by Matt Ryan
“We got the portal hall filled with some desks and chairs, floor to ceiling,” Mark said.
“Eesh. I hope no one portals in there.” The thought of it gave me the willies.
“I do,” Jackie said.
“The teachers are in their place,” Carly said. “They were coming to when we were gagging them, though, so I left a few guards at the door. Oh, and we put Deegan’s body in his own room. Even got some Blues to help me with that one.”
“The Blues are gone. So are the Reds,” I said, shivering at the thought of what Carly had just done.
“Attention! We may not have much time,” Mom called out.
I turned to see my mom standing on the fountain wall. She paced the wall and took in the hundred students looking up at her. I noticed the faces of the Blues on their side and realized the Reds were on my side, except Bridget and Leo. Some things were hard to change, I guessed—friends were friends. At least I didn’t see any colors.
“I wish I could say we’re going home, but the truth of it is that we’re stuck here for the time being.”
The crowd turned on her quickly, angry chatter filling the hub.
“Silence, please.” My mom gathered herself and faced the Blue side. The chatter slowed to a murmur. “Thank you. Is there a person here capable of making a portal stone?”
More chatter, until Carly spoke up. “You think we’d be here if we knew how?” The crowd laughed.
Mom nodded. “I won’t lie to you. Directly above us is an army of dark alchemists. It won’t take long for them to figure out what happened down here. I hope you’ve already made your defensive stones, because I need you to make several other stones in large quantities to help get us out of here.”
The crowd rumbled with questions.
“Believe me, I want to get out of here as soon as possible, but if we just run outside without the proper preparations, many of us won’t make it out alive. Now, I’ve drawn out the three stone circles I need. Who can read alchemist circles?”
I couldn’t, but Jackie, Leo, and Carly raised their hands.
“You three, Jackie and the other two, get over here.” She handed down a piece of paper to Carly and then to Jackie and Leo.
Jackie looked at the paper and shook her head. “You’re serious?”
“Oh, yeah. I want you to take as many students as you can into a classroom and start making stones right now. Same goes for you two.”
Mark laughed. “Just when they thought they wouldn’t be making any more stones for someone.”
“This is different,” I said.
Jackie jumped up on the small wall around the fountain. “Listen, I don’t give a shit about your colors. In fact, if I see them, I’m going to kick you in the balls or punch a tit. You got it?” She held the paper in front of her face. “I need a group of people to break down the doors to rooms twenty-one to twenty-five. Those are the material storage rooms. I’ll be by to direct the materials for the stones we’re making.”
The crowd stood quiet and looked at each other as much as Jackie.
“Move, people. We have the damned dark alchemists standing over our heads.” Jackie jumped from the wall, and she and Leo herded people in the general direction of the storage rooms. They kicked in the storage room doors, and soon Jackie was barking orders like a shopping list while Leo pushed students into different rooms. “Sulfur, pewter dust, tons of solvent, pitch, wood shavings….”
Mom called out to the remaining crowd, “I need another group of students to go to room ten. There has to be a portal maker among you, and I aim to find out who it is.” When they didn’t move, she yelled, “Go on, get there!”
They scattered.
She hopped off the fountain and walked over to me. “I need your help, Allie.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“There’s something missing, and I bet it’s in Verity’s office.” She tapped her chin and looked at the statue above us. “This statue is pretty brilliant. The perfect circle would concentrate an essence stone.”
“It killed people. People I cared for.”
My mom sighed. “Their stones should be here. I’m going to need them, all of them. I want you and Mark to go through her office. She must have a safe in there. Just be very careful with the essence stones. Don’t drop them.” She didn’t say another word as she turned around, heading back toward room ten.
“I see where you got some of that spirit,” Mark said.
“Yeah, well, I’m starting to see where I get a lot of things.” I stared at my mom’s back and let out a long breath. At least Mark wasn’t telling me he had a bad feeling about this, because I was starting to. If he started in on me, I might start agreeing with him.
I looked at the open doors to the storage rooms. “Come on. I need to make a few stones before we get to Verity’s office.”
“You sure this is going to work?” Mark hovered over my shoulder.
“It worked last time,” I said, failing to mention how Verity had changed the safe to a steel one. The last time I’d seen it, it wasn’t anything more than a wooden door.
I placed the freezing stone on the steel. The stone dissolved into the lock and formed ice crystals over it. I heard a cracking sound as the metal around it froze over. I held the fire stone close to the ice. Last time it had created a small explosion and I hoped the steel didn’t create shrapnel.
“Wait,” Mark said. “Putting fire on ice seems like a terrible idea. The lock’s frozen. Let me see if I can hit it with something and break it.”
I pulled back the fire stone. “Okay, let’s try it.”
He looked around and picked up a wooden chair. He slammed one of the legs into the lock and it shattered to the floor. He smiled and set the chair down.
“Bravo. Now let see what’s inside.”
I touched the top corner of the door with my gloved hand and even then, I could feel the cold seeping into my fingers. I pulled the door open.
Empty.
I reached in, thinking it might have been a mirage, but my hand only touched the steel walls of the safe. “Great. It’s been looted already.”
Mark laughed. “What now?”
“I don’t know.” I laughed as well and leaned against the desk. “What are we even doing here? Do we really want to give the essence of these people to someone else to use?”
He laughed. “It’s your mom. I wasn’t about to step in and say anything. You’d hate me.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.” I glanced back at the closed doors of Verity’s office and realized Mark and I were alone, actually alone for the first time in a long time. Maybe it was the threat of death hanging in the air, but I felt a warm feeling building in my gut as I stared at his beautiful face. He’d stuck with me throughout this entire crap fest. He’d been at my side through it all.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked with a grin.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him closer. The smell of him, the feel of his hard body, his sculpted muscles, his smooth chest—I wanted it. I wanted to forget about the crap around us. I wanted to get lost in his eyes. I wanted it to be just me and him for once.
His look darkened when he saw my hunger. It was clear he wanted me, and that was all I needed at the moment. Pulling his head toward mine, I kissed him. I’d never kissed with such passion and urgency. I didn’t care where the essence stones might be, or what stones my mom was having the Academy make. I just cared about Mark, and holding his glorious body against mine.
He lifted me up, my legs wrapping around his hips. I felt so light in his arms. As I moved my mouth to his neck, he sat me on the desk.
“Ouch.” I flung the stapler, pads of paper, and trays of pens to the floor.
Mark didn’t stop his momentum, laying me down as soon as the desk was clear. I opened my legs for him and he took my invitation. Climbing on top, he pressed against me and kissed my neck. I pulled at his hair and pushed his lips against my skin. His hands explored my body,
pushing up my shirt. I moved my grip and held on as we moved together.
I was his.
Mark unbuttoned the top buttons of my shirt and started kissing below my neck, too slow for me. I reached back for the lamp at the edge of the desk. I needed something to pull myself back with, to give more room for him to move down. When my hand found its target, I pulled the lamp and it bent in half.
A hissing sound stopped Mark’s progress and we both froze, breathing hard. When the noise stopped, we looked up and found that the wall that had once held Verity’s perfect picture had slid open. He moved off me.
“Wait. We can look later,” I said, pulling at him.
“No, we don’t know what’s in there. Someone could be in there.”
He helped me sit up and I tried to catch my breath. My body raged for more of Mark, but my curiosity over the opened door was coming on strong.
I walked behind Mark toward the uncovered mystery. Beyond the door was a dark room. When we entered, the light from the office showed enough for me to see stacks of shelves, each wrapped in velvet and holding a pouch the same size as a stone. Then I saw the names.
“Look.” I pointed. Baker, Triton, Header, Costas…. I stopped reading and skimmed over them all. Many of the pouches were empty, but probably a third of them held a stone.
“Ira.” Mark nodded to a bottom shelf.
I knelt and saw her stone sitting on dark velvet. I wanted to cry.
“You found it. Great.”
I jumped at my mom’s voice. “Don’t sneak up on us like that.”
Mom walked into the small room and gazed wide-eyed at the wonders on the shelves. She ran her hand along the velvet padding and touched a few nametags. “I can’t believe what she did in this place. We never suspected she was creating essence stones. It’s downright evil.”
“Yeah, well, here’s a friend of mine right there.” I gestured to Ira’s stone. In her last moments she’d run to me, looking for comfort. I had provided what little I could. She’d known the deal, knew she wasn’t getting retired back home. I think most of the students knew it.
“Here’s a storage box.” Mom picked up a black box off the floor and set it down in the middle of a shelf. The inside of the box looked like a velvet egg crate. She plucked the first stone from its pouch and placed it inside the box.
I reached for the Ira stone.
“Hold on. These stones are delicate. You drop one, and it’ll break. Ruined forever.” My mom picked up Ira’s stone.
“Can I have her stone?”
She did a quick once-over of the room and nodded. “Just make sure you never drop it. That stone isn’t anything by itself, but added to other stones, it can be used to create things like a life stone.”
Mark took in a deep breath.
Mom passed the stone to me and I held it in my hand.
“Here.” Mark handed me a small piece of cloth.
I wrapped the stone up and put it in my pocket. “What do you need all these stones for?” I asked my mom.
“All part of the plan. For starters, we’ll need to create a life stone for when we find Blane. His guiding is only partial, and I don’t think he’s going to divulge it all until we dig him up.”
“We need to create one for Jason as well.”
My mom closed her eyes and set another stone in the box. “We don’t have an unlimited supply.”
“He’s the reason we’re here right now. I made a promise.”
“Fine, but not until we get out of here. Coming out of suspended animation takes some time, and it’ll be easier to transport him without him fighting us.” She grabbed the last stone and placed it in the box. There were a couple of dozen stones in all. “You all know how to make booster stones, right?”
“Yeah, everyone in here does.”
“Good. As soon as they’re done making my stones, we’re going to shift gears into booster stones.”
“What about the portal stone?” Mark asked.
Mom laughed. “I found the book on how to make a master portal stone, and also a student to make one.”
I shook my head. “Who’s going to hold it? It nearly kills Verity each time she uses it.”
“I thought you’d be the one.” She stared at me. But she had to be kidding; I couldn’t jump into something so powerful. “I think you have the strength, Allie. You may be the only one here who does.”
Mark faced me with a shaking head. My mouth hung open and I didn’t know what to say, but if I was the best chance to save the entire Academy, then I had to do it. “Okay.”
“No! She doesn’t know this kind of alchemy,” Mark nearly yelled at my mom. “You’re putting her at risk.”
“She’s stronger than you think. She’s stronger than she thinks.”
“Even if she did move the entire Academy, where will she take us? You’re the one who said she has to have intimate knowledge of the place we’re going.”
“Summerford.”
“What?” Mark and I both said together.
“They won’t be thinking about it. It’s still in the civilized world, where the students can get in contact with their parents or go on their merry way, and you have intimate knowledge of the place. I’ve already set a few things in place for our arrival.”
“That’s crazy talk. Besides, I think the town would notice a huge stone building appearing.”
“I have a theory that the focal point is at the top of this place. And you only need to think of a special, secret place to keep the topper. The rest will be buried underground. You know how much trouble we had getting through all the snow and dirt to get to this place?”
“I’ve got a place. No one goes there. It should be perfect.” I smiled, but Mark’s lips pursed.
“Come on. We’ve got more stones to make.” Mom picked up the box and looked up at me. “By the way, you might want to button up your shirt.” She laughed and walked out of the room, the box cradled in her arms.
I looked down and realized that part of my bra was showing. Slapping Mark on the arm, I gave him wide eyes. He chuckled as I blushed and did up my buttons. “Oh my God. Awkward!”
Walking down the hall, we could see my mom up ahead. She seemed downright chipper about the whole situation. She almost had a skip in her step. While I, on the other hand, felt like a huge weight had been thrown onto me. I had the responsibility to move them all, save them all. What happened if I thought of the wrong place? We could end up at the bottom of the ocean, or on the moon.
Mark put his arm around my shoulders. “I know you’re going to hate hearing this, but I’m not sure if she’s doing what’s best for you. I think she’s doing what’s best for her. Just look at how happy she is to be carrying the essence of twenty-plus people in that box. The idea of it makes me ill.”
“She’s just reacting to this situation. And even if it is about her, can you think of a better plan? If I can save us, don’t we have to try? Who knows how long we have before the people topside realize what happened down here.”
Mark looked at the ceiling. “If we get out of this place, I think we should run away.”
“Are you asking me to run away with you?” I smiled.
“I’m serious. I don’t think your mom is going to let you go. She sees you as potential.”
“Or she just loves me, Mark.”
“These alchemists will keep using you. I’ve witnessed it my whole life. They need people like you to make the stuff they can’t, and I think the pursuit of this philosopher’s stone is only amplifying it all. I think even if we do get out of here, Verity and Axiom are going to declare an all-out war on your mom and everyone around her.”
“And you don’t think I should be standing next to her, helping where I can?”
“No. This has happened several times in the past, and no one wins. I don’t think the philosopher’s stone even exists. It’s just an obsession for power from the elites.”
We left the teachers’ hall and I saw my mom stepping sideways into room five. I
stopped in the hub and turned to Mark. I couldn’t ignore the desire to run away with him. With our abilities, we could do anything, but it didn’t feel like the right thing to do. It felt like running away from our problems. It felt like the easy road. I had lost my mother once, and I wasn’t going to let it happen again.
“I won’t abandon my mother. You’re either with me on this or not,” I said.
Mark looked hurt. “I’m always with you. You should know that by now.”
“I know.” Now I felt bad for asking the question. “I think the only way this ends is if my mom gets this stone. She says it’ll bring the alchemy world together.”
“‘Under one rule’ is what she said.”
“At least we’ll be on the right side.”
“She still needs you to use that stone to contact Blane, you know?”
“I know.” It wasn’t something I would forget. Watching Jackie fade in and out had been freaky, and I wasn’t looking forward to doing it. However, my mom was holding up her end of the bargain, and I wasn’t one to forget mine.
We walked into room five. Jackie was leaning against a wall with Leo hovering over her. They were staring into each other’s eyes. I couldn’t hear his whispers to her, but she giggled and covered her mouth.
My mom had pulled down a lot of books and stacked them high on the floor. “This is one of the best collections I’ve ever seen in one place,” she said, not looking back as she pulled down more books.
“What about this portal stone?” I asked.
“I’ve already had it made. Can you help me get all these books into the carts? They should all fit in that elevator.”
“It’s broken. I broke it when we escaped last time,” I said. “And what do you mean, you already had it made? By whom?”
“I think we can find a way to get it to work once we’re in Summerford, and Angela made it. Sharp with the skills, that one. We made quite a few stones. It doesn’t take long to make one.”
I didn’t like not being included in making the portal stone. It was one of the major stones I wanted to learn. But everything in due time, I guessed.