The Alchemists Academy: Stones to Ashes Book 1 (13 page)

Epilogue

T
he Headmaster’s office looked the same as it usually did, which was both a relief to Wirt and also something of a disappointment. He’d been expecting at least some sign of what had happened to Mr. Roth.

The Headmaster took up a position on the other side of the table from Wirt, and Ms. Lake joined him there. They both looked quite serious, in that way that adults often did before they told you something you didn’t really want to hear.

“First, I feel I should say congratulations again on solving our little… difficulty,” Ender Paine said. He shuffled some paperwork.

“Wirt, we have something that we want to say to you.”

“I’m not being thrown out, am I?” Wirt asked. The two of them looked too serious for almost anything else. “I mean, I know I broke a few rules, but things worked out all right in the end.” Well, he thought, from their point of view, at least.

“We aren’t expelling you,” Ender Paine said. “Sometimes, rules have to be broken.”

“But not promises,” Ms. Lake said. The Headmaster rolled his eyes.

“I have broken a great many promises over the years, Vivaine, and very little bad has ever come of it. For me, at least. Still, if you insist…”

“I do.” Ms. Lake nodded to Wirt. “You remember that I said we would find a way for you to get home?”

Wirt nodded.

“Well, the truth is, Wirt, that there is a way. Your talent for transportation is more than just that. From what I have seen,” Ms. Lake didn’t need to mention the meeting of the school’s management board, “You have a talent for opening things that are shut. For getting past barriers. If I am right, then you do not have to learn to transport yourself all the way to your world. We just have to find the right branch of the tree, and you’ll do the rest.”

“But I have no idea where that way is,” Wirt pointed out. “There are so many branches, finding it could take forever.”

“Ordinarily,” Ender Paine said. “However, Ms. Lake has pointed out to me that there is at least one person near this school who has spent time in your world, even if he is an irritation.”

Wirt thought. “You mean Llew? The dragon?”

Ms. Lake nodded. “Dragons tend to have good memories. He will be able to show you which branch to take. If you want.”

The last three words hung there, tempting, but also asking Wirt an important question. One he was not quite ready to answer.

“I thought you both had plans for me,” Wirt said.

“And what makes you think that?” Ender Paine asked. His voice was neutral, but there was just a hint of danger beneath the surface of it.

“Well, sir,” Wirt said, “you wouldn’t have let me into the school otherwise, would you? Not if there weren’t something in it for you.” He looked to Ms. Lake. “Neither of you would have.”

Ms. Lake looked a little hurt by that. For his part, Ender Paine laughed.

“True enough, boy. Ah, we will make a real wizard of you yet. If you stay, that is. As for letting you go, Vivaine has pointed out that, by helping recover the chalice, you have already done more than enough for me to be ahead on the deal. Also, she threatened to tell you how to get home whether I agreed or not, and this way I look like I’m being suitably altruistic.”

The Headmaster laughed like he had not just admitted to being utterly manipulative. Ms. Lake didn’t join in.

“You have a choice to make, Wirt. You can go home, or you can stay here.”

“If I went back,” Wirt said, “would I be able to come back here?”

“Possibly,” Ms. Lake said. “The entrance should work both ways, but it can be hard to tell sometimes.”

“And if I decided to stay here-”

“Yes, yes,” Ender Paine snapped, “you would be able to change your mind. We have just told you how to find the way back, haven’t we?”

Ms. Lake shook her head. “I am not sure that is helping, headmaster. Yes, Wirt, you could still change your mind. But you do have to decide, at least for now.”

And that, Wirt felt, was the hard part about the whole thing. He had to decide. That was not something he’d had to do much before. He hadn’t had any say in the various families he had lived with, for example, nor had he had any say about coming to the school in the first place. That had just been the magic sweeping him up. He had not really even had any say in joining the school, in his roommate, or even in joining in the quest for the chalice. Now though, they were expecting him to decide whether he wanted to stay in a magical world or go back…

…home. Was it home, though? Had any of the places Wirt had stayed
really
been his home? They had just been places. Usually ones without much in the way of friends to go with them. That brought a pang of pain with it as Wirt thought about Spencer and Alana holding hands. Was not it the fact that they had both managed to get so close to him that made it hurt so much? Maybe he would be better off somewhere where there weren’t people who would hurt him like that.

It would certainly be more normal. You could bet that the outskirts of Bicester would hardly ever feature people being turned into frogs, or magical cups, or ancient dragons who sounded like they might be more at home in Cardiff watching the rugby than in their caves. On the other hand, Wirt could see Ms. Lake watching him with something approaching hope.

“You want me to stay, don’t you?” he asked her. “You’ve still got this thing that you want me to do for you.”

Ms. Lake nodded. “I would like you to stay. I think it might be good for you, Wirt, and yes, the Headmaster and I have some horribly convoluted plots we’ll probably end up involving you in. You mustn’t let that influence your decision though. You need to do what you think is right for you.”

“Of course,” the Headmaster pointed out, “here you will receive an education that will prepare you for high office, give you magical power beyond your wildest dreams, and maybe even improve your dress sense.” He looked Wirt up and down. “Though I possibly wouldn’t hold out quite that much hope.”

This, Wirt thought, from a man dressed like he should be doing cheap card tricks. The trouble was, except about the clothes, Ender Paine had a point. The school could give him a lot. Certainly more opportunities than he would ever have anywhere else. Then there was Spencer, Alana, Priscilla and Robert. Despite the hurt, Wirt still couldn’t help feeling that having them around was a good thing. They had certainly made the past few days far better than they might have been otherwise, and even Alana and Spencer… well, Wirt was sure that he would get used to it in time.

Ender Paine sighed theatrically, absentmindedly conjuring small balls of energy into existence and rolling them back and forth across his knuckles.

“Are you going to make a decision at some point today, boy? Or should I pop home for the evening and leave you standing there all night?”

“Um…” Wirt hesitated only a second longer. “I think I want to stay, if that’s all right.”

Ender Paine nodded brusquely, signed a couple of pieces of paper and looked up at Wirt again. Ms. Lake smiled.

“I am glad you have decided to stay with us, Wirt. I’m sure you’ll be very happy here.”

“Or at least very useful,” Ender Paine said, “now, are you still here? Run along boy. I am sure you have classes to get to. At least, you will when I work out where I am going to get my new charms and magical accountancy teachers from, though I suppose… Vivaine, do you think that we really
need
a magical accountancy teacher? The expense is horrendous, and it is not like anybody ever takes the class. Well, except for that Bentley boy, and there’s something very odd there…”

As the Headmaster continued to ramble, Ms. Lake nodded gently but firmly towards the door. Wirt took the hint. He left, shutting the door behind him and setting off down the corridor. After a few paces, on impulse more than anything, he stopped and tiptoed back, listening carefully.

“It seems you were right, Vivaine,” Ender Paine was saying. “He has a lot of magical potential. I can see that his talents might be very helpful in dealing with our problems.”

“I cannot help but feel,” Ms. Lake said, “that things might be easier if we just told him, though. He is a bright boy. I’m sure he would understand.”

“If you do,” the Headmaster snapped back, “I will have you tweeting in a golden cage before you can blink. We’re doing this my way, Vivaine.”

There was a pause, and somehow Wirt could just imagine Ms. Lake standing there, weighing up her options, and finally deciding that for now at least, it was better just to agree.

“As you say, Headmaster.”

“Finally, you are starting to get the idea. Now, if only everyone else would. Oh, and Vivaine?”

“Yes, Ender?”

“Whatever you have planned for the boy, ensure that it does not interfere with
my
plans for him.”

There was another pause, and it occurred to Wirt that when Ms. Lake left, she would walk straight into him. That didn’t seem like a good thing, especially given everything he had just overheard. It seemed better by far to get out of there as quickly as he could, so Wirt edged away from the door to Ender Paine’s office, before walking quickly down to the transport hole at the end of the hall.

It was still ringed by those odd, and slightly disturbing, statues that were supposed to represent the school’s governors. Wirt paused on the verge of stepping into the hole, staring at them. There was something very wrong about them. They were not moving, but there was very definitely a sense that they might the moment everyone’s backs were turned. It was more than that, though. There was something about them. Something on the edge of hearing. Wirt strained to listen.

“He has talent indeed.” This voice was rasping, and hardly sounded like the kind of thing that could have come from a human throat. The voice that answered was chattering and odd.

“Talent, but no direction yet.”

“That will come. It seems that old Merlin knew what he was talking about. Yes, I agree with the Headmaster. He
will
be useful.”

Wirt struggled to hear more, but somehow got the feeling that he didn’t really want to be able to. The voices faded, leaving him alone in the hallway. Wirt shook his head. The best thing he could do right then, he decided, was to head down to his room, pick an argument with Spencer over just how neat he insisted on keeping the place, and pretend very hard that about half the people in the school weren’t trying to use him for ends he didn’t know about yet.

With a final look back at Ender Paine’s office, Wirt stepped into the tube.

*****************

Wirt, Spencer, Alana, Priscilla, and Robert’s Adventures continue in:

SILVER TO GOLD

Alchemists Academy Book 2