by Matt Ryan
“Very interesting that you would even know such a thing, Mark.” Wendy walked closer to him. “It’s not something your parents would tell you, I’d imagine.”
“My mom is sort of a stone nerd,” he said, and laughed.
It seemed to work. Wendy smiled, and Lola bounced on the couch with a wide grin.
“The life stone is an interesting object of creation that can heal just about anything, but the creation of it is so dire that the consequences outweigh the benefit.”
Again, Mark looked back at me. What the hell? Maybe I should have just left him there.
“Don’t you think saving a life is worth it sometimes?” I spoke up. “Maybe this life stone is actually the greatest gift you can give another person.”
Mark turned to face me. “But what if that person didn’t have a choice? What if they’d prefer to fight the disease they had on their own without the life stone?”
“What if you saw that person dying in your arms and you held the cure in your hands? Are you saying you wouldn’t use it?” Tears built in my eyes and I shook.
Mark looked down and turned around.
Lola’s wide-eyed gaze bounced from me to Mark, while Wendy’s mouth hung open.
Way to keep it hypothetical, genius.
“Well, I’m sure in our lifetimes we’ll all be confronted with both sides of the coin. The best we can do is try to land on the light side more than the dark,” Wendy said, staring at me before steering the class back to a conversation about grow stones.
I drifted in and out, wanting Mark to turn around and give me a smile to let me know we were cool. But I didn’t get it.
He raised his hand.
“Yes, Mark,” Wendy said. “You have a question?”
“What about portal stones? Do you have any patterns, or are you familiar with them?”
Kylie coughed and stared at Mark.
“What an interesting question. Who is your mom, again?” Wendy asked.
“Sarah Duval.”
Recognition flashed over her face before it went back to her peaceful look. “I see. Well, she definitely told you about some advanced alchemy. No one here that I’m aware of has the knowledge or skill to make them. They are exceedingly rare, and only a very particular type of alchemist can make them.”
“A special?” I asked.
“No, in this case, it’s something you’re born with. I have limited knowledge of portal stones, but I can tell you about their functionality. One only needs to concentrate on the location and use the stone, and then poof, you’re there.”
“Are there linking stones?” Mark asked.
“Yes. That’s when a portal stone is made in a pair and you use one to get to where you want to go and the second to bring you back. It’s thought they are connected stones. Mark, there are few people in the world who would even know to ask a question like that. Has your mom been studying alchemy since the moment she left here?”
“She’s just the consummate student, I guess.”
“Or you are, Mark. Well, thank you for coming to class today. It was great to hear such a vivid interest in all types of stones.” Wendy rose from her seat. “At the end of each class we stand and thank the person next to us. So, go on and thank your neighbor.”
I stood and faced Jackie. “Thank you.”
“And the same to you, madame. You’ve been ever so helpful in my pursuit of knowledge.” Jackie gave a slight bow with whimsy.
Someone tapped on my shoulder and I turned to face Kylie. “Thank you,” she said, and extended her hand.
I shook her hand and felt a piece of paper between our palms. My expression faltered and I pushed my hand into my pocket, putting the paper inside it.
“Thank you,” I said.
“See you around,” Kylie said, and walked away with her friends.
Jackie looked over my shoulder. “What’d she give you?” she whispered.
I didn’t answer. Instead, I searched for Mark. Lola had him in a big hug, thanking him up close and personal. She glanced over at me and released him.
“Thank you, guys, for coming to this class. Sometimes, it’s just me and Wendy.” She giggled.
“Our pleasure. It was a refreshing perspective on stones,” Mark said.
“Mark, can we steal you for a second over here?” I said with a hint of urgency.
“See you around, Lola,” he said.
“I know you will.” Lola sauntered off toward the bridge.
I motioned for Mark and Jackie to follow me over to the pine tree near the stream. With my back against the tree, I pulled them into a close huddle.
“What’s up?” Mark said, staring at the hand in my pocket.
I fished out the paper and unfolded it. Meet us at the stone room in an hour. I turned it over to the blank side and then back to the written words.
“I guess we’ve found our in,” he said.
“What if they’re the ones who talk to my mom?” I said.
Jackie plucked the paper from my hand and held it close to her face. “Anything will be better than that last class.”
“We’re a bit early,” I said, reading the time on my tablet.
“Good. I want to see what kind of stuff they’ve got in here. I feel naked without a few protective stones on me,” Jackie said.
The feeling was mutual. Several times, I’d found myself fishing for a stone in my pocket.
Mark shrugged and touched the metal plate on the door to the stone room. It slid open, and a clatter of bowls sounded from within.
“Hello,” I called out.
A boy jumped up from behind a work station, naked. He covered his lower regions with a mixing bowl and stumbled backward, knocking over a small table and spilling the ingredients on the ground.
A girl’s head popped up, her brown hair disheveled. She peered over at us and her face turned crimson.
“We were just…” the boy started to say, and then searched for the rest of the words.
“I think we know what you were just doing,” Jackie said. She walked far enough to the left to get a better view of the two. “Don’t mind us.”
The girl dropped down behind the counter and had her clothes on in a few seconds. The boy struggled to get his pants on while trying to keep his junk covered. I tried to hold back some of my laughter. I was sure the last thing this guy wanted was a couple of girls laughing at his awkward situation. The girl didn’t say a word and bolted out of the stone room before I could even say a hello.
The boy finally got his clothes on and some of his dignity crept back onto his face.
“She’s cute,” Jackie said. “What were you trying to make?” She tapped the bowl with her foot. The ingredients swirled in the bowl. “Is that pewter dust?”
“Uh, yeah.” He glanced at the door and took a step in its direction.
“Dissolving stone. What were you going to dissolve?” Jackie asked.
“We just like to fool around sometimes down here and we make a stone or two while we’re at it.”
“Kinky.”
“Yeah, well, I’d better get back to her, I bet she’s hiding in some dark corner now.”
“Hold on there, sparky,” Jackie said, and stepped up to block him from leaving. “You didn’t answer my question. What were you going to dissolve?”
He combed back his hair with his hand and looked around. I bet he wanted to dissolve a wall right then to get away from Jackie’s inquisition.
“Derek was just helping us out.”
I spun around to find Kylie at the door. She pulled at the bottom of her long braid and glared at Derek.
“Yeah, anything for the minis.” He pushed past Jackie and all but ran out the door.
Behind Kylie stood two guys and another girl. They’d all made their way into the room and closed the door.
“You’re early,” Kylie said.
“I think you’re late,” Jackie said. “You missed the show.”
Kylie smiled. “You know how many times he’s u
sed the old ‘I need help making a stone’ line? The dude’s kind of a creep, but he can make stones like nobody’s business with the right motivation.” She walked past me as her posse held court near the exit. She knelt and picked up the discarded bowl. “What a shame.”
“So what’s up, buttercup?” Jackie asked. “I’m sure you didn’t ask us here to witness Derek’s little thang.”
Kylie shook her head. “You don’t have any filter, do you?”
“It’d just get in the way.”
“I asked you here because you mentioned a booster stone today. We’ve never heard of that. Does it boost the power of a single stone?”
“Sort of,” Jackie said. “The person using the stone has to be able to suspend the effects while boosters are added. Nearly impossible for most people.”
Kylie eyes narrowed. “Have you heard of the Intrepid?”
My mom was in the Intrepid. “Are you in contact with them?” I asked.
Kylie looked at the guy standing next to her and he shook his head. “Nothing direct,” she said, looking back at us.
“Should we be talking to him?” I asked, and took a step forward. If these people had any ability to get me to my mom, I had to push it.
A boy with reddish hair stared at me and said, “We’re a branch of the Intrepid. We call ourselves the Minitrepid.”
“How do we know you aren’t just dark alchies sent in here to infiltrate us?” Kylie asked.
Jackie jumped in. “We want to take them down more than you do, I guarantee.”
When Kylie pulled in her three friends and they huddled close, I gestured for Mark and Jackie to do the same.
“You think they can help us?” I asked.
Mark nodded. “If we can get them to trust us.”
“I don’t know. They seem weak to me,” Jackie said.
That was the same feeling I had. They billed themselves as the Minitrepid, but they didn’t look like they’d been in a single confrontation, let alone a battle. They had an air of mischief about them, nothing that felt dangerous.
They turned and looked as if they’d made a decision. The redhead stepped forward.
“My name is Wes, and this is Kylie, Iggy, and David. We want to trust you, but first you need to show us you can make a stone.”
“Please,” Jackie said, and crossed her arms.
“What do you want us to make?” I asked. The Dark Academy had made me make terrible stones to help their cause and the last thing I wanted to do was aid in any more destruction.
“The dissolve stone.”
I looked at the discarded ingredients on the floor. “Sure, I can make the stone. But I won’t give it up until you show me what you’re using it for.”
They conferred with each other, then Wes nodded. “Fine. You should know anyway.”
I dumped the bowl and collected the ingredients on the counter.
“If you want us to leave you and Mark alone, it’s cool,” Kylie said.
“Or Jackie, if you need,” David said with a grin.
I raised an eyebrow at the requests. David’s eager face made me close my eyes and look away. “I don’t need assistance to make stones. You can all watch if you’d like.”
I picked up the clear liquid, which burned my nose when I took the cap off the bottle, and placed it next to the bag of pewter and what smelled like sulfur. As usual, I wasn’t really sure how much to mix, but I’d learned to go with my gut.
I took a few breaths, then gripped the edge of the table and tried to forget the group of people studying my every move.
“You okay?” Kylie asked.
“Quiet,” Mark said.
I barely heard their banter and found my well of anger. A flash of Lola’s hand on Mark’s knee was all it took. I poured the ingredients into the bowl and stirred. A few seconds later, the stone clanked around the bowl.
I exhaled.
“Wow, did you do that with pure anger?” Kylie asked, walking up to the bowl. “We didn’t think it was possible in here.”
“I think it’s in the air. Bet they’re pumping something into it,” Iggy said, sniffing the air. She was small and reminded me a lot of Ira.
I used a black cloth to pick up the stone out of the bowl. “Now, what are you doing with it?”
“We’ll show you. Meet us at midnight, where the garden meets the domiciles.”
“We’ll be there.”
“Don’t forget the stone.”
Jackie’s mood improved greatly once we’d made a few protective stones. She tapped on her thigh and looked up through the glass ceiling. “You never know how much you miss the sky until you don’t have it for a couple of years,” she said. “Even in prison they let you out for a few hours a day.”
I looked up to the ceiling. It was night outside, and I could imagine the stars shining brightly.
“And something green and growing,” Jackie continued, walking down a row of what looked like tomato plants, touching the tips of the leaves. “You kind of forget about this stuff.” She knelt, smelling the flora.
“There just might be something in the air here,” I said.
“Told ya,” Iggy said, walking up from behind us.
Turning, I saw Kylie wave as she approached with the redhead, Wes, and David in tow.
“It’s in the plants,” she said. “They use the stones to grow them fast and I think all that goodness seeps into them. It dissipates over time, or you just get used to feeling good. But who wants to live like that?”
“First smart thing you’ve said,” Jackie said.
Kylie checked her tablet. “You got that stone?”
I nodded.
“Good. There’s no time like the present.”
“Sure. For what?” I asked.
Kylie smiled, and in the faint moonlight she looked pretty with her milky smooth skin. Much better than tanning-bed Lola. “This glass.” She pointed to a pane. “It’s highly specialized. Do you know how long it took us to find a stone to dissolve it? Also, it self-repairs. We’ll only have an hour or so.” She moved to the glass and ran her hand down it. “I want you to carefully place the stone on the glass right here and then step back.”
I looked to Mark and he nodded toward the glass. Taking the stone out, I made sure to leave the others in my pocket. There was no need to let the others know what I was packing. I placed the stone on the glass, then took a step back and watched as the glass began to melt like it was water, falling to the floor.
The cold air from outside rushed in and sent chills down my arms. I stepped closer, smelling the fresh air and hearing the sounds of the outside, like crickets and maybe the drone of a jetliner. Jackie was right: you didn’t really notice the small stuff until you’d been away from it.
“Now what? We escape?” I asked.
Kylie laughed. “Sort of. You guys hungry?”
My stomach growled at the thought of food and I had a hard time coming up with the last time I had eaten anything. I saw the same look on Mark’s and Jackie’s faces.
“We could stand to eat something,” Mark said.
“I bet you could.” Iggy looked at him appreciatively.
“Come on. I’ll show you how we manage to stay pissed off in this place,” Kylie said. She knelt low and walked through the opening in the window.
Outside, the grass had dew forming on the tips of the blades, making the bottom of my pants damp. A small breeze of the night air brushed over us. It felt like winter was just around the corner. I wondered if we were up high enough in elevation for snow.
As we walked across the grass, I kept looking back at the Academy and the large glass windows rising to the roof. The farther we got from it, the smaller it seemed.
Jackie skipped alongside the group. I’d never seen her this happy and wondered if there were remnants of the food left in her. “This is amazing.”
“Just wait,” Kylie said.
The grass stopped at the edge of a bank and at the bottom sat a poorly hidden car. Kylie took big
steps down the sandy bank and jumped the last bit next to the car. “She’s a beaut, isn’t she?”
“Sure is. Two thousand seven Impala?” Mark asked.
“Close. It’s an oh-six,” Wes said, and pulled open the driver’s door.
I rushed down the hill and looked into the windows, expecting food or some kind of storage containers in the car, but it was empty.
“Where’s the food?” Jackie asked.
I put my hands on my hips and had the same question.
“Not here. We have to drive there,” Kylie said.
“Where?” I asked.
“Let me make it a surprise, okay?” Kylie said as she opened the passenger door. “It’s normally just the four of us, so… can you sit on Mark’s lap, Allie?”
“Um, sure.” I opened the back door and looked at the spacious back bench seat.
“Iggy, you can sit on my lap,” David said.
“Gross. I’d rather ride in the trunk.”
“Iggy, you sit up with me. I can hold ya,” Kylie said.
After a few minutes of maneuvering and vying for space, we all fit in the car. I sat on Mark’s lap, which wasn’t too bad of a deal. He kept his hands on my hips and I nestled down against him. This wasn’t the back-seat-of-a-car moment I’d thought we’d have, but it sure beat staying trapped in another academy.
Wes drove next to the bank at a slow speed for a while, putting some distance between us and the Academy. After that, he sped up down the dirt road. It made for a bumpy ride, but bouncing on Mark’s lap made it bearable. He certainly didn’t seem to mind.
My head hit the ceiling on a hard bump and I rubbed my head.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Sorry. It’s a little bumpy with this much weight in the car,” Wes said.
“Come on,” Jackie whined, wedged up against David in the back seat. “Just tell us where we’re going so I can get rid of this sinking feeling in my gut.”
Kylie laughed. “I promise, we aren’t taking you off to kill you or anything like that.” She turned around and faced us over the front seat. “We have to make a run like this every few days or we’d starve. If it gets real bad, sometimes we just take turns eating the happy food and then stone each other to take away the effects.”
