this philosopher’s stone was going to take me to the edge of insanity. I already felt weary just thinking about it.

  Mark rubbed my back, and I looked at him. Having him in this room made it possible for me to continue on. I went to put my arm around him, then I saw the bits of gore on his back.

  “Your back.” I pointed and pulled away.

  Mark pulled on his shirt and looked over his shoulder. “Oh, gross.” He carefully stripped it off and threw it to the floor. Leaning in close, he whispered, “You sure you want to do this? I still have that portal stone, and I doubt any of them could get this far again without Blane or you.”

  “No. If it isn’t today, it’s going to be another day, and not of my choosing. I’d rather my mom be the one holding the stone, with no one coming after us.”

  “Fine. You just tell me what to do. I’ve got your back,” he said, and glanced at my mom.

  “You ready, Allie?” She looked downright giddy.

  I didn’t share in her enthusiasm, especially with the bits of Blane’s carcass splattered all over the room, and God only knew how Bridget, Jackie, and the others were doing.

  “Yes,” I said. “The process for this stone is simple, but with only two people feeding me the stones, it’s going to take longer.”

  I laid out the entire process and with each step, I could see Mark’s growing concern.

  After we had distributed the soul stones between Mark and Mom, I took my place next to the pillar at the center of the room. The four columns around the circular room had holes in them and ramps that led from those holes to the center pillar, where I would place my hand in collection.

  The center pillar looked like an upside-down funnel, maybe two feet tall and hollow. I looked down into the small pillar and saw the ramps leading up to the top. This was where all the stones would strike my hand.

  I took a deep breath and shook out my hand. Once I had started, I would only be able to move my hand once, and the top of the pillar didn’t look comfortable. I was sure once we started with the soul stones, I’d be pinned to it. Something to deal with later.

  I put my hand, palm down, over the hole at the top of the pillar and took a deep breath.

  “Okay, send the seer stone,” I said.

  Mark nodded and pushed the stone through the hole in his column. The red seer stone rolled down the ramp, gaining speed before it hit the small ramp leading up into my hollow pillar. I couldn’t see the last few feet of its journey, but I felt the seer stone strike my palm and stick to it.

  An image flashed in my mind, a group of people pointing to the sky, screaming, then it was gone, but I still felt the terror of the people. They were screaming and running for their lives. Another image came, one with my friends hunkered down in a dark hole, holding each other and looking at the sky.

  I shook my head. The picture terrified me, and I had no context in which to put the visions. I knew the seer stone might show me things of the future or the past. I wanted to see the present. I wanted to see if my friends were okay.

  Another image sparked: Jackie running down a street in what looked like italy. She looked back and then threw a stone, screaming.

  “You okay?” Mom asked.

  “Yeah. Drop the binding stone.”

  My mom rolled the binding stone down her ramp and up into mine. It struck the seer stone with a crack and was absorbed into it. The stone got a tad heavier.

  “Now the master stones,” I said. “At the same time.”

  “One, two,” Mark said.

  “Three and four,” Mom added.

  That was where it started to get hard. The four stones rolled down the ramps and struck the seer stone with four quick clacks. They were absorbed into the stone. The weight of it pulled at my hand and I focused on my emotions, keeping the stone from being absorbed into me.

  This was the one chance I would get to lift my hand. For the next part to work, I had to accept the soul stones into me and channel them into the newly created stone attached to my hand.

  I raised my hand off the hollow pillar and looked at the stone, a red one with swirls of many colors wrapping around. The colors moved as I turned my hand, and the weight of it pulled at my skin. I kept focus. With my palm up, I placed the back of my hand on the pillar and readied myself for the soul stones.

  Images flashed and swirled around. People I didn’t know, laughing at a party. A man hunched over, coughing—I knew he was dying. It switched to people making love, then to the birth of a child. I swayed and steadied myself to stay on my feet.

  The information poured into me before I spotted my mother. She was floating above a city as if she owned it. I knew in my heart that she intended to harm everyone there. I didn’t know why, and the image changed before I could look into it further.

  The next part would be the hardest and longest. The soul stones. I had to let them be absorbed into my hand, transfering the energy into the stone. That was why no one but a special like me could do this. Put in a regular alchemist and they’d burn up from all the soul transfers.

  “Start the soul stones and don’t stop, no matter what I say or do.” Just speaking those words took a great amount of energy. I knew they’d be the last I spoke before the stone was made.

  Mark had a duffel bag next to him and my mother had the same. They picked up the first soul stone. The stone rolled down Mark’s ramp and up into mine. It slapped the back of my hand and I groaned as it soaked in, then the next hit, and then another, one after the next in a regular interval.
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  I slipped in and out of reality. I cried out and saw Mark poke his head around his column. I wanted to wave him off, but he went right back to feeding the soul stones down the ramp. The room faded around me again and I was a little girl, dancing with my mom in the kitchen. My dad cut in and kissed my mom. I felt so happy in that moment.

  The soul stones kept up their relentless assault against the back of my hand, and I felt them being absorbed through my hand and into the stone. I cried out as the stone pushed against my hand, growing in weight with each new soul stone.

  I heard Mark’s voice, but I was too far gone.

  I was now floating in a room with a uniformed man sitting at his laptop, talking with someone. I floated to the left and went into shock when I saw my young face on the screen. It was my dad sitting in front of me.

  “No!” I screamed. “Get out of here!” But he couldn’t hear me. I tried to push him, but I didn’t have anything resembling a body. I was just a floating witness. “I don’t want to see this,” I said.

  The back door opened, and I saw a man holding a gun. My dad didn’t hear him, though; he was too busy checking his laptop to try to figure out why he’d lost the connection with me.

  “Don’t move,” the man holding the gun said.

  My dad looked over his shoulder. “She’s gone already.”

  “Someday, this moment will save the world. She’s going to be the one. Cathy and the rest of us all know it. We’ve seen it.”

  “I know, but to put her through all this—” My dad shook his head. “It’s not right. I don’t think I can go through with it.”

  The man lowered his gun and walked over to my dad. I spotted the stone in his hand, and I screamed again. This couldn’t be real. “I know, and that’s why it’s been decided to make this as real as possible.” The man put the stone on the back of my dad’s neck.