The Fake Voice (Time Alchemist)

by Allice Revelle

  I shot him a look. I was tired and hurt and angry, and he took my hope and popped it like a balloon. “I know you don’t trust the Black Crown—and believe me when I say I don’t either. I’m going to get in so much trouble after this from them—but they were our only hope. Do you want to run off with Alyssa and delay the help she needs? Do you want to run off and be just another one of White’s supporters on the run? The Black Crown isn’t all that good, but they can help you, and I swear that if they touch you in any bad way I will make them pay.”

  His eyes still hesitated, even when I stepped forward. Oliver coughed and backed up, clearly giving us space. “I know you can’t trust them. But can’t you trust me? Please?”

  It was just like the conversation we had at White’s mansion, and I saw Rick’s eyes held firm, but I saw his mind recollecting the very same déjà vu I was feeling. His lips pressed in a thin line, and then I was surprised when he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine.

  “I do trust you.”

  My heart soared, and I had to hold back the choking cry that threatened to leak out. With a firm nod, gripping the torn and bloody fabric of my shirt, I marched forward into the clearing with Oliver and Rick (plus Alyssa) at my sides like two bookends.

  It was going to be complex, confusing…I’m sure I had broken a thousand and one rules in the Black Crown’s code of honors. I had gotten my closest friends involved and they were probably being punished too, but at this moment I didn’t care.

  We were surrounded like bees in a hive. Everyone talking at once, taking us farther away from the woods as a team of red cloaks charged into the woods to assess the situation. I refused to budge away from Rick or Oliver, even when Rick wanted to follow Alyssa as a hefty man who I think I recognized to be a Weaver took Alyssa and headed to Julios Hawkins—the Healer.

  Alyssa’s wounds were healed though she still slept, but some color had returned to her cheeks. Though Julios looked grim, his eyes shown with relief when he met mine, and I could understand the silent message he was passing to me. I smiled in return; glad to be with someone familiar, if mysterious.

  The rest of that morning was nothing but a blur. Multiple hands tugged at my body, leading me to one of the cars. Though I tried to protest about being separated from Rick and Oliver, I caught sight of

  Rick nodding in understanding, and I knew I would find a way to get back to him.

  I heard distant mumbling coming from everywhere, like a surround sound speaker inside my head. “Take them to our hospital.

  Stat!” ,“What should we do with White’s—”, “Somebody put that fire out!”, “What’s your name, boy?”, “Set up a time for interrogation immediately.” “Sir, what about—”

  I was pushed into the car by unusually gentle hands, and I looked up to see Misa Klaus, one of the Weavers of the Black Crown. She smiled at me, murmured something about resting up and was gone as fast a fox.

  For the brief minute I was alone in the car, waiting to be towed off to whatever hospital or home or prison that the Black Crown owned, I ripped off a piece of my shirt and wrapped the pieces of the Elixir mixed with glass in it. Tying it as best as I could, I shoved it in my scratched up messenger bag, into the deepest pocket, and held the bag firmly to my chest, falling into a slow, uncomfortable, but welcoming slumber.

  CHAPTER 23

  I should have expected it. I really, honestly should have. But then again, I don’t think anyone at the Black Crown—not even Rick—would have assumed she would do it.

  Nobody could figure out how Alyssa Denton managed to escape the keen eyes of the Black Crown. Then again, it was a public hospital, even if the Black Crown reserved an entire wing for their injured. I wasn’t all that surprised, but it was nothing of how unsurprised Rick was.

  “She’s a Wind Alchemist,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes at the adults accusing him of aiding her escape. “You can’t lock the wind up.”

  I was more worried about her safety than the fact that she was alive out there, and probably still wanted to kill me. But it just proved to me how insanely powerful Julios was—using his alchemy to heal her wounds without any trace of a scar. I was so relieved to hear that the bullet wasn’t lodged inside of her and had missed all of her vital organs.

  It may have been her tempered wind that caused the bullet to veer to the right instead of going through the middle of her chest, but I was glad nonetheless. She may be pure evil but she didn’t deserve to die.

  But Alyssa’s escape was only icing on the cake of Deep Trouble with the Black Crown. Not only was I being scolded like a little grade-schooler about my “running away” and “plans to infiltrate White without the consent of knowledge of the higher ups” and “deceiving the Black Crown”, but they kept trying to tie Rick to White’s crimes.

  That’s where I put my foot down. Yes, I admit, I acted like a stuck up, crying, screaming baby.

  I almost told off Christopher Nettles, head honcho of the Southern branch, but I tried my best and told him e verything that had happened and what pushed me to run away. I told him about the plan of escaping, how I had “coerced” Chrys and Ru into helping (I didn’t want them to get in any more trouble than they were, so I lied that I had snuck into Frankie Ann’s trunk and left without saying a word, and only contacted Chrys that one time to get help). The alchemists I had met in Atlanta and how Rick was running away from White to help me. I told him how, yes, it was all a plan at first, but he changed and helped me and another Extraordinary Alchemist—Oliver—escape from White’s clutches.

  The only parts I left out where Guinevere’s book and the shards I had stashed in my bag. Luckily nobody had bothered to look through my things and found them. I’m sure I would be in deep shit for hiding something like that, but I couldn’t chance the Black Crown taking the

  Elixir away before I could save Dove.

  But what I did tell with every single detail I could remember is White’s plan: his goals to find Guinevere, to find the Elixir and how he was planning to kidnap a bunch of alchemists like Chrys, Oliver, and I, and how he wanted to turn normal humans into alchemist through a mass murdering spree. Christopher may have been a rough boss, like a school principle you did not want to mess with, but he was just as shocked when I revealed White’s plan to him.

  After the interrogation, I stayed locked up in a spare room in one of New York’s Black Crown institutions. But no matter how fancy of ancient a secret organization was, there was always gossip. All I had to do was listen hard and pretend to be ignorant.

  Apparently after our “rescue”, the Black Crown discovered the charred remains of White’s mansion. There was seldom anything that survived the fire, and the few items they managed to dig up wasn’t worthy of keeping or mentioning.

  But the thing that bugged me the most was no mention of any bodies.

  Both Oliver and Rick were equally questioned by Christopher, though Oliver opted to write it out instead. Everyone at the Black Crown didn’t bother to hide how thrilled they were to find another “E-Alchemist”.

  Yeah. That’s right. E-Alchemists. That’s what they referred to alchemists like us: “Extraordinary”. Apparently we were a new brand of alchemists, different from the Blood-Bornes or the Self Taught. They treated Oliver like a prince returning home from war, showering him with extra care and granting whatever small request he made. They were intrigued and curious about his powers, and it was almost comical how Oliver was so uncomfortable with the situation. Luckily though, I didn’t have to stay in lock down forever when Oliver “requested my company”

  most of the time, so I was happy for that.

  Rick’s case was a different story. Being associated with White, no matter if he willingly walked away, gave him no lenience for innocence.

  Though Rick was one hundred percent truthful about everything, it was like the higher ups were made of stone, refusing to budge. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Oliver vouching for Rick, I was sure they would have arrested him for any small thing.
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br />   It was the end of our second day up in New York—the next morning we would all be shipped back to Savannah—when I ran into Rick in the hallway. The Black Crown didn’t lock my door at night (though they had guards posted at all the exits), and since I was feeling antsy I decided just to go for a quick walk to stretch my legs.

  And found Rick.

  His room was only down the hall, but his door was cracked open.

  Through the slit, I could see him hunched over in his bed, his head resting in his hands. If I didn’t know any better, I thought he was praying.

  Taking a few quick glances down the hall, I knocked gently on the door. Rick bolted up like he was struck by lightning as I snuck in, shutting the door with a soft click.

  “It’s me.”

  His shoulders sagged. “Oh. Yeah.”

  I took a cautious step forward and sat on the edge of the bed. Rick didn’t bother to look back at me, and I didn’t press him too.

  “You feeling okay?” I asked.

  He let out a laugh. “Sure. I’m as bright as can be. In these walls I’m basically a free murderer walking around. It’s a wonder nobody’s stuck a knife in my back just yet.”

  I frowned. “Nobody thinks that.”

  “Don’t kid yourself, Emery,” Rick snorted. “It’s only thanks to Oliver that I can walk around without handcuffs. Come tomorrow they’ll decide my punishment, but I’ll deal with it. I’ve already accepted whatever it is there gonna throw at me.”

  “Then I’ll fight them, tooth and nail,” I protested. “Yeah, you’ve done some bad things in your life but who hasn’t? You tricked me—but you saved me, too. I know you’re a good person, Rick. And so you

  shouldn’t give a crap what other people think.”

  “Whatever you say, Clockie.”

  I punched him lightly in the shoulder, my eyes never straying away from the heavy cast that was wrapped around his broken arm.

  “We’ll get through this. Isn’t that what you’ve told me before?

  Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Finally Rick cracked a smile, though it didn’t meet his eyes. His normally blazing chocolate orbs were dull as dirt. All the fight had just left him, burnt out like a light bulb. “Will you promise me something? I know I don’t have the right to ask…but when I get locked up—”

  “Which you won’t.”

  “Shut it and let me finish?” he gave a crooked grin. “Okay, if I get locked up…will you find Ash for me?”

  I blinked, startled by the favor he was asking. Rick went on, I guess afraid I would refuse. “I don’t want you to find him and bring him back. I just…I need to know where he is, how he would be doing.

  Dammit, he’s a fucking asshole for what he did back at White’s but he’s still my brother.”

  I placed a hand over his, squeezing gently. “What happened, anyway? Oliver said you ran off to him?”

  “Yeah. I saw him coming up the stairs just as he was lighting the damn place on fire like some pyromaniac. I rushed to him to stop the

  fires from spreading, and gave chase. I thought—there was this small part of me that thought if I could find him, I could punch some damn sense into him and get him away from White’s influence. And I did. I punched him as fucking hard as I could, screaming at him to snap out of it. But then he pushed me down the stairs. That’s how I broke this stupid arm.” He shrugged, shifting his cast a little, and even that movement made him hiss in pain. “I tried looking for him but found nothing.”

  I bit my lip. Rick was shaking now, his whole body curled up like a child scared of the monsters under the bed. He knows they aren’t real, but can’t help but tremble in fear at the possibility of What if?

  “I thought he was dead. I thought I left my brother to die in that fire. But he’s tougher than that. I’m sure of it.”

  “Yeah, he is,” I swallowed. “He gets it from his stubborn brother.”

  This time Rick managed a full on smirk. “Damn right it is. I taught him well. But I know he’s out there somewhere, probably licking his wounds, waiting for the right time to attack. I just have to know if he’s okay, even if I can never see him again.”

  “Everything will be fine,” I said softly. “I promise. Because there’s nothing to worry about anymore, right? Ash and Alyssa may still be out there…but no more White. He’s gone.”

  Rick’s dark eyes clouded over and I felt myself go cold. “You really think so?”

  I gulped. “I…yes. I think so. I-I pushed him down the stairs. I heard something…break. Didn’t you…see his body when you came up to find me?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  Cold fear gripped my insides, and every bruise and cut that White caused seemed to throb in unison. “Maybe…Alyssa moved his body when she came up. She was so furious. That had to be it…there’s no way he could have escaped by himself…not with the whole place surrounded…”

  Rick refused to look my way, though this time he squeezed my hand, as if to assure me that my delusions were probably real. “Yeah.

  Maybe…”

  CHAPTER 24

  Early the next morning, I cornered Christopher, who had come to personally “escort” me back to Savannah and “keep an eye” on me just in case. My punishment wasn’t as terrible as I thought: I was, again, on

  “house arrest” with Frankie Ann, but now the Black Crown was going to be in charge of my training. They wanted to start a new program filled with E-Alchemists, and I would be the first runner up.

  Basically, if I wanted to go back to having a normal life come September and see my dad again, I was to become a temporary “soldier”

  for the Black Crown. Could be worse. In all honesty, I did need the training. And I had gotten what I really wanted, so even if I had to be locked up—as long as I could save Dove—then I would do whatever they wanted me to do like their little pet circus monkey.

  I sat perfectly still on my bed, going over and over mentally what I was about to do, when Christopher knocked on my door. Then I jumped.

  “I want to bargain for Rick’s freedom.”

  Christopher’s poker face didn’t so much as crack, though he lifted one eyebrow in a sign of curiosity. Or perhaps amusement that his small sixteen (almost seventeen) year old girl thought she could bribe the

  head of the Southern Black Cross. He didn’t say anything so I went on.

  “Let Rick come back to Savannah with me—put him to work or whatever—but you can’t lock him up. In exchange, I’ll give you Guinevere de Blanc’s book.”

  Christopher scowled. “Wonderful how you failed to mention you had Guinevere’s book in your possession.”

  “That’s because I don’t physically have it at this moment,” I shot back. “I sent it to myself a couple days ago—so White couldn’t get it. As insurance, you know? Once we get home, I’ll personally hand you the book if you agree to my deal.”

  “Why are you bothering to go this far for some boy who betrayed you?” his words were like poison, stinging my blood and it made me shiver, but I refused to budge.

  “Because he isn’t as bad as you are making him out to be,” I insisted, “He’s just a normal kid who loves his brother—a guy who would do anything to protect the people he loved. Yes, he’s made mistakes, but if you listened to his story you would know that people don’t come in shades of black and white; there’s a balance of gray. Just because you associate with someone evil doesn’t make you evil.

  “And I trust him. I trust him far more than I could ever trust you or this organization.” I finished, watching Christopher’s eyes narrow into thin slits. I know that the Black Crown wasn’t evil, not by a long shot,

  but their methods could use some work. And White was evil to the core, yet he took in foster kids like Rick and Ash, and raised them and taught them alchemy. Yeah, he probably had ill intentions, but if he hadn’t found them they would probably be long dead on the streets or in jail, confused about a mysterious power inside of them.

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nbsp; A full minute passed. I didn’t dare blink or breath. Until finally, finally, Christopher sighed, and reached his hand out. “I’ll have to personal see the book before we make a deal, but I’ll keep your…’offer’, in mind. But Roderick will be kept on lockdown until you give me Guinevere’s book. That’s all I’m going to do.”

  “Fine.” I reached out, grasped his hand and shook firmly. “We have a deal.”

  An hour later I was seated comfortably in the back of a sleek black car, with only the grumpy Christopher Nettles to keep me company…

  And one very excited Oliver Benton.

  To my surprise, Oliver has claimed he wanted to freely come with me—to go to Savannah and train his alchemy a little. Of course, the Black Crown almost peed their pants in excitement, but I had warned Oliver before not to get snatched up.

  “I’m eighteen,” Oliver had said with a twinkle in his eye. “They technically can’t hold me against my will. And as long as they can teach

  me I’ll do it, and nothing more.”

  Though it wasn’t smooth sailing from here—we actually had to make a stop in Atlanta so Oliver could collect his things and tell his goodbyes to his Aunt Rosie, promising to return by the end of the summer. “I might be an alchemist, but I’m still going to school. I worked hard to get in!”

  I made a fake joke, wondering if he was my long lost brother, but pleased all at the same time that he still valued his “normal” life just as much as I did.

  “And I want to know…”

  “Hmm?” I murmured, fighting back a yawn.

  Oliver raked a hand through his looks, staring wistfully out the window. “My dad’s been an alchemist before, even though he gave it up for me—a kid who wasn’t even blood related to him. He never mentioned that he was an alchemist, but he always looked so happy. He lived to the fullest, and I want to honor his memory by becoming a great alchemist, just like him. I do wish he had told me sooner, but maybe the Black Crown might be able to help me discover who he was before he became my dad.”