by Matt Ryan
Leo laughed, but we all shoved our way into the house. Jackie was the last one to get in, and she slammed the door closed, looking through the stained-glass window.
“Leo, you have to trust me. I don’t know anything about these people. I don’t want to be part of this,” Pauly said.
The last thing I wanted was to bring more people into this; more people my mother might hurt for getting involved. I wanted to apologize, but Jin moved first.
“We just need to make a stone and we’ll be on our way. And don’t worry about the queen, she can’t see us right now.”
“He said you’re kidnapping him?” Pauly asked. “What’s wrong with him? Why can’t he stand?” The door behind him opened and exposed the bright kitchen beyond.
Standing in the doorway was an older woman with black hair and a streak of gray going through it. She wore a large belt and an oversized shirt made of silk. She was slender and had black high heels on.
“We have company,” she said.
“They’re just leaving.”
“Oh no, I won’t hear of it. You haven’t had friends over in such a long time. Everyone, come. Come into the kitchen and I’ll make something. I’ve already got sauce cooking in the pot.”
“Ooh, yum. That sounds wonderful,” I said, giving Pauly a smile.
He sneered at me and said, “Ma, these aren’t my friends.”
“I’m sure they’re not going to be your friends if you keep talking like that. Is that Jin over there? Hey, Jin. How are you doing?” Ma asked.
Jin walked over to her and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “So good to see you again. It seems the hospitality skipped a generation.”
“Don’t you know it? When I was a kid, when we had guests over, it was a big deal. My mom would have something ready to serve, just in case the occasion arose. Now, all these young people care about is their cell phones and their Wi-Fi access. The second they come in, it’s ‘Where can I charge my phone?’” Ma said. “Come on. I insist.”
We walked into the back of the kitchen with the bright lights and the white cabinets and the awesome smell of tomato sauce, basil, and other spices floating in the air.
Ma went over to the stove and mixed in a couple pinches, then she tasted the sauce with a wooden spoon.
“Take a seat,” Pauly said through gritted teeth.
We all sat down at the long kitchen table.
“The second she feeds you, you’re gone. Got that?” Pauly said in a near whisper.
“We’ll leave when we’ve gotten what we came for,” I said.
“Who are you people?” Pauly asked. “Who did you bring into my house, Jin?”
“Hi, I’m Allie, and this is Mark and Jackie.” After I said the words, I regretted them.
But from the look on his face, he didn’t seem to register our names. “Americans, right?” Pauly asked.
“Oh, I just love America. Such a wonderful place. I haven’t been there in so long,” Ma said.
“What are those stones you have up there?” I asked. Just above her, sitting on a shelf above the stove, were a series of red stones. They were of a variety I’d never seen before. Sort of a burgundy stone with brown specks over them.
“Well, you know how it is as an alchemist. Sometimes, when mixing stuff in a pot, I get stones instead of sauce. I love making sauce so much that the emotions get better of me and run into the mix. I’m lucky to have such joy in my life, and the creation of each stone is a memory of a great moment.”
I loved the idea of it. My heart was filling up with the motherly love pouring from her. Sitting there, with anger in his eyes, Pauly wasn’t feeling the same way I was.
Mark sat next to Leo, and with Jackie’s help, they kept him propped up. Taking in the entire situation, I couldn’t stop smiling.
Ma plopped the pot on the table, then set forks and plates down for all of us. A wheel of Parmesan cheese was brought over next. And last but not least, she brought the bowl of spaghetti.
“Oh, I almost forgot about the bread!” She rushed and grabbed a couple loaves of bread and set them on the table. Sitting down next to Pauly, she looked at Leo with concern. “The blond-haired boy. Is he okay? He seems off.”
“I can answer for myself. These people are kidnapping me against my free will,” Leo said, but it came out garbled.
Ma leaned forward and tilted her head, exposing one ear toward Leo. “What was that, sweetie?”
Leo went on again, and said the words slow, one at a time. But they came out just as garbled, like he had a mouth full of food.
“I’m sorry, sweetie, I just don’t understand what you’re saying. I hope you’re okay.” She reached out and grabbed Pauly’s hand, and Jin’s next to her. She closed her eyes and said grace.
When we finally got to dig in, I’d never tasted something so wonderful in the world. Even the bread felt perfect as I dipped it into the marinara. It felt good to have something normal, if even for a moment. Something Mark and I could share. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a normal family meal. Even if I had a completely psycho Leo sitting near me and Pauly stabbing me with glares, it was one of the best meals I’d ever had.
At the end, Ma cleaned up and I offered to help, but she insisted that no guest of hers would be cleaning. I relinquished and went back to the table, standing behind my chair.
I kept eye contact with Pauly. I gave him the sternest face I could summon. It felt like an eternity, but in reality, it was less than a minute before Pauly dropped his fork and slid his plate forward.
“Fine, we can make some stones, but they better involve wiping his memory,” Pauly said, nodding at Leo.
“That’s sounds like a great idea to me,” I said.
We went back into the foyer, then to a door at the back of the main room. Pauly then led us all to a room downstairs, and I saw why Jin wanted to come here. This was the best alchemy room I’d ever seen. All the shelves were stocked with jars and boxes of ingredients. There were several tables around the center of the room with mixing bowls and spoons all laid out.
“Wow, who would ever guess this is down here?” Jackie said in awe.
“You’ve been holding out on the queen, Pauly,” Leo chastised.
“Let’s just get this over with as quickly as we can,” Pauly said.
I went to one of the tables and set up a bowl and mixing area the way I wanted it.
“What ingredients do you need?” Pauly asked.
Jin named the stuff he wanted, and they set off to gather it all, placing each item on the table next to me. “Ready to make a stone?” he asked when they were done.
“I’m always ready,” I said.
Jackie and Mark plopped Leo down on a chair and Jackie sat next to him, keeping him upright.
“Thanks, sweetie,” Leo mumbled, then laughed as he puckered up to kiss her.
She pushed his face away, and he almost fell to the other side before she grabbed him and straightened him out again. Each time she got him upright, he’d slip and fall back down, until he slid off the chair completely and fell onto the floor with a thump. She shrugged and turned around back to us.
I guess Leo was going to be laying down for a while.
Jin brought over a few more ingredients and set them on the table. Then Mark set the flower on the table next to him.
“Mark, slice that flower in half, then mulch it up,” Jin said.
He took a knife off the table and sliced the white flower in half. My heart ached watching it happen. Something so beautiful and so rare, being destroyed for the creation of the stone.
“What are the quantities?” I asked, focusing on the rest of the ingredients.
“Just a handful of each should work. Then add half of that flower, and we should have a Lotus stone.”
Two canisters sit in front of me. One had a granular black kind of sand, and the other one was a reddish-brown liquid. Mark slid over a cup with the mashed white flower. It had lost all its beauty—destroyed to create a
mulch.
“Don’t forget to make a memory stone for Leo,” Jackie said.
I glanced back at him, and he met my eye contact. “You could even make a memory stone strong enough so I can forget everything. Wouldn’t that be a lovely day?” He laughed.
“I wouldn’t mind,” Jackie said. “We had some good times back in the day.”
Most of those good ol’ days consisted of torturing. Some people folded paper for fun, but not our Jackie. No, she tormented for fun.
With my anger sufficiently overwhelming enough, I set to making the first stone of importance. After a few seconds, a cloud of mist filled the bowl, along with the sound and feel of a stone being pushed around. I took a big breath and blew, exposing a white stone with black flakes.
“Wow, you can make anything with such ease, can’t you?” Jin said.
“You’re looking at Allie Norton, maker of the stone. Nothing she does should surprise you,” Jackie said.
Leo laughed from his position on the floor, and rocked his body to the side. “Ooh, something is wearing off.”
“He’s right,” Jackie said. “We need to make a stone for him, and quick. Before he starts making trouble for us.”
“I have to make a second one of these,” I said. “It’s the least we can do.”
Mark rushed up with the second half of the flower, and soon enough, we had a second Lotus stone. It felt good to make something for the Hawaiians. Something I could give back to them.
I heard a thumping sound and looked at Leo, only to find he’d rolled over and pushed himself up onto his knees.
“I’m going to deliver you to her. All of you. She will reward me with everything I could ever imagine. You’ll soon see the mighty power of the one and only queen,” Leo said.
He wasn’t mumbling as much as before; it was still as if he had cotton balls in his mouth, but Ma could understand him now, I’d bet.
“Where is your diamond dust?” Jackie asked, as she and Jin gathered ingredients for the memory stone, while Mark examined the Lotus stones in his gloved hand. Next, he wrapped them up in two small black bags.
Jackie set the ingredients down in front of me and Jin brought another mixing bowl. I remembered back to the academy days, when Jackie had wanted a memory stone for herself—to forget it all. She’d felt she was becoming complacent, unable to summon the anger to make the stones. The fear of being retired hung heavy over her head.
Now, she didn’t seem to be afraid of anything. The only thing that seemed to rattle her was Leo. He had a hold on her. In fact, if I could bring him back to his old self, thereby bringing happiness to Jackie, I would bend over backwards to do it.
“You know the quantities?” I asked Jackie.
“Of course I do. I’ve studied memory stones more than the entire world combined.” She measured each of the ingredients precisely with cups and spoons. “I’m not sure anything like this has ever been made, Allie. Not to these specifications, anyway,” Jackie said. “So, you’re going to have to muster up whatever it is you got in you to make this.”
I took a deep breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. Closing my eyes, the anger wasn’t coming as easily as it had for the first two stones. I felt a bit frayed around the edges. It was a slow build, but it was building. I felt a mixture of love for Jackie. I so badly wanted to create the stone for her.
Dumping the ingredients into the bowl, I stirred away until a cloud and stone filled the bowl.
Jackie covered her mouth and had tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe you actually made it.”
“Don’t you know who that is? She can make anything, so I’ve heard,” Jin said.
Smiling, I glanced over at him, just as a stone struck him in the face. He fell to the ground, grabbing at his face as a black liquid spread over his mouth, blocking his screams. I spun around to see Leo standing, poised with another stone in his hand. That’s when Jackie grabbed the memory stone from the bowl and rushed toward him.
Leo cocked back the hand holding the stone. Jackie let out a battle cry of a scream. I was sure Leo was going to strike her with his stone, but he just stood there, then lowered his hand and looked to the floor.
Was there a part of him that wanted this?
Jackie shoved the stone against his neck, causing Leo to drop the red stone from his hand. She swiped it up and put it in a sack on her belt. We all looked on as his body hit the floor, then stood there, staring . . . waiting for him to wake up. What would he be like?
When Leo stirred awake, he pushed himself up into a seated position, and looked around the room, confused. He swayed, then spotted Jackie and his face lit up. She knelt next to him and touched his hand. “Leo?”
“Where am I?” Leo asked. “Did you finally find that secret mixing room?”
“Leo, is that you?” Jackie asked taking a step closer to him.
“Jackie, where the hell are we?”
“I need you to answer a question. Who is the baddest bitch in all the land?”
He smiled but still looked confused. “You are the baddest bitch around.”
She took a step closer and I held my breath. Could we have actually done it? Was this the Leo of old?
“Tell me the last thing you remember about us?”
He looked at us and a hint of red hit his cheeks. “I’m not going to say anything in front of these strangers. What house are they in, Red or Blue?”
“I need to hear it, Leo. You have to tell me and don’t worry about these people, they are our family, our friends, trust me.”
“We met last night in the endless hall. You . . . we . . .” he looked at the ceiling as if hoping the words would fall to him, while his face got redder. “We did stuff, for the first time.”
Jackie squealed and jumped into Leo’s arms.
Leo fell back and hugged Jackie on the floor. “What did you do? Who are these people really?”
“I saved you,” Jackie said. Her declaration had him staring at her, and it appeared as if they were seeing each other for the first time in a long time.
From above, a doorbell rang.
“Are you expecting someone?” I asked Pauly, who stood near the door to the room, looking like he was going to make a run for it at any moment.
“I’m sorry.” Pauly grimaced.
“Sorry for what?” Jackie got to her feet and helped Leo up.
“I gave Ma the signal to call him.”
“Call who?” Mark asked, taking a step toward Pauly.
“You know who,” he said.
Jackie reacted quicker than Mark and threw a stone at Pauly, striking him in the face. He fell to the floor and didn’t move.
She wouldn’t have killed the guy, right? “Did you . . .?”
“No,” Jackie said. “But I should have. The bastard sold us out.”
We all rushed up the stairs, stones in hand. Leo stuck close to Jackie, asking a never-ending barrage of questions. “Why am I wearing these clothes? Where are we? How did I get here? Who are these people? Why is my hair so long? My body feels different, does it look different?”
“Would someone shut that guy up?” Mark muttered loud enough for only me to hear, causing me to snort in laughter.
“I don’t mean to be a dick, Jackie, but you look old,” Leo said when we’d reached the top of the stairs.
“Listen, do you trust me?” Jackie asked.
“How many times have you sold me out to the Reds? Or said something to humiliate me?”
Genuinely hurt by this, judging by the frown on her face, she took Leo by the shoulders. “Do you love me?”
He seemed taken aback by the question, but surprisingly said, “Yes, I do.”
“Okay, on the back side of this, we’ll have time to talk, I promise. But right now, there is an asshole who is going to try and hurt us, so we’re going to need your help. We don’t have time to babysit you, okay?” Jackie said.
Leo nodded, looking resolute. “I’m with you.”
This seemed to
satisfy Jackie, but Mark wasn’t sold yet. He stood between Leo and me, stone at the ready.
We couldn’t worry about this right now, we had bigger fish to fry. Looking into the next room, I saw a possible escape. “Look, a back door.”
We rushed across the room as the doorbell rang again. I wondered where Ma was. We hustled to the back door and opened it. The cold, fresh air rushed in. It opened to an alleyway littered with trashcans and debris.
“I don’t see anybody,” Leo said as he peered down the alleyway.
Jin poked his head out and confirmed. Waving for us to follow him, we jogged down the alley, making sure to keep as quiet as we could.
Then I heard a terrible sound, and I knew the man behind the noise. Stopping in my tracks, I saw him turn into the alley. Passing under the street light, there he was again . . . Quinn.
A gust of wind kicked up his hair and he patted it down. He was a good thirty feet away, but I could see the stones in his hands.
“There’s five of us, we could take him,” Leo said. “Just give me some stones. I’m freaking defenseless over here.”
It was quickly decided that Leo would not be receiving any stones. At least not for now.
“What do you want, Quinn?” I spoke loud enough for him to hear.
“The stone.”
“There’s just one of you. You don’t stand a chance against us!” Leo yelled out.
Quinn squinted. “Leo? I didn’t quite recognize you without that scowl dragging your face down.” A chuckle sounded from deep in his chest and he shook his head. “Oh. I see what y’all did here. You used a memory stone on him, didn’t you? A massive one, from the looks of it. Although, I’ve got to warn you. Memory stones are tricky; sometimes, things bleed through. Isn’t that right, Allie?”
“Shut up,” Jackie said.
How I wish Carly had come with us. She could have made portal stones. Now we were stuck facing a demon who solely wanted to take from us, with no easy escape.
“Just keep making the stones, like the good little stone maker you are, and I’ll let you all live. This can be a good relationship.”
“You’ll have to take it from us,” I said. “I will not be giving up anything of my own free will.”
