Jack’s eyes turned back to that inky black shade as he whipped his head around, snarling. But I wasn’t going to stand here like some scared little sheep in front of the wolf. Not again. Not ever. Instead, I charged at him. With a raging yell I threw myself at him, punching and kicking and scratching him with all my weak body could. We tumbled through the dirt and grass as I latched onto him and didn’t let go. My dress tangled around my legs, hindering my movement, but I heard a nice cracking noise when my heel landed on something. I knew they were useful for something.
Jack growled like a wild animal before he grabbed a fist full of my hair and pulled. I screeched in pain and his fist collided with my face. Blood spurted out of my nose and I choked. The breath was knocked out of me as he flung me aside like a rag doll. I smacked against the edge of a lonely gravestone, white hot light flashed before my eyes and then I felt nothing.
My body was limp. I couldn’t even move my fingers. Even my breathing had stopped. All I could do was watch as Jack formed a stone spear out of the earth and rocks and slowly walked towards me. There was blood coming from a scratch on his forehead and a large bruise under his right eye. Judging from how he was walking, I say I got him pretty good in the knee cap. I probably shattered it.
Well, I said to myself, feeling the beats of my heart slow with every pace that Jack came closer, this is it. It’s not so bad….I managed to save Dove at least, and keep Jack from getting the Elixir. But then big fat tears started to well and slip down the sides of my stinging face, I couldn’t save you Leon. I’m so, so sorry. I’m so sorry.
“How dare you play me like a fool,” Jack spat as he towered over my broken form, “You will pay for that, Emery Miller.”
Payback is a bitch, isn’t it? I wanted to spit it in his face.
The last time I’d ever hear somebody say my name was the guy I used to love then ripped out my heart. Probably literally, too. Great. Just peachy. I closed my eyes, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing my fear. And oddly enough…I wasn’t scared anymore. I was sad, sure, but…I felt like I had finally done something…great. Even though it was very small and insignificant to most people. If Dad knew what I had done, what I had died to protect, I think he would have been proud.
I smiled as I heard Jack raise his spear above me, and I waited for it to finish me off and plummet into eternal sleep, and then…
Nothing.
Instead of feeling the spear sink into my flesh and pierce my heart, I felt nothing. I counted the seconds that passed….five….until I opened my eyes. If I could speak, I would have cried out in joy and surprise.
Leon was holding Jack off with an iron fence pipe. A bright flash of grayish light and the next second the pipe was a sleek black sword. Not as sturdy looking as his other one, but it still looked sharp and menacing. Leon gritted in pain as blood dripped from his open wounds. Jack seemed surprised, but held his guard.
Leon! It’s Leon! He—he saved me. Again! Move body, move, dammit! Move!!
Leon raised his sword and slashed at Jack’s body, but he jumped nimbly out of the way, poised and ready for the next attack. Leon turned my way and gave me a shaky grin. His eyes were bright, like beautiful colored jade glass that swirled with the colors of the waves.
“Thank you, Emery.”
Tears fell harder down my numb cheeks, mixing with the blood caked on my face as he charged towards Jack. Sparks flew from their weapons and clanged into the night. I, the faceless gravestones, and the lonesome moon were the only witnesses to their battle. Leon knew he wouldn’t survive this—judging by how slow and sloppy his movements were, compared to the time he dueled with Dove. Jack knew he had the upper hand—the ass was just toying with Leon.
I bit my lip, more blood trickling down my throat as the tears refused to stop. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed.
Whoever is out there…whoever is listening to me, please, please help me! I need my alchemy just one more time to help Leon! Please!!
The gem on my grandmother’s bracelet winked at me—as if she were right there, encouraging me. Looking into the deep red orb gave me strength.
A choked, gurgling cry broke my thoughts as I brought my eyes back to the two. I gasped in horror as Jack’s stone-like spear plunged into Leon’s stomach; blood bubbled out as he pulled the red drenched tip out. Leon’s body crumpled to the ground and I found my voice again, just as his head met the ground.
“LEON!”
A hot raging power suddenly erupted inside my heart. My body felt like it was being split open by a force I couldn’t control. I felt like the hands on the fake heart that had begun to slow down suddenly increased their speed tenfold. It was as if I could literally feel every movement of the mechanics of the pocket watch reverberate through my bones, shaking them. The burning pain was agonizing but it filled my body with so much warmth and tenderness. The warmth seemed to trickle from my fingertips and sizzle in the air. A dark yellowish sort of glow illuminated from them as my body pulsed with every new breath.
I could see glittering gold strands all around the air. Is this what Leon saw when he transmuted his iron? Silvery strands that weaved all around the metal posts and shovels and objects? Or Dove—beautiful crimson red ribbons too? I reached out and grabbed them with my hand, the bracelet dangling from my bruised wrist. They danced and flickered around the tips of my broken and bloody fingernails, like microscopic fireflies.
I knew what I could do now.
Jack’s eyes were large as he saw me, and he rushed forward, blood drenched spear in hand raised high to stop me.
I reached out, grasping the shivering lines of golden, pulsing warmth that danced around Jack’s body towards me in my hands and pulled them.
Jack froze.
Just like the time with Mallory, except back then, there were no magical, floating lights. I must have acted on pure instinct or fear, or maybe I hadn’t tapped far enough into my core to be able to see the strands.
Only Jack himself had remained frozen in time. I saw a calming, icy wind still causing the knotted tangled limbs of the trees to sway and the shredded pieces of Leon’s clothes ruffle slightly. Jack’s dark eyes were wide with anger, his blonde hair wild in mid motion and spots of blood that were stuck in the air that had dropped from the edge of his spear. They were all frozen in place.
I forced myself to breath, keeping an eye on the colorful golden swirls in front of me as I forced my body to crawl towards Leon. He was still breathing, blood oozing from the side of his mouth. I slapped his scratched up face with my numb hands.
“Wake up, Leon,” I whispered, letting the tears fall on his pale face, “Please wake up.”
Leon stirred slightly, his movements blurry in my wet eyes. I saw his striking swirled eyes gazing up at my own, but they had no spark, no light. He was fading away. Leon was dying because of me. The tears flowed harder and I let out choked sobs.
A faint, thin smile formed on his cracked lips. He closed his eyes, as if going to sleep. His voice was barely above a whisper and I had to lean in, my ear pressed to his lips.
“We’re even…now…”
Then his head flopped to the side and his breathing stopped.
My throat felt like it was on fire from all of the wailing I did as I clutched what remained of his ripped shirt in my knuckles, burrowing my head in his chest. I cried until my voice felt torn and raw, until my nose was stuffed up and dripping, until the tears just refused to stop.
“Even?” I choked out, “Even? How many times have you stuck your neck out for me? We aren’t even—far from it! Open your eyes so I can pay back the favor, Leon! Leon!”
I heard the pale beats of his heart growing weaker and weaker until they finally stopped. My chest heaved, my throat was dry as dust and I cried until I couldn’t anymore. But through all of this, through all of this horrible torment, I hadn’t noticed that my own heart—or fake heart—had remained silent. No beats, no ticking; it was like it had paused mid second. Like the tiny gears in the pocket
watch were stuck in place.
But that was all I needed. I wiped the tears from my eyes with dirt covered hands, and with shaky hands gripped Leon’s abandoned sword that still miraculously retained its shape. It was warm and heavy in my grip; a dim, warm pulse came from it, as if a little piece of Leon was still in his alchemy—encouraging me.
I stood up on wobbly legs, placing my feet apart in front of Leon’s body. Jack was still frozen in place, but I saw the faintest hints of his hair and limbs moving. My time was almost running out.
It was now…or never. I took a deep breath and focused on the strange, swirling golden strands around me. If I could slow time down, I could speed it up to. And speed was just what I needed.
But I was taking a huge, huge risk. It was just something I had to do, as I concentrated on holding Jack in place just a little longer and thinking of speeding up time around me.
I was ready.
The time around Jack was starting to return to normal; the golden thread of lights blinking out in the wintry air. I raised the sword just as Jack’s own time returned to him. With a quick mental tug, envisioning the glowing threads wrapped around my own aching body, something pulled inside of me…and I was embraced in a flash of hot white. I began moving at such an insane speed I was scared my feet would trip right underneath me. The world around me rushed by in a blur of dark color as I ran towards Jack on pure adrenaline and nerves. Please, I begged my fake heart as I felt the final hand move, just one more second. Just one more second.
I had caught him by surprise. It was too late for him to stop his charge. I was on him in the blink of an eye.
With all of my might, I thrust Leon’s sword into his body as we met, his own spear just centimeters from my throat. Blood gushed from his mouth, spraying the front of my dress. His eyes were like darts of poison as he glared at me, but the color began to dim, just as it had done when he tried to take over Leon’s body. They changed from a cloudy gray, to a snowy white, and then there was nothing.
Jack’s body slumped against Leon’s sword and I dropped them both. I reached over and snatched his stone necklace away, his fading power still burning in my hands until I tossed it as far as I could. My arms burned from the force but hung limply at my sides. I was too physically exhausted to lift them again. There was a hissing, crackling sound coming from Jack’s body, and I watched in horror as his skin started to turn to dust—then his muscles, his bones, everything. Layer by layer, they dissolved away.
The last thing I saw before he completely disappeared were his pure white, empty eyes staring into mine.
And then, Jack Alexander, or rather, Ivan Novak, was nothing but a pile of dust, blowing away in the wind.
CHAPTER 30
There wasn’t a sound, except for my labored breathing. The wind was as deathly still as the high stone blocks that surrounded us. Everything felt calm and still and normal. The sword fell from my hands, landing on the hard earth. Its shape morphed back into a slim, black iron rod that Leon must have broken off one of the family’s grave site gates.
My legs gave and I fell to the hard ground next to Leon. His head was tilted towards mine, and even though I knew he was gone, his smile remained. He looked like a sleeping angel. My sleeping angel…
With the last ounce of strength I could muster, I reached over and placed my numb hand on his chest. My grandmother’s bracelet gleamed in the darkness, like a beacon of hope. The red stone was like a small flower, shining so brightly it hurt my eyes.
My eyelids started to droop, although I struggled to keep them open. Even though I couldn’t save Leon, I had done good, I guess. I saved Dove. That was something. And I stopped Ivan Novak from getting the Elixir. His horrible game of cat and mouse with Guinevere…it was finally over. I could only imagine her smiling down from the heavens…finally at rest.
I stopped Ivan from taking over Leon’s body, too. I prevented another man from becoming a victim of Ivan’s cruelty.
But…what was the point of that if he didn’t live because of me?
As Leon’s face started to fade from my sight, a tiny nagging thought poked my mind, refusing to let me rest.
Where was the Elixir?
Had Dove—or somebody else, perhaps?—gotten it first? My stomach clenched a little at the thought of yet another alchemist claiming the shard before us. Did we decipher Guinevere’s journal and clues wrong? Or had Guinevere never left a fragment here in the first place? Did she send her pupils on a wild goose chase on purpose to confuse Ivan or….was it something….else…
Were we wrong? Was I wrong when I had thought the Elixir was in Kathleen Hearst’s grave?
When I read Dove’s translated notes, the name Hearst stood out. I know I had heard that name before. It was eerily familiar. There was a reason that name seemed to keep calling me.
Hearst….Hearst…
Here likes Kathleen Patricia Hearst....
Hearst…why did that sound so familiar?
Then, like a movie, an old memory I nearly forgot started playing in my head. Was this my life flashing before my eyes?
I still remember the time, on my eighth birthday, when Grandma had given me the bracelet as a birthday present. I had protested, wanting the My Little Pony make up collection instead, but she had been gentle and patient when she explained.
“This is a magic bracelet,” I heard her voice, clear as a bell, telling my mesmerized younger self the special secret of the bracelet, “It’s very magical. Do you know why, my little Emery? Because it can make your wish come true.”
Grandma….that’s right….Grandma would tell me stories about her own mother…Katie—it must have been a nickname for Kathleen! Why had I barely paid any attention to them? (I guess that was just my young, selfish naïve mind at work back then.)
C’mon, Emery! Think! Think about when Grandma told you the stories about Katie! Then, achingly slow…they came back…one tiny fact at a time…when Kathleen married, her husband adopted her father’s name to maintain the family business. I remember in her obituary that she only had one child—a daughter.
The black-and-white photo of the little girl who looked so much like me flashed in my brain. I knew there was a reason why I thought the girl looked similar to me. I had thought maybe it was just a trick of my mind, or me just jumping to over imaginative conclusions, but then…everything clicked, like the gears in my own mind starting creaking again.
The creeping sleepiness started to fade. Why had I come to St. Mary’s in the first place? I knew that my mother came here as a child, as did my grandmother and great-grandmother. I always thought I’d never be able to because of my financial status and broken family, but I remember that it was grandmother’s last wishes for me to one day attend at St. Mary’s Academy.
And then it flashed like a painfully bright light bulb.
Grandma’s first name was Patricia. Kathleen’s middle name!
Kathleen had a daughter named Patricia Hearst, who married and became Patricia Hearst Weston, who gave birth to my mother, Cecilia Weston until she married my father, Benjamin Miller.
And then there was me: Emery Miller.
I…was Kathleen’s great-granddaughter.
Kathleen was alive because Guinevere saved her life. She had kept the shard of the Elixir, not knowing what it was, and turned it into her necklace—her locket. What the papers never said was that she probably passed it down to her youngest daughter, who passed it to her daughter, and over and over until the stone changed shape, shifting from a thin, dainty necklace with a beautiful oval shaped stone to the tiny bracelet on my wrist, the stone now barely the size of a dime.
It never even occurred to me that Kathleen’s necklace and my bracelet were the same—the shape of her necklace was different; I assumed the shape of the Elixir would be just like the locket: round and slender, like the size of a large coin, but mine was smaller. Maybe Grandma—or maybe even my Mother—would have taken the jewelry and changed its shape to make it fit their taste.
&nb
sp; My eyes snapped open, adrenaline pumping through my numb limbs. All this time—I had the Elixir in the palm of my hands and I didn’t even know it!
Ignoring the aching pain and popping in my bones I forced myself up on my elbows; my skin and torn dress scraping against the cold earth as I crawled closer to Leon’s body. I yanked the silver bangle off; my wrist already bone cold from the loss of warmth. I looked around for something to break the stone—a rock or a brick—but cursed when I found nothing.
And then it hit me: my heels! I yanked the shoe off my good foot (realizing I had lost my right shoe in the scuffle with Jack—that was going to be a pain to explain to Samantha…) raising it above my head. Quickly, I made a silent prayer to Grandmother, asking for forgiveness for destroying our beloved heirloom, before I brought it down, smashing the small stone into pieces.
The red shards shivered and bounced on the brown earth. I scooped them up in my hands and the stones instantly melted into my palm—a small red puddle.
I placed Leon’s head on my lap, his wavy dark brown hair tickling my legs, before I leaned over and carefully, carefully laid the liquid Elixir over his gaping wound.
At first, nothing happened, and my heart sunk. Had I been wrong? But then a tingling sensation jittered up my hand into my body. I quickly retracted my hand, and watched in awe as the now liquid Elixir quivered and seemed to sink into the wound. A flash of warm red light glowed from his wound and in minutes it closed shut.
His skin started to warm; the sickly gray tone disappearing, replaced by a healthy glow. He coughed, spurting a bit of blood from his mouth before he sucked in a deep breath of winter air, chest rising as if he had just emerged from underneath the water of the Savannah River. His eyes remained closed, but he was alive.
Leon was alive! He was really, truly alive!
The Fake Heart (Time Alchemist Series) Page 22
