Forbidden Alchemy (Elemental Book 7)

by Rain Oxford

  “Boil it down to the most likely options.”

  “It can spread, for one thing. If it becomes too abnormal, even Ahz wouldn’t be able to stop it. I knew it was happening, but Ahz’s drawing suggests that it’s happening even faster than I’d predicted.”

  “How? Your math predictions are always right.”

  He rolled his eyes. “It’s called chaos theory. It’s impossible for me to be exact. That’s the point. I can get very close, but I could never be exactly right. Ahz can’t either unless…”

  “Unless what?”

  He shrugged. “You have a better shot than I do at predicting the progression of this with your visions, but the fact that you know ahead of time can also change the outcome. For Ahz… maybe not. I don’t know how his ability to see the future affects it, or if he can automatically account for that. He’s really fascinating.”

  Rita leaned close to me. “Don’t leave him alone with my son. I’m pretty sure he would try to experiment on him.”

  “He would, but nothing harmful.”

  “Ahz, can you hold still for a moment?” Darwin asked, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out gloves and a syringe he must have stolen from Rita’s clinic.

  * * *

  When we left, Henry took over driving and it was Rita’s turn to tell us about her world. It was a lot more complex than Dothra.

  Syndrial was mostly desert with a few cities. Each city had a pyramid and temple, was guarded by giant cats and dogs, and worshiped one of their many gods. From her description, I realized it sounded a lot like Ancient Egypt.

  People who did magic were called casters and everyone knew about the gods, but the priests were the ones who were really in charge. Most of the commoners never saw one of the gods, but they did regularly see and fear priests. Anything they wanted to ask of or offer to the gods had to go through the priests.

  Every child on Syndrial was tested for magic on their birthdays between five and ten. Boys found with strong enough magic were admitted as apprentices to the temple to be trained. Girls with magic were exiled to the desert. When an apprentice was ready, he went through a series of trials that tested his mind and magic. The purpose of these trials was to win over one of the gods, who would then give him a special ability in exchange for loyalty. The boy would become a priest and be called by his title, which was based on his ability.

  “So they detected magic in you and kicked you out of your home?”

  “No. I wish that had been the case. My grandmother was found to have magic and was banished from the safety of her city. She survived and raised a daughter, who was my mother. My mother trained in magic to rebel against the cities. She and the other exiled. We’re called the Voska. We are stronger than the priests because we had to survive the desert.

  “On my mother’s first raid of a city, she was captured by a priest. A commoner helped her escape and harbored her. They fell in love and she got pregnant. Keep in mind that my people’s belief in the gods is absolute. My parents believed that they got pregnant because the gods wanted me to exist. There is no questioning their will. There are no accidents.

  “My mother pretended to be a commoner and decided to raise me in the city. She thought the gods were testing her or giving her a second chance. She prayed to them to make me a boy, not to make me a commoner. They ignored her, though. When I was born a girl, my parents claimed that I was a boy and a commoner. I tried hard to be what they wanted, but by my fifth birthday, I couldn’t hide my magic. The priests took me in and my mother ordered me to pretend to be a boy. Every day, under constant watch, I pulled it off. For five years.

  “Then I was caught and sentenced to death. My parents found out, saved me, and we escaped the city. My father thought I was a punishment for him loving a Voska. He wasn’t strong, though. He was eaten a month later. My mother was killed a few years after that. I decided if I ever had children, it would be my choice, not the gods’. The desert was a horrible, dangerous place to live, and I was considered trash by the priests and commoners alike, but I was free.”

  “And now you’re here,” I said.

  She reached into the back, smiled at Ahz, and stroked his hair. He didn’t fight her. “Yes. We’re both free and we’ll never go back there again.”

  * * *

  I was in my office at the school, completely aware that it was a dream, when my mother walked in.

  “You’ve been sticking your nose in my business.”

  Her voice was that of my mother’s, but her expression was full of distrust and arrogance. There was no love in her eyes.

  “Veronica.”

  She smirked. “You may suck as a wizard, but you’re not an idiot.”

  “Are you making yourself look like my mother to hide your identity or piss me off?”

  “Both, maybe. And also to make you listen to me. Your power is useful to me. We can help each other. We can rule the world together.”

  “Why would I want that?”

  “You have no idea what you can do. I have a goal, and John’s children make good servants. You, however, are special. You were the first, and you have the most promise. You wouldn’t be a servant but a partner. With me, you can get anything you want.”

  “What is it you’re after? Other than world domination?”

  She grinned. “You of all people should be able to figure that out.”

  * * *

  I felt a sinister presence around me. It was the frantic smacks on my shoulder that woke me, though. Ahz was next to me, trying to get my attention. “What’s wrong?”

  He pointed out the windshield. I looked and saw nothing unusual. “Where are we?”

  “We just crossed into Oklahoma a couple of minutes ago. Why?”

  Ahz didn’t speak, but he was definitely upset about something. “Pull off at the next stop. Something is about to go wrong.”

  He nodded. “The next exit is three miles out.”

  Ahz stood and made a grab for his paper, but he couldn’t reach it. He fussed for a moment, but before I could help him out, the paper shot into his hand. His expression was surprised when he turned around to sit normally, as if he didn’t expect the paper to obey. It was made of wood, which was the earth element, so I wasn’t surprised. It occurred to me that he was too young to understand his full power.

  Then he crumpled the blank paper into a ball and held it up to my face. When I tried to take it, he pulled it away. “I know you can talk. Use words.”

  He grunted and made a face.

  A moment later, the ground rumbled, which woke Rita and Darwin. Henry jaguar reflexes took effect and he slammed on the brake, narrowly avoiding the SUV in front of us. A boulder rolled down the mountain and onto the road. Rita didn’t make a sound. An instant before it could crush the vehicle, it flew upward and over the truck.

  That wasn’t the end, though. Three more massive boulders rolled down. One stopped dead before hitting us, while the other two rolled too far ahead of us to hurt us. It almost looked like a natural landslide.

  My heart was still thundering as Henry drove around the SUV. “Did we just almost die?” Darwin asked.

  “Yes, but Devon and Ahz saved us.”

  “Ahz saved us,” I corrected.

  “Your warning put me on high-alert. We otherwise could have crashed into the truck,” Henry insisted.

  “Was that an attack by Veronica?” Rita asked.

  “Probably,” I said.

  “Yes,” Ahz said, climbing into the back.

  “Now you talk,” I grumbled, picking up the paper ball. “This was Ahz’s warning.”

  “Clever,” Darwin said. “How are you not freaking out?” he asked Rita.

  “I’ve faced sand monsters, scorpions the size of busses, snakes, flying monsters, starvation, dehydration, and betrayal on my homeworld. Falling rocks are nothing.”

  We reached the exit and Henry took it. It led into a tiny town that was barely more than a gas station. He pulled into the empty parking lot of a post office and s
topped.

  “Where are we?” Rita asked.

  “Oklahoma. We made good time, but we still have a long way to go.”

  “Let’s just avoid the highway for an hour or so. A lot can go wrong in high-speed traffic.”

  “Do you think Veronica knows we escaped the school, or that it was a natural occurrence?” Darwin asked.

  “I think we should be cautious,” I said.

  “I’m going to stretch and walk around a little,” Henry said. “My jaguar is getting restless.”

  “My wolf is, too.”

  “We’re not on vacation. We need to make it back to the school before it’s too late.”

  “A wolf or jaguar that feels caged and restless isn’t going to be in his best mind,” Rita said.

  I knew she was right. Darwin and Henry needed to be at their best. “Alright. Henry and Darwin, you two go out, stretch your legs, and keep watch.”

  “I’m a bit hungry,” Rita said.

  “The gas station across the street should have something.”

  “Nothing that I’ll touch,” Darwin argued.

  “Fine. You four go find food. I’ll stay and induce a vision to see a threat.”

  “You shouldn’t be alone during your vision,” Darwin said. He was afraid I was getting too deep into my visions. He had to take my ring off several times because I was showing signs of trouble. “I’ll walk around the car and make sure you don’t die.” He pulled gloves out of his pocket and slipped them on.

  “You look like you’re about to do a prostate exam,” Rita said.

  “I’m not into that; I have a fiancée. You can hit on Dev, but his girlfriend’s a badass with world-class cut-a-bitch eyes, so you won’t get very far.”

  “You’re going to get slapped,” Henry warned him. Henry and Rita got out, but when Rita reached for Ahz, he whined and climbed over the seat into the back.

  “Are you two okay watching him? It’s impossible to move him when he wants to draw.”

  “Yeah, I can imagine,” I said. “I can’t really protect him while I’m in a vision, but Darwin is a teacher and most of his students have survived.”

  “I just don’t want him wandering off. He won’t need protection. If anyone tries to hurt Ahz, they’re going to regret it. You saw what he did.”

  If he was powerful enough to save the elementals, I knew she was right. “I’ll take the next drive shift because Darwin can’t drive, so get me a coffee,” I said.

  “How do you take it?”

  “Blacker than his ex-wife’s soul,” Henry and Darwin said simultaneously.

  I was apparently getting predictable.

  “If your ex is anything like mine, it doesn’t come that dark,” Rita said.

  I nearly choked as an idea occurred to me. If Rita had married John, then for a short time, she had been my step-mother. I kept this knowledge to myself, knowing that Darwin would tease me mercilessly with that information.

  Henry and Rita left and Darwin closed the back door. Ahz ignored us, so I pulled my ring out and slipped it on. As I did, I focused on my intuition, because it warned me of danger ahead of time.

  * * *

  I saw a woman leaving the gas station across the street from us. She dumped the bag full of snacks in the passenger seat. Her two kids were fighting in the back, so she closed the door and pulled out her phone. She was pretending to get directions, but she really just wanted a moment of peace while her kids fought over chips and candy. Even though she loved them with all her heart, she wished she could have gone on a vacation alone for once.

  By chance, she looked up and saw Rita’s Xterra in the post office parking lot. She worried for a second that she hadn’t set her water bill for auto draft. That was her last thought. Her mind clouded over and I was pushed away.

  It wasn’t a memory, so I should have been able to stop her. I watched as she got into her truck, ignoring her kids. She pulled out of the gas station calmly, but instead of turning off onto the main road, she slammed her foot on the petal, shot across the street and into the parking lot, and crashed into the side of the Xterra. Her children screamed.

  I snapped out of the vision with such a jolt of adrenaline that I was sure we had already been hit. Not giving myself time to catch my breath, I got out of the truck and looked across the street. The woman was there, putting the bag of snacks in her truck.

  I opened the hatchback, where Ahz was drawing. “Ahz, get out quick.” He ignored me, so I grabbed his arm. He whined and pulled away. “We’re about to be attacked. Come on.” Either he didn’t understand, or he didn’t feel like another truck crashing into him was a threat. Maybe he could have stopped her like he did the rock, but I couldn’t take that chance. “Darwin!”

  Darwin ran to me. “What’s wrong?”

  “That woman is about to run us down,” I said, pointing to the woman, who was on her phone now. “Get Ahz out and take cover.” I rushed across the street and reached the gas station just as she looked up and spotted the Xterra.

  Her eyes turned murky white, like storm clouds. When I reached her side, she didn’t look at me.

  “Ma’am, stop.” She didn’t. I tried to take over her mind, but it was blocked. She grabbed the handle of her truck and I pulled her away. She still didn’t acknowledge me or even tense up. She was strong, though, and struggled to get to the door.

  Her kids opened the back door and jumped out. The ten-year-old girl and six-year-old boy were terrified. “What are you doing to our mother?” the older child cried.

  I sensed danger. Someone was calling the cops. “Let her go!” the younger child demanded, throwing a bag of chips at me.

  I couldn’t completely defuse the situation, but I had to stop it from getting worse. I pushed my power into the minds of the kids. “Your mother is having a medical emergency. Calmly go stand against the wall of the gas station and stay there until she’s better. Don’t panic.”

  The fear drained from them and they both did as I ordered. I felt like I was worse than John, but I didn’t want them in the path of this enemy. The mother wasn’t being ordered to do something; she was completely possessed, and I couldn’t stop her.

  When two men exited the gas station with guns, I let the woman go and stepped back. “She’s having a psychotic episode; I’m trying to help,” I insisted.

  “Yeah, tell it to the cops,” one of the men said.

  The woman got into the truck calmly and started it up. “I have to stop her.” I could have taken over their minds as well, but it was too late. I didn’t want them to accidentally pull the trigger before I could stop them. The woman pulled up to the road. Darwin was fighting with Ahz to get him out. Even if I created a protective ward, it didn’t stand a chance against a van.

  Finally, as the woman shot across the road, Ahz gave up his fight and let Darwin pull him out of the car. Darwin was stronger than his scrawny body looked and he carried Ahz out of the way at the last second. The van smashed into the Xterra, crumpling part of the back seat and the rear tire.

  The gun-wielding men shouted with confusion and shock. “What the fuck was that, man?”

  “I told you she was having an episode.”

  The woman got out of the car with a gash across her head. Her airbag had gone off. I rushed across the street. Traffic had stopped so that people could stare. I reached her and saw that her eyes were normal, but she was having trouble standing. “What happened?” she asked.

  “You were in a car accident.”

  She looked at the damage and then at her back seat. “My kids. Oh, God. My kids are in the back.”

  “No, they got out.”

  At that point, her kids ran to her and hugged her, crying. She was crying with relief that they were okay and shock over what happened.

  “You don’t remember anything that just happened?” I asked.

  “No. I must have been having a stroke. I’m so sorry.”

  “He tried to stop you, Mommy,” the girl said.

  “What’s i
mportant is that everyone is okay. You should probably go to the hospital, though.”

  An ambulance soon arrived and took the woman and her children to the hospital. The police questioned me and were frustrated with my vague answers. They didn’t believe I didn’t know her or that I “just knew” she needed help.

  Rita was relieved her son was okay and didn’t care that her truck wasn’t drivable. Ahz had a fit until he was allowed to get his paper and colors out of the back. The Xterra was towed to a mechanic and we were told to give them a call in the afternoon. We were essentially trapped in a tiny town where Veronica could apparently possess people to kill us.

  * * *

  We got a single motel room because it was a bad idea to split up. Ahz spread his paper out on the small table and continued drawing like nothing had happened. Either he was unaware of the danger we were in, or he was extremely confident in our ability to survive.

  After a few minutes, however, Loki emerged from Ahz’s pocket and sat on the table, meowing loudly. Ahz ignored him. “Ahz is hungry,” Rita said.

  “Are you sure the cat’s not hungry?” I asked.

  “Loki has been in our lives for months. He only gets my attention when Ahz wants something. He’s like a little service cat, which is an extremely unusual concept for my people.”

  “He could be Ahz’s familiar,” Darwin suggested.

  “What’s a familiar?”

  “We’ll explain later. Can you shut him up?”

  She got food out of the bags and as soon as she set a plate in front of Ahz, he started eating and Loki went quiet. I was glad Ahz had someone to help him communicate his needs.

  “We need to figure out another way to get to the school,” Darwin said.

  “We can’t use the shadow pass after what happened to you last time,” I said. “We shouldn’t have used it in the first place.”

  “We had to,” Henry said.