by Alyssa Dean
"And what had you done?"
"It was a mistake," she whispered. "You have to understand that. It was a mistake. We didn't do it on purpose."
"All right," he agreed. He reached across the table to squeeze her hand. "I believe you."
"That's why I had to knock you out," she said as if it made sense. "I had to stop it. Not only for him, but for the rest of the world. You see that, don't you?" Her eyes widened in desperation. "I didn't want to hurt you. Even today, I didn't want to hurt you. I had no other choice."
Kent could see the panic overtaking her again. He turned her hand over, stroking her palm, lowering his voice to a soothing calm. "It's all right. Calm down. It's all right." He waited until her pulse had slowed to a fast normal before quizzing her further. "What was it your father was working on?"
"It's called the Mozelle formula. It's a substance that would dissolve the common pollutants in water."
"And it didn't work?"
"It did work!" she insisted. "Unfortunately, there was a side effect. The substance itself mutated to a poison."
Kent hissed in a breath. "That's a serious side effect, all right."
"It's worse than that." She swept her eyelashes down, watching her fingers twist around her fork. "The poison rose to the surface of the water. My father's intent was to have it dissolve, but that's not what happens. Instead, when the water is exposed to ultraviolet rays, the surface tension breaks." She lifted her eyelids. "It mutates to a poisonous vapor that kills all life around it. All life. Plants. Animals. Everything."
There wasn't a doubt in his mind that this part of her story was true. "Oh, wow!" he whispered.
"That's not all." She straightened her shoulders. "Then, it dissipates harmlessly."
Kent stared at her as the blood drained out of his face. "How much does it take?"
"It's very potent. A few drops will cause the effect."
"Let me see if I've got this straight. A few drops of this substance cleans the water, but then turns to a poisonous vapor that kills all life."
"In a radius based on the volume of water and the amount of Mozelle used," she put in. "In something the size of the Great Lakes, it could be thousands and thousands of miles."
"And then, it dissipates harmlessly?"
She nodded.
"Oh, Lord," he groaned. "The perfect weapon."
Chapter Five
"That's what I've got so far," Kent concluded. He held the phone with his shoulder and watched Faye tidy her small kitchen.
Dan's whistle of astonishment flew along the phone wires. "Alfaye Merline?" he asked. "She claims she's Alfaye Merline?"
"That's right," Kent confirmed. "Why? Have you heard of her?"
There was a long silence at the other end, then Dan's voice. "Yeah, I've heard of her, all right." His sigh was long and drawn out. "She disappeared about three years ago, along with her father, Glendon."
"What?"
"That's right. Glendon Merline was a British chemist or something of that nature. Worked for the World Environmental Agency. Don't remember much about Alfaye. They were over here on some WEA assignment, and they just vanished. No sign of foul play, nothing. One day he was there, the next day, he was gone and so was she."
"My God!" Kent muttered.
"Exactly! There was some hue and cry about it, with him being a British citizen and all. They scoured the country for him, but neither of them were ever found." Dan hesitated. "She says her father's dead now?"
"That's right. She said he had a heart attack last year."
"Well, well, isn't this fascinating," Dan mused. "Has she mentioned what she's been doing all this time?"
"Not yet."
"I wonder if this is all tied together with the Sharade break-in somehow. See what else you can find out about her."
"I will," Kent agreed. He paused. "Dan, there's no way I can turn her over to the police. She's just… too terrified. A day in jail would be the end of her."
There was silence at the other end of the phone. "Hopefully it won't come to that," Dan said finally. "Where are you tonight? Neverdale?"
"Sort of. I'm staying at Faye's place."
"Ah." Dan's voice was fraught with meaning. "Do you think that's wise?"
"It's wiser than trying to find my way through this forest in the dark."
"Uh-huh."
"Cut it out," Kent growled. "I'm sleeping on the sofa."
Dan chuckled. "That's a new name for it."
"Dan!"
"Okay, kid, whatever you say. listen, can you get her to Salt Lake City tomorrow?"
"I'll try."
"Go to the Shamrock Motel out near the airport, and keep a low profile. I'll meet you there. And be careful, Kent. I haven't found out much about Collingswood, but I…" He paused. "There's something else going on here, but I haven't narrowed it down yet. I think you'd better get her away from there, though. I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Join the club," Kent grunted. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow night."
"Right. Oh, and Kent…"
"Yeah?"
"Watch out for those sofas. If you aren't careful, you can create a bunch of tiny little love seats that call you Daddy." He was chuckling as Kent slammed down the receiver.
Faye slid a log into the fireplace, watched it catch, then drifted across the room to curl up in the middle of the sofa, her legs folded underneath her. "Are you all right?" she asked. "Did your headache come back?"
"Not yet." Kent sat in the big armchair and rested his forearms on his knees. "Will you come to Salt Lake City with me tomorrow? My friend, Dan, would like to meet you."
She looked pleased. "It would be a great honor to meet a Wizard's counselor. Besides, I'm your Ayaldwode. I have to stay with you."
"Uh-huh. Listen, are you the same Alfaye Merline who vanished with her father, Glendon, three years ago?"
She didn't seem to find the question at all surprising. "Yes," she said, nodding.
"Why?"
"We had to," she said earnestly. "We didn't know what else to do. That formula's a dangerous thing to know."
"You are the only one who knows about it, right?"
She lowered her eyes contritely and shook her head. "The Alchemist knows about it."
"The Alchemist?" Kent repeated. "Who's that?"
She lifted her gaze slowly and swallowed. "J-Joseph. Joseph Collingswood. He knows about Mozelle, and he has part of the formula."
"How did he get it?"
She pulled at the material of her dress, pleating it into neat rows. "He… stole it."
"Did he?" Kent had the impression that wasn't quite how it had happened. "How did he do that?"
"He was very clever," Faye said after a momentary pause. She stared at the fireplace, her eyes wide and distant.
"Why don't you start from the beginning," Kent suggested. "Your father, Glendon, worked for the World Environmental Agency, didn't he?"
She blinked her silver-blue eyes to focus on him. "Yes, he did. He was an expert on water pollution, and he spent a lot of time traveling, advising governments and private companies. When he wasn't doing that, he was doing research. One of his projects was Mozelle, but before it got very far, the funding for it was cut, and it was dropped. He was very disappointed, and decided to continue the work on his own time. We had a little lab in our house, and we did our own research there."
"How did he meet Collingswood?"
"He was sent to Sharade Research. There were some suggestions that Sharade had been dumping chemicals into the Colorado River—Sharade asked WEA to check into those allegations, and see what had to be done. The man in charge of the project was Joseph Collingswood."
"Oh."
"H-he didn't seem like a dangerous man, Kent. I never really liked him, but he was friendly enough at first." She shuddered. "He even invited us to his place for dinner a few times." Her eyes widened, and her breathing quickened.
Kent left the armchair to sit beside her, and she immediately snuggled into him,
her hand on his thigh, her head on his shoulder, her breasts pressed into his side. Kent bit his lip against a surge of sexual desire, and stroked a soothing hand down her back. "Go on," he croaked. "I need to know this."
"Okay." She breathed into his neck as she lifted her head. "By the time we went to Colorado, my father had developed the first part of the Mozelle formula, and was searching for a way to dissipate the poisonous toxin harmlessly. He had a couple of ideas, and he tested them on water from the Colorado River." She paused and looked down at her hands. "That's when he accidentally stumbled on the vaporization technique."
"And he told Collingswood?" Kent guessed.
"No!" she said indignantly. "He didn't tell anyone, but one of the research assistants knew what he was working on—a young man named Arnold Livingston. Arnold didn't know the entire Mozelle formula, but he did know bits and pieces of it. Arnold told Joseph about it, and Joseph told my father there was a great deal of money to be made with a formula like that. Dad said he wasn't interested in money, and Joseph seemed to accept that. After the Sharade project ended, we went back to Britain."
"So why did you disappear?"
She sighed a long, trembling sigh. "Arnold," she whispered. "He was a nice sort. A sweet, rather vague fellow. He phoned us one night, and told us Joseph had been after him for the formula. He sounded scared. He warned us that we should be careful, that Joseph really wanted that information." She wiped at her face. "My father thought Arnold was overreacting. A week later, he tried to phone Arnold. That's when we found out that Arnold had been killed."
"Killed?" Kent said sharply. "How?"
"Horribly," she murmured. "His body was found in the river—he'd been… tortured…" She took a gasping breath. "We didn't know what to do. Who would believe us? We had no evidence of anything. We destroyed all our research notes about Mozelle, anything we had about it." She lowered her voice, speaking so softly he had to bend his head to hear her. "A month or so later, Father was sent to Florida, to do some consulting work. He was already concerned about Joseph, about his interest in Mozelle, and he insisted that I come with him. One day, Joseph just showed up at the house we were renting. He knew details of Mozelle, and he tried to convince my father to give him the rest of the formula. When Father refused, Joseph threatened him. We were… terrified."
"Okay," Kent soothed. He stroked her with his hand, feeling the delicate bones under his fingers.
"We… decided to go into hiding. We were already in America, we had some money. We traveled around, and finally settled in Neverdale. It's remote enough that finding us would be difficult, and we could keep an eye on Joseph."
"How could you do that?"
She lowered her head and moved her hand down his thigh. "Arnold's uncle used to work at Sharade. He knew where we were and he kept us… informed. He used to send us lists of projects—things he had access to."
Kent massaged the tense muscles at the back of her neck. "Who was Arnold's uncle?"
"Webster," she said. "His name was Webster Harrison, and he used to be head of security at Sharade Research."
"Head of security," Kent repeated pointedly. "But he just…"
"Died," Faye completed. She looked up at him with overbright eyes. "That's right. He died a month ago." She cuddled closer. "Before he died, he told me that Joseph had begun some secret research at Sharade. He sent me all the information he could about it. I figured out what had been done and I… decided to break into the labs and change the experiment results. Webster flew to Salt Lake City, I met him there, and together we planned the break-in at the Sharade Research Lab. He was the one who got me that fake driver's license."
"Why did Webster need you?" Kent wondered. "He was security chief. He could have just done it."
"No, he didn't know enough."
"And what do you know that he doesn't?"
She tilted her head to one side and looked up at his face. "I worked a great deal with my father. Of course I naturally know a lot about chemistry, besides what I learned in university. I also took quite a few computer courses."
"You went to university?" Kent shook his head. "You couldn't possibly have. You're no more than a child."
Her chin jutted into the air. "I'm twenty-seven. I have two degrees in botanical research, and I would have had another if we hadn't… left."
"You have two degrees?"
"Yes." She laughed at his amazement, a sound that tinkled through her tiny house. "I'm only part Ayaldwode, Kent. The other half is Welsh."
"I must remember that. Okay, go on. Webster was going to help you break into Sharade."
"That's right. When I got to Denver, I discovered he had died." She gave Kent a sad look. "I don't believe it was a heart attack."
"I'm not sure I do, either."
"I didn't know what to do," she went on. "I didn't have the plans for the security system—Webster was going to help me with that part of it. I phoned the company and asked them who had taken over for him, and they told me Ron McAllister's name. They also told me he was going away. I thought he might have left his security badge at home, but when I went to his house there was a security system, and I couldn't get in. The little sign on the window said Stuart Investigations had installed it. I thought maybe they'd have the plans at the office, so I went there and…"
"And knocked me out," Kent finished for her.
"Exactly," she agreed. She watched the flames, then turned sad eyes toward him. "I didn't know who you were. Honestly, I didn't. I did ask, but you wouldn't tell me."
Kent squirmed uncomfortably. "Faye…"
Her gaze searched his face, her expression transforming to sparkling excitement. "Was it all part of your plan?"
"Plan?" Kent repeated. "Uh… what plan is this?"
"To defeat the Alchemist." Her fingers tightened around his thigh. "That's why you're here, Kent. You are my Wizard and you have the magic to defeat the Alchemist!"
"No!" Kent insisted. "I really don't know anything about this. I am not this Wizard character, I don't know any magic, and I have no mysterious plan about defeating this Alchemist of yours."
"You just don't want to tell me," Faye muttered under her breath. She pulled a pillow and blanket from the small closet inside the bedroom, and sighed. This wasn't turning out at all the way she'd anticipated. Oh, she'd expected to have to explain a few things to the Wizard, but this one didn't seem to know much about anything. He must be fairly new at this. He didn't appear to believe her, he refused to share his secrets, and, to make matters worse, he insisted on sleeping on the sofa in the living room. Her mother had mentioned Wizards were devious. This one excelled at it!
She paused at the bedroom door. The fire was almost gone, the embers glowing faintly in the darkening room. Kent sat exactly where she'd left him, in the middle of the sofa, stroking a thumb around the curve of his jaw while he thought. The top two buttons of his brown cotton shirt were open, the black curling hair underneath an exact match of that on his forearms.
Faye had expected a Wizard to be an old man, or at least one a lot older than Kent. A young, attractive man was a welcome surprise, and her awareness of him was another bonus. Too bad he was being so stubborn.
Kent glanced up, and smiled. "Are those for me?"
"Yes." She set the blankets and pillow beside him. "I still don't see why you're sleeping out here. I already told you we were going to be lovers. I don't know why you're being so difficult about it."
"I don't want to incur the wrath of your Wizard," he said. Although his tone was very serious, his eyes held a hint of teasing. "I don't think he'd like to find me in bed with his… Ayaldwode."
"I'm your Ayaldwode." Faye sank down onto the floor in front of him, facing the fire. "You don't believe me, do you?" she asked as she watched the last embers fade.
"Oh, now, I wouldn't say that." His voice deepened, his fingers lightly touched her hair. "It is a lot to digest."
A tingle started in the strands of her hair and worked its way down to her toes
. She moistened her lips with her tongue, and rested her head against his knee. "It doesn't matter," she said. "In the end it won't make any difference."
"You make it sound like I don't have any say in the matter."
"You don't." He was stroking her head, absently, as if he didn't know he was doing it. "You made your choice a long time ago," she went on, her voice soft and dreamy. "You could have chosen not to use your power, but you didn't." His hand stopped, then resumed. "No matter what, I'm glad you're here. Ayaldwodes are supposed to help a Wizard. We really aren't good at this kind of thing without one."
"Not good?" His tone was amused. "You managed to outwit the police, the security guards and me."
"Well, I am part Welsh," she reminded him. "Besides, I did have help."
"And a lot of drugs. What is that stuff you used on me, anyway?"
"A combination of things. The long-sleep powder had poppy and lysimachia stamen, dried, then treated with a solution my mother told me about. The short-sleep spray is different. It can be… painful." She glanced up at him. "Kent, I really didn't—"
"It's okay," he interrupted. "No matter whether I believe you or not, I'm convinced that you believe it."
They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Kent's hand still on her head, his thoughts obviously far away. "What happened to your legs?" he asked suddenly.
Faye stiffened. "My legs?"
"Yes. When I… Out in woods, there… I saw your thighs."
"Oh." The injury was three years old now. Her body had done its best to repair the damage but the skin was wrinkled, puckered and scarred, and some traces of discoloration remained. Perhaps that was why he didn't want to sleep in her bed with her. "Acid," she explained briefly.
"It must have been painful," he said, his voice warm with concern. "What was it? How—"
Faye twisted around to kneel in front of him, putting a finger on his lips to silence him. "I don't like to talk about it," she said. She began to trace her finger around Kent's mouth, but he put a hand on her wrist to stop her. "Do you think it's repulsive?" she asked.