The Quantum Games (Alchemists Academy #3)

by Kailin Gow

  So why hadn’t they gotten into the elite class? Wirt knew the answer to that. They’d failed at too many of the tasks and tests the teachers had set in the last term, so that they’d gone from being potentially promising candidates to not quite making the grade. Alana, who had been teamed up with them on so many tasks, had only made it because she’d found Priscilla when the princess went “missing” that time, and possibly because Priscilla had spoken up for her.

  Yet why had they failed? When it had come to the big one, the quest for the magical ropes, Wirt knew the answer to that too. Roland had damaged their chances by trying to steal from the giant whose home they had searched. He’d put Wirt off during tests, and talked down his performances wherever he could. In anything that gave him an opportunity to do so, he’d also battered and bruised Wirt as much as he could.

  At the time, Wirt had put it down to Roland wanting one of the fourteen places in the elite class so much that he was prepared to cheat to get it. He’d put it down to him hating Spencer too, and wanting to do anything he could to sabotage Spencer’s chances. What if that wasn’t the whole story, though.

  “You must have trained pretty hard for the Games,” one of the other students said to Roland.

  Roland shrugged. “All my life.”

  “All your life? But you didn’t even know you’d be in the Games until the end of last term.”

  Roland smiled in a way that disarmed that comment. “What I mean is that everything in my life so far has been leading up to this point. I feel like it’s my destiny to get through to the elite class.”

  Wirt was beginning to suspect that destiny had nothing to do with it. He thought back to those conversations he’d heard Roland having with whatever it was he kept in that old lead box of his. They’d talked about some kind of plans for the school, and about dealing with potential threats, but Wirt had never thought that it might mean him.

  That, however, was exactly what it was starting to look like. Him and Spencer, because Roland had gone to great lengths to ensure that they wouldn’t quite be good enough to pass through into the elite class automatically. Which meant that he’d known about the re-institution of the Quantum Games, and had specifically tried to get them involved.

  Why? The answer to that was obvious as Wirt looked over at Roland and saw the other boy staring back with eyes that were as cold and dead as any he’d seen. Roland wanted to kill them. He wanted to do it, but he wanted to do it in a way that wouldn’t attract suspicion. That would probably even attract plaudits from the headmaster, given the way Ender Paine had reacted after the obstacle course.

  Wirt stood up, putting his book away and heading back to the room that he now shared with Robert. It didn’t make sense, did it, that anyone would want to kill him? As far as he knew, he didn’t have any enemies. Except that what Roland was doing told him that he did. Or maybe it wasn’t as personal as that. Spencer’s inclusion in the scheme felt personal. It felt like a continuation of the feud between their families that had started with the death of the girl, Elise.

  With him though, what if it were just a way to get at one of the most powerful students in the school? What if someone had heard the whispers about him that people seemed to think Wirt didn’t hear? The ones suggesting that he had some kind of destiny? The ones where Ms. Lake, Ender Paine, and practically everyone else in the school seemed to have plans for him that he didn’t know about?

  If they’d heard those, wouldn’t someone wanting to harm the school target him? At the very least, killing him would upset whatever plans Ms. Lake and the rest had for him. Someone cautious might also want to get rid of him before he became any more powerful, especially if they knew about the role Wirt had played in stopping Ervana.

  Robert was in their room when Wirt arrived, apparently experimenting with using a broadsword while on a unicycle. He fell off as Wirt entered the room.

  “Wirt, you can’t go around surprising me like that.”

  “I think we have bigger problems than that,” Wirt said, helping the prince to his feet. “I think… I think something big is happening around the school, and I’m pretty sure that whatever it is, the first step involves Roland trying to kill me.”

  Robert put the sword away. “Then you don’t let him do it. You make sure that you win. Dead advisors are no use to anyone, for a start.”

  Wirt nodded, knowing that Robert meant it to be reassuring. The trouble was, he wasn’t sure how he was going to stop it from happening. The Quantum Games had only just begun, and Roland was already ahead.

  Chapter 14

  This room was circular, with a large, equally circular table dominating the middle. Someone had set up a podium at one end, beside which Wirt currently stood along with Roland and Spencer. There wasn’t room for the audience that there had been for their first task, but there were still people there.

  Ender Paine sat at the opposite side of the table from the podium, making it clear that he was in charge of the proceedings. Several of the instructors at the academy occupied other seats there, with Ms. Lake sitting to the headmaster’s left and Ms. Burns further around the table. The large, bulky form of King Wilford was to Ender Paine’s immediate right, while Wirt also recognized the lizard-like being next to the king as one of the school’s management committee. Again the presence of magic mirrors scattered around the room suggested that there were more people watching elsewhere.

  Then there were the other presences… the ones that seemed to flicker on the edge of Wirt’s vision, not quite noticeable but definitely there. It seemed that even the school’s governors wanted to watch this.

  James from the elite class was there too, along with Tess. The older boy stepped up to the podium and Wirt watched the confident way he did it, apparently unfazed by any of the strange presences around the room. Wirt found himself wondering if the other boy could even sense them, because if he could, he was certainly doing a good job of hiding it.

  “Welcome to today’s round of the Quantum Games,” James said. “The headmaster has allowed me to open this round, and to thank him, our school’s management board, and the school governors, who I am assured are taking a great interest in these proceedings.”

  He shivered slightly at that, but not as much as Wirt did, because a sibilant hissing went up from the unseen figures around the room. James nodded before continuing.

  “Because of my place in the elite class, I have become an advisor to Prince Alrin of the Eastern Desert Kingdom. Every day, I have to weigh up possibilities and suggest courses of action. I must make decisions and then persuade others that I am right, whether that is my prince, his people, or visitors to the kingdom. If I fail to persuade people, then the consequences are both real and very serious, and I must often do all this without any preparation. Which is why the three candidates to join the elite class will debate now without having been told the issue that they will be discussing beforehand.”

  Wirt’s stomach knotted at that. The idea of standing there and speaking while the creatures on the edge of vision stared at him was difficult enough, but to do it without even having time to prepare an argument? That was going to be very difficult indeed. The only good point seemed to be that there weren’t any potentially lethal obstacles involved in this test. Though not everyone seemed to be as happy about that as he was.

  “Talking?” Roland said in apparent disbelief. “We’re just going to be talking?”

  “I can agree with the young man’s point on this one,” King Wilford said. “I thought that there was going to be some action when you called me here, Ender.”

  The headmaster looked across at the king. “One of our participants has been assigned to advise your son,” he pointed out. “Don’t you want to see if he is up to the task?”

  King Wilford leaned forward. “Yes, I guess so. Though if he doesn’t make the elite class, what do I care? And if he isn’t good enough then, I can always have him beheaded.”

  Wirt swallowed nervously. It seemed that nothing in this te
st was about to make things easier for him.

  “As for you, Roland,” Ender Paine said, “if you do not like a task, you can always pull out of the competition.”

  Roland shook his head. “I’m just eager to get on with the real action.”

  “This is real,” the headmaster said. “For an advisor, this is the reality of every day they spend with a ruler. And just for that, you can go first. James, begin.”

  The elite student nodded an acknowledgement. “This will be a straightforward debate. You will each have a chance to present your case. The question is what you would do if you were in charge of the school, with full power over those within. Roland, since the headmaster has indicated you should speak first, please step up to the podium.”

  Roland took James’ place with obvious ill grace, and also a look that suggested he was trying to think quickly. After a second or two, he shrugged.

  “What is the Alchemists Academy?” he asked at last. “The answer to that is simple. It is a place of power. It is a place where students gain strength, yet they do not always use that strength. They end up as advisors to rulers, or working on arcane research no one but them understands. Why?”

  Roland paused, looking around the table at the few elite students there, at the teachers, and finally at the headmaster. “Why are we advising rulers when we could be rulers? This school could be a force to be reckoned with in the world. Instead, it holds back, teaching students to be less than they could be. If I were in charge here, I’d stop that. I’d make this school far more powerful, and give it some real influence.”

  That got some positive looks from a few of the teachers, and Wirt heard some of the shadowy governors hissing in pleasure at the suggestion, but to his surprise, the headmaster didn’t look happy about it. Perhaps Wirt had misjudged him, or perhaps he just didn’t like any aspect of his work at the school being criticized. King Wilford certainly didn’t look happy with the idea of the school taking over from rulers rather than supporting them.

  “Well, that was certainly very… interesting, Roland,” James said. “And I know we’ve all had days when we’ve felt like taking over from our royal charges. Wirt, I think that you’re up next.”

  Wirt nodded, stepping up to the podium, and stared out at the assembled audience as he realized that he didn’t know what he was going to say. He could practically feel them staring at him. Especially the governors, with their alien, otherworldly interest in him.

  “I believe it is customary to speak during a debate,” the lizard man Sslarven pointed out, to a laugh from the others.

  “I… the school has done a lot for me,” Wirt said. “I’ve learnt things I never thought I could learn. I’ve done things that seemed impossible until I did them, and half the time, I’ve only realized what lessons meant once I’ve been through them. I don’t always understand what is going on here. I won’t pretend to. I often think that the way things are done here is crazy, or designed just for someone’s malicious amusement. I’d like to think though that it isn’t random, and that there is some kind of plan to the way the school is run. I know that this is my home now. More of a home than I’ve had anywhere else. That’s why, if I had the power to do what I wanted with the school, I wouldn’t change anything. I’d leave things as they were.”

  The people around the table seemed surprised by that, and maybe a little disappointed. Perhaps they’d been expecting Wirt to come up with some grand plan on the scale of the one Roland had proposed. Only Ender Paine seemed to give a small smile, as though glad that someone appreciated his work. The shifting forms Wirt could barely sense also seemed to exude a vague sense of satisfaction, but it was nothing like the happiness they’d shown at Roland’s more destructive suggestion.

  Finally, it was Spencer’s turn to speak. He took Wirt’s place at the podium and looked out at the assembled crowd. Wirt had expected him to look nervous, but he’d forgotten that this was the son of a man who ran a large, multi-dimensional business with an iron grip. Spencer had been born for this.

  “I’ve heard Roland and Wirt speak, and I listened to their ideas with interest, because it seemed to me that they both did the same thing.”

  They had? As far as Wirt could see, his approach had been about as far from Roland’s as was humanly possible. So what did Spencer have up his sleeve that was so different?

  “What I mean,” Spencer said, “is that they both assumed that just because they had total power, they should use that power without asking anyone how they wanted them to use it.”

  “It’s always worked for me,” King Wilford joked. The headmaster gave him a sharp look, but none of it seemed to faze Spencer.

  “With respect, Your Majesty, you take advise on your decisions, don’t you?”

  “Well… yes. I suppose so.”

  “And you have subjects who petition you, making their opinions known?”

  “Well…”

  “So even though you have power,” Spencer insisted, “you don’t use it without at least thinking about what other people might want. Yet that is exactly what Roland and Wirt have done here. They have decided what would suit them the best, and given the power they would apply it to the whole school. Roland wants more power, and so his version of the school becomes about that. Wirt doesn’t want things to change, and so they don’t.”

  Spencer looked around the room. “If I had power within the school, I would work hard to avoid that kind of mistake. I would go to the students, and I would ask them what they wanted from the school. I would ask the king and the school board of directors. I would take into account the wishes of the governors.”

  “So you would just do whatever other people wanted?” Roland sneered. James looked at him and Roland was quiet.

  “No,” Spencer said. “I would ask, but I would also look at what each of those groups needed. Sometimes we don’t ask for what we need. Students will always want fewer lessons, for example, but those lessons are where we learn what we need to know in the world. I would listen to what people wanted, and I would look at what they needed. Only then would I form a plan. I wouldn’t just try to make the school run the way I wanted.”

  Spencer stopped, stepping down from the podium. Wirt looked around the room and practically everyone seemed impressed with what he had said. After a minute or two of deliberation with King Wilford, during which Wirt was sure one of the shadowy governors moved over to him and whispered something, Ender Paine stood up.

  “We have heard three very different approaches today, but only one has convinced us that the boy arguing for it has listened to the task. This was not about who could set out the most, or least, ambitious vision for the school. This was about who could demonstrate the ability to carry people along with him. Only Spencer Bentley truly did so, understanding the true role of an advisor. As such, he is the winner of this round of the Quantum Games.”

  Wirt looked across at his friend, happy at least that Roland hadn’t won. At the same time though, he found himself facing a very uncomfortable fact. After two rounds of the Quantum Games, he hadn’t won an event.

  Chapter 15

  Roland stormed his way to the transportation tubes ahead of Wirt, jumping into them and heading away. It was hard to say exactly where, because the nature of the transport tubes made it impossible to be certain about that kind of thing, but Wirt guessed that Roland would either be away to practice more, or back to his room.

  There was something about the sheer anger with which Roland had left that made Wirt follow, but not using the tubes. That would have just brought him out behind Roland and led to the other boy demanding to know what he was doing. Instead, he transported himself back to the room he shared with Robert and peered out of the door, waiting until Roland had gone past, heading for his own room.

  Wirt crept across to the door as quietly as he could. The wood was thick, making it hard to hear through, but then Wirt remembered the trick he’d picked up in Ms. Burns’ lesson and pushed his senses outwards, feeling the world around
him. It worked better than he could have expected, or perhaps he had simply forgotten that before, it had let him feel the whole forest. For a moment or two, he could feel the whole of the tree around him. He could see it mapped out for him; hear every conversation inside it at once. He could feel its tangled network of roots spreading, and spreading…

  Wirt managed to pull his mind back enough to concentrate on Roland’s room, hearing the voices within it. One was Roland’s, while the other was cracked and whispering, seemingly barely there. The voice from the box.

  “I… I didn’t win the second event,” Roland said. His usual casual arrogance was gone, replaced by something else. Fear.

  “You have failed? You have lost?”

  “I can still get through to the final,” Roland insisted.

  “Final? What is this? Is this not the Quantum Games?” The voice from the box sounded agitated.

  “They have preliminary rounds now,” Roland said. He still sounded frightened. “Debates, and obstacle courses, and things. I tried to make the obstacle course more dangerous.”

  “Trying is the same as failing,” the voice from the box said. “You do a thing, you succeed in it, or you do not. And debates!”

  “There are three of us,” Roland explained. “They want to get rid of one of us before the final.”

  “And you have failed in a round?” The other voice rose slightly. “We have worked so hard to arrange this. You will not fail. You cannot. Bad enough that now you can only kill one of them…”

  “I’ll find a way,” Roland promised.

  “You had better.”