“You are. And you’re wasting time. We don’t have long at all in here.”
Alyx stared at the both of them. “Then…how can you help?”
“We have a present!” said Balthazar, looking very pleased with himself.
“It’s not a present,” said Vix.
“It is.”
“It is not. We can’t just give it to her, she has to earn it. I don’t know what kind of presents you hellions give, but on Earth we give ours with no strings attached. So it’s not a present.”
Hellions? Earth? Alyx’s head spun. Who were these two?
Balthazar sniffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, someone’s not getting a birthday present if she’s going to be such a brat.”
Vix ignored him. “Alyx, if you can solve this riddle, you’ll get a gift that will help you on your journey.”
“See, you just said ‘gift’!” interjected Balthazar. “It is a present.”
“What’s the riddle?” Alyx said quickly before the two could launch into another round of bickering.
Vix cleared her throat. “There’s a city called Urielos on the edge of the cliffs. In the harbor of Urielos, there is a large boat. Coming off of the boat is a ladder reaching down so that the bottom rung is just above the surface of the water. As the tide comes in, the water rises one foot every thirty minutes and continues like this for three hours. If the rungs are each one foot apart, how many rungs are underwater when the tide stops rising?”
Alyx frowned in concentration. It was just a simple math problem. One foot per thirty minutes for three hours is six feet. The rungs were one foot apart, which meant it would have risen six rungs. She opened her mouth… But something made her pause.
It felt too easy.
It felt…like a trick.
Coming off of the boat is a ladder…
That’s because it was.
“That’s a trick question,” she said. “When the tide stops rising no rungs are underwater. The ladder is attached to a boat that rises with the tide, therefore, the bottom rung will stay just above the surface of the water.”
Balthazar elbowed Vix. “I told you she’d get it. Oh ye of little faith.”
Vix glared at him. “What are you talking about? You’re the one who said to the Elder that we should give her a simple math calculation for her to ‘earn’ her magic.”
Balthazar had the sense to look indignant. “I did not. I merely said that a math calculation might be easier for you to remember. A riddle would be so easy for you to mess up.”
“But I didn’t, did I, oh ye of little faith?”
“Guys?” Alyx said.
Vix pulled a small glass orb from her pocket. “Don’t move.” She threw the orb near Alyx’s feet and it smashed against the flooring. A thick bronze smoke floated and shimmered towards her from the crash site like a snake.
“What the hell is that?” Alyx yelped as she flinched away from it. The smoke continued to waft towards her as she tried to evade it.
“It’s Alchemist magic. Hold still or you’ll waste it,” Vix said.
Alyx gave the two another wary look. Should she trust them? They were friends with the Elder…
She forced herself to remain still as the smoke curled around her upper arm. It gleamed brightly before it sank in through her jacket. She felt a flash of pain on her skin like someone had branded her and she gasped. “What was that?”
“Look for yourself,” Vix said.
Alyx sheathed her sword and shrugged off one arm of her jacket. There on her upper arm was a bronze mark in the outline of a circle with several x’s patterned across it. “A tattoo?”
“A bloodink tattoo, actually,” Vix said. “It’ll allow you to use magic without having intrinsic magic. This one is an Alchemist bloodink tattoo.”
“Usually mortals wouldn’t be allowed to use bloodink but seeing as you used to be—” Balthazar stopped suddenly as Vix elbowed him in the ribs. His eyes widened. “I, um…”
“You were about to say something.” Alyx took a step closer. Seeing as you used to be…
“Was I? I can’t remember. Mustn’t have been important, then.”
“Balthazar, what did I used to be?”
Vix gasped, staring at her translucent hands. “We’re already starting to fade.” She looked up. “I’m sorry, Alyx, but we don’t have time for that question.”
“But—”
“Alchemist allows you to change simple molecule substances into others. Iron into gold. Water into wine, that sort of thing.”
“How?” The panic rose in her as the two of them started to look opaque. She could see the bushes and leaves behind them. She heard Israel calling her name from below. She would have to ignore him for now.
“Grab the leg of that chair there.” Vix pointed beside Alyx.
Alyx grabbed the cold steel. “And?”
“Draw the magic inside yourself and think about what you want to change the steel into.”
“You should be able to remember how to use it,” Balthazar said.
Remember? She couldn’t even remember how to hold a sword properly, let alone use magic to change steel into gold. “I can’t.”
“You can do it, Alyx,” urged Vix.
Vix looked so confident, even in her ghostly state. Alyx took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt her body lighten, like the very air she was breathing was filling up her insides with a warm substance that was lighter than air. A warmth drew through her and she could taste metal on her tongue. Behind her eyes the black dissipated into a brilliant flare of gold.
She opened her eyes to see in her hand a glimmering chair leg. She had turned steel into gold.
“Balthazar. Vix. I did it.” She whipped her head towards them. But they had already disappeared.
* * *
Alyx climbed down a tree to the ground floor, her feet landing softly in a cluster of ferns at the bottom.
Israel was already waiting for her, pacing, his hair a mess like he’d been running his hands through it. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling for you!”
“Two friends of the Elder’s just appeared in front of me on the way down. Vix and Balthazar.”
“Balthazar!”
“You know him?”
Israel nodded. “He was one of the two guys who pushed me into your coma. What did they want?”
“To help. Look.” Alyx explained what happened and showed him her tattoo.
“So you can change steel into gold?”
“Or into silver or glass or any of those simple substances.”
“With magic?” He frowned. “That’s just…unbelievable.”
“I can show you.” She grabbed something shiny off the ground. It was an old metal protractor, probably a student’s. She inhaled and let the magic swirl inside her again, all while commanding it to reform as glass. She felt the warmth rushing through her veins again. Israel made a noise and she knew she’d done it. She opened her eyes and the protractor in her hand was now made of a thin glass.
She grinned, a bubbly feeling in her belly, and tapped Israel’s chin to close his mouth.
He shook himself and took the glass protractor from her, turning it over in his hands. “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know. I just…did. It felt as natural as breathing.”
He nodded. “That’s how I feel about fighting. If you can remember how to use magic then you can remember how to fight.”
She hoped so. “We should grab the globe and get out of here.”
“Yeah, about that…” His eyebrows furrowed. “I have bad news about the globe.”
“What bad news?”
“It’s not the right one.”
Chapter Eight
“Are you sure it’s not the right one?” Alyx asked as she and Israel made their way through the forest within the ground floor classroom. She was too aware of Israel’s presence behind her. She could hear where he stepped, where he slid past leaves, she could almost hear him br
eathing; it caused the hairs on her neck to stand on end.
“The globe was just an ordinary wooden one, laying there all smashed up. There was nothing special about it.”
Up ahead was a classroom door looking odd just sitting there among bushes, the wall surrounding it covered in moss and a thick, twisted vine.
They tumbled out the door into the empty hallway. Israel shut it behind them, ferns pressing against the opaque glass window set at face height. “You went to a weird school.”
“It wasn’t like this when I went here.” Alyx shook her head. “Now that I think about it, this place is wrong. The riddle talks about the stiff spines and arms fold’d. We thought that meant the students but there’re no students here now.”
“Stiff spines and arms fold’d…you know, they sound like they could be statues or something.”
Statues. Of course. “Israel, you’re a genius.”
He grinned. “Why, thank you.” He pursed his lips. “Why exactly am I a genius?”
“I think you’re right. They are statues. Old statues, like statues in a museum.”
His eyes lit up. “In a place of memories old, of distant lands and lessons told… It fits a museum.”
“And the Saint Joseph Museum just got a new addition to their Ancient Greek collection…a statue of Atlas holding—”
“A globe!”
She nodded, excitement bubbling up through her. “It’s only just been unveiled. Let’s go.” She hurried down the corridor.
“That’s the museum you work at?” Israel asked, keeping pace with her.
“Yes. I’m the assistant curator of the Ancient European History collection.”
“Sounds like a pretty cool gig.”
She shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m basically a glorified personal assistant. My boss is an ass. When I did my studies I dreamed I would be managing my own collection.”
“Why don’t you apply for a better job, then?”
“…I did.”
“And?”
“I got the job.”
“But?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“The museum isn’t far from here,” she said, the front door appearing up ahead when they turned the corner.
“Alyx,” Israel said. “What about the job?”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Nope.”
She sighed. “I can’t take the job.”
“Why not?”
What would he say if she told him the truth? What would he think of her? “It’s out of town. I’d have to move,” she finished lamely.
“I see,” he said, nodding.
“You see what?” Did he? Was she really that transparent?
“It’s scary going after what you want. If it’s something you care about, then it’d hurt if it doesn’t work out.”
She tasted bitterness on the back of her tongue. She wasn’t scared. That’s not why she wasn’t doing it.
“You should do it, Alyx. Take that job. Get out of Saint Joseph.”
She didn’t answer. She grabbed the door handle and pulled. Israel’s palm slammed against the door stopping it from moving. “What are you doing?” Her stomach jumbled.
“What are you scared of?”
“I’m not scared.”
“No, you’re not. Of everything we’ve faced in here already, I’ve barely seen an ounce of fear or hesitancy in you.” His eyes bore into hers as if he was trying to see right into the very depths of her. “So why are you so afraid out there?”
The backs of her eyes prickled but a sear of anger burned those tears away before they could escape. “Life is cruel, Israel. Without any warning, it will take things from you, people from you, and you can’t imagine the loss… It’s better to stay safe. Stay small. Then when life rips them away from you, it won’t hurt so much.”
He said nothing. He just looked back at her, no anger in his face, no judgement. He just…saw her. Saw everything she was trying so desperately to hide. Being this naked was painful.
“We have to go.” She pulled at the heavy front door and this time he let her go. She stepped out into the blazing summer sunshine, her eyes taking a second to adjust. She blamed that light for causing them to water, wiping them only when Israel had turned his back to lock the door.
When they slipped out through the gates of Saint Catherine’s School, she paused for just a second, staring at the buildings through the iron bars. The school didn’t seem as dark as before.
Alyx was silent as she led Israel along the quiet streets towards the museum, trying to ignore all the questions that were trying to surface. Was Israel right? Was she scared?
“Alyx…”
“You never told me about your parents,” she interrupted. She didn’t want to talk about herself anymore.
At first she thought that Israel might not let her change the subject. But then he began to speak. “My mother is tiny, smaller than you, but what she lacks in height she makes up for in ferocity. She’s a tough woman, raising a son all by herself, but she loved me in her own way.”
“By herself?”
“My father died when I was very young. I never got to know him. My mother said he was a brave man. That he died in battle but…”
Alyx remained silent, too surprised to speak. He lost his father? She didn’t know.
He continued, “I tried to find him once, but there was no record of him ever existing. I wish… I wish I had something of his. A photo, a memory, a story…anything.” His voice was light, almost casual, but there was nothing casual about what he was saying. “If I was given a choice to have some years with my father, even if I’d still have to lose him, I would choose that. Every time.”
Alyx felt like she had been slapped. She couldn’t think of anything to say back, his words just tumbling over and over in her mind. She turned the corner and it took her a few steps to realize that she had led them into a dead end. She had led them to a dead end. She felt something in her crack. She turned, her head spinning, and bumped into Israel right behind her. She stumbled. He caught her, his hands around her upper arms firm yet gentle, waves of heat running up and down her limbs.
She thought he might stay like that, holding her. But he dropped his arms and she missed his touch.
His voice was soft when he said, “Your time with your parents…just because it didn’t last forever, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it.”
His words soaked into her body like raindrops into sand. She turned away from him, unable to think of what to say in response, and almost tripped over a huge sunflower growing up out of the cracks in the sidewalk, unfurling its leaves and raising its head to face her before opening its petals out.
“Did you see that?” she asked. “The sunflower? That grew so fast.” She brushed her fingers on the petals and felt her heart tug. “They’re my favorite flowers. They used to be my mother’s favorite too. We had them growing in our backyard. We used to collect the seeds. She taught me to carry a pocketful of them with me wherever I went. And wherever a spot of happiness was needed, I would plant one of the seeds.” It had been a long, long time since she had carried a pocket full of seeds.
Why had the sunflower grown here? What did this mean? Was this a message? From…her mother?
Don’t be stupid. Your mother’s not sending messages.
Alyx shoved all these thoughts aside. “Let’s go. It’s already summer.”
“The museum is just round this corner.”
Israel followed Alyx, then almost bumped into her when she halted suddenly.
“What’s wrong?” But he didn’t need an answer. He stared up at the Saint Joseph Museum and his mouth dropped open. It was as if someone had slashed two halves of two separate buildings and stuck them together, the invisible seam running at a slant. One half, Israel guessed to be the museum, an imposing sandy-brick building of arches and steep slate roofs. The other half was a giant stone castle, turrets a
nd towers reaching to the sky like long gray fingers, a lonely blue flag flying from the tip of one.
“What the hell is that building?” Israel asked.
“That one,” Alyx pointed to the right, “is the museum. The other…I have no idea.”
“Let’s go inside. But be careful.”
Israel walked up the grand stone staircase that went up to the front entrance, craning his neck up at the tall arches and decorative pillars soaring up at least three stories. This would have to be one of the grandest buildings in Saint Joseph.
And Alyx worked here. Even if she didn’t think so, she was an impressive woman, her potential shining from her like a halo. A woman who’d never go for a failure like you.
“You okay?” Alyx stood at the door, looking at him from over her shoulder.
He shook himself and forced a smile. “Fine.”
Before he could tell her to wait she disappeared inside. He jogged up to the door, glanced around once to make sure they weren’t being followed, and slipped inside.
He halted with a start. He was standing in a closed courtyard, the stone walls around him giving off a distinct chill to the air that smelled of damp hay. Across the courtyard, internal buildings faced him, their windows like black eyes.
This was not the museum.
And Alyx was nowhere to be seen.
The door slammed shut behind him. He spun and grabbed at the handle but it wouldn’t budge. He swallowing down a sticky feeling. The door didn’t matter right now. He had to find Alyx. He turned and took a step farther into the courtyard. There was a flash of movement across an open doorway.
“Alyx?”
His voice, echoing in the space, just made him feel the silence more. His right hand hovered near his sword as he walked under an arch and into one of the rooms where he had seen the shadow moving.
He stood just inside the doorway, glancing around. It was an office, a heavy wooden bookcase stretching across one wall filled with books and what looked like glass trinkets, an oak desk and chair standing on a plain faded red rug. There was a sizeable upright gilded mirror directly opposite the doorway. He must have seen something moving in the reflection of the mirror. But there was nobody in here. Could the movement have been a trick of the light?
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