by Matt Ryan
A few small streams wound through the complex and connected to a larger one running down the center of the building. A couple holding hands walked over a small white bridge across the stream. At the far corner, near the glass, green plants stood out like nervous people at an airport bag check. The green beamed out against the stark white everywhere else.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Lola asked.
“It’s . . . interesting. Are you sponsored by the color white or something?” Jackie said.
Lola turned back, her sparkly white smile making the white around her seem dull. “This is an off-white. It’s used to keep a balance of neutral energy in our residents.”
“I think it looks amazing,” Mark said.
“You would, Malki,” Jackie said in a playful way.
“We don’t use that word here.” Lola shot a look at her and then walked to Mark and touched his arm. “We have some great programs here to help you realize what you’re good at.”
Mark glared at Jackie and took a deep breath. “Thanks, but I’m not a Malki. Jackie’s just an idiot.”
Jackie huffed and walked toward the small stream nearest to us. I walked close to Mark and rubbed his back. I didn’t like Jackie calling him that, and I was glad to hear they didn’t use the name here. Malki meant you were weak in Alchemy and meant as a derogatory name or at least it felt that way to me.
“Jackie, you can touch or drink the water here. It’s all safe,” Lola said.
Jackie leaned near the stream and dipped her hand into the water, then smelled her fingers. “I haven’t seen flowing water, other than from a faucet, in a long time.” She scooped her hand in the water and splashed some downstream. “I used to be on the swim team in high school. I kicked ass in the water.”
Lola stepped closer and knelt next to her. “We have a full pool in room thirty-two.”
Jackie smiled and stood. She looked around her, and I saw her taking the place in as if for the first time. Jackie’s being on some high school team seemed unfathomable. She was a stone-throwing, party-giving maniac from the Dark Academy.
“I’d love to see it.” Even Jackie’s tone had changed, losing its edge and sounding more girly.
“You can, but all new students must go through a quick orientation.”
“Great. Here we go,” Jackie huffed.
“It isn’t bad. Just a small video starring our very own President Foster.” Lola pointed up and behind us.
I turned and looked to the high ceiling, where a dome-shaped room jutted out from the wall. It seemed unnatural in its ability to stay up there, like at any moment the thing would come crashing down on us.
“Is the president here?” Jackie asked.
“Oh, yeah. He’s up there, or making rounds down here. But first we need to show you the orientation video. After that, I can show you to your domicile.”
“Fine. Let’s get this PSA over with,” Jackie said.
“I think you’ll find it factual and pleasant. I did some of the music on it.” Lola turned and took a big step over the running water.
I kept next to Mark, or maybe he clung to me. I clasped his hand and he took mine in but kept his attention on this new academy.
Two young men watched us walk by.
“Hey,” Mark said in a greeting.
“Hello. Welcome to Alchemist Academy,” they said in unison.
I did a double take, but they just kept smiling and waving at us.
“Dear God, please don’t let that be what all the guys are like here,” Jackie said. “Allie, you into sharing?” She looked at Mark as if sizing him up.
“Now, now, Jackie. We keep the negativity to a minimum. You wouldn’t want to kill the plants in the garden, now, would you?”
“I don’t even know what the hell you’re talking about.”
Lola kept walking toward a curved room stuck into the towering wall. Oval windows peppered the wall behind us. I thought I saw a face in one, but it was gone before I could focus on it.
Lola reached for the door and pushed her finger against a panel near the handle. The door swung out and she looked back. “Come on.”
Jackie shrugged and marched into the room. I looked at Mark and squeezed his hand. He moved first. When I resisted, he raised an eyebrow.
“I think it’s fine,” he said.
As long as the room wasn’t divided by Red and Blue sides, I’d be okay.
Lola picked up a table from a small table. The soft glow of the tablet lit her face as she moved her finger across the screen. The light gave her a demonic kind of look and I half-expected her to start telling us a campfire story at any moment.
“Just take a seat and I’ll get the video up and running.”
It was like a tiny theater, except it was white and outfitted with rows of ergonomic chairs. At the far end of the room, a white rectangle filled most of the space on the wall.
Jackie plopped down in the middle of the back row and propped her feet on the back of the seat in front of her. “I don’t care how horrible this video is. It’ll be the best thing I’ve seen in two years. Fire it up, Lola.”
Mark and I sat next to each other at the end of the back row. It seemed stupid, but I imagined us going to a real movie theater and watching some rom-com or action movie. I’d never been on a real date. I rested my hand on the armrest and he reached over and put his arm over my shoulder. I leaned in to him, not caring if the armrest dug into my ribs.
The door closed, plunging the room into total darkness except for the light coming from Lola’s tablet. I plucked my cell phone out and looked at the glowing screen.
“No cell phones, please. They don’t work in here anyway. The introduction video is about to start.” Lola’s pointer finger tapped the screen.
The white wall at the end of the room lit up with the image of a man sitting behind a black desk.
“Hello, new students, and welcome to Alchemist Academy,” the man said.
He glanced down at something on his desk, giving me a good look at his black hair, streaked with grey. His soft eyes looked back into the camera.
“I know your time here will be enjoyable and memorable. One of the ways we ensure it is a pleasurable experience”—Jackie snickered—“starts with the rules. First, we must respect all other students. We will not tolerate slander or bullying. Second, no yelling. We want to keep a peaceful place for all to enjoy. Noise can be a nasty pollutant, so please don’t pollute. Third, intimate interaction is encouraged, but intercourse is not.”
He cleared his throat and looked at something on his desk.
“Fourth, love the people around you. You may not fully appreciate how the world has a plan for you, but be happy in the knowledge that you are on the right path toward discovery. You see, positive emotions allow us to create our very best work. Lastly, there is a mandatory one-year residency for all students. This is non-negotiable.”
A big smile took over his face. “So, please, enjoy your time here and fill your vessel with all the experiences you can. As always, be kind and find kindness. Thank you.”
The screen turned black and I sat in the dark trying to absorb the creepy video we had just witnessed. The lights in the room lit up. I rubbed my eyes and adjusted to the brightness.
“What the hell? We can’t leave this place either?” Jackie said.
“We have found that when people stay here for a minimum of one year, they have a much higher success rate,” Lola said. “There is a great desire to learn a little bit of stone work and then take it carelessly into the world. We have the potential to make incredible things and how we choose to harness that power is the greatest challenge any alchemist will be dealt. We need the time to teach you about that challenge. You need to find the love in the world and in yourself.”
Mark raised both eyebrows and slapped his hands on his legs as he stood. “Well, let’s go find the love.”
I got up and chuckled, walking out of the aisle. What kind of academy was this? I mean, there hadn’t been ev
en one mention of stone-making in that strange orientation video.
“There are a few more things.” Lola picked up a small stack of tablets and passed them out. “You each will receive a tablet to use while you are here. Please take care of them.”
I had broken one of these once and held mine with kid gloves. I touched the glass surface and it lit up to a white screen with two As scissoring each other with Alchemist Academy written underneath them.
Jackie squinted at hers and turned it sideways.
“Oh, can each of you place your hand on the screen? It makes it yours,” Lola said.
I placed my hand on the glass and a red line ran down the screen.
“Great.” Lola walked to the door and put her back against it. “This is my favorite part.” She struggled to keep her brilliant whites from showing. “Are you ready to join us? Are you ready to be alchemists?”
“Hell, yeah. Let’s do this,” Jackie said. “I can already make stones like a beast.”
Lola crunched her mouth to one side. She touched the door and it swung open. “Well, then, say hello to the Academy.”
I leaned to the right, trying to see beyond the door as it opened. The first thing I noticed was more white. But then I saw faces. Too many faces, and all wearing the same stupid grin as Lola. They formed a half-circle around the door, maybe ten people deep. Each of them was wearing white with varying degrees of skin showing. Even some of the men were showing off their midriffs.
Interesting choice.
The first step toward the awaiting, smiling faces felt as if my leg weighed a hundred pounds. Mark took a couple of steps and then held. I wanted them all to stop looking at me, but they all had waiting faces, as if I’d just tapped on a glass at a wedding. I turned and Mark put an arm around me.
“Come on,” Mark said, and pulled me out of the door. He laughed. “Hello, everyone. I’m Mark, and this is Allie. And back there is Jackie.”
Jackie seemed downright dumbfounded, and she reached for her pocket. Searching for a stone, I was sure. If I had a stone, I’d definitely be armed at the moment.
Hellos and hi’s spread through the crowd. Then one girl with a long black braid started a slow clap. A few others joined in and then a few more. In a matter of seconds, they were all clapping in unison and with increasing speed.
Jackie crossed her arms and positioned herself closer to the door.
“Three… two….” Lola yelled a countdown. “One.”
They stopped clapping and yelled at once, “Welcome to Alchemist Academy!”
My mouth hung open and I didn’t know what to say, or even how to feel. The students rushed toward us with laughter, hands extended. Jackie ran to the doorway of the orientation room, glaring at the oncoming smiling faces.
Mark reached out to greet them. Some touched his shoulder and shook his hands. Many also went to me, greeting me with smiles and friendly words. Some shared their names and how excited they were to have us here with them. A few hugged me.
Through the crowd, I spotted a group of people standing near a tree. The only reason I saw them was because of the greenery behind them. They were huddled in a small group and kept glancing in our direction.
“So happy to have you with us, Allie,” the girl with the long braid said.
But I knew that tone, and I narrowed my sights on her. She sounded just like Bridget when she used to compliment me on… anything.
“Thanks,” I said.
She moved away and I heard her mumble something, but I couldn’t make it out as the next person replaced her with an enthusiastic welcome. Lola was bouncing over in the corner, just as excited as she had been before she opened the door. She greeted people and patted shoulders as the students walked away from us. Soon, the last few students had greeted us and turned to leave the area.
My heart was pounding in my chest. I had never met so many smiling people in my life, and so many completely excited strangers. No, that isn’t right. I had felt the same feeling from the people in room twenty-eight at the Dark Academy. They had nearly mauled me when we won. But at least then I’d felt as if I’d earned it. This felt unwarranted.
I sighed, thinking about room twenty-eight. I imagined the Reds in there at this moment, suffering a defeat from the Blues and then the subsequent abuse they’d receive. Only if they would have come to this place, a land of rainbows and soft clouds.
“Didn’t you just love that?” Lola jumped over to us, patting her face. “I set those up for all the new students, as a welcome.” She giggled again.
“You bring out another welcome like that,” Jackie said. “And I will punch your face.”
I didn’t see any joking in her words. Lola tried to smile away the awkwardness. It didn’t work. “Jackie, I know you’re new, but we don’t threaten each other here. That will only create hate and resentment. You don’t want that, do you?”
Jackie tugged on her shirt and stared at the floor. After two years plus of doing nothing but filling every second of her day with hate, everything Jackie knew was hate.
She looked up and glanced at me and Mark. “Okay, I’m done with hate,” Jackie said.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that,” Lola said. “Do you guys want to see your domicile?”
“What the frick is a domicile?” Jackie asked.
“It’s your dwelling. Your house here.”
“Oh, yeah, let’s check it out,” Jackie said.
Mark grasped my hand and smiled a real smile. I felt his hand shaking with excitement in mine. This place must have been what he’d imagined, with everything his mom had told him. It made sense to him. The entire time we were at the Dark Academy, he hadn’t had that look. Just being next to it, I felt excited as well. I knew I wasn’t going to get attacked at the fence line, or have some dude pound his crotch in my face if we lost a stone competition.
We followed Lola alongside a tall wall. Above us, many round pod-looking rooms stuck out of the flat wall with windows overlooking the compound. She entered another door under the stack of rooms and we followed her in.
The whole place had a pleasant smell, like clean linen with hints of vanilla. A few people were sitting around a couch in what looked like a rec room. They smiled and waved to us as we walked by. A few of the girls just stared at our clothes. It struck me then how much we stood out from them with our dark blue jeans and colored shirts. We might as well have been a circus passing through.
“Right this way. We have a fantastic room for each of you.” Lola entered the elevator.
“You know these tablets don’t have Internet?” Jackie said.
“We don’t have Internet or cell coverage here. You can use that to communicate with everyone within these walls, though.” Lola pointed at Jackie’s tablet.
“Great. So, how many pictures of junk have you gotten, Lola?”
“I lost track after a while. Besides, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ’em all. Am I right?” Lola flashed a smile and looked to the numbers at the top of the elevator.
Jackie eyed her, sizing her up.
The elevator stopped moving at floor sixteen and the doors slid open.
“There are only six rooms on floor sixteen. You three will have rooms four through six. How about room four for you, Jackie? They’re all the same, pretty much,” Lola explained.
“Okay, I guess.” Jackie stared at the door.
“Each door will be registered to your palm print. Go ahead and place your hand on the screen.” Jackie did and a red line scanned her hand. Then the door opened. Lola went on, “I’ll show you all around this room and where your uniforms are.”
Jackie pushed past Lola and entered the room. “Holy mother of Christ, look at this place.”
The white walls curved at the edges of the small room. A white bed sat in the middle with a dresser on each side. Everything was squared off and looked symmetrical. Even the carpet had parallel vacuum cleaner lines on it. A painting of a snowdrift hung on the wall, reminding me of the brief
minutes we’d spent on top of the Dark Academy when I’d won an award for the Blues that got us a trip to the frozen Artic roof.
Seeing this room made me ill. I wanted to rush back to the other academy, grab the people there and tell them they were living in a lie—their parents didn’t want them there. They didn’t have to live in a world of hate and fear. I shuddered at the thought of Ira’s retirement. I had done nothing to stop it, and I wouldn’t let that happen again.
Lola opened another door inside the room. “This is your bathroom.”
“We get our own bathroom?” Jackie bolted to the door. “Oh my God, it has a tub.” She ran into the bathroom, touching the pearlescent marble on the counter and stopping to look at herself in the mirror. She glanced away from it and jumped into the empty tub. The marble shower walls squeaked as she ran her fingers over them.
Just seeing Jackie so excited and happy nearly brought a tear to my eye. I wanted her to find some happiness after what she’d seen.
“The other academy had us share one bathroom for a whole house. I can’t even imagine having my own bathroom again.”
“Other academy?” Lola asked.
Jackie bit her lip. “Just, you know, boarding school.”
I wasn’t sure why she’d lied, but I felt the same way she did; we should keep the Dark Academy a secret from these people until we knew if we could trust any of them. This place may very well hold secrets just as the Dark Academy had.
Lola walked to a tall dresser and pulled open one of the drawers. “In here, you’ll find your uniforms.” She frowned. “I know they aren’t stylish, but you can modify them as you see fit.” She rotated her body and held out her hands, showing off her tanned skin.
Did they have a tanning bed in this place?
“It looks great on you,” Mark said.
