by Matt Ryan
He let go us my waist and backed away. I glanced at the front door, but it seemed so far away. I spotted Brett and Angela in the family room. Angela paced behind Brett and seemed to be having an argument with herself, while Brett stood there, watching. Bridget was lying on the floor.
Axiom grabbed Leo by the shirt, pulled him past me, and shoved him behind Verity.
Getting to a standing position, I tried to find some dignity. I sneered at Axiom as I straightened my shirt. I watched Janet shaking next to me. She looked frozen as well, but her eyes moved. I knew stones sometimes didn’t work the same on rubes; maybe the effects were less. It didn’t matter. All she needed to do was hear me if what I was about to do was the last thing I ever did.
I walked around the island and wrapped my arms around Janet, hugging her. Having her bony body next to mine felt foreign. I didn’t think we’d ever hugged before, but I knew she could hear me. “I love you,” I whispered in her ear, and let go.
Axiom and Verity stayed close together, next to the kitchen table. They were watching me eagle-eyed and I knew it’d be foolish to attempt anything. They had me outnumbered, surrounded, and worst of all, they had shaken my will to fight. They had taken out all of my friends, and worst of all, Leo had manipulated and used Jackie. Just as she’d gotten close to being happy, Leo had done this. I knew that in her frozen state, she was bleeding out in agony and I felt for her. I felt for all of them.
If we all died, at least it would be together.
“Go ahead. Get it over with,” I said.
Verity looked to Axiom, and he shrugged.
“Your mother used this same stone on me.” Verity snickered. “You probably made it for her, didn’t you?”
I didn’t respond.
“We’ve kept this stone locked up for a very long time, and now we finally get to use it.” Verity knelt down next to my mom and rolled her onto her side. “I want her to watch as we pluck every feather of information from that brain.”
Axiom grabbed me and I screamed. I struggled against his grip and tried to push him back but he held tight and squeezed hard. After I settled down, he petted the side of my face with his bare hand. “Now, now, my dearie, we get to see what’s in that pretty head of yours.”
Verity waved the stone neat my face.
“No!” I screamed until I felt the stone touch my neck. Then the fight left me and I felt blank, like a computer waiting to receive input.
The world felt like I was floating in it, able to see but not participate. I heard the questions and felt my mouth giving the responses, but I had no control over any of it. Questions about the other academy, questions about my mom, but most of the questions were about the philosopher’s stone. I spilled out all the information like a machine even as I screamed at myself to stop. I knew once I’d spilled all the information out for them, it’d be over, over for all of us. Even Janet would probably find her end.
I wanted to scream the air out of my lungs and pull my arms free, but nothing worked. Even as I struggled I heard myself telling them basic information about Blane and what he was to my mom. It wouldn’t be long before they asked the right question.
The struggle to get my body back left me weary and despondent. I closed my eyes and wondered if my body had closed its eyes as well. I took a deep breath and softened my thoughts. I had a chance. It had worked on Blane as he tried to take over my mind, and maybe it would work on my own mind. If I didn’t do something, we were all going to be dead soon.
“Does Blane know how to make the philosopher’s stone?” Verity asked.
My mouth responded and I knew they were getting close to the question.
“Brett?”
I thought I heard a yell from behind me, but the inferno I had started couldn’t be slowed, couldn’t be stopped, and as it filled me it felt as if it might burn me to ashes.
“Hurry,” Axiom said.
Something clattered in the room behind me.
“Where is this Blane, exactly?” Verity asked.
That was the question. I knew from being in Blane’s mind that he didn’t care who helped him get the stone; it only mattered that someone got to him. Verity and Axiom would be suitors as good as anyone else for him.
I went deep into my body and sparked the fire. It was a mixture I’d never thought to use and the second it filled me, I realized I had a power greater than I’d ever known. My anger and love for those around me swelled. I let both consume me.
Opening my eyes, I knew I was in my own head but hadn’t yet gotten total control. My mouth moved and formed the word Ashwood before I clamped it shut.
Verity looked past me to the ruckus in the other room. “Tell me!” She shook me, and her touch was what sent me over the edge.
“No!” I screamed. It erupted from my mouth and blasted Verity in the face. I sent all the energy I had left down my arms and into Verity’s hands. I wanted to break her. She screamed and shook with me. But my screams were of power and control. She was screaming from pain, and I felt all of my emotion traveling down my arms, breaking her.
Verity found a way to break free and fell backwards against the table.
I didn’t need a stone.
Axiom glanced behind me and ducked down with his sister, then grabbed Leo and disappeared.
I couldn’t catch my breath. My body gave in to my commands, but my lungs couldn’t pull in enough air. I felt dizzy and turned around to see what had changed.
Angela was standing in the front, her eyes blazing with anger as she looked at Brett on the floor in front of her. Behind her stood President Foster, Sarah, Gwen, and Kylie.
I fell to the floor. Mark’s blank face stared back at me.
Hands were lifting my limp body.
“Mark,” I called.
“We’ve got him,” Sarah said.
They carried me from the kitchen into the family room. Angela’s face appeared as she and another girl laid me down on the couch. She smiled, but the pain never left her eyes.
“You helped me, and I’ll never forget that,” Angela said.
“She’s the one who turned,” President Foster said. “She told Carly to warn us.”
I tried to sit up, but my head swayed and I fell back to the couch. “My mom?”
“She’s going to be fine.”
I closed my eyes and rubbed them. “I told them things. Things I shouldn’t have.”
“We’ll get that sorted out. You just take it easy. I’ve never seen anyone do what you did before, but I’m sure you’ll be feeling better soon.” President Foster patted me on the knee, then walked back to the kitchen.
Sarah had Mark under her arm and walked him out of the kitchen. Seeing him pulled some of the fog from my mind and I sat slowly up on the couch. He was moving his legs like a tin man without oil but it gave me a smile. Sarah sat him on the couch and went back to the kitchen.
“Sorry. I should’ve been watching out for Leo and Brett.”
“I never suspected it. Jackie….” I dreaded seeing her. I didn’t want to see her face, the pain and rage she’d have. I was just starting to get used to the nicer Jackie.
Jackie stiffly walked out of the kitchen, shoving away a helping hand from Gwen. The rage on her face was beyond what I’d expected. She swayed from side to side and I thought she might fall, but Gwen put a hand on her and kept her upright. Jackie punched and pushed at Gwen, spit flying from her mouth.
“That’s enough,” Gwen said.
“A hundred years won’t be enough. I will find him and end him,” she said through thinned lips.
Gwen sighed and returned to the kitchen. My mom came out next, with the help of Carly.
“Carly?” I asked.
“Did you think I just left you guys?” she said. “Who do you think brought the bus here?”
I forced my legs to work and got to my feet. Mom let go of Carly and met me halfway across the family room.
“I’m sorry, Allie. We got ambushed like a couple of amateurs.”
&n
bsp; “Mom, I told her…. She used a stone on me to make me talk.”
“I know,” she sighed. “Take me outside. I want to make sure those carts are still there.”
My mom and I walked arm in arm, supporting each other as we opened the front door and walked past the porch.
People were standing around on the lawn, the sidewalk, and the driveway. Many of them I recognized from the Dark Academy. A white bus, left running, sat with its front tire on the sidewalk and the back end sticking into the road.
“They all came to help?” I asked. A few of the kids glanced back at me but they all kept an eye on the surrounding area.
“The carts.” Mom pointed to them, still sitting on the edge of the sidewalk. She staggered as she turned to face me. “I know you told them about Blane, but you didn’t tell them everything. I don’t know how you did it, but you were able to take control over that stone. That’s not possible. I mean, we saw Verity try, but it failed. It always fails.” She looked at me once again, as if for the first time. “You are something special, Allie.”
“I know.”
“We’re going to have to find Blane before they do.”
“I know.”
“Are you ready?”
I looked back at the house. The front door was open and Mark was leaning against it. I knew he wouldn’t want to go, but we had to. This was bigger than me and him. This was keeping the whole world in balance, and if we ever had a chance of finding that time together, it wouldn’t be until this war was over. Verity wouldn’t stop, Axiom would never quit, and none of it was ever going to end unless we made it end.
Mark stepped away from the front door and into the light. He still took my breath away, but our time together would have to wait a bit longer.
I nodded and met my mom’s gaze. “Let’s go find Blane and end this.”
Thank you for reading the second installment of Alchemist Academy. I appreciate the time you’ve given my characters’ story. If you enjoyed this series, you might check out my other series, The Preston Six, available on Amazon.
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