Alchemist Academy: Book 1 (17 page)

“Me either.”

“Are you really going to room ten tomorrow?”

“That’s what Verity said.”

“Good, because as much as I hate to admit it, I’d love to stuff you down their throats.” She glared at the Blue house through the window. “I hope you make them weep and beg for mercy,” she bit out, almost frothing at the mouth.

“Do you guys have a competition, like in room twenty-eight?”

“Oh, yeah, we compete. And with Costas gone and Jackie faltering, they would have crushed us tomorrow.” Her eyes narrowed. “I know this kind of goes against what I’ve been saying, but tomorrow, for one day, I want to make the Blues lick their tears and swallow their vomit. For one day, I don’t want you to hold back, even if we’re just sweatshop stone makers.”

“If there’s one thing I seem to be exceedingly good at, it’s making these stones.”

A wicked smile crept over Carly’s face and I wondered if I had gotten her wrong. She didn’t seem like the passive person I’d first met. She was really the bloodthirsty type. I wondered how much the Blues had done to her to cause such hate.

I wanted to push the edge with her a bit more, so I said, “Did I tell you Mark is coming to room ten with me?”

“Shut your face.”

Mark took the move to room ten with some trepidation, but I reassured him that getting closer to the top people in the Academy would be good for us. We would learn how to make the best stones, surrounded by the best people. At least that was what I thought.

In room ten, Jackie and Carly sat on either side of me, while Mark sat in front. He looked back so often that I almost asked him to turn his desk around so he could just face me at all times. A few other Reds rounded out our half of the room. Much like room thirty-two, on the other side of the room sat the Blues. They looked contentious and mostly stared at me and Mark. I was sure they’d heard rumors of my exploits and wondered about the hype. I aimed at giving them a show for Carly.

I caught Jackie sneaking a glance at Leo on the other side of the room. She noticed my catch and glared at me. I rolled my eyes--like I’d go telling people about her depravities. I had more important things to do, and this upper class was a step closer to getting there.

“I am Professor Deegan,” the portly man at the front of the room said. He stood up from his chair and gazed at the class. “I see we have a few new faces here today, so I think it’s a good time to go over what this room is all about.”

I leaned forward in my chair.

“This is an advanced placement for talented young alchemists, and not the factory floor of the other classrooms. Here, you will learn the advanced methods and ingredients to complete the most complicated of circles. So please forget everything you’ve learned, because it will be far easier for me to teach you the proper way.”

Deegan turned around and drew a circle on the chalkboard. He drew in a few lines going to the center of the circle. It looked like a bicycle wheel until he drew in a few symbols at the sides.

“Do any of you know what this circle defines?” he asked.

Jackie raised her hand, and Deegan pointed to her. “Ingredients … pitch, sulfur, and universal solvent. Result … nightshade stone.” She leaned closer to me and whispered, “It makes a person go blind for a while. A terrifying stone for many.”

“That’s correct, Jackie.” The teacher turned back to the chalkboard and wrote another symbol in the circle. “We add just one more item and we get a very different result. What are we making now?”

Jackie raised her hand again. “Someone gets touched with that stone and they’ll have a fate worse than death. Suspended animation.”

Chatter spread through the room.

I leaned over to Jackie. “Like the frozen stone?”

“Worse. You can feel and hear, but you can’t move, not even your eyes. Your body temperature drops and your heartbeat doesn’t register on medical equipment, it’s so weak. A doctor would pronounce you dead. There’s a rumor—”

“Please, Jackie, speak up so the rest of the class can hear you. Tell us about this rumor,” Deegan interrupted.

She sighed and looked at the Blues. “It’s said there were two alchemists, Blane and Evers, so obsessed with transmuting gold that Evers used a suspended animation stone on Blane out of fear that he was getting closer to it than Evers. Except he didn’t know exactly what effect the stone would have, and when he patted the back of the man’s neck with the stone, Blane apparently fell over dead. He was put in a coffin and buried alive. The theory is, Blane is still alive, four hundred years later, stuck in his tiny coffin … living every second of his endless nightmare with no chance of dying or escaping.”

My mouth hung open. I knew why she had said it was a fate worse than death. Just thinking of being trapped in a coffin sent chills through my body.

Deegan nodded and walked around his desk. “Interesting story. Like most stones, they can be used by people with good or bad intentions. Can someone think of a good way to use it?”

I looked around the room at the blank faces. They’d seemed to jump on every other question, but this one stumped them. Every way I thought of using the stone ended in malice and vengeance. I even briefly thought of using it on Janet.

Mark raised his hand and Deegan pointed at him.

“If you were dying of some disease, you could use the stone to put a pause on your life until they found a cure, or astronauts could use it on a long-term space mission.”

“Very good, Mark. What about when you want to get out of the stupor?”

The class rumbled with chatter. Jackie and Carly leaned over my desk to discuss their theories.

I raised my hand and Deegan nodded to me. “A life stone.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, a life stone should work. It looks like our two new students have the wits to be here.”

I glanced at the Blues’ sneers. Good, let them hate me. I would show them what I could really do, for Carly and for the rest of the Reds dealing with their crap.

“Can we make this life stone?” I asked.

Deegan smiled. “Ambitious. That’s good. But to create a life stone, you have to take a life, and I doubt we have any volunteers for that.”

His words hit me right in the stomach, and my jaw felt unhinged. I stared at the back of Mark’s head and I saw him leaning forward, clutching his own stomach. He’d tried to hide it while walking to class today, but I could tell he hurt. I didn’t want to take the life of another to save Mark; at least I didn’t think I wanted to. There had to be another way.

“Since it’s challenge day, we’re creating only this one single stone.” Deegan pointed to the chalkboard. “First team to make the stone gets to pick their reward from the Scroll of the Victors.” Deegan walked to the corner of the room and pulled back a curtain wrapped around like a quarter-circle shower. He shoved the curtain to the wall and revealed an arrangement of alchemist supplies.

“Reds first, since they answered the questions today.”

Jackie bolted from her seat, followed by Carly. I stayed seated and felt sick to my stomach from the realization about the life stone. It was all I really wanted to make. My eyes went wide as I thought about what Mark had said. If I could put him in suspended animation, I could spend years trying to get the life stone made. I closed my eyes and felt a headache coming on.

A hand touched mine. I looked up at Mark’s smiling face.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I wanted to grab him and tell him what kind of danger he was in and how I would spend every waking second trying to save his life, but Ms. Duval was right. He didn’t need to know, and I’d find a way to save him before he even knew how much trouble he was really in.

I watched Carly, Jackie, and a few others mulling over the best selection of equipment. Jackie led the way, thrusting items into the waiting arms of the Reds.

Jackie would be my answer. She knew the questions and probably knew a great deal more about stones than any of the other students. If she knew a way around the life stone, I’d find it through her.

Carly plopped a bowl in front of me and I jerked back. Jackie and a few others piled materials on my desk. I glanced over at our rivals, who were huddled around the head of the Blue house, Leo. I met eyes with him and narrowed my lids.
Yes, I know your secret.

“You’re mixing, Allie. I hope you’re up to it,” Jackie said.

I looked around at the faces surrounding me. Carly seemed confident with a wicked smile on her face and Mark looked on with his usual concerned expression. I was sure he hated me making a single stone for the Academy, let alone something as hardcore as this stone. Jackie crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at my lack of action.

“What do I do?”

A few of the Reds groaned.

Jackie took a vial of black goo and put it in front of me. “We have enough materials for about ten attempts, but I don’t want to make more than a few. Leo over there probably won’t need that many.” She gazed at Leo. “So you need to summon your trigger for each process, but save your worst for when you mix in the solvent.” She pushed a vial of pure blue liquid toward me. “So put in the pitch, then the sulfur.” She moved a vial of putrid yellow powder toward me. “Mix in this blood and—”

“Wait.” I stopped her words, but she continued to slide over the vial of deep red liquid. “Whose blood?”

“I don’t know. Just a donor. It has to be very pure blood, though.”

“So they couldn’t use yours, Jackie,” Carly said.

“Yes, well, yours I’m sure would be black with conspiracies and contempt,” Jackie said. “But please, they’re already mixing their first attempt.” She took a deep breath and continued. “Mix in the blood and the solvent at the same time.” She tapped her finger on the blue and bloody vials.

I went through her instructions and took the vial of black pitch.

“It’s really more like bitumen,” Carly said.

Jackie stared her down. “Sorry. Just do your thing, Allie.”

The black liquid moved like thick ketchup in the vial. I summoned a few angry thoughts as the liquid took its time pouring into the glass bowl. With the thick black goo at the bottom, I took the sulfur and poured it in. I already felt my triggers coming up, my mother leaving me and Janet and Spencer tearing apart that letter from my dad.

I took deliberate breaths through my nose as I took the last two vials in my hands and held them over the bowl. Everyone around me leaned in and I felt their breath on my arms. I didn’t like to be crowded, and I used it like a fuse to get myself to my rage point. The anger flooded into me as I thought of my past. My hands shook with rage and I dumped the two vials in.

Then I grabbed the spoon and yanked it around the bowl. The mixture resisted my stirs, but my anger pushed through the thickness. The top of the bowl overflowed with a steamy mixture that smelled like rotten eggs. Air pockets popped as I mixed, and I felt the spoon spin in my hand when the mixture solidified and condensed into a stone. I let go of the spoon and waited for the sound.

The stone clunked against the glass bowl and the Reds around me gasped. Jackie rushed forward and blew the mist away, revealing a black ball with yellow and white speckles.

“
Yes!
” Jackie yelled.

The loud sound made me jump in my chair.

“No way,” I heard from the Blue side.

Deegan walked over with a skeptical expression. He gazed into the bowl and then furrowed his brow as he stared at me. I caved under the pressure and looked away from his stare. He picked up the bowl as if he was carrying the most delicate of china dolls and took it to his desk. Wearing a black glove, he scooped the stone out with a cloth and placed it in a small bag. He dropped the bag into a drawer in his desk.

“Reds win.” He seemed burdened with a heavy load. “Choose your reward.” Deegan pointed to the wall with a scroll running floor to ceiling.

It listed many things, and I wondered what Jackie might select. Probably the balding or the nightmare stone. Something to punish the Blues, I was sure.

“We couldn’t have won without you, Allie. You choose,” Jackie said, out of breath.

They cleared a space for me and I walked closer to the list, taking in the different options. Then I saw it.

“I choose the observation deck.”

The Blues laughed and clapped at my choice. They gave each other high fives while the Reds looked at me, confused.

“Roof it is,” Deegan said. “Blues, you can go back to your houses now.”

I moved back to my desk and to Mark’s smiling face.

“Good choice.” He looked at the ceiling. “I can’t wait to see where the hell we are.”

Deegan took a keychain from his pocket and opened a locked drawer in his desk. He pulled out another set of keys and started walking toward the door.

“If you have a sweater, you might want to bring it. Come on, let’s go.”

Carly grabbed me by the arm. “Why didn’t you turn their sewer privileges off for the week?”

“Yeah, or make all their balls fall off?” Jackie said.

“I didn’t see that option,” Carly said, looking back at the list.

“I just made it up, but it would be a pretty good one,” Jackie smirked.

Mark jumped in to take my side. “It just seems like we’ve had enough hate. This is something we can maybe enjoy that doesn’t result in anybody’s balls falling off.”

“I’m with Mark. I think it’s a good choice. I’ve been curious about where we are,” Carly said.