by Matt Ryan
“Okay,” Bridget said, and absentmindedly made her way to room ten.
My mom shrugged and walked closer to me. “Now, the only thing left to do is to wait for Niles to get here.” She pulled out a cell phone from her pocket and dialed. “Niles, it’s Cathy…. Yes, we made it. You make yours…. You ready? Okay, I’ll do it in ten seconds.”
She pulled a stone out of her pocket and showed it to me. It was purple with white streaks in it. “This stone is amazing, and I hope it works. It can summon a person holding a summoning stone in their hand. You just have to concentrate on the person at the same time they’re holding the other stone.” She took a few steps away. “Stand back. Let’s see if this works.”
She closed her eyes and kept repeating Nile’s name in a whisper. She raised her hand and slammed the stone onto the stone floor. The stone bounced and cracked in half. Niles popped from the stone, holding his gun. He spun around until he saw Mom.
She laughed and clapped her hands. “It worked.”
He stowed his gun and leaned back in a laugh. “I can’t believe you guys did it!” He rushed up to Mom for what I thought would be a hug, but she gave him a look and a stiff arm.
“Too soon for celebrations, Niles.”
He laughed again and turned to face us. “So glad you all made it.”
“What happened back at camp?” Jackie asked. “Did they ransack it and get the bitch out?”
Niles frowned. “Yes, and not just her. We set up some nasty stones as well. That Axiom is a cunning one.”
“I doubt any of them but Verity will be useful for some time,” Mom said. “But let’s get to room five and get in contact with Blane, shall we?”
I looked at Mark as she led Niles toward the room. “We’re doing this now?” I asked aloud.
Mom stopped and turned around. “If we have to make a stone or two for Blane, I can’t think of a better place to be.” She turned around and kept walking toward room five.
Mark faced me and put his hands on my shoulders. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I agreed to do it. It was part of the deal. I won’t go back on that.”
He sighed and nodded.
“I want to see this fade for myself, anyway,” Jackie said. “I bet you don’t get past seven.”
I didn’t know what I could do. I felt soft and hollow as it was. I had no idea if I had the strength at the moment.
When we entered room five, Niles had already put together a few desks and had set chairs around them. I took the chair at the head of the table and Niles took the other side. Mark sat to my right and held my hand.
My heartbeat picked up again as I saw my mom lay the stone on the table, sitting on a black cloth.
“Don’t worry. This stone doesn’t require you to hold on to anger or anything. It can sense the ability inside you. You only need to accept it.”
“Okay.” I put my hands on the table.
“You sure this isn’t dangerous?” Mark asked.
“To be honest, I think Allie may go beyond what we’ve ever done. I’m not sure exactly what will happen.”
Her words slowed down and I swayed in my chair. I felt Mark grabbing me and the room became clear again. “I’m fine. I’m just still feeling the aftereffects of Bridget’s stone, I think.” I straightened up.
“She’s not taking that stone. She can barely sit straight,” Mark said.
My mom’s jaw flexed and she looked from me to him. “We don’t have time to wait for a perfect moment, Mark.”
“I can use the stone,” I said, but the words came out breathy and weak.
“Absolutely not. I will not allow it. I’m sorry, Allie, but someone around here has to look out for you,” Mark said, grabbing my hand.
“It doesn’t matter how she feels. The stone taps into the core of what makes us alchemists. It will work no matter what.”
“You don’t know that.” Mark stood up from his chair.
I reached for his arm and touched his wrist. “It’s okay.”
“See, Mark?” Niles said. “She wants to talk to me ol’ granddaddy. Let her.”
Jackie spoke up. “I’m with Mark on this one. She looks like hell.”
I shook my head. Sure, I felt weak, but did I really look that bad? I swayed in my chair.
“Sorry, Mark, but it has to be now. Something this important can’t wait for the right moment or the right feeling. She’s conscious and coherent. That’s enough,” Mom said.
“You’re a sick woman. This is your daughter you’re being so flippant about.” Mark pursed his lips tight.
“Maybe you should leave.” Niles stood and kept his hand on his gun.
Mark paced and let out a long, controlled breath. “You just need anyone to make it past ten, right?”
“Yes,” Mom said.
Mark turned to me and knelt beside me. “Allie, I’m so sorry. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I’ve been lying to you. I’ve been lying to everyone. I’m not some Malki who can’t make stones. I can make stones. I can make anything.”
I shook my head, not comprehending what he was saying. “I saw it, Mark. The testing stone Darius used—it dissolved in a second.”
He wiped back his hair and I scooted back from him. I didn’t like being lied to. If he could really make stones, then why keep it from me?
“Those stones can be fooled. When my mother gave the stone to me, I was able to hold back until she gave in and believed I was just a rube. She waited a long time. It nearly tore my brain apart, but I held the stone. So, yes, I can make stones, and yes, I am so sorry about keeping it from you.”
“You sneaky little bastard. I just knew you were faking it,” Jackie said.
Mark ignored Jackie and stared at me with tears building in his eyes. I knew he didn’t want to be part of alchemy, but…keeping it from me? I searched his face and saw the hurt and anger swirling around.
“You didn’t want her using you,” I said.
“I’ve seen what this power does to people my whole life. I’ve seen what it does to my mom, and I see it in your mom. Already I can feel her sizing me up, trying to fit me into a category she can use.”
I looked to my mom. She was trying to hide it, but she had to glance at Mark, unable to hide her curiosity. I, on the other hand, understood. So much of it made sense now. Mark had the will to not make the stones for others. He was so much stronger than I was. Stronger than I’d ever imagined. It would take so much more strength to have a power and not use it.
“I’m going to use the stone.” Mark sat down and plopped his arm onto the table, palm up.
Mom leaned back, opened her mouth, and stared at him. “Are you serious? Because if this is some ploy, the stone won’t make it past a fade or two and we’ll just have to use another one on Allie.”
“I can take your stone as far as you need, I assure you,” Mark said, and slid his hand closer.
“Fine. We’ll use you, unless you have an objection, Allie?”
I didn’t have words. My mind was still struggling with the notion of Mark being a special. I hoped he wasn’t basing this whole decision on some stone his mom had used on him. “It won’t hurt him?”
“If he’s lying, he won’t even make it past a few seconds.” Mom turned to Mark. “But if by some chance you get to Blane, he’ll want to tell you how to get him out of his grave. That’s the only thing I’m sure of.”
“If you get past seven, I’ll take back all the Malki comments,” Jackie said. “But if you do get to this Blane guy, what’s the mind of a person who’s been buried for hundreds of years going to be like?”
“He seemed…off when I spoke to him,” Mom said.
“Let’s just do this,” Mark said, hitting the table again in emphasis.
“Very well.” Mom picked up the stone and reached across the table.
“Wait,” I said, but she dropped the stone onto his open hand.
He clasped it.
Shaking, he faded out for a split
second, and my mom said, “One.”
I leaned against the table and stared at Mark’s face. He shook as if he was having a seizure and his eyes looked vacant. What had I done? I should be the one taking the stone. I reached for his hand.
“Don’t touch him,” Niles warned.
Mark faded in and out quickly as my mom kept count. “Two, three, four, five…..”
Jackie shook her head. “That son of a bitch had us all fooled.”
“Six, seven, eight….”
Jackie threw up her hands and leaned forward.
Mark’s chair rattled and he looked fuzzy, like I could put my finger right through him. Then he firmed up and I could see the strain on his face as his lips moved without words.
“Nine,” Mom said, and leaned forward. She wasn’t blinking. “No one’s ever gone past nine.”
He faded again.
“Ten,” she said, as if finishing a sentence.
He didn’t solidify like the other times.
“I can’t believe it,” Niles said in admiration.
“Shh,” Mom said. “I think he’s trying to say something.”
We all leaned closer to him. My heart pounded in my chest as I stared at the ghostly image of Mark. Parts of the chair were visible behind him. His lips moved again and I thought I heard him pleading no, or arguing with someone. I turned my head and tried to hear the words.
He screamed.
I jumped back and grabbed the table to keep from falling over. He kept screaming. His hands moved up to his head and he yanked at his scalp as if he was terrified of his own hair.
“Mark!” I yelled, but he didn’t respond. His eyes were somewhere else. “Mark!” Again, nothing. “What do we do?”
Mom shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Mark kept screaming, but it sounded weaker and he faded even more. Then the sound picked up again, loud and strong. He continued to pull at his hair. Fear filled his eyes, but they were still elsewhere, looking at something that wasn’t here.
“Looks like he’s in a fight,” Jackie said.
“Something’s wrong!” I yelled. “He’s still fading!”
Mom looked at Niles, but he wildly shook his head and looked at Mark. “You’ve got to fight it, Mark!”
“Mark!” I screamed, hoping to get through. “Mark!” I felt panic setting in as I saw him slipping away. I couldn’t lose him. My heart felt like it was in my throat, and my head pounded under the pressure.
“He’s trapped in there, Cathy,” Niles said, and the panic in his voice did little to keep me away from the edge. “I think Blane’s getting to him.”
“How do we get him out?” I demanded.
Mom’s mouth hung open and she shook her head. She had no clue.
“Give me the stone. I’m going in after him.”
“No! We can’t lose you both,” she said.
“I’m not losing him!” My throat hurt.
She shook her head.
“Give it to me, or I swear I’ll tear it off of your dead body, Mother.” Tears streamed down my face as Mark’s scream weakened. He faded more and more as the seconds ticked by. We were running out of time.
Finally, Mom took the stone out and rolled it across the table. I sat down and caught it with my bare hand. Almost immediately, I lost control of my body. I felt the vibrations going through me as the room turned white, then changed back to normal. My eyes were fixed on the back wall, where a glass beaker half-full of a blue liquid sat.
With each fade, I moved in and out of the white world. I thought I heard screams there, and I tried to scream for Mark, but my throat had seized.
I heard my mom make it to the number eight before that world ceased to exist. Then, my body stopped shaking and stilled. I floated in the white, hearing the cries of another.
“Ten,” my mom said, but I couldn’t see her.
“Mark!” I called out.
“Allie!”
I turned, or rather glided around, until I saw Mark lying on his back. A large man wearing far too many layers of ancient-looking clothes was straddling him and squeezing his head like a vise with his two hands.
The large man turned to me and looked shocked. “This is not possible,” he said in a thick English accent. “Two?”
“Get off of him,” I commanded.
“I can’t. I need him.” He grasped the sides of Mark’s head again—and Mark punched him in the face. “You can’t hurt me, not in here,” the man said.
“Blane?” I asked.
He stopped and took his hands off Mark’s head. Mark looked dazed but still alive. I couldn’t match the man in strength, but there had to be a human being in there somewhere.
“How do you know my name?” he asked.
“We have your great-great-great-great-great-grandchild in the room with us, right now.”
Blane put a fist on Mark’s chest and turned to face me. “That’s not possible. My daughter has no children.”
“You’ve been in here for a long time.”
“I have….” He looked around, frowning. “He is my way out of here. If I can only get into his head. He’s so strong.” Blane went back to vise-gripping the sides of Mark’s head.
Mark screamed and blindly punched at him.
“You don’t want a host. You want your body back, and we can do that.”
“You’re just like the other woman. You only want my stone. I won’t give you another clue without a body.”
“You can have your body.”
“But this one is much nicer.” He pushed on Mark’s head.
Mark landed a couple of solid punches on Blane’s face, but he didn’t budge.
My body shook and I doubled over.
Blane laughed. “You don’t have much longer, missy. And neither does he.”
“Blane, he’s dying. You don’t want his body. I can get your body back. We have a life stone waiting to bring you back. We want to bring you back. The world needs you, not some copy of you. The world needs the real Blane. You’re a legend now. Why do you think we’re doing this?”
He got off of Mark, and Mark rolled to his side. “Are you lying?”
“No. Why would I?”
“I’ve seen a lot of people over the years. But only a few have stayed as long as you two, and none of them have freed me from this hell.”
“I swear, I will.”
He looked at Mark and then back at me. “Fine. I will enter your mind and give you the precise location of my grave. Are you ready?”
I nodded.
He was on me in an instant. I didn’t see him cross the white space; he was just there. His huge hands pushed against my skull and I felt his thoughts enter mine. A stream of maps and pictures of his exact location pushed their way into my consciousness. I wanted him out of my head. I screamed and clawed at him and punched at his face.
“You are even prettier than the boy,” he said with a toothy smile, inches away from my face.
I screamed. It was all I could do as his mind melded with mine. I pushed him back, not with my arms or body, but with my mind. This place wasn’t real. I had to take control of my thoughts. I focused on a single point and let the pressure build, as if I was taking the deepest breath of my life. When I felt at capacity, I shot my thoughts directly at Blane.
He fell backward, off of me. I kept my mind screaming as I concentrated on him. He grabbed at his head and as I floated to my feet, he backpedaled.
“No! You have to keep your promise. You have to find me. I’ve seen your world now. They’re coming. There is another, and if they’re found, all will be lost.” He sounded sane, but full of fear.
I floated to Mark and picked him up off the floor. He felt weightless in my arms.
“You have to,” Blane insisted. “You know where I am. I am the only way you can get to the stone. We can protect the world.”
I hugged Mark and closed my eyes. We were leaving this place.
“No!” Blane screamed. “Come for me! Don’t leave me he
re!”
“Allie?” Jackie said. “Are you back?”
“Mark?” I slurred.
“He’s right here,” Mom answered.
My vision cleared from the blinding white and I focused on Jackie’s face, then my mom’s. Mark was sitting to my right, holding my hand and looking as weak as I felt.
“You saved me,” he said.
“We saved each other.”
He smiled. “All I did was be a punching bag.”
“Without you, I wouldn’t have had the will to fight him off.”
“What happened?” Mom asked.
I let go of Mark and rubbed my head. I felt the thoughts and images Blane had put in there. He’d wanted to put in more, all of it, probably, but I’d blocked him. Maybe it was dumb luck, but I’d found a way to stop him. “He showed me exactly where he is.”
My mom cheered and fist-pumped the air. Then she and Niles grabbed at each other in their excitement. I guessed that they assumed I would be telling them exactly where Blane was, but I didn’t like the idea of turning a person like that loose in the world. I looked over to Mark, and he stared at me with those knowing eyes.
After leaning forward and giving Mark a light kiss, I faced my mother. She was still gleeful and celebrating. I imagined she and Niles had been looking for this Blane guy for a long time. I wondered how many of her students she’d sent into that stone.
I shivered. The thought of my mom having her own academy while I was…. No, I had to push that thought down, lock it away. I was good at that, and before too long I would forget what I knew.
“Well,” Mom said after a moment, “we just have a few housekeeping things to do here and then we can get going.”
“We’re not just leaving this place here, are we?” I asked.
“No. I have a special plan.”
As we left room five, I hung back and got closer to Mark. I didn’t tell Mom or Niles what had happened, and I knew Mark didn’t want to say anything either. He ambled next to me and gave me another one of those looks, a hint of fear tainting the corners, telling me he didn’t like this. I didn’t either.
Blane had tried to enter our minds. He’d wanted to take over our bodies. He wanted to enter the world again using one of us as a host. If I hadn’t gone into the stone with Mark, I knew Blane would have taken my Mark from me. I clenched my fist at the thought, and Mark touched my hand.
