by Ryan, Matt
“Where are we going?” Leo asked.
“Anywhere but here,” I said and timed a run across the street.
“Allie, cover your face,” Mark said.
I pulled the scarf around my neck and face. We needed to get out from the open and find a place to regroup. After a few blocks, I spotted a small café. Upon entering, the waitress said a few words in a language I didn’t understand, but I did understand her smile and her gestures.
She sat us at a long, rectangular table and set down menus. Jackie made a gesture for water and the waitress smiled and walked away.
Jackie leaned in closer to us. “I can text Carly, but it’s risky and I sure as hell know she doesn’t know how to jump here. We’re most likely stuck trying to figure a way out of here.”
“Yeah, those Egyptian alchemists we just screwed over will be looking for us,” Jin said.
“They may not remember who we are, but they will be looking very hard to find us.”
“We just need to figure out how to get to America without getting caught,” Mark said. “Thankfully, there are other ways to travel besides portal stones.”
“Oh, so you have a passport? Are you not illegally in this country right now? Or do you think you’re going to get through customs with nothing but your amazing smile?” Jackie asked.
“We’re alchemists, Jackie,” Mark rebutted. “We have ways around obstacles that others don’t.”
“Sure, let’s start stoning the rubes. That won’t arouse any suspicions,” Jackie said. “Freaking Cathy would be on us quicker than balls on a bull.”
“Yeah,” Leo added. “Wait, balls on a bull? What does that mean?”
“You get what I’m saying,” Jackie said.
“I mean bulls have balls, but what is quick about them?” Leo asked.
“Shut up,” Jackie said.
The waitress brought back water. Ordering became easier when she stopped trying to talk to us and just pointed at the menu.
Jackie grabbed the menu, pointed at something I was sure she had no idea what it was, but the waitress seemed to understand, then took the menu before leaving.
“I hate to say it, but Mark’s right,” Jin said. “We use stones on some rubes and get what we need—a ticket out of here.”
“I don’t think we need to go down the road of hurting the innocent,” I said.
Jackie scoffed. “Little late for that.”
“We could get on an airplane easy enough with stones,” Leo said. “I don’t mind using whatever means necessary to get the job done. Some people deserve to be hurt.”
“Don’t talk like that,” Jackie said.
“What? They do. Do you know how many people my mom has hurt? You don’t think she deserves retribution?” he said shaking his head. “Wonder where she is now . . .”
If he knew I killed her, I wondered how far the conversation would go. Jackie might love the man, but there was a demon in there somewhere.
A large man wearing all black, with a long, wiry beard walked toward our table. I made eye contact with him briefly and thought I saw something in those eyes, but I quickly turned my attention to the table.
The man pulled a chair from a nearby table, dragged it to ours, then sat down.
Our group went silent and I saw their hands moving to stones.
“No need to get aggressive,” the man said with a thick Egyptian accent. “I already know who you are, and you’re very lucky I found you first.”
“And you are?” Jackie asked.
“Who I am isn’t important, but if she doesn’t know you’re here, she will soon.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Your mother. This was sent out just a few minutes ago, to all Egyptian alchemists.” He held his phone out to show us the screen. There was a picture of me with a scarf wrapped around my face, but you could still make out my eyes. And then Jackie, Mark, Jin, and Leo. We all had on various disguises, and maybe individually people wouldn’t know who we are, but as a group, we stuck out.
“Their security cameras,” Jackie said slapping her forehead.
“If this was sent out to everyone around here, then the rest of the world knows as well?” I asked.
“You have a famous face. The guardians might not have recognized you at first, but it caught on like wildfire.
I thought I heard a thunderclap in the distance. Strange, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The noise gave me the shivers. “Why are you telling us this? Surely my mom is offering a great reward,” I said.
The large man leaned back with a smile and crossed his arms. “What is the value of things, if you have no freedom? There are more of us than not, that would like to see your mother taken down. Most of us feel you’re the only one who can do it. The rightful stone bearer.”
Stone bearer? I touched the bandages on my hand and thought it seemed weird how I had Rip Van Winkled myself, only to wake up in a world where I was a well-known person. A world where I had nicknames and titles.
Mark touched my hand. I looked at him and knew he was one of the few people in the world who understood what we were going through. Well, maybe Leo did as well, since we’d just taken his memory away from the last four years.
Another thunderclap. This was a little closer.
“She’s here. Not too far away, “Jackie said glancing back at the windows. “We need to get out of here. I can use some of my stones to slow her down.”
I leaned toward the big man. “Please, tell me you have some way to help us,” I asked.
Big man leaned forward. “I’ve held onto this for a long time,” he said. Then he revealed a small leather satchel in his hand and untied it. With his gloved hand, he carefully pulled out a purple stone.
My eyes went wide as I gazed at it—a transport stone. All I needed to do was think of a place and the stone would take me there. He extended his hand, and as I did, he dropped it on to the palm of my gloved hand. I took a look at it and couldn’t believe he would give me something so valuable. He didn’t even know me.
“Thank you. I don’t know how to repay you,” I said.
“My son went missing yesterday,” he said. “If you can find him, it would be a miracle. But as a second request, I’d like to ask for the removal of your mother. She’s feeding on us alchemists like popcorn, and before too long, we’ll all be extinct. You have to stop her.”
“I will,” I said.
A woman screamed outside, maybe a block away.
“She’s close,” Jackie said.
“Allie’s mom?” Leo clarified. “Let’s make a stand here. We’ve got the stones, we can ambush her.”
I liked the idea of it; getting it over with had an appeal. No need to create a stone to break another stone. There was another way, of course. I knew my mother’s power because I had held the stone for a moment and it felt as if I was a god. I can’t imagine what it would be like after four years of handling it. I wouldn’t dare put my friends in front of her at this point.
The bigger question was, we had one portal stone. Taking three with me would be pushing it, but four wouldn’t happen. That meant one of us would have to stay behind, and I wasn’t the one that was going to control the stone, Jin would. So, he had to go as well.
“We should go to where the Mini’s are,” Jackie suggested. “Carly should be there with her work. She could make us so many portal stones, we’d never be stuck in this predicament again.”
“It’s too dangerous. Her position could be compromised. You said as much yourself,” I said.
“I agree, we need to go where Cathy doesn’t know where we’re going,” Mark said, then brought up the elephant in the room. “The problem is, one of us is going to have to stay behind.”
“I’m never leaving Allie,” Jackie said.
“I’m not leaving her either,” he replied.
“You’re going to need me to find the places at our next location. They are well hidden and nearly impossible to find. Very few people in this world know about them,” J
in said.
Our attention turned to Leo. “I guess it’ll be me. I have no value here at all.”
“I’m not leaving you, Leo,” Jackie said. “I’ve spent too long getting you back. Having you in my life is like filling a part of me that I thought would be empty forever.”
A flash pulsed through the window, like a strike of lightning. Was it a flash stone? Then I realized there were no sounds outside. The drones of the cars, honking horns, and the general city noise was gone.
“We need to go,” I said.
Jackie grabbed Leo’s extended hand and turned to me. “We can bounce to Carly, have her make some portal stones and come back here. Leo can meet us somewhere, like the hotel or the gas station from last night.”
I didn’t have to point out the obvious flaw in her plan. If we left Leo here, there was no way to know if he would become compromised again. Who knew what Cathy would do to him? Jumping back to any location to get him would more than likely be a trap.
Jackie slumped in her chair. The realization of it showing on her face, as if she’d just lost a loved one. “I say we try to jump with five,” she said, grasping at straws. “If anyone can do it, it’s Allie.”
“I don’t know the jump locations,” I said.
“Yes, you do, you know one of them,” Jackie said.
Out in front of the restaurant, several people ran by the windows at full speed, glancing back as they did.
I pulled the glove off one of my hands and laid it on the table. Mark placed
his next to mine, as did Jin. Jackie crossed her arms and shook her head, tears building in her eyes. “Leo . . .” She broke down.
“Just go, babe,” Leo said.
“I can’t leave you, not again. Especially not to her.”
He put his hands on either side of her face, rubbing her cheeks with his thumbs. “Jackie, you have to go. You said you’ve lost me multiple times, but here we are, together. You found me. I think you saved me from whatever I was, and I don’t ever want to be that person again. I say we play the game one more time and see if fate pulls us back together.” He kissed her forehead and pulled away.
Jackie was openly crying, but placed her hand down next to ours.
“Everyone clear their minds, except for you, Jin,” I said and held the stone over our hands, waiting for Jackie to join.
Jackie pulled a stone out of her pouch and rolled it to Leo. I saw the glittery pearlescent stone and knew it was one of the memory stones we’d created. Jackie sucked in a few wavering breaths.
Leo took the stone in his gloved hand.
“That stone is set up for just a couple of days, so it’ll be just like we left the academy.” She smiled. “The day we were in the hall for the first time. That was a good day.”
“That was a good day. I’ll see you soon,” Leo said and touched the stone to his neck. He fell to the floor.
“I should take one of those as well, if you can spare one,” the man said.
Jackie absently dropped one in the man’s hand and he slumped in his chair. Tears streamed down her face and I moved her hand next to mine, forming a circle for the stone to touch all of us.
“You ready, Jin?”
“Yes.”
“Jackie, clear your mind,” I said.
She wiped her nose and eyes. Then she gazed at me and gave a slight nod.
I dropped the stone just as the front door to the restaurant exploded inward.
“No!” a woman screamed.
I glanced over to see my mother standing at the doorway. She looked young and beautiful. A glow surrounded her, and it seemed as if she was floating above the ground. Time slowed and she rushed toward us, blowing over tables and chairs, flinging them into the air. A panic was all over her face as she reached out to me. There was happiness there as well.
Then, the world changed and we were floating in the space between places. It swirled around us and I felt as if we were floating.
We landed hard on an asphalt parking lot.
Chapter Fifteen
I got to my feet and spun around, expecting my mother to jump out at any second. A long building with a few lights still working, displayed a sign, Canyon Motel, in the dark of the night. There were a few cars parked there, and I looked around to see if there was anything else nearby.
Nothing but empty space. I saw the lights of a car in the distance, but there wasn’t anything else. This was one of those last-stop kinds of motels. My father and I had stayed at one on a long road trip to my grandpa’s funeral. The room had been gross and there hadn’t even been a candy machine.
“Everyone okay?” Jin asked.
“I just left him, gift wrapped at that table,” Jackie said despondently. “She’s going to destroy him.” She reached for me and I hugged her.
Rubbing her back, I glanced at Mark. He was still scanning our surroundings with a stone in hand.
“That was her, wasn’t it?” he said. “Right before we jumped. I felt the whole room change like the air was being sucked out of my lungs.”
“That was her?” Jin said. “I’ve only seen a few pictures of her. She looks much younger now.”
“You think she can follow our portal?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” Jackie said trying to collect herself. “We’ve bounced from her a few times over the years, and she’s never been able to follow us.”
“She saw me,” I said. “She knows I’m back.” My heart kept beating hard, breaths coming in rapid pants.
“We got your back,” Mark said.
“We made eye contact,” I said. “She looked relieved when she saw me. Then, it was as if nothing in this world would stop her from getting to me.”
“She probably has her hands on him right now, prying into his mind,” Jackie mumbled, staring blankly at the motel. “What a nice place you brought us too, Jin. Look, they even have a vacancy. I can’t believe it.” She walked toward the motel with no regard for the rest of the group.
“What time is it?” I asked.
Jin looked at his phone. “It’s nine.”
The adrenaline was slowing down, as well as my heart. I still had an edge to me, but I could breathe normally.
Mark moved closer and put his arm around me. “We’re going to get through this, together,” he said.
“I don’t know. The way she looked at me was as if she would go through anyone or anything to get to me.”
“Look, she hasn’t hurt the Mini’s. She’s left Jackie unharmed. I think she is sticking to her agreement with you.”
“She might have an agreement with us, but the stone doesn’t. At some point, I think it’s going to take over so much control, she won’t have any say in the matter.”
Mark sighed. “You’ve got to get out of your head that they are two separate people. Together, they make one person, this queen. I know you want to save your mother from it, but she is what it is. You think if she didn’t want to be the person she was, she wouldn’t just remove the stone?”
The idea sparked a memory. “The stone showed me that it could be removed. Once we do that, we can use the breaker stone to destroy it. Then, we wouldn’t have to kill my mom. We could get her back.” I grabbed him by the shoulders and hugged him. “Thank you.”
The whole time, I had been dreading meeting my mom and then having to destroy the stone embedded in her chest. I knew it would kill her if I did it that way.
Jackie came back with a large, triangle-shaped piece of plastic with the number seventeen written on it. A key dangled from the end. “Got us a room. Cheapskate over here only had the funds for one room, so it looks like we’re bunking up tonight.”
“Tonight? We can’t get to this place now?” I asked.
“No, this is the closest place I remember to it,” Jin said. “I know the trail from here, but it is a long one, and there are cliffs and stuff. Nothing we want to attempt in the dark.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. “Fine then, at first light. Please tell me they have a vend
ing machine here.”
We went to our room and it was much like the room my dad had taken me to when I was a little girl. Two twin beds, and an old TV that didn’t work. The orange carpet masked the dirt, but it felt gritty and sticky on my bare feet, so I kept my socks on. It had a smell to it as well, like too much cleaner and air freshener had been applied. I’m not a prude, but the hair on the toilet did gross me out enough that I used toilet paper as an ass gasket.
At least the vending machine was well stocked. We got an assortment of junk food and sat on the bed, facing each other as we ate our sugar-filled dinner.
Jackie hadn’t said much since we left, and I found her staring off into the distance more than not. I hated seeing her in pain. I also hated that I had not been there for her while I was stuffed away in that stone.
“How far away is it from here?” Mark asked.
“I think it’s about two hours on foot,” Jin said. “Been a long time, but I think I can remember the path. My dad showed me the markers.”
“Hopefully, the path hasn’t changed,” Mark said.
By the end of my Snickers bar and a bottle of water, the days I’d been awake weighed on me. I wanted nothing more than to slide between the sheets for a nap.
I stayed in my clothes and made sure the stones I had were within reach. At least the sheets smelled and looked clean. Mark had stripped the comforter off the bed, which was okay with me, because the room was warm.
I laid on my back and stared at the ceiling—one of those old popcorn-style ceilings with bits of glitter in it.
“You think Leo is okay?” Jackie asked.
“He’s one of her favorites, so I doubt she will do anything to him,” Jin said. “Once she realizes what we did to him, she’ll probably put him somewhere for safe keeping, so she can concentrate on us.”
“The prison?” Jackie asked.
“I heard it was gone,” Jin said. “She took everything from it.”
“I can’t stand this.” She got up from the bed and paced the room.
