Peter and the Heart of Alchemy (War of Contractia Book 5)

by Tj Dixon

  “What about sneaking out?” Angelika suggests.

  “Sneaking out might get me out, but getting back in is likely to be much more difficult. If I get out but can’t get back in it would be a bit awkward.”

  “Any idea why the Kuroneko wants to meet you?” Angelika asks.

  “No more idea than the last time you asked.” I tell her, barely hiding my frustration at her annoying questions.

  “We may as well start the training.” Asuna says perhaps picking up on my annoyance.

  “I need to replenish my power a bit first. I gave most of what I had left to Tabi.” I tell her.

  “I’ll give you mine.” Asuna says quickly.

  “Make sure to keep some for yourself.” I remind her.

  “Don’t worry, I will.” Asuna says and approaches me. She bends down and kisses me. I feel her power flowing into me but I quickly pull away.

  “That’s enough.”

  “Are you sure?” Asuna asks.

  “Yes. I can always take more later if it isn’t, but it should be.” I tell her.

  “Ok. So what will we do for training?” Asuna asks.

  “Let’s practise concealing our presence and detecting each other’s concealed presence.” I suggest.

  “That will be hard, but at least we can do it without wrecking the room.” Asuna says and hides her presence. Angelika hides hers a moment later and then I hide mine.

  Hiding is the easy part. Even knowing that there are two other people in the room, it isn’t easy to detect their presence. When we first tried this I could easily detect their presence because they didn’t hide their aura correctly. That’s how I sense most people who hide their presence. I pointed out the issue though and they managed to correct that, so it is now much harder to sense them.

  (Misty)

  There’s a knock on my door. I port outside and to my relief it is Juliet. After a moment I realise she seems upset. That is rare in itself and she isn’t just a little upset either. She looks like she might burst into tears at any moment.

  I don’t think I’ve seen her upset before. She’s normally so calm and normally a little out of it, but never angry, cruel or upset. She’s possibly the nicest person I’ve ever met and perhaps the weirdest too. Maybe her weird attitude annoyed someone enough to do something really cruel to her. It must have been bad because she normally just ignores insults and treats minor cruelty like she thinks it’s just an accident.

  “Let’s talk inside.” I say and taking her hand I port us both inside my room. She’s the only person I would take inside my room now. Peter accepted it but he clearly didn’t like it. Not that I had intended to show him. Juliet on the other hand just ignored it as if it was nothing. “So what happened?”

  “Peter said to train in our rooms.” Juliet says in a teary voice, but that clearly isn’t the issue.

  “But what happened? Why are you upset?”

  “Lost, match.” Juliet tells me with a sniff.

  “What match?” I ask confused.

  “Match to use arena.”

  “There was a match to use the arena? Was it just you?”

  “Tabi… Helski… Me.”

  “So the three of you took part in a match and you lost?” I ask and Juliet nods. I frown. “So it wasn’t just you who lost. I’m sure nobody blames you for losing. You did your best, right?”

  “Did what… Peter… said.” Juliet tells me with a few quick deep breathes.

  “So you just got unlucky.” I reassure her.

  “Rin scary…” Juliet tells me and I half smile, half wince.

  “Yes… Rin really is scary. Did she blame you?” I ask and Juliet nods. That’s mean… “She probably just needs to calm down. She gets angry easily. Nobody else will blame you and she’ll get over it quickly.”

  “Cherry… blame... Cherry… scary.” Juliet says and that seems really odd.

  I can’t think of many people who are easier going or more forgiving than Cherry. Sherry is a bit more emotional than her sister but even she isn’t normally scary. Did Juliet get them mixed up? Thinking about it, why were Juliet, Tabi and Helski competing in the first place? Normally Cherry would be on the team if they wanted a wind user, so to use Tabi instead strikes me as odd.

  “What did you have to do?” I ask Juliet.

  “Wear uniform. Wear underwear. No fighting. Crystals.” Juliet says and then bursts into tears. I quickly put my arms around her and hug her tightly.

  “Don’t worry. Whatever happened I’m sure it will be fine.” I tell her soothingly. She’s always struck me as childish but right now she seems even younger than normal.

  “Talk…? Peter…?” Juliet asks me.

  “You want me to talk to Peter about it?” I ask and she nods vigorously. It’s the first time I’ve seen her do anything other than magic with any vigour. “Ok, I’ll talk to him. Do you want to come with me?”

  “No.” She whispers and shaking her head she cries even harder.

  “Ok. That’s not a problem. I’ll talk to Peter. You can wait here. Everything will be fine. I promise.” I tell Juliet quietly but firmly.

  “Thank you.” Juliet whispers so softly that I only just catch her words. I pat her hair gently, pull away a little and then wipe her tears from her eyes.

  “Ok?” I ask Juliet.

  “Better now.” She sniffs.

  “Wait here.” I tell her and she nods. I then port outside Peter’s room and knock on the door. After a moment it opens. For a moment I can’t see anyone inside but then Peter appears in front of me.

  “Hi, sorry, we were just practising hiding our presence.” Peter tells me.

  “What happened to Juliet?” I ask bluntly.

  “Oh…” Peter says and I frown, or perhaps it’s more of a glare. “Come inside.”

  “Fine.” I say and follow him into the room before shutting the door after me.

  “How is she?” Peter asks nervously.

  “Upset would be a major understatement. She was in tears just now. What happened?”

  “We had a match against our rivals in Raven’s Blood and they won.”

  “And it was Juliet’s fault?”

  “No and yes. There were five crystals. We had to find and use magic on three or more of them. Each crystal was attuned to a different element. Juliet, Tabi and Helski entered the arena to compete. Juliet won us the fire and dimensional crystals but we lost the other three crystals.”

  “So how is that Juliet’s fault?! She was the only one who did anything!” I protest furiously.

  “I’m not exactly blaming Juliet, but the problem is that she found the other three crystals at the very start and didn’t use magic on them. Worse she told everyone that and some of our club are blaming her for it. I should have been clearer. I only told her to find and use magic on the fire and dimensional crystals, because I never imagined she’d find them all straight away like that.”

  “You’re going to come with me and tell Juliet that you don’t blame her for what happened.” I tell Peter crossly.

  He could really hurt me if he tells everyone about my room, but right now Juliet is hurting and it is partly Peter’s fault. He should know how literally she takes everything. He should have told her what to do if she found the other crystals. I look at Peter half expecting him to get angry at me but he just nods obediently. I take his hand and port with him to my room.

  What I see when I port in takes my breath from me. The door is open and Juliet is standing there with Rin on the other side. I can see the shock on Rin’s face so I know she noticed the images on my room’s walls. She notices me and the expression on her face is pure loathing.

  Chapter 16 (Misty)

  Lying here crying on my bed I can’t even get to sleep. Not that I expected to be able to after what just happened. All I can do is imagine that awful scene time and time again.

  Juliet didn’t even understand what was wrong. I’m not sure whether that made it better or worse. The only comfort is that Peter refuse
d Rin’s demand that I be thrown out of the club. She wasn’t happy though and I’m not sure what she’ll do next. One thing is certain though. She isn’t going to keep quiet about my room, so everyone in the club will soon know the truth.

  I cry harder as I think of everyone’s disgusted stares. I look at the image of a boy getting eaten and no matter how hard I try, I can’t feel disgusted. It’s not real. If it was I know I would feel the disgust. All I can feel when I look at the image on my wall though, is a little comfort. I don’t want to feel comforted by the very thing that is ruining my life. The damage is done though, and even if it wasn’t I already know that I couldn’t bring myself to remove the images from my walls.

  Eventually sleep does take me but as I wake to the dim light of dawn I feel even worse than I did last night. I’m exhausted despite the sleep and I am that much closer to seeing my friends, or more likely former friends. I wipe the tears from my eyes but they won’t stop falling.

  “There’s no point crying.” A familiar sounding voice tells me and it takes a moment to realise whose voice it is.

  “Lucy? What are you doing here?” I ask weakly.

  “I finally got back into the academy. You wouldn’t believe the security precautions they’re taking at the moment. It would make you think we were on the frontline. Well I suppose in a sense we are, so I can understand why they’re so worried.” Lucy tells me.

  “Where did you go?” I ask, not especially interested.

  “None of your business. I’m here now though. Interesting artwork you’ve got here. Can’t say it’s to my taste but if we all liked the same things Contractia would be a mighty boring place. Except for the war, but that’s one kind of interesting I could do without.”

  “Me too.” I agree, a little relieved that she doesn’t seem to be judging me because of my art.

  “Did you draw these?”

  “Yes.” I sigh.

  “You’re a damn fine artist, even if the art is a bit unusual. I wish I’d known that sooner. I’ll have to scold my master for keeping secrets from his lovely little Lucy.” She huffs.

  “I wish everyone was as understanding.” I sigh.

  “You don’t choose your likes and dislikes. As long as you don’t inflict them on others I don’t see the harm.” Lucy shrugs.

  “So why are you in my room and how did you get in?” I ask.

  “Your window was open and the ward was a little weak. I strengthened it after I got past it, since you don’t want what’s outside getting in.”

  “What’s outside?” I ask.

  “There are plenty of dangerous creatures in that forest that don’t belong there. Some of them gave even me a tough time. They evacuated the town last night and not a moment too soon. I don’t think anyone was killed before it was overrun but I can’t say for sure.”

  “What overran the town? The same monsters that are in the forest?”

  “Goblins and their pets. The mage companies seem to be busy so the teachers helped defend the town whilst the townspeople evacuated. It’s not just this town and forest either.”

  “Has Portalis fallen?” I ask in terrified shock.

  “No. Portalis is still standing, but Contractia has more foes to worry about now. It seems we are fighting the empire as well.” Lucy tells me and I gulp.

  Contractia has always been considered the number one power in the universe, followed closely by the Fallen Angels and the gods in joint second place. The empire is one of three magical nations that compete for the next place. It’s the only one of the three to border Contractia. There are the demons of hell too, but nobody has ever united them. Even in the war between the gods and the Fallen Angels only about half of the hordes of hell were willing to fight.

  The empire has always known better than to attack Contractia, but with her majesty in Portalis to counter the threat from the Fallen Angels it seems they are willing to attacks us. Perhaps they have an alliance with the Fallen Angels or perhaps they simply want to strengthen their position before Portalis falls.

  “Even without her majesty’s aid we will defeat the Empire.” Lucy tells me with a confident smile.

  “Really?” I ask doubtfully.

  “Yes. Now what is it that you were crying about?” Lucy asks.

  “Oh. I assumed you knew.” I say.

  “How could I? I only just got back.” Lucy tells me quite reasonably.

  “Rin saw my room. She wanted me thrown out of the club. Peter refused, but everyone will know about my room now.” I tell her and tears start to fall down my eyes again.

  “I think they’ll have more important things to worry about than a bit of silly artwork.” Lucy tells me seriously.

  “But…”

  “And so do you.” Lucy says pointedly.

  “But…”

  “Get over it, little girl.” Lucy tells me and then ports away. She makes it sound like it’s a trivial little issue, but my life might as well be over. Almost everyone will hate or at least think less of me.

  I sit on my bed feeling sorry for myself until I am able to work up the energy to stand up, wash myself and get dressed. Perhaps they’ll think I’m so disgusting that it wouldn’t make much difference if I smelt as well, but at least I feel more comfortable like this.

  I port to class and after a quick check that there are no traps on my chair I sit down. My classmates, at least those that are here already, mostly sneer at me or snicker as I sit down but that is normal. I feel something soft and wet explode under me. It was hidden with magic and my senses weren’t sharp enough to pick it up, but now my skirt is covered in yellow slimy goo.

  I sigh, stand and then port back to my room. I take my skirt off and try to wash the goo off with water magic but as the water hits the goo my skirt dissolves. I feel like crying again, but compared to what happened yesterday I suppose another lost skirt really is trivial, and at least my underwear didn’t get ruined too.

  I make sure to get the goo off my legs and then put on my spare skirt. I must have gotten too relaxed lately, because it’s my last spare. I can only hope to get a new one before this gets ruined too. I briefly wonder what the teachers would think if I had to wear my pyjama bottoms to class. The opinion of my classmates couldn’t get any lower and my fellow club members will have the same opinion soon, so it is only the teachers’ opinions that matter now. Well, to be fair there’s Juliet, Peter, Rose, Lucy and there could be more who don’t judge me too harshly.

  Wearing my new skirt I port back to class. Professor Hertz is here now and frowns at me but the lesson hasn’t started yet so she doesn’t say anything. I use my senses to check my seat again but then I use my hand. Only when I am completely sure it is safe do I sit down.

  “Now that everyone is here I have an announcement to make. We believe that there’s a dangerous criminal in the academy. In addition to the ban on leaving the academy everyone is to take extra care at all times and you must port straight to your room, the lunch room or your friends’ rooms after lessons. The corridors, arena, flight hall and all other areas of the academy are strictly off limits. All after lesson activities are suspended until further notice. Also if you notice anything or anyone suspicious in your rooms, the lunch room or in class you are to report it immediately. Do not ignore it. Do not try to deal with it yourself.” Professor Hertz tells us. I wonder whether they detected Lucy entering the academy and think she’s an intruder. I don’t say anything, because I don’t want to tell her about Lucy.

  “What sort of criminal?” Asks a girl a few seats to my left.

  “I’m sorry but I can’t tell you the details.” Professor Hertz answers.

  “Wouldn’t it be safer to…?” She starts to ask.

  “No. Now enough questions. We have a lesson to cover. Everyone will work in pairs.” Professor Hertz says and my stomach falls. Those are the words I always dread. “You will be using mind magic on each other and must resist giving away any thoughts whilst seeking to gain the thoughts of your partner. As mages you sho
uld be able to resist such intrusions of your mind and it is essential that you can. If you are captured the enemy will seek to steal your thoughts. Resisting for even a short while may save the lives of your comrades.”

  Everyone very quickly finds a partner. For most people it is the person they happen to be sitting next to. The few people who sit on their own like me pair up much quicker than normal and the last person who isn’t paired walks over to the teacher rather than to me.

  “I’m not digging into that monster’s mind.” The girl tells Professor Hertz.

  “Esme, you will work with Misty and I will hear no complaints.” Professor Hertz tells her crossly. So the girl is called Esme? I made a point of forgetting my classmates’ names as best I could. I wish I could forget them entirely and not just their names.

  “I’d rather read a goblin’s mind.” The girl insists angrily.

  “That can be arranged.” Professor Hertz says and the girl takes a step back in shock.

  “Fine, but if I’m late for tomorrow’s lesson it’s because of the nightmares that girl is going to give me.”

  “Enough of your nonsense. If you are late you will be punished whatever ridiculous excuse you come up with.” Professor Hertz says crossly. The girl walks over to me and glares.

  “Misty, did you enjoy wetting yourself earlier?” She laughs. I just glare at her. “If I catch something from you, I swear I’ll beat you to within an inch of death, you filthy slave farm grunt.”

  “You don’t even know where I grew up, so don’t make assumptions.” I tell her.

  “Perhaps that’s what I’ll look for in your mind. It might make it worth touching a piece of filth like you.” She laughs.

  “You’re not going to get a single memory from my mind.” I tell her firmly.

  “That’s what you think.” She laughs and sits down beside me. Then she places her cold forehead against mine. I feel her mind invade mine but I put up my mental defences and easily resist her feeble attempts to steal my thoughts. Then I try to invade her mind. Her defences are just as strong as mine though, so I have no more luck than she does.