CHAPTER 9
Just like the wind, he was gone. No. Leon was more like water…cool and steady, brushing against my skin in a warm, familiar pattern that always made my heart calm. But just like water, he slipped too easily through my fingers. Lost in the vast, endless ocean.
And seeing him in person made me more determined to save him.
As I turned around, like a puppy with its tail tucked under, I wondered if Leon realized I was behind him.
Or if that was really Leon at all.
But he was fighting. He promised me. He promised he wouldn’t stop fighting for control, even to his last breath. I had to have faith that he could survive this. Just like Dove was fighting—subconsciously—in her dreams.
And I was fighting for both of them.
Step one: find White.
Step two: get the Elixir (and maybe save Ash?).
Step three: save Dove.
Step four: Find Leon, and kick Ivan’s nonexistent soul-butt!
Step five: We all get our damn happily ever after! The end!
Just one step at a time, Emery…one step at a time.
And the first step was to…find out where the hell I was.
I stopped in front of an unfamiliar store, peering in. It was a coffee shop I don’t remember seeing when I ran by. But then again, I don’t really remember much of what happened when I chased after Leon like some starved dog and he was the walking bone. I flipped my phone open: I had fifteen minutes to get to that park and meet Rick.
But I was lost.
No worries, no worries! Even though I wanted to scream into the heavens I kept going forward. All I had to do was keep my eyes open and look for that post office—at least, I’m pretty sure it was in the same vicinity.
After five minutes I began to panic, and then dug my crumpled map out, pressing it on my knees with sweaty hands. Then realized I didn’t even know the name of the park! Crap!
There was no way to contact Rick. What if he didn’t bother waiting? What if he assumed I bailed on him and went off on his own?
Then my only lead was gone! I glanced around some more, realizing I was even more lost than I thought: instead of busy storefronts, I was in a small section of apartments. It looked like there was construction going on. How on earth did I get here?
I looked at my map, scanning around for the nearest streets. My
eyes widened when I spotted a park marked on the map just past these apartments. Maybe luck would be on my side this round. I tucked the map back into my bag and decided to cut through the construction area to get to the park, praying with every step that this was the right direction, and even more praying that Rick was a patient, kind and understanding guy, able to realize that it’s completely easy for a poor girl like myself to get lost in such a huge city.
I sped up.
And that’s when I heard the scream.
At first I thought nothing of it, until a second scream followed. All the hairs on my neck stood up, and I scanned the area, following instinctively to wear the yells were coming from. This could be anything, but in such a deserted area like this? I wasn’t going to take the chance, even though a small, selfish bit in the back of my mind was screaming at me to keep going, to find Rick.
What can I say? My curiosity is what killed me before. Literally.
I pressed forward, snapping my phone on and dialed 911, my thumb hovering over the Call button. The screams started dwindling, turning into a choking sound, like someone was trying to breathe underwater. I peaked over a concrete wall to see a boy my age, maybe older, on his knees, clawing at his throat.
Except there wasn’t anything holding him.
He kept clawing, even trying to peel away his navy blue hoodie, but it did no good. At first I thought maybe this was some weird trick—or maybe this guy was some actor?, until I heard a girlish laugh, so soft and light it was like wind chimes jingling in a smooth summer breeze. I looked out as much as I could without being spotted, to see a girl wearing some of the heaviest and hottest looking clothes I ever saw.
She had dark blonde hair, falling in waves down her back and framing her doll-like face. And she was dressed like she was heading to a funeral: a thick looking black dress with ruffles, long sleeves that reached the tips of her fingers, and white tights. Black boots were laced up all the way to her knees, and the heels look so thick you could probably break someone’s knee with it.
But it wasn’t just her looks that sent me in awe-struck horror. She had one hand raised in the air like a conductor giving his performance, showing off black polished nails, towards the boy, and she laughed…and the black, ruffled choker she wore around her neck glowed. From my spot I could barely make out the faint, bluish edges of what looked like Runes. And that’s when the air around us shifted, like a sudden turn in the storm. There was a crackle in the air, like fireworks, and I realized that this wasn’t some weird play. Heck, this wasn’t even a normal fight!
That girl was an alchemist!
The boy’s face began turning a dark shade of purple and I knew
that any kind of police force wouldn’t be a match against this girl. I didn’t even need to take a steady, deep breath this time: I forced the golden spirals in the air to form, watched them dance in this girl’s Wind, and leapt forward, halting the time around us just for a flicker of a second, enough to knock the girl down to the ground.
We tumbled together into the dirt mixed with sawdust. The girl shrieked in my ear, clawing at me, but I pinned her down with my weight. I saw the boy collapse on his knees, sucking in oxygen, and the bluish tint to his face vanished, replaced by a flushed glow.
“Run!” I cried out. The boy didn’t need telling twice. He shot up faster than a jackrabbit and ran as if his feet were on fire. I had prepared to follow in his footsteps when I felt a hand slap my cheek with so much force I felt stars. The gothic Lolita wearing girl hissed between clenched teeth, and with a flick of her hand I was sent up in the air and flown into the concrete wall.
The impact knocked me silly and forced the breath out of my lungs. I fell to my knees, blinking in pain and tried to suck in a breath.
And realized I couldn’t.
My eyes went round in silent horror as the walking doll came forward, her light, caramel colored eyes ablaze with fury. The Runes stitched into her choker glowed blue, giving her a sickly, almost death-like shadow. I felt the wind shift around us and realized that I couldn’t
get one breath in because it felt as if all the air in my lungs was being sucked out.
Unconsciously I clawed at my throat; it felt as if two large hands were pressed around my neck, squeezing all the air out of me. Dark spots began to dance in my eyes; drool leaked out of my mouth and ran down my chin, dropping on my nice top. I even kicked at the dirt, but every moment sent my body into a spasm. I couldn’t even think; concentrate…everything was going white…
Suddenly the girl shrieked when the sleeve of her dress caught fire, and her invisible grip on my lungs unlocked. I fell to the side, choking in air and heaving at the same time. My throat felt so raw and scratched up, like I had swallowed rusted knives.
I felt the air shift again, this time it grew warm, and a blast of the hot air hit me in the face, forcing me back against the wall—and then it stopped again, like the door had been closed shut. The girl cried out,
“Rick!”, and I my eyelids, weighing a hundred pounds each, fluttered open, and my vision regrouped.
Rick stood behind the girl, holding one of her hands behind her back, and her choker looped around his other. The girl kicked and screamed and even tried to bite him, but he just pushed her away, tossing the cloth choker on the ground.
“Get the hell out of here, Alyssa!”
The blonde leveled him with a glare, but I could see confusion glimmering in her caramel eyes. “What is going on Rick? Why are you protecting that girl?!”
“Get out of her Alyssa. Now!” Rick roared, holding his gloved hands up. A line of fire erupted between
us and Alyssa, forcing her to crawl away, a look of pure horror mixed with betrayal on her face. If I didn’t know better, I thought she whimpered a little. But that frail mask I glimpsed hardened as she tried to make a grab for her choker—until that lit up in a red blaze.
“No!” She screeched, clutching her hand against her chest. “How dare you, Rick? How dare you?!”
“I’m not going to ask a third time, Alyssa,” Rick leveled her with a cold, hard gaze. She wasn’t just outnumbered, but she was basically weaponless; a knight in enemy territory without his sword and shield.
Slowly, she got to her feet, wobbling in her heels, and took a step back.
Her look was so poisonous it could have melted bones.
“You damn traitor!” she cried out, “White will kill you for this!”
“You tell him,” Rick retorted, “And you pass a message to White: if he lays a hand on Ash I’ll kill him myself.”
Alyssa just shook her head, shot us both one last anger filled look, and raced off as fast as she could in those thick heels. But I couldn’t shake the look that pained her face, the same look I probably felt when I
recalled an Ivan controlled Leon stabbing Dove.
A look of twisted anger mixed with treachery. It was a look I recognized too easily.
CHAPTER 10
“Thank God I made it in time.”
I couldn’t stop shaking, even after Rick’s fire had dwindled to cinders, even when he stomped Alyssa’s black choker into the ground, rubbing it against the dirt like a discarded cigarette butt. Every swallow of air I took hurt, like my throat was swelled and bruised from the inside.
Even when Rick knelt beside me, I couldn’t help but want to cry.
He didn’t say anything, didn’t touch me. Just sat there and waited for me to regain what little sanity I had left. Finally, after a painfully long time
—it felt like hours had passed when it was only minutes—I found my voice.
It came out raw and rugged. “Who was that?”
Rick’s voice was bitter, but I detected a hint of fondness also that made me wonder what kind of bonds the two of them shared. And then realized it was really none of my business. “That was Alyssa Denson—
finest Wind Alchemist in the country, or so she claims. She works for White too, obviously.”
I swayed back a little and landed on my bum, feeling a newly
formed bruise bloom its way up my spine. “Friend of yours?”
“Hardly.” He snorted, as if the thought was amusing in itself. “We weren’t close, but we all came from the same place, basically. She usually works solo, and for a good reason: she’s insanely tough. She doesn’t need anyone slowing her down. And you felt it yourself. If she wanted, she could have expanded your lungs from the inside until the popped like balloons.”
I nodded, taking a deep breath, feeling my lungs expand underneath the skin. Feeling the air getting sucked out of my body was no picnic in the park, but that mental image scarred me for life. Thank goodness she was just a Self Taught alchemist—if she wasn’t, I think we’d have both been screwed.
“So what was she even doing here in Atlanta?” I asked. Then, an ice cold terror swept over me. “She wasn’t after me, was she?”
Rick shook his head. “I don’t think White even knows you’re here
—he probably still thinks you’re holed up in Savannah with that Dream girl. And Alyssa didn’t seem to recognize you, so I doubt she even knew who you were—probably just some dumb meddler. No offense.”
“None taken.”
“Then she must be here on some assignment. Probably looking for someone like you.”
I gulped. “Like me?”
Rick shot me an annoyed look. “Special Alchemists like you, idiot.
You think you and that little walking Dream Catcher are the only ones out there? “
I bit my lip to refrain saying something nasty back. He was just stressed as hell, like I was. But I sighed anyway, annoyed with his tone but more irritated at myself. My mind still felt a little fuzzy from that attack, and I knew for sure Alyssa was someone I did not want to mess with again anytime soon.
“It just never occurred to me that there were others like me out there. I thought Chrys and I were the only ones…”
His brown eyes softened a little as he spoke, “I never would have believed it either if White hadn’t told us.”
I leaned back against the concrete wall, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “Why is White going to all this trouble to find alchemists like me?”
Rick too joined me at the wall and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, then thought twice before shoving them back into his jacket.
“Power, I guess. He never clarified, and we never asked. All I know is that he wants to…‘collect’ them, for some greater purpose.”
I bristled. “‘Collect’? We aren’t some sort of trophy you can put in a glass case.”
“Hey, don’t get mad at me,” Rick exclaimed, “I’m just telling you
what I know.”
“Well it sucks!” I blurted out, feeling the anger rise inside of me like a volcano threatening to burst. “It sucks having people after you because you have this power you don’t really understand and didn’t ask for. But this alchemy— my alchemy—saved my life, and I sure as hell am not going to give it to anyone. Not the Black Crown or White. If it’s going to cause this much grief then I’d rather just get rid of it!”
Rick stayed silent, even when I pounded the ground with my fists.
It’s true that this alchemy I held within me seemed to do a lot more good than bad, but because of its existence many people have gotten hurt, almost killed, all because some selfish prick wanted it for himself.
But then…even though I claimed to hate this alchemy…I could never part with it. Honestly, I was too scared to, because I felt like after it was gone I’d go back to be my old, boring, unexciting self. I never came to St. Mary’s to become an alchemist—it just found me, like a long lost friend; a piece of a puzzle clicking into place.
Losing my Time Alchemy would feel like losing a piece of my soul. It made me wonder how Dove had survived with her alchemy locked up inside of her, although back then neither of us thought it was locked up. We believed it was gone; a sacrifice necessary for saving my heart.
How come I never thanked her properly for that? What was it like
for Dove, a girl who knew she was an alchemist since she was practically a baby—a Blood-Borne no less—who used her Blood Alchemy to help people, have it taken away, just like that? She never once complained, though she stressed about being weak…but why had it never occurred to me she’d been hurting all along?
And thanks to me, she was in a coma. And she might never wake up again so I could tell her how sorry I was, and how much she meant to me, and how much she’s changed my life.
“I hate this,” I whispered. “I hate being weak! I hate not being able to do anything except run around in circles. I hate myself.” Saying those words that have been bottled up inside of me was like having a thousand paper cuts graze my skin, yet it felt like an even greater relief, because I knew I couldn’t change the past—I could only go forward, with all I had, no matter how little.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and flinched at the sudden warmth, but to my surprise it was Rick; his hand free of its glove. His lips were thin, pressed in a tight line, and his melting coffee colored eyes seem to say what words failed to express.
He knew. He understood.
And at that moment, I understood him, too.
Gingerly, I reached up and pressed my palm over his hand. It was rough to the touch, but super warm, like holding a miniature sun. It was
odd, getting comfort from a stranger—a former enemy, no less—but it was just what I needed. What I wanted.
He shifted his head, just slightly, as if trying to give me determination.
I nodded firmly, but couldn’t find my voice. After a few more minutes, we picked ourse
lves up. Rick’s hand somehow found mine as I got to my feet; a warm force that seemed to steady my shaking knees. He let go, and I already missed the heat of his hands, tucking them under my arms as I followed his taller figure away.
Until my eyes caught something lying on the ground. It could have been trash or rubble, but I was curious, and knelt down, brushing sand off the item until it revealed a small, slender black card holder.
Flipping it over, I couldn’t help the gasp that came out of my mouth, and almost forgot Rick was there until he asked what was wrong.
“This!” I stood up so fast I almost grazed his chin, and I had to take a step back so I could think. But I held up the card, and pointed to the picture. “This is the boy that Alyssa was attacking!”
“Boy?” Rick blinked. “What boy?”
“There was a boy she had cornered,” I blabbered. “I didn’t think any of who he was, I thought she was just hurting him for the pleasure of it.” Because she looked the type to be a freaking psychopath, using her Wind Alchemy to torture her victims. “But after what you said about her,
maybe that he wasn’t just some innocent guy caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. What if this boy is an alchemist?” Like me, I wanted to add.
Rick’s eyes went round, and he took the card. Reading out loud,
“‘Atlanta Tech Student ID. Oliver Benton. Freshman.’ There’s a dorm address and an email. He doesn’t look like an alchemist.”
I gave him a sharp look. “And I do?”
“Okay, point taken.” He sighed, tossing the student ID in my direction. It almost slipped from my hands and I gave Rick a small glare before pushing it into my bag. “But what makes you think this kid is an alchemist like you?”
“Why else attack some poor college freshman like that?” I asked.
“This is a secluded area—perfect for attacking and perfect for kidnapping. What if she lured him here, or he takes a shortcut here all the time, and she cornered him? Maybe she wasn’t planning to kill him, just suffocate him until he passed out?”
“It’s…actually, it’s possible,” Rick confessed. “When Ash and I targeted you—sorry, again—we spent some time tracking your movements, keeping watch on you until we could get you alone.”
The Fake Voice (Time Alchemist) Page 6
