The evening went far too slowly. They played a series of games, dice, dominoes, and several games that Sam had never played before, and it surprised him that most of the students from each of the different towers mingled together fairly well. Separated into the first-year level, there weren’t the same divisions that there had been otherwise. Maybe Tara was right about separating students by year level rather than forcing them into a different tower.
Sam only wished his sister were here. It would give him a chance to talk with her. But she had obviously stayed off with Gresham.
It irritated him, and he didn’t even have anybody to share his irritation with. The only person was James, and he was too caught up in playing dominoes with Lacey and her friend Rebecca to pay much attention.
After a while, Sam slipped away. James wouldn’t mind, as he had been distracted, and as he was making his way through the hall, he nearly collided with the Secundum.
He looked up at him. “Ah. Mr. Bilson. You have settled in quite well. I must say that I was hoping to find you after your exams anyway. You did quite well.”
“Thank you,” Sam said.
“And your sister?”
Sam looked around him, hoping that nobody else heard.
“I think she’s doing well. We’re in different towers, so we don’t get to see each other as much as I’d like.”
“I’m sure that she could have been sorted into the same tower, had you only asked, but perhaps it would be better for the two of you to have some growth this way. Were you placed into the…”
Sam smiled tightly. The Secundum had always seemed kind to him and had warm, almost gentle eyes. “I was placed into tolath,” he reminded him.
The Secundum nodded. “An excellent tower. Excellent.” He nodded.
Sam decided to use this as an opportunity to learn more about what was going on in the city. “If you don’t mind, Secundum, could you tell me what happened?”
His brow furrowed. “I probably shouldn’t, but you are a bright enough student and older than most who come,” he said, regarding Sam for a long moment, “so perhaps it isn’t an issue if I share with you. There have been several attempts to attack the city. The council has dealt with them, but it is likely tied to the disruption within the council.”
“What kind of attacks? Has it been the Nighlan?”
The Secundum tipped his head with a slight smile. “That’s right. You’re from the Barlands. I’m afraid that the rumors of the Nighlan are simply that.”
“I’m sorry,” Sam said, realizing his foolishness. But why would one of the instructors deny what he knew to be true? “It’s just that in the Barlands, we know that there’s something to the west of the Barlands. It’s not always safe.”
“That may be, but the Academy is perfectly safe. Well, now that alchemy has been removed, of course.”
There was something in the way that the Secundum had said it that bothered Sam. “You didn’t care for it?”
The Secundum waved his hand. “Not me. But there were others who didn’t. They felt they had too much influence.” He shook his head. “Nothing for you to worry about. Not until you get a little further in your studies. Though at the rate you are going, it won’t take long for you to be enrolled in advanced studies, will it? Perhaps I’ll be working with you in my evening seminars.” He smiled at Sam. “Have a good evening, Mr. Bilson.”
Sam headed back to his room, and when he reached the landing toward the Study Hall, he paused long enough to make sure that there was no one there before triggering the opening.
Tara was waiting for him. “It took you long enough,” she said.
“I thought… Wait. You wanted me to come here?”
“I gave you a chance to spend some time with your friend. I didn’t want him to be hurt about being left out.”
“I didn’t see that. I’m sorry. So you’ve been waiting here this entire time?”
“Most of it,” she said, shrugging. “Now. I think we need to go down to the alchemy tower. We need to learn about this almanac.”
Sam wasn’t about to argue. He felt that they needed to go there as well, so he followed her, reaching the door leading down into the alchemy section. She triggered it, and they made their way down the stairs, before opening the door leading into the common area.
The air was foul-smelling, and Sam tried to ignore it as he squeezed his hand around the alchemy device. Tara stayed close to him, the mask of arcane arts wrapped around her face to filter the air.
Sam wasn’t completely sure that it would make much difference.
“There’s nothing here,” she said. Her voice was muted, and the pale white that wrapped around her face even managed to muffle her breathing somewhat.
“Just these doors,” Sam said.
They had open two of them, though neither of them at wanted to touch them. Tara had a particular technique with the arcane arts that she had used to force them open, only to find nothing inside. They were all covered by some foul substance. They had left them open, not having any way of closing them, neither of them wanting to touch the doors again. By the time they reached the end of the hall, leading to the one where he had found the device in the first place, Sam hadn’t expected to find anything else here. Tara, on the other hand, remained convinced that there would be some secret hidden here within the alchemy section.
“If they had the key locked away,” she said, looking over to him with a frown. They had discussed the possibility that he wore the key, and yet, neither of them had any idea how it had gotten stuck on Sam’s hand. “Then it only goes to figure that they also had the lock here, didn’t they?”
“Unless it was destroyed,” Sam said.
“Maybe. Ferand wouldn’t have come here if he didn’t think there was a possibility that something would be here. It seemed too risky.”
“What if he’s just coming after the key still?” Sam said. “We’ve seen the greenish light throughout the Study Halls,” Sam said.
“You. You’re the only one who’s seen it,” she said.
“Fine. I’ve seen the greenish light throughout the study halls, so there remains the possibility he’s only after the key, and they already have the lock.”
“Unless they’re still looking for it. Think about it, Sam. How many of those books in the library have reference to the almanac?”
He shrugged. They had already gone over this before, as well.
“And of the ones that are missing, how many of those do you think had some reference to it, as well?”
It was another topic that they had gone through, without either of them finding any real answers.
“So it seems to me that they don’t have either. And if they don’t have either, then we can figure out some way to keep them from getting to it,” she said.
“If you say so,” he said.
“Let’s just keep looking,” she went on. He triggered the door to open, and they looked inside again.
Tara drew upon the arcane arts as she searched the room, and it seemed to Sam that she was doing something to press her power out and around as if she were able to feel for something that only she might be able to find.
When he looked over to her, she shrugged. “I feel like there should be something here that we just have to uncover,” she said. “If I can find something else to trigger…”
“What if they only could trigger it with alchemy?”
“Then maybe you used your special key.”
Sam held his hand out and focused. He only knew one technique to activate it. When it was activated, there was an explosion of greenish light. That didn’t seem like he would reveal anything within the alchemy section. He triggered it, and there came a burst, and within that, Sam focused, trying to make out anything else that might be there, but he came up blank.
“There’s nothing here,” he said.
“Fine. There’s nothing here, but what about the other room? The one you said Ferand came out of.”
Sam looked down the hallway. It was the one
place he hadn’t really looked. Partly because he was afraid of what he might find. “That’s were Ferand came from,” he said.
“Exactly,” she said.
“What are you going on about?”
“What if he came through there, but he couldn’t find what he was looking for?”
It seemed too easy. He followed Tara down the hall, and when he reached the door, he realized that he had seen those symbols as well.
“It’s Victoire’s Theorem,” he said.
She glanced back at him. “What is?”
“The markings on the door. I’ve seen them. Victoire’s theorem. They speak to various ways that alchemy can be achieved with a combination of heat, earth, wind, cold, and…” He shrugged. “Well, basically all the elements.”
“Can you open this one?”
Sam hadn’t tried before, but now that he was here, he thought that he needed to.
He approached the door, closing his eyes for a moment and thinking about what he had seen in the book.
“Almanac,” he whispered.
“What?”
He turned and looked back at her. “The book. It mentions the almanac. It also mentions the key.”
“You just got that by standing there?”
“I’ve read through so many of those works on alchemy that I have a hard time piecing it all together. Or maybe it’s peeling it all part?” He frowned and then shook his head. “I don’t know. Either way. I’ve seen the symbols.”
And if another book had reference to the almanac but was missing, that seemed to be of some significance.
“They don’t have it,” Sam said.
“We don’t know that.”
He approached the door again, thinking about the patterns that he’d seen in the book, and began to touch them. One by one, they started to take on a pale, greenish light. When they were done, the light started to flow out and began to crisscross until the power continued to flow outward.
“Do you see this?” Sam asked. “The light coming off of the door.”
Tara leaned forward, and the glowing coming off of her intensified. “I don’t see anything.”
Why him? That was what bothered Sam.
“Let’s see if it opens,” Sam said softly.
He pushed on the door. It swung open.
It was dark inside, and Tara created a crisscrossing pattern that created a pale white light that glowed in the palm of her hand.
“Figured you might want something to see,” she said, smiling at him.
“I could see you glowing even without that,” he said.
“That sounds like it’s a compliment and like it’s not the same time,” she said. “So I’m not exactly sure how to take it.”
He chuckled, took her free hand, and they stepped into the room.
The strange smell was absent here. It was small, a closet much like in the other room, and with shelves lining the walls. He saw nothing here other than a hold in one wall that led… Somewhere.
He pointed to it, and Tara nodded. “That’s where Ferand must’ve come through,” Sam said.
“So they’ve been in here.”
“They have. I already told you that, though.”
“I know you did. I guess I was just hoping that they hadn’t.”
“We don’t know if the almanac was here.”
Sam hoped that it wasn’t, but he was having a growing realization that it likely had been, which meant that he wouldn’t have any way of figuring out anything more.
He searched the room, looking along the shelves, and then his breath caught. There was a darkened panel along one wall. A single stone that was slightly darker than the others.
He pointed to Tara, and she held the glowing orb in her hand toward it.
“Tell me you see that,” he said.
“I’m not blind,” she muttered.
He reached for it, tracing his fingers across the surface of it.
“What do you think it means?” Sam asked. He focused on the key, and triggered the greenish light from it, but other than the explosion of light and the sickly green alchemy that came from it, he didn’t see anything else.
“I know exactly what it means,” she said. She pulled her hand back, the light reflecting off her face. She looked up at him, holding his gaze. “And you’ve seen it as well.”
He frowned, but turned back toward it. He searched his mind, trying to think of where he had seen something like that before, and then he realized.
“The library.”
Not only the library. The reserve section of the library, inaccessible to him.
“Why would they have a symbol like that here?”
Sam smiled to himself. “Because the almanac wasn’t here. Maybe it never was.”
And if that was the case, it meant that the almanac might be in the library.
They only had to find a way to get it.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sam was in the library when he felt trembling around him.
He got to his feet. He had been sitting in his alcove, reading through something on angulation, but not on what he’d wanted, waiting for one of the librarians to arrive so that he could ask questions about the volumes of alchemy when he felt the trembling.
Tara got up from her seat at the booth nearest him.
“Where do you think that came from?” Sam asked.
Tara shook her head. “I don’t really know. It sounded loud, though.”
It wasn’t just that it sounded loud. It sounded much like what he’d heard when the alchemy tower had trembled. It was the same sound that he’d heard when Ferand had been trying to break in.
He waited for it to return, glancing toward the entrance to the Study Hall, before starting to take a seat when the trembling came one more time. This time, it was louder and deeper. But it wasn’t from below, not like it had been when he had detected the sounds of trembling from the alchemy tower.
Sam squeezed his hand around the key. The two of them had begun working together to question the librarians on different items of alchemy. Tara had an easier time with it as she could claim that she was studying for one of her exams and needed whatever books the library still had on alchemy in order for her to do so. Sam had to ask more roundabout questions.
“We don’t know what’s going on out in the city,” Tara said.
They hadn’t been permitted to go out into the city or even out into the garden. Ever since the last midmonth opportunity to visit Tavran had gone and passed, they had been stuck inside. Sam kept waiting for word to get out, but the instructors had been quiet. Sam had gone to Havash a few times but never found him in his room again. He had attempted to try to catch him after alchemy class, but Havash had always rushed off.
It was enough to tell him—along with everyone else—that something was going on, and with the uncertainty around it, most of the students within the Academy had started to talk. There was one thing that the instructors certainly couldn’t inhibit. When the students started spreading rumors, they continue to spread. How could they not when everyone had no idea what was going on?
Where Sam and Tara had disagreed was what they needed to be doing. Sam was of the opinion that they needed to continue researching, try to find a way to get access to the reserve section of the library, and figure out some way inside in order to uncover the almanac, while Tara wanted them to involve the instructors more.
He found himself heading toward the library’s desk. He looked to the iron door with the symbols on it behind the desk. One of the symbols was the same as he’d seen in the Alchemy tower.
Muriel was there. She looked up as Sam approached. “What do you need?”
“I don’t suppose you can tell me what’s been going on?”
She frowned. Muriel was an Academy graduate, though she had only been out of the Academy for a few years, according to Tara. She had stayed in the library, working with the master librarians. That was about all that Sam really knew about her.
“Nothing m
ore than you, I suppose.”
“They don’t let you out into the city, either?”
She frowned again. “There’s no need to go out into the city. Not with what we’ve experienced out there, anyhow.”
“What exactly have we experienced?”
He didn’t really expect her to share anything, but it was an opportunity for him to look at the door behind her and try to figure out if there might be something that he could tell from it.
“Just some protesters,” she said, waving her hand and turning her attention back to the book on the desk. “The council will have it taken care of in no time.”
Sam regarded the door. They had visited after hours several times and had not been able to figure out a way to open it.
When he had suggested to Tara that he might see if Muriel could help, she had been irritated, much more so than he would’ve expected.
“Yes?” she asked, looking up at him again.
“I’m just curious about some of the other works in the library.”
“And what works are those?”
“Well, the library has an extensive collection,” he said, waving behind him, “and I’ve been working through it as much as I can, but there have to be some books that are off-limits to students. Especially lately.”
He wasn’t sure if she’d grasp what he implied about books disappearing, but she did. Immediately.
Muriel straightened, clasping her hands together. “There are works that are not available to you, that’s correct.”
“Such as the ones in that room?”
Muriel looked behind her briefly. “There are only a few who have access to that,” she said. “You need the right key.”
“Of course.”
“Otherwise, as long as you can read, you aren’t restricted from what you have access to. Besides, there are plenty of volumes here to occupy your time with, Sam. If you need somebody to show you around the library…”
He smiled, and he could practically feel Tara watching from somewhere behind him. “No. That’s quite alright.”
“Let me know if you change your mind.”
He headed back to the alcoves, where Tara was waiting for him.
“She said that you need the key to get into the restricted section,” he whispered.
Alchemist Apprentice (The Alchemist Book 1) Page 28