by Matt Ryan
“Oh, I think we understand what’s going on out there,” Manny said. “We have people popping in and out on a daily basis, checking the different alchemist hotspots. We’re not as off-grid as it may appear, so don’t take our protection zone for granted. You’ll stay here at my discretion, until I get to know you. We have a history of bad alchemists coming in here and doing terrible things to us.”
Jackie rolled her eyes and let out a long, steady breath through her nose. She was pissed-off, but there wasn’t much we could do about it as their guests. Their house, their rules.
“You too, Jin,” Manny said.
“What?”
“I knew your father, but that doesn’t mean I know you. My hospitality only goes so far. Don’t push it.”
Jin complied and handed his sack over to Manny, who inspected them and stuffed them into his growing pocket pouch. “You have a kind heart, Jin. Not many men would carry around such healing stones.”
“Sometimes it’s better to heal than to hurt,” Jin said.
Manny nodded. “Come. Let’s get you to your house.”
We follow him to the rear of the village. He opened the door and motioned for us to go inside the small house. It had a couch, a kitchen, what looked to be a functioning bathroom, and one bed.
“One other thing,” Manny said. “I’m going to ask you to stay in this house until the council can make a decision on whether or not you can stay here.” He delivered this information with a smile, as if he was talking about toast.
“Like we’re prisoners?” Jin asked.
“What is it exactly you want from us?” Manny said.
“We’re working to try to stop her,” Jin said.
“By her, surely you don’t mean the one with the philosopher’s stone? Please tell me you’re not talking about Cathy?”
Jackie stepped forward. “The war will be here soon. You said you remembered your past and know what happened before, and that wasn’t even with a person who was close to the power she has. You think she’s going to show you mercy this time around? It won’t be long until she discovers what she’s missing and washes over this place like a tidal wave.”
“Don’t preach to me about our past. You know nothing about this place. Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on around the world.”
“Then help us,” I pleaded. I wasn’t exactly sure what was needed, but I knew that Jin said these people had to help us make one of the parts for the breaker stone.
Manny walked closer to me with squinty eyes and looked at me, as if for the first time. “Allie . . . what’s your last name?”
Mark stepped between us, and the movement alerted Manny.
His eyes got wide and he covered his mouth, pointing at me with a shaking finger. “You’re her, aren’t you? The creator of the stone. I knew I recognized you. Saw your picture once. Some boy was here, searching for you a couple of years ago—a redhead.”
I thought of Wes, and how much my friends had been doing to search for me. They must have combed the entire world if they’d reached a remote place such as this.
“Norton is my last name.” I put a hand on Mark’s shoulder and stepped around him. “Cathy is my mother.”
Manny looked to the ceiling and slapped his forehead. “Of all the people in the world I let come into this village, I bring the maker. You’ve crossed the threshold of this house and become my guest, so I will honor that. But it only goes this far. I’m not certain of the material you’re needing, so you’ll have to talk to the councilmen. But first, let’s see what your fate is. Stay here and I will return soon.” With that, Manny picked up and left.
Then I heard a clicking in the door after he closed it. I couldn’t resist the urge to check, so I walked up and shook the door handle. It was locked from the outside.
“Shouldn’t have told him that,” Jin said. “You just made our task harder. The special flower only grows here, in this one place. It has a unique property needed to create another stone.”
Wait a minute. Did he think I was going to create another stone? That was never going to happen.
“So, we’re just going to be good little puppy dogs and wait for our owner to return?” Jackie asked.
“I don’t mind,” I said. “Looks like I’ve missed way too much, Jackie. I want to hear everything that’s happened in the last four years.”
She gave a small smile at this and nodded her assent. We all sat down at the dining room table, and Jackie went over everything that had happened—all the horrible things my mother had done, the heroic acts the Minitrepid had accomplished in order to find me.
By the end of the night, I had become weary; not just my physical body, but my mind and spirit had waned. If I didn’t know better, most of what Jackie talked about was a confirmation of why they’d tried so hard to bring me back. They wanted me to go against my mother and prove what a terrible person she was.
Food was brought to us, in the form of chicken, and fruits and vegetables, on paper plates. Some of it tasted good, but I didn’t have the appetite, now that everything around me felt like it was crushing in on me.
A few taps at the door and we went to answer it. Jackie continued to grumble about making stones while trapped in the room, but I didn’t want to disrespect Manny.
Mark opened the door, and there stood Manny.
“May I come in?”
“What did you decide?” Mark asked.
“We’ve agreed to help you.”
“But?” I prompted.
“But, we need a stone made for us.”
I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. All of it was just another ploy to get me to make yet another terrible stone. Who knows what they wanted me to make, or what ingredients it would require?
“What kind of stone?” Jackie asked.
“We assume you’re trying to make a breaker stone?” Manny asked.
I turned to him. “Yes.”
“There is but one flower left. But there is enough to make two stones with it. All we ask is that you create two stones. So if you fail, another can pick up where you left off.”
I couldn’t argue with the logic. It made sense; especially if there was just one chance left in the world. Better to create two.
“You know, it’s just more than this one stone we need to create. This is just one piece in the larger puzzle,” Jin explained.
“I know,” Manny said. “And like I said, this will be the backup. There needs to be a second path. It’s the only smart thing to do here. Two stones created. One for you, one for us. If you don’t agree, you can leave.”
“I’ll make your damned stone,” I said.
“Great, I’ll make arrangements and we can meet in the morning.”
“No, now,” I said.
“Not going to happen. Just sleep for the night, and I’ll be by in the morning. Oh, and don’t leave this house.” Manny shut the door and I heard the click of the lock.
“This is some straight up bullshit, Jin. Who the hell are these people?” Jackie asked.
“Listen,” I said. “I don’t care. I’m so freaking tired. At this point, I could use the sleep.”
Chapter Six
Floating in the void, a milky, blackish substance swirls around me. I don’t hear or see anything other than a black swirl. I have no hands, or even a body that I can see, yet something is pulling me along, as if there’s a gravitational force beyond the black and white milky swirl.
I have the sensation of falling, and gasp out of fear, but no sound comes out. That’s when a floating entity barrels toward the unknown gravitational force. A soft tone of a bell rings. Then out in front of me, I see the swirl changing to pure black as it’s sucking me in. I dip into the blackness and land on my feet.
Whispering surrounds me. I try to make out words or voices, but they are too quiet, and too many. Then I hear a few screams—faint and in the distance. I can’t decide which direction they’re coming from. They seem to be coming from everywhere.
I hea
r a new voice, and it says, “It should’ve been you. You betrayed the stone, and now everything is wrong.”
“Who’s there?” I call out.
The voice mutters something incomprehensible, then joins in the chorus of other whispers, telling me it should have been me.
“What is this place?” I ask.
“This is the beginning. This is the end.”
The gravity grabs me again and yanks me away. Blackness fills in around me, before I’m thrust back into the milky swirls. A solid green light appears, then a yellow one. My mom blinks into existence. She looks much different; younger and prettier, and she has this glow about her.
“Mom?” I call out. But she doesn’t look up, she keeps talking to the man right in front of her.
I don’t recognize the man, and wonder how real this all is. When will I wake up? This must be a dream. Why am I seeing this?
I strain to hear the words being said, only to get a few somethings about a stone being created. Then my mom laughs. It’s a pleasant sound, but it makes the man look nervous and he backs up, as if reaching for his stone pouch.
“Mom, look out,” I warn.
My mom is quick to react. In fact, I can’t see her move, she just has both hands on the man in a matter of a flash.
The man burns, not in yellow flames, but in a white light that brings me back to the days of the academy. She’s creating a soul stone. The man screams, and I hold in the urge to cover my eyes. I can’t look away or even blink. Every second of this man’s death plays out before me.
When he turns into a stone and falls to the ground, Cathy bends over and picks it off the ground. She slaps the stone against her chest and a white light sprays out from her, before it disappears. She takes in a deep breath, looking even better than before. That’s when the gravity takes me again, sending me sailing backward.
Then my mother appears in my face. She looks fierce and angry—it’s terrifying. I try to scream out, but I can’t.
“Who are you? How dare you try to spy on me! I will find you and I will take you. Your power needs to be with me.”
I screamed and jolted up in bed. I wasn’t in the world of swirling blackness, or with my mom anymore. I was in bed, on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, sprawled next to Mark.
He propped himself up on his elbow with a concerned expression. “Nightmares?”
The memories were fading quickly, as dreams usually do. This dream seemed so real though. So bizarre. It was as if I wasn’t in control of it all, but was along for a ride. Like some other entity was guiding me and showing me something. I wasn’t sure what though, or why. Maybe it was just all in my head.
“Yeah, just something spooky, I guess. It was just a dream,” I said as I lay back down, facing away from Mark
He rubbed my shoulder soothingly. “I’ll stay up with you.”
“That’s okay, I’m going back to bed. It was just a nightmare.” Last thing I wanted to do was worry Mark, or have him think I was bonkers.
Right then, our front door burst open and Manny came running in, screaming. “We got a visitor. You guys need to hide! They’re looking for you.”
Chapter Seven
“Give me back my stones right now,” Jackie ordered.
Manny fumbled in his pocket and tossed Jackie all her satchels. He tossed Jin his as well. “I can’t fight this one. It’s one of her hands.”
Jackie marched to the window and gazed out into the morning light. Her facial expression changed from open-mouthed shock, to anger, to red-faced rage.
“Who is it?” I asked.
Jackie seethed. “Leo.”
“What? Your Leo?” I asked. “But how?” For me, it wasn’t too long ago that those two were caught in the endless hall, making out like Romeo and Juliet—star-crossed lovers from the house of Blue, and the house of Red.
“He’s not my Leo anymore. She’s turned him into Leo the Seeker. Leo the Dog,” Jackie said.
Manny gasped at the names Jackie called him.
I went to the window and found the crack between the shades that Jackie was looking through. I saw the small houses to either side, where people were standing in their doors, watching as a man dressed in all black walked slowly through the street. With his long, blond hair, it hardly looked anything like Leo.
Older, sterner. He had filled out as well. He was now a full-grown man with large muscles. He also had a bright blue stone shoved in the center of his chest.
“Looks like some freak super-villain now,” I observed.
“You have no idea,” Jackie said.
“Leo comes to our place several times a year. Just a routine check on these little safe zones from the queen. If you hide well enough, you might live,” Manny said. “There’s a space in this house for you to hide.”
The corner pantry cabinet pushed open, revealing a door. Manny used a stone, and it opened to a small, adjacent room. We walked inside and I stared through the mirror that hung over the bed I’d shared with Mark. It was actually a one-way mirror. Looking back to Manny, I scowled at him.
“What are you, some kind of pervert? I asked.
“Not like anything would’ve happened,” Jackie said, rolling her eyes. “And if anything did, I’d be the one watching. Not some overweight, creepy Hawaiian guy.”
“I would never watch . . .” Manny struggled to put together a response. “What I mean to say is, I didn’t see anything, but I do need to watch over our guests. These walls are not soundproofed either guys, so you should be quiet. Seal the door behind me.”
“Sick, Manny,” Jin said.
“Give us a portal stone,” Mark said.
“I don’t have one.” He closed the door.
Manny walked around the room, discarding all the evidence of us staying there. He smoothed out the bed, and sent plates to the sink, before he went over to the kitchen table and sat down with a large bottle of alcohol, placing it on the table. He started drinking from it heavily.
I wondered what he was up to.
“Give me some stones, please.” I put my gloved hand out to Jackie.
“This one’s nasty. Well, they’re all nasty, but only use this one if you mean to kill somebody,” Jackie said.
I gazed at the stone. Deep red, with black speckles. I could feel it’s potency. My God, it terrified me. I closed my hand around it, so I didn’t have to look at it anymore. Then I walked back to the mirror with the others.
It wasn’t long before there was a knock at the door. Manny staggered across the room and finally answered it.
“Are you drunk already? It’s only seven AM,” Leo said
Manny greeted him, bottle in hand. “Hey, sss-seven AM somewhere,” he slurred.
“It’s seven AM here, you idiot. Who the hell gets drunk in the morning? And clean yourself up. What if the queen came to visit and saw you in this state? She would smite you where you stood.”
“S—sorry, Leo. We weren’t inspecting you fer ‘nother month.”
“You should always be expecting me. The queen sent me here because she sensed something in this area. Are you hiding something from me?” He stepped into the house, looking around the rooms, then back to Manny. “I smell something in here.”
“Sorry about that.” He leaned against the wall for support. “If I’d known, I’d prepared.”
As I looked on, I felt Jackie tremble against me. Peeking at her, I saw the rage filling her face. The kind of rage that might make a person do something stupid. I got her attention by grabbing her hand and shaking my head. She seemed to take the hint, and nodded.
Leo and Manny sat at the table together, and Manny offered Leo a drink, which he rejected.
“Have you found out what’s creating this dome around your city?” Leo asked.
He shook his head dramatically. “Search for the source ev’ry day.” He shrugged. “Just seems to be everywhere.”
Leo pulled on his tight black gloves, and pulled a stone from his belt. I knew the stone well, as I’d seen it used by
Quinn—a compulsion stone. Manny scurried away and in the process, fell off his chair. “What’re you doin’?”
“Anna the Wise put the barrier around your town after the Great War, and somehow, it still holds. The queen finds this curious, and doesn’t like places where people can hide.”
“We’re not hiding nothing.”
“So, you’re saying if I search this town, inside and out, I won’t find those twins?” Leo rolled the compulsion stone between his thumb and forefinger.
Manny just stared at it while it happened and shook his head. “There’s nothin’ here. Go ahead and use that stone. Won’t find nothin’.”
“Would be a shame to use such a magnificent stone on the likes of you,” Leo said. “But, you’re hiding something, and I intend to find it.”
With a flick of his wrist, Leo launched the compulsion stone and struck Manny in the face. Manny cringed and reached back, grabbing for his own stone, until he went completely limp. His shoulders slouched, and his hands fell to the floor at his sides.
My heart raced and I felt Mark and Jackie pushing against me, jostling for a better look. Jin hung in the back of the pantry with his arms crossed. It wouldn’t be long now until Manny would be compelled to tell Leo about us. He just had to ask the right question.
Leo gestured to the chair. “Please, take a seat.”
Manny got up and picked up the chair.
“No, you idiot. Put the chair down, and sit in it,” Leo said.
Manny did as instructed.
“Now, tell me everything that you’re hiding from me.”
“When I was four years old, I got into a bag of cookies and ate the entire bag. Then I threw the empty bag on the floor, spread crumbs around, and said the dog did it. After that, they wouldn’t let the dog come inside for a month. When I was eight, I went to—”
“Not that, you imbecile,” Leo groaned. “Tell me about this place. How is the dome still up?”
Manny shook and struggled and his face turned red.
“See? Now we’re getting somewhere. You’re holding back from me. Tell me, how are you keeping this up?”
