“Maybe I’m just a bad influence.” I tried to joke, even though I still felt like crap.
“Yeah, you are,” Ru said bluntly, and I felt my face burn. “But you mean well. So. What’s the plan?”
“Plan?”
“You have that look again,” he replied nonchalantly, “Just like the day you ran away to Atlanta.”
I didn’t bother to hide my surprise. I only nodded, quickly telling him about where Guinevere may be hiding. “I’m coming.”
I blinked, startled. “What?”
Ru didn’t bother to repeat himself, but brushed past me to look out the window. The rain continued to fall, picking up speed, and the wind howled like in pain. “I’m coming.”
I tried to say something logical, but nothing could form out of my mouth. “But…you’ll get in trouble!”
A brow rose. He didn’t even have to say the words, I could hear them loud in my head. Why would he care about something like that? As long as Chrys is safe, he’d leap in front of a truck for her.
“But…who will stay here to watch Chrys?” I retorted, trying to
play the Chrys card on him. But Ru didn’t have to speak up for that.
Instead, Oliver, followed by a Rick, appeared at the doorway, a grin on his face.
“We’ll do it.”
“What?”
Oliver just smiled, glancing from Ru to me. Ru’s eyes flashed a little, but they turned soft. He acted like a territorial cat around Oliver, since Chrys obviously had a crush on him, but over the weeks he and Ru have bonded quite a bit. Rick leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest, glowering. It was obvious he wanted to come, and I flashed him an appreciative smile, but he was on lock down for who knows how long? If he escaped with me, he’d be put in jail faster than you could claim innocence.
Still, I tried to protest. “What if Frankie Ann catches us gone?”
“Then maybe there might be an accidental fire in the kitchen that takes up her attention?” Rick smirked.
I shot him a look. “But you can’t use alchemy right now.”
“Hey!” He protested. “Just because I can’t use it doesn’t mean I don’t know how to cause fires without it.”
“We’ll distract Frankie Ann,” Oliver chimed in, trying to smooth out the fire. “We’ll say that you’re resting in bed. Maybe you’ve suddenly caught the flu, too.”
“Then what about Ru?”
“Ru?” Rick said, scoffing, pretending not to notice that the person in question was standing only six feet away. “You mean the guy who constantly locks himself up in the back tool shed to get high on paint fumes? What about Ru?”
Ah. That’s right. Ru used Frankie Ann’s dusty tool shed as his personal working space, though I’ve never ventured into it. Ru was already grumpy enough of a person as it is, but when you accidentally disturb him working on his latest piece you can bet you’ll regret it. I walked in once the very first week here and I couldn’t touch doorknobs for two days without being sparked.
“Then…” I knew I was losing this battle, so I gave Ru a glum look.
“How do you suggest we sneak out?”
A sly smirk spread on his face. Tiny sparks shot around his earrings, yet it didn’t seem to faze him one ounce. He flicked his eyes above at the ceiling lights, and the next second the house was plunged into darkness.
CHAPTER 11
“You sure about this?”
“I’m almost sure.” I retorted as I jumped off the bus, splashing ankle deep into a puddle. Ru followed behind me, narrowly missing the water and the bus sped away before we could blink. Other people and couples huddled around us, clutching each other underneath umbrellas or rain jackets. I tugged at the ties around my hood, pulling it tighter around my face as I extracted the black and white copies of a map that I had “borrowed” from Frankie Ann’s office yesterday.
Ru grabs my elbow and guides me underneath the shelter of the bus shop. Only one other person was there, a guy who looked like he was dressed in rags and plastic, occupied the other end of the bench.
After sneaking out of Frankie Ann’s home, I had already told Ru all I knew about Guinevere and where she might bed—Kathleen’s home.
From my research I found she lived in Isle of Hope. Where, exactly, I didn’t know. But it wasn’t that huge. “I figure if we split up the search we could cover more ground,” I said, passing half of the map to Ru. He just looked at it blankly, and shot me a “What the hell are you doing?”
look.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Take it.”
“You really think I’m going to let you wonder around by yourself?”
I gave an irritating sigh. “Really. I just said we could get this done faster if we split up.”
Ru stepped forward, his dark eyes flashing. “And what happens if you run into trouble?”
I leveled him with my own cool stare. “Then I’ll take care of myself.”
He shook his head. Even under his own hood I could see strands of his dark black hair sticking out. “It’s a wonder you’ve even survived this long with that attitude.”
The ground seemed to tilt, and I felt a slow, burning ball of surprise and hatred well up inside of me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just what it means!” Ru snapped, and I jumped. “You think that jumping head first into unknown situations is going to solve everything?
I’m here to help you, and I can’t do that if you insist on acting on your own. You lucked up in Atlanta, but what if everything was a trap, Emery? Did you even bother to think about that? What if Rick wasn’t a good guy? What if you couldn’t reach Chrys who, might I point out, has
done a lot of shit by covering your ass just so you could runaway?”
I felt tears sting the corners of my eyes but I willed them back.
“Then why did you help me in the first place?” It was thanks to Ru’s help that I could escape Frankie Ann’s home; he acted as cover when I snuck into the trunk of her car as they went for groceries. It was a small part, but it was a part nonetheless.
“Because I understood why you were doing what you were doing!” he hissed, and I felt a crackle in the air; tiny sparks shooting off his body. “You went off on a manhunt to save your friend’s life. If our roles were reversed I wouldn’t have hesitated to act, either. But now it’s different, Emery. You aren’t helping anyone here by trying to find some lost alchemist—you’re doing this solely for yourself, dragging others down with you.”
It felt like I had been punched in the gut with an iron fist. “T-That’s not true at all. I’m doing this for Dove….and…”
“Is that what Dove really wants?” Ru asked, his voice sounding oddly gentle when he mentioned Dove’s name. “If so, why didn’t you bring her with you?”
“Because she’s still sick.” I protested weakly. “You don’t know what we saw in her memories, Ru. She still hasn’t wrapped her head around what’s going on, and—”
“So you really think this is what she wants?” Ru jumped in. “Or
are you really doing this just for yourself? And what are you going to do if you even find Guinevere? Force her to come back? What if you just succeed in scaring her off? Then all of this would be for nothing!”
“You don’t think I know that?!” I snapped. “Even now I don’t know what the hell I’m doing! I’m scared! It’s like Dove is on a different planet, because of me. Chrys still hasn’t woken up, because of me, and Leon is out there, probably fighting for his last breath because of me and I can’t do shit! All I know is that Guinevere is hiding something from them, but maybe I can drag her out of the dark. I need her, Ru, just as much as Dove needs her, too. And yes. I am doing this for a selfish reason: I want to save him, no matter what. But I can’t, because I’m a powerless piece of crap that can’t do anything by herself.”
Oddly enough, no tears raced down my cheeks. I wasn’t even mad at Ru—I was furious at myself, because everything he said was true: the onl
y reason I had gotten this far was thanks to the help of others. Him, and Chrys…Oliver and Rick, even the people at the Black Crown. I’m the one who pushed Dove into unlocking her memories, so why was I even here?
For myself. Only for myself.
And I was afraid. So afraid, because I wanted answers, and I might not get any. And Ru was right: if I really cared about what Dove wanted I would have taken her with me. But instead, like a stupid
coward, I had to sneak out with Ru on my back and have him act as my conscious.
But the one thing that was true was…
“I want them to be happy,” I choked out, clutching the paper so hard it started tearing. “Dove…Leon…and Guinevere…I want them to be happy together. And I feel like, after everything they’ve done for me, I can at least do this. I need to find Guinevere, because she might hold the answer to saving Leon’s life. And once he’s saved…he and Dove…they can be reunited again, like a family. A family I know I’ll never be part of, but if it’s the only thing I can do I want to do it, even if it’s hopeless.”
Ru was silent, watching me with those hawk-like eyes.
“And I know I’ve screwed up royally,” I continued. “I’ve used people to get to where I am. There’s no way I can make up for that. But now the only thing I can do is keep going. I’m not going to let Chrys lay back home, near death, and not act on the precious clues she’s been able to show me. It’s the only thing I can do, at this point…”
I rubbed my face with the sleeve of my raincoat, and looked up fully at Ru. “So you are right. About everything, Ru. And I’m sorry.”
A twitch of a smile showed on his face, and he nodded. “Let’s go
—”
Ru’s words were cut off when the rain picked up around us, swirling so fast it was like we were in a hurricane. I felt a sudden wave of
water engulf me and I choked out, clawing to the surface. I slammed against the side of the bus stop and watched in awe as the ground began flooding at an alarming rate. Not possible, I gasped out as I felt Ru latch onto my arm, pulling me over the top of the shelter, It’s not raining that hard to cause sudden floods. Could it be—?!
“Ru, look out!” I cried as I saw a familiar figure—the man dressed in the rags; appear behind Ru, looking like an ominous shadow. His hood had flown off and I saw deep ridges on his crinkled face—swirls of dark blue Runes, shining in the gray light. They almost looked like pained tears as he lifted his hands and let out an animal-like cry.
Then another wave crashed into us, and Ru lost hold. Water rushed down my throat, up my nose and I gagged, accidentally swallowing even more of the putrid water. The wave ended just as fast as it came, and I found myself on the wet ground, clawing at the grass as I belched up the rain water. My throat was on fire and my lungs shriveled inside my chest like raisins.
A shadow loomed over me. The homeless man stared down on me with wide, crazy eyes. “Where?!” he screamed, reaching towards me. His Runes shivered and the water shot up and wrapped around me like a cloak. I was in a bubble, and I couldn’t breathe. I kicked, but it was like swimming—and I wasn’t exactly the best swimmer.
I saw Ru slam into the homeless alchemist’s back and the water
bubble popped. Again, I was on the ground, taking in deep gulps of air.
Ru had the other alchemist pinned to the ground as he struggled like a stranded fish. I wondered, briefly, why Ru wasn’t using his lightening alchemy to fry him but then I realized— duh, water and electricity don’t mix, idiot!
So that left us with our fists. I tried to get up but something grabbed at my ankles and I landed face first into the grass for the third time. Ru let out a yell as a ribbon of water sliced through the air, cutting his cheek. I saw as the water seemed to shimmer and turn into a solid—
ice—and form a ball big enough to slam into the side of Ru’s head, shattering on impact.
He lay there, unmoving. My heart all but stopped.
Suddenly the Water alchemist was on my, his hands around my throat. His eyes were pure white, like his orbs had evaporated, and I could see the blood red veins almost beating as if they had a life of their own. He smelled awful, like a wet fish. Was this mad man working for someone?
“Where?” he cried out. “Where? Where? WHERE?!”
Something inside of me snapped. I arched forward, flailing my legs, an inhuman growl escaping my lips. I caught the back of his leg and he fell, and I used his momentum against him, pushing forward until I was the one on top of him, my hands around his throat for a change.
We landed in a large puddle, but the water seemed to slide away from him. Even with his entire head underwater he didn’t so much as struggle, but his orbs were wide, unblinking. I could see little air bubbles escape from his lips, and knew with no doubt that he could breath underwater.
He lifted his hands and grabbed my upper arms with surprising strength. I felt water slide up from his arms and wrap around my body.
Just as it neared my mouth, I let out a cry and felt my alchemy just burst out; the world looked as if it were covered in pure gold, it was so beautiful.
The water around me slid away. I was reversing its affect. It seemed like I had the entire area covered, and watched as the water seemed to rise from the ground, back into the sky. The Water alchemist looked at me with awe, though his hands clamped tightly around mine.
Then he smiled.
And I blacked out.
I woke to someone shaking me awake. Ru’s face was blurred, but I saw bright liquid crimson run down the side of his face. Blinking away sleep, I pushed myself up, wondering why I was lying on the grass.
My foot hit something soft, and I turned.
The Water alchemist was lying on his back, looking at the sky
with wide, painful white eyes. A bit of drool escaped his mouth and his Runes actually seemed to almost fade into his translucent skin.
“What…” my throat felt like it was full of cotton. “What…
happened?”
“A Rogue attacked us,” Ru murmured, wincing from his wounds.
“Never expected to find one here. Stay here, I’m going to make a call.”
Ru got up, didn’t even bother to brush off the mud and grass on his black jeans, and jogged off to a nearby payphone. I crawled uneasily to the Water alchemist, every bone in my body weighing a ton, like they had been replaced with lead, and pressed a hand to his throat.
There was no pulse.
Oh my god…
What the hell happened after I activated my alchemy? Did I—did I reverse his own time? Did I kill him?
“You think that jumping head first into unknown situations is going to solve everything?”
Raw white terror gripped my insides, and I doubled over, retching next to the body. Then I was…running, my feet slipping on the wet ground. I vaguely heard Ru shout behind me, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t think. I just kept running, like I could outrun my crimes.
It felt as if hours could have passed. I didn’t even know how long I had run, but when I finally had to stop—when my lungs were full to
bursting and a horrible stitch in my side made me fall to my knees, I looked back to see I had run into a neighborhood. The smell of salt was strong. How close was I to the marsh?
Thunder clasped overhead and I jumped. The rain was falling so heavily now. I needed to take shelter. For…something.
After five minutes I came behind a house that faced the marsh. A stray hammock swung widely in the wind, no doubt going to be a tangled mess the next day. But I spotted a gazebo not too far away. Hopefully I could crouch down and take shelter, gather my thoughts until the storm faded…
But when I reached the mouth of the gazebo, I saw that it wasn’t empty. There was a lone figure sitting on the bench, his head in his hands. Blood dripped from multiple scratches running down his arms and legs. A brown jacket almost looking tattered, clinging to his body like a second skin.
And on his left wrist was a dangling, s
parkling silver metal band.
CHAPTER 12
There was nothing. No sound, no air. The rain could have been frozen, the world could have tilted on its axis and the sky could have bled fire and I wouldn’t have noticed a thing.
When I first saw Leon on the gazebo, it was like my mind went completely numb. Blank. Wiped clean. I thought, this has to be a dream.
This isn’t real. Just an illusion. I’m obviously delusion.
Well no shit! I just killed a guy!
It didn’t matter that it was self defense. When I attacked that Rogue with my alchemy I felt like I could have held back, I could have reined in my power—but I didn’t. I couldn’t. It felt like, for a very nanosecond of a breath, that I was meant to do it.
Oh God I was going to throw up all over the boots of my almost-boyfriend-possessed-by-a-bad-soul.
When he looked up, his locks of brown hair plastered to his face, and those sea green eyes—a little dull, but still—looking at me from the shadows, it felt as if my heart was going to burst right through my ribcage like a firework. Nausea swelled within me, both from the
Rogue’s death and my unease.
And…relief.
Leon blinked, as if confused, like he wasn’t all there. But slowly, a little light flashed in his orbs. His lips were cracked, but he managed to say only one word: “Emery?”
I could only nod. I took a step forward but stopped when I saw him flinch. He hissed in pain, and fresh blood poured out of a newly cut wound on his hand. I couldn’t help it, my body moved on my own as I cupped his wounded hand between my own. He went rigid, but didn’t move away.
God, his skin was so cold. There were a multitude of brushes and welts on his skin. He looked as if he hadn’t had a decent sleep in years.
His cheeks were hollow and there were heavy, heavy black rings underneath his eyes. His hair was oily and there were dirt and blood under his fingernails. The only thing different were his clothes, sans jacket: he had on a different pair of dark pants and a black shirt, which clashed with his ragged, brown coat and boots.
The Fake Mind (Time Alchemist) Page 6
