Alchemist Apprentice (The Alchemist Book 1)

by Dan Michaelson

  “Wait. I could at some point in the future?”

  “Well, eventually, but you have to be a higher-level student, or you have to be an instructor.” He started to laugh. “Seeing as how you or I are neither, we just have to focus on the books that they have already told us are important for the tests.” He rested his hands on the book on angulation and held his hands in front of him. He was glowing softly, but nothing else had shifted from him. “I feel like I’m close to understanding something.”

  “I don’t think the way you’re holding your hands makes a difference,” Sam said.

  James looked over. “Well, then why did you show me how you do it?”

  Sam shrugged. “I don’t know that it makes a difference how I do it, either.” He forced a smile. “It’s one thing to know the theory behind it and quite another to be able to do it. But everything else I’ve read tells me that your hand position shouldn’t make a difference.”

  “It shouldn’t, but this has always been the way that I managed to make it work.” He looked up, holding Sam’s gaze. “That’s how I got into the Academy, after all. I just did what worked for me. I thought…” He shrugged. “You wouldn’t understand. Everything has been so natural for you.”

  “You don’t think I would understand it not working?”

  “Not from what I’ve seen from you so far,” James said. He turned his attention back to the book.

  Sam leaned back on the bench. He could recite the book that James was working on but wasn’t about to tell his friend that. And everything he had seen in the books on angulation had made it clear that hand position was not the key. It was more a matter of how the power was drawn through the Arcane Arts user, and from there, the power could be controlled.

  But using, controlling it were so different for him. He simply didn’t understand anything else with it. And he felt as if he were somehow missing something. He wasn’t sure what it was, nor did he know how he was missing it, only that there was an aspect of what he’d been reading that didn’t seem complete.

  Angulation wasn’t his only concern, though. Sam knew what he had learned from mathematics and chemistry and botany, topics that were fairly straightforward, if not for how they were expected to be tied into the Arcane Arts. Thankfully, those topics had been separated from the Arcane Arts at first. They were simply learning the basics. Given that Sam had continued to read beyond the basics, he felt as if he should be able to handle that easily enough. If they asked him to demonstrate how to duplicate his Arcane Arts using the compounding features of the mathematical structures that he’d been learning, Sam might have a harder time with that, much like he would have a harder time demonstrating the uses of different reagents and expanding upon the Arcane Arts. That, though, did fit more with what he had been reading about alchemy. The theoretical application of alchemy Havash had been teaching them had not shown him any of those things.

  As he was sitting there, he saw Mia making her way through the garden.

  There was nobody else around her.

  Sam got to his feet, and he nodded to James. “Be right back.”

  James just nodded, keeping his attention on the book.

  Sam hurried around one of the shrubs and then poked his head out as Mia approached. “Mia,” he hissed.

  She stiffened, clutching her blue striped robe around her, and then turned to look at the shrub before stepping through it.

  “Sam?” Her pale eyes widened. “There you are. I’m sorry that I haven’t come to you before now. I—”

  “I understand. I didn’t want you to. Once they learned that I was from the Barlands, I didn’t really fit in. I hope you didn’t tell them where you were from.”

  “I told them I was from Vinson.” Mia looked away as she said it, ashamed.

  “That’s good. Vinson is far enough away that not too many people come from there,” Sam said. But it was also a traditional part of Olway and one that they had talked about before. “How are things going for you? I know we have the exams coming up, and there is a chance that I won’t be able to keep going after. If I’m kicked out of the Academy…”

  “It’s going great, actually,” Mia said. “Finally I can use this when I want to.” She held her hand in front of her, closing her eyes for a moment, and a pale white began to build around her. Sam had always seen it when she was using her power before, but now he truly saw that white glowing from her.

  “That’s amazing, Mia.”

  “Isn’t it? I don’t like all of the subjects they have us learning about. I don’t really understand mathematics, and the chemistry component isn’t as useful for me, but I’ve been told by some of my other tower mates that it will make sense over time.” She shrugged. “What are you going to do?”

  “Well, I’m still trying to do what Havash asked of me,” he said, keeping his voice low. He didn’t see anyone else around him, but he felt as if he had to be careful here. He didn’t want anyone to realize that Mia was with him. “I don’t know if I’m going to find that, either. When I don’t, I expect that he’s going to ensure that I’m expelled. You have to work as hard as you can so that you don’t get—”

  “Miana?”

  It was a boy’s voice, and it came from where the other students were.

  Mia turned away from him. “I’m over here. I’ll be right there.” She leaned close to him. “You don’t have to worry about me, Sam. I think I’ll be okay.”

  She started to say something else when another person called out her name.

  She grinned at him before turning away and racing to join the others.

  Miana. Her going by her full name even sounded as if she could be from Vinson.

  That was for the best.

  Sam lingered for a moment, before finally stepping out and around the shrubs. He had done this all for his sister, but why did it now feel strange? He had wanted to help her. It was the entire reason that he had come out here, after all.

  She seemed to be thriving, though. As he stepped forward, he saw her with a group of ten other first-year students from her tower. They were all talking, laughing, and Mia was smiling. She fit in.

  Sam started back toward the bench, intending to tell James that he was going back to the library when he heard a familiar laugh.

  Gresham.

  “See? You can’t hold it quite right. You have to push outward, then twist it, and only once you do will the pattern solidify. I don’t understand how you can’t see how easy it is.”

  Sam stepped forward until he could see where Gresham stood with several others behind him. There was another student, this one with a yellow striped robe, standing across from Gresham. He was older by the looks of him, with a faint scruff of beard that he hadn’t shaved, and he was clutching a book.

  “I think I know how to make this pattern just fine,” the other person said. “Besides. You can’t counter this.”

  The other young man held his hands pointed toward the ground, and streaks of crisscrossing white flowed from his fingertips and began to coalesce in front of him.

  As soon as they did, Gresham reacted, countering. He worked to insert additional lines of power in between what the other man was doing. For a moment, the lines crashed together, and then they flickered rightly before both were tossed back a step.

  “You shouldn’t get too close,” James said, grabbing him by the arm.

  Sam looked over to him. “What are they doing?”

  “It’s called Shitunable. It’s an older game. Only the older students can get away with it. If we were to try it, they would punish us for using Arcane Arts without adequate control, but once you reach the third year, you’re assumed to have the necessary control. My parents said that they think the instructors even encourage it, without necessarily saying so, if you know what I mean. I don’t want to be seen as if they approved the use of the Arcane Arts against another.”

  As Sam continued to watch, it became clear that Gresham was far more skilled at his pattern creation. Most of the time, he wa
s able to neutralize what the other person did without any difficulty.

  “What’s the purpose of it?” Sam asked.

  “Mostly bragging rights,” James said. He shook his head. “But some people get injured. You just have to be careful.”

  “Careful with using patterns?”

  “Watch,” James said.

  Another person stepped forward. This was a tolath student that Sam recognized, with jet black hair, olive-colored skin, and an athletic build. He stood across from Gresham. As he did, he quickly formed a complicated pattern that looked like a series of zigzag lines.

  “Now watch,” James whispered.

  As he did, he noticed that Gresham had given the other person a chance to fully build his pattern, and then he began to insert various bursts of power in between.

  When he did, Sam recognized it. It was one of the angulation tenets. It was a fairly advanced one, which he shouldn’t be surprised by, having known that Gresham was considered a skilled student.

  “He’s using Porthor’s premise,” Sam whispered.

  James looked over at him. “What?”

  “The way that Gresham is attacking. He’s using Porthor’s premise. It’s not that complicated.”

  “What are you getting on about?”

  Sam was about to say something more, but as Gresham continued to lance power into the other tolath pattern, it exploded, sending the tolath student staggering back onto his backside.

  His jaw clenched for a moment, but his friends grabbed him, helping him to his feet, consoling him with a hint of a laugh.

  “I don’t think it would’ve been hard for him to have countered that,” Sam said, thinking through what he knew of the various tenets of angulation. It wouldn’t have been straightforward, necessarily, but countering someone trying to use Porthor’s premise was merely a matter of plugging holes. It was little more than serving as a plumber, nothing else.

  “Are you saying that you think that you could counter a fourth-year student?”

  “I’m just saying that—”

  “What was that?” Gresham said, looking up at Sam.

  Sam hadn’t realized how close he and James had been.

  “Nothing,” Sam muttered.

  “No. It sounds like we have an arrogant little Barlands boy here who thinks that he can handle one of his betters.”

  “I don’t think that I can,” Sam said, shaking his head.

  “Go ahead. Give me your best shot.”

  Sam tried to back away, but a crowded form behind him, and he couldn’t.

  James had slipped back, and though Sam would’ve liked to have someone with him, maybe it was better for James to have gotten away without drawing any additional notice.

  “If you know how to plug the holes, as you say, go ahead and show me.”

  “I’m not saying that I can—”

  Power suddenly built from Gresham, faster than Sam could react.

  It struck him, tossing him back, and he landed, staring up at the cloudy sky.

  It had been too quick.

  Gresham had power. Sam did not.

  Sam started to get up, and he could hear the sound of laughter all around him.

  “So much for the knowledge of one from the Barlands.”

  “Picking on somebody outside of your class?”

  Sam blinked. His vision had gone to flashing stars, brightness surging around him, making it difficult for him to make out much of anything. He recognized the voice, though.

  It was Tara.

  “Step back, Stone. You never want to play.”

  “And you like to pick on people who can’t defend themselves. Sort of like that first-year girl I saw you with the other day.”

  Sam managed to sit up and saw Tara with her hands stretched out in front of her. Gresham glowered at her. A hint of power began to build from him. It happened slowly, but then with a surge, Sam knew exactly what was going to happen.

  “Watch out!”

  Tarin didn’t even turn.

  She countered.

  It happened with a rapid series of crackles that snapped through the air, and it seemed almost as if her use of the Arcane Arts swallowed what Gresham had done. And then it collapsed before expanding back outward, catching Gresham in the chest and tossing him back.

  He laid there for a moment.

  Tara looked down at him. “You should know better than to try and test your betters.”

  She spun, not even looking down at Sam as she stomped back to the Academy.

  A nervous laughter filled the silence around them.

  Sam hurriedly got to his feet, and he looked around, but didn’t see James. He did see Mia looking over at him, though. Was it worry in her eyes?

  No. It looked more like irritation.

  She looked over at Gresham, and it seemed to Sam that she was wanting to go over to him.

  He hurried back to the Academy, wanting to catch up to Tara, to thank her for intervening, and hurried into their tower. He caught a glimpse of her heading up the stairs, but as he rounded the first landing, there was no sign of her. She wasn’t up the stairs, though.

  He froze.

  Had she simply disappeared?

  That would be a use of the Arcane Arts that he had never even considered, and he had a hard time thinking that she could simply vanish like that, but maybe there was some way that he didn’t even know about.

  Or…

  This was an old building. Impossibly old, Sam knew.

  And old buildings had secrets. Including passageways.

  Sam took a seat on the stairs and decided to wait.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sam still hadn’t seen Tara come out of what he suspected was some hidden passageway, and he had been forced to head up the stairs into the tower several times otherwise, he would have drawn the attention of others. He found himself pacing up and down the stairs, passing different people as he went, nodding to them, including James, who had frowned at him at one point but had been placated by Sam claiming that he was going down to the kitchen to get some food. He was tempted to go to Okun anyway, as he hadn’t eaten much, and his stomach was grumbling.

  It was getting late. Long past a time when Sam should have been in bed, especially if he wanted to be prepared for what he might encounter in his exams later on.

  But curiosity won out.

  He found himself sitting again on the stairs, waiting and wishing that he had something to read. When he started to hear the scraping of stone, he jumped to his feet, more surprised than anything else.

  A section of the wall opened in front of him.

  There was nothing to it other than a blank section of stone. But it slid apart, creating a narrow gap in the wall where Tara stepped out of. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw him. She finished stepping out, flicking her gaze up and then down the stairs, before turning to look at him.

  “What are you doing here?” Tara asked.

  Sam glanced behind her. He couldn’t see anything behind her but noticed that she clutched an arm full of books.

  “What is this?” he whispered.

  A flicker of emotion crossed her face before she finally breathed out in irritation. “Come on.” She turned again, and she tapped a section of the wall that he couldn’t quite see, caused it to slide away, creating a narrow opening again. She motioned for him to go inside, which he did. Once inside, the wall began to slide back. From this side, there was a more distinct steady grinding sound to it. Sam stood in place, not knowing what to do until Tara rested a hand on his arm.

  “We call this the Study Hall. Only a few students in this tower even know about it, though I’m pretty sure the instructors know.”

  “Who else knows?”

  “Not many. When I was shown it, I was to make sure to only reveal it to those truly worthy of the Study Hall.”

  Sam realized that wasn’t much of an answer.

  “I wouldn’t have shown you if you hadn’t been there,” she said. “But I imagine that you
would just spend more time searching for it anyway. It’s not as if it’s all that challenging find.”

  “It’s not?”

  “You just have to know the right sections of the wall to touch for it to open before you.” She motioned for him to follow. There was a faint light, and Sam realized the source of it came from lanterns on the other side of the wall where light drifted through narrow grates that he could scarcely see. “Besides, if you’re going to be skulking around in the Academy, you might as well do it in a way that lets you hide.”

  “I haven’t been skulking.”

  “You will be when you want to sneak off into the library.”

  “This goes to the library?”

  “The library. The kitchen. A few other places. Some of the classrooms have a connection to it, though for the most part, it’s limited. I think it was once far more extensive, but over time it ended up getting blocked off.”

  “Why would it have been blocked off?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t really know anything about who designed this in the first place.” She guided him along the hall, and it veered around a branch point, up some stairs, before she stopped again. She tapped on another section of the wall. There was another faint grinding before that faded again. “If anybody asks, I didn’t show you how to find this.” She turned back to him, and in the faint light that still flickered into the narrow hall, he was able to make out her features as little more than shadows. “But seeing as how I probably wouldn’t have stopped you from finding it anyway, I’m going to argue that you are the reason, and not that I showed you anything I wasn’t supposed to.”

  He looked past her. The library.

  “Do the librarians know?”

  “They know some of us have a way in, and for the most part, they overlook it. They don’t really care so long as we don’t keep any of the books any longer than we normally would be able to check them out for.”

  Sam started to smile to himself. Having access to the library when he wasn’t supposed to felt like a cheat.

  “Now, don’t you go sneaking in here every night and staying until first thing in the morning. If you get caught, there isn’t going to be any way to protect yourself.”