Forbidden Alchemy (Elemental Book 7)

by Rain Oxford

  It was so simple with a twin bed, tan walls, a computer desk, a closet, and a window with a flowerbed. I wasn’t the kid who covered my wall in posters or played video games; I was the kid who went on adventures with my vampire best friend. Before that, I was quiet and awkward, preferring books over talking to people. Post-Astrid, I was traumatized. I had to grow up almost overnight at eleven years old because my mother needed a caregiver for the rest of her life. And it was my fault.

  At least, that’s what I had thought for so many years, until I learned that it was actually John’s fault.

  The room was so vivid that I felt the wood grain as I ran my hands across the headboard of my bed. I knocked on the wall, half expecting Astrid to knock back because it was all in my mind. She didn’t.

  Then, without breaking the vision, I reached out for particular minds. I didn’t just contact them, though; I brought them into my head. This required tremendous focus and tranquility of mind, as Hunt taught me; perfect control over my constructed vision, as Vincent taught me; and my intuition to guide me. Emerson had been able to induce a shared vision, but it was vulnerable to Veronica. Mine was in my own head, and thanks to the amulet, she couldn’t access it.

  My chosen siblings appeared in my childhood bedroom. Jason, Jamie, and Emerson were confused. Ahz didn’t care, because a paintbrush appeared in his hand and he started painting on the walls without even looking at me. Tazmyn, Ashton, Sophia, and Tristan assumed this was just like their previous visions in the Tower of Babel. Johannes sat on my bed, as if he knew this was a safe place and we would be a while. Trusting his intuition, I relaxed a little.

  “Where are we?” Emerson asked.

  “In my mind. I can protect it from Veronica, so we won’t be overheard. We’re here to make a plan to defeat her.” In truth, it probably would have been a good idea to include other siblings, but I didn’t trust them. Even the ones I hadn’t talked to could be under Veronica’s thumb.

  “But she can read our minds when we get out,” Tristan said.

  “I’ve got a plan for that as well,” I said. I held out my hand to Ashton. “Nice to meet you. I’m Devon.”

  He shook my hand. “Ashton. I’m not sure what I’m doing here.”

  “I got Edith’s diary. In it, it sounds like you were onto Veronica’s scheme.”

  “Are you…” He glanced around at all of us before continuing. “Are you my brother?”

  “I am. We’re all siblings,” I said, gesturing to everyone in the room. “Veronica is as well.”

  “I wasn’t crazy then?” I shook my head and he nodded, looking at each of us as if he was trying to convince himself that we were real. “There’re more of us. I saw you guys and others.”

  “I saw others in my dreams,” Sophia added quietly.

  “You’re the only ones I know we can trust. Some of us are on Veronica’s side.”

  “You trust me?” Jamie asked.

  “Jason would never agree to help her, and that means she’s a threat to him. You would never help someone who would hurt Jason. You helped Krechea and Vitalis, but only because they didn’t threaten Jason. I think you learned your lesson, anyway. So, yes, I trust you.”

  Jamie gave me a hesitant nod, silently telling me I could trust him, and Jason smiled brightly.

  “How are we going to stop Veronica?” Emerson asked.

  “That’s what we’re here to figure out. We all have different experiences and aspects of the same magic. We all grew up in the human world with little knowledge of paranormals, unlike her. You probably have more experience than the rest of us. However, all of us can use our magic and our experience to come up with a plan she can’t stop.”

  Sophia, Tristan, and Ashton frowned, clearly not believing me.

  “She isn’t as invincible as she thinks she is,” Johannes said. “She thrives on chaos. She wants to rule the world, but she’s not going about it the safe way. She’s a thrill-seeker without the fear of actually losing. We don’t have to do anything; the balance will catch up to her eventually.”

  “How many people will she kill in the meantime?” Ashton asked.

  “Thousands if you’re counting humans and paranormals,” Emerson answered.

  “Why is he here?” Jamie asked, pointing to Ahz. “He can’t help anyone.”

  “Asgard has more power than we could ever achieve, and he didn’t get it from John,” Johannes argued. “We’re just failing to utilize it.”

  “He’s not even paying attention,” Jamie said.

  “I think he’s constantly paying attention to everything,” I said. “We just get lost in a sea of stimulus. Nevertheless, my intuition tells me that he needs to be here. Now, let’s get started. What do we know about her?”

  “She’s at the wizard council and she has a baby,” Ashton volunteered.

  That was the exact kind of information we needed, except I already knew that. “Good. What else?” I asked, because I didn’t want to discourage anyone. They fell silent. “Think of everything she has said to you. For example, she can control people, she can give someone a command, and she can read minds, but she can’t see the future or past and she doesn’t have the intuition. She can also block our intuition.”

  “No, she can’t,” Johannes said. “Well, let me rephrase that. Her power doesn’t automatically block it. She can block yours because she got your blood.”

  “When?”

  “I’m not a past-reader. I just know she did.”

  “We can pool our magic and create visions of what would happen if we attacked,” Emerson suggested. “We can learn what will and won’t work, plus if she has any weaknesses, maybe we can foresee them.”

  “That’s a great idea.” So we did, and I let Emerson lead it because I was busy keeping our virtual world together. For an added measure, I summoned my staff, which was strange because I was only summoning it in my mind. The kids decided that we should all go in together and fight Veronica.

  We ended up facing off against the council members and our own siblings who were working for her. No matter how well we worked together, there were too many of them, and we were trying to fight without hurting them. We were greatly outnumbered. Ahz, not surprisingly, wasn’t even there.

  Then there was a bright flash of light and I pulled us back into the bedroom.

  “What the hell was that?” Emerson asked.

  “I think it was game over for us.”

  “I agree,” Johannes said.

  “Let’s try it again with a few more players.” We “returned” to the council, this time with Ace’s pack and Darwin’s pack. We were no longer outnumbered, but the wolves were brutal and many people died on both sides. Again, there was a flash of light.

  “Okay. Let’s try a more subtle approach.”

  “Don’t bother,” Johannes said.

  “There are too many of us to be subtle,” Ashton agreed.

  “What about a distraction?” Sophia asked.

  “Like what?” Jason asked.

  Sophia shrugged.

  “We need to catch her off guard, first and foremost. We need to separate her from her supporters and the council without killing any of them. She may have more people on her side, but we’ll win because we’re fighting for the same goal and they’re being lied to or controlled. All warfare is based on deception. When we’re strong, we must appear weak; when we advance, we must appear still; when we’re close, we must appear far away.”

  “I don’t want to fight,” Tristan said. “Isn’t there another way I can help?”

  “Of course,” I said. “You’re helping us by not helping her.” The truth was, I wasn’t going to let them fight anyway. They were kids. Their ideas were helpful, but I wouldn’t let them risk their young lives. I was hoping we would come up with a perfect way to fight her without the kids getting involved.

  “I don’t want to fight, either,” Jason said.

  Jamie scowled at him.

  “You’re both too young,” I said, earning a
death glare from Jamie. I preferred his anger on me rather than his brother.

  “This isn’t working,” Johannes cut in. “My intuition is telling me we have the right idea, but we’re missing someone.”

  “Does anyone know another sibling who would be on our side?” I asked.

  Johannes shook his head. “That’s not it. We need someone else… but not one of us.”

  “We have an uncle,” I said.

  “Yes! That’s it.”

  “I don’t know. He doesn’t like to get involved with his brother or us.”

  “I don’t trust him,” Jamie said.

  “I don’t, either,” Jason agreed. “He makes me feel like we’ve done something wrong.”

  “He talks about us instead of to us,” Jamie said.

  “He is very secretive,” I admitted. “He also taught me to control my visions. I’ve been in his head; he has his own interests at heart, but he doesn’t want to hurt us or anyone else. Although he hated what John did, I don’t think he actually hated John.”

  “That doesn’t make us trust him,” Jason said.

  “I do. At least, I do more than I did before. Vincent is suspicious by nature, but he wants to see the good in people. I prefer that to someone who only sees the bad in everyone.”

  “Since this really affects all of us, should we vote on it?” Emerson asked.

  “I don’t know anything about him,” Ashton said.

  “I didn’t even know we had an uncle,” Tazmyn said. “I’ll go with whatever Devon thinks is right.”

  “Devon knows him, so I agree,” Sophia said.

  “Raise your hand if you’re against it,” I said. Only Jamie raised his and Jason’s hands. “That’s settled, then.” I expanded my mind for Vincent’s. I felt his mental wall and pushed through it as gently as I could. I was met with resistance, not from distrust but discomfort.

  “It’s me,” I said in his mind. I wasn’t surprised he didn’t recognize me at first because I usually respected his boundaries.

  He relaxed, which I appreciated. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Many things. We need your input, but I need to bring you into my vision so that we won’t be overheard. Are you okay with that?”

  I felt his reservations, but he only said, “Do it.”

  I pulled him into the mental room. “Thank you for joining us,” I said. “We’re coming up with a plan to defeat Veronica. These are my siblings— the ones who aren’t working for her. She can’t overhear us in here.”

  “She has John’s powers?”

  “Yes, along with the ability to give someone an order to be carried out later so that she doesn’t have to focus on it.”

  “What plans do you have to work with so far?”

  “She’s a damn powerful witch, clearly, but her real advantage is that she can control people, so anything we have can be used against us. That means we need to get the council and her supporters away from her so that I can be alone with her, and we need to have as few people as possible, but not too few.”

  “That is a conundrum. Will she let herself be separated?”

  “She wants an opponent; she wants my focus on her. Plus, it can be exhausting to constantly control people and be in their heads, and it requires concentration. Trust me; I make it look easier than it is. If I can keep her focus on me, she shouldn’t be able to control anyone.”

  “What about her supporters and the council? I get the feeling they will be opposed to being separated.”

  “The council is being controlled, so I don’t think they’ll be much of a problem. Some members of the old council have sided with her because she’s given them the spiel about how wizards are superior and if they follow her, all of their racist dreams would come true. Veronica was extremely good to the siblings who sided with her, so they’re going to be the real challenge.”

  “I see. Alright, I’m going to approach this as if she were my brother and help you to come up with a plan. However, I will not participate in the application of the plan because I’m going to protect your mother.”

  “Good. That’s the best place in the world for you to be.” So we settled down for some serious planning and spent the next few hours running ideas through visions. It was time to fight fire with water.

  When we finally had a solid plan, I thanked them all for coming and then explained to them that I had to prevent Veronica from reading their minds the instant they returned to the real world. Ahz and I were the only ones excluded. Some of them were reluctant, but they all agreed it was necessary. I erased their memories of the entire time in my head, including the plan itself.

  Chapter 27

  I found Henry in his room, which was no surprise. Rita was in Henry’s bed, and Ahz was asleep on the floor next to Scott. Once again, Henry was in his chair, drawing Rita as she slept.

  Henry gestured for me to enter. “I have a plan,” I said quietly.

  Henry nodded without speaking and continued drawing soft lines. He was always somewhat of a contradiction. He was so aloof when I met him, whereas his jaguar was almost insanely violent. Amelia had helped even him out, but it was when I saw his memories of Zoe that I realized that he was always on edge. He never relaxed.

  I’d seen him draw around Addison and Scott, but I hadn’t seen true peace on his face since he was with Zoe.

  Until now.

  And I hated that I had to burst his bubble. “I need you to use the shadow pass and my new amulet. There’s a chance Veronica will be able to read my mind, but I’m hoping she’ll be asleep and not paying much attention.”

  “What do I need to do?” he asked, closing his sketchbook.

  “It’ll be dangerous.”

  “You wouldn’t ask me to do it if it wasn’t.”

  That made me sound like an asshole, but he didn’t see it that way. I wouldn’t ask him to do it if I could do it myself, and I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. “I need you to take a hex bag and my amulet, and use the shadow pass to find and save Ashton. He was working for Veronica, but when he realized what she was really doing, he rebelled and she put him under. Can you find him with the shadow pass?”

  “I should be able to.”

  “Good. Save him, and after that, gather all of my siblings that are working for Veronica. I’ll get you some blankets and sleeping potions.”

  Henry nodded and stood. “Should I draw the protective spell on them?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think you’ll have time. Cover them up and get them through as soon as possible.” I hated putting kids in danger, but the longer it took, the more likely it was that something would go wrong. “Take one at a time. Most importantly, though, be careful. She can’t read your mind or control you with that on, but she is still a powerful witch.”

  “I have demon magic.”

  “I can’t risk telling you the plan, either.”

  He didn’t bat an eye. “Of course not. You’ll tell me what I need to know when I need to know it.”

  Darwin trusted me right away when we met. Henry took a lot more convincing, but that made Henry’s trust all the more meaningful. He would tell me if he disagreed with me, but he would follow my plan without hearing it.

  “Show me all of the children that you want me to save and I will take them directly to the infirmary.”

  “Good.” I connected with his mind and showed him what they looked like. I also went to Dr. Martin to get the potions and let him know that he was going to get new patients.

  “How long do you need them to last?”

  “A couple of days would be great.”

  “And who is going to care for them during these days?”

  “Just keep them asleep, alive, and here.”

  “I let my patients get kidnapped one time and no one trusts me ever again!”

  When he had the potions ready, I gave them and the amulet to Henry. Realizing it would take him a few hours, I returned to my room to get a little sleep, because the hours-long planning session wore
me out hard and I needed to be ready for anything the next day.

  Remington was already in my bed, asleep. I got into bed next to her and pulled her into my arms. A few minutes later, Remy flung the blankets away and pressed her cold nose against my neck. When I didn’t protest, she settled her feet against mine.

  “Jesus Christ, woman. Do you put ice in your socks?”

  “Got to keep my toes warm somehow,” she said, still half asleep.

  I decided that if we ever actually got around to moving in together, I would have to get some kind of bed-warmer.

  * * *

  Friday, December 9

  I woke to Darwin knocking. The fact that I could recognize his knocking was irritating. As was his knocking.

  “We need a third bedroom to hide out in,” Remy groused.

  “Or a door that won’t make a sound no matter how hard someone pounds on it.”

  She propped herself up on her elbows. “That’s a great idea. I can do that.”

  “Maybe soundproof your room while you’re at it,” Darwin yelled. “We can all hear you get fleshy together.”

  “I’m going to kill Darwin,” she said, kissing my chest.

  “Wait until after we stop Veronica.” I got up and reached for the blanket to drape over her, but she had followed me out of bed and started to dress.

  “You have a plan to stop her?” I nodded. “Do I have a part?”

  I stopped dressing and turned to her. Even though she continued dressing and didn’t look at me, I knew she was giving me her undivided attention. She wanted to help, but she also knew the risks. I had to tread carefully or we would both get hurt.

  “If there is any chance on Earth that you’re pregnant, and there’s a good chance you are, you have the most important job that you’ll ever have in your life.”

  “I have to protect him.”

  I nodded. “I know you want nothing more than to fight beside me, and I would never try to stop you under any other circumstances, but I can’t fight her with you and possibly our child on the line. Veronica would be able to get into my head.”

  Remy nodded, took my hand, and looked at me. “I know. I’ll stay behind, just this once, but if you get yourself killed, I will never forgive you.” She dropped my hand. “But I can’t stand around and do nothing. Even if it’s from a distance, I want to help.”