Alchemist Academy: Book 1 (2 page)

“Yes.” She plucked the ball from the bowl with a piece of cloth and dropped it into a bag. “What’s your last name, Allie?”

“How did you know my name?”

“I overheard Mr. Briggs calling you that. Last name?”

“It’s Norton. Why?”

Her eyes had widened a tad when I said my last name. “Just for my research.”

I glanced at Mr. Briggs sitting at his desk, wondering what kind of guest experiment this was, but he just sat there, smiling and looking forward.

Ms. Duval pointed to my desk. “You can go back to your seat now, Allie.” She waved off Bridget, the next person in line. “That’s all the time I have for experiments today. Perhaps another day we can finish up.”

No grand reveal? I frowned and watched the rest of the class take their seats.

“Thank you for participating. You have helped me more than you know.”

She pushed her cart toward the door. Her eyes met mine again and I looked away. They felt like they were looking deep within me. I stared at my desk and waited for the sound of clanking glass to stop before looking at the door again. I felt kind of ripped off, being left in the dark after so much buildup. I sighed and looked around to see if my fellow classmates were showing any signs of wonder.

After Ms. Duval had pushed the cart out the door, she walked back and stood next to Mr. Briggs. She brushed her gloved hand against the back of his neck, holding it there for a second before rushing out the door.

Mr. Briggs got up from behind his desk, looking around the room as the door closed behind Ms. Duval.

Tommy raised his hand.

“Yes, Tommy?”

“No offense, Mr. Briggs, but what the hell was that about?” Tommy asked.

Mr. Briggs shook his head. “Language, Tommy. Come on. What are you talking about? Now, if you can all get your American History books out, let’s continue with the Civil War on page eighty.”

Many in the class groaned and the room filled with the sounds of shuffling backpacks and books landing on wooden desks. I saw in their faces that they were already forgetting about the strange woman with a chemistry set and the stone rolling around in the glass bowl.

What had I made?

I wanted to ask Tommy’s question again, but the class appeared to have moved on and Mr. Briggs had begun to speak about General Lee. I pulled my history book out and shook off the strange encounter with Ms. Duval.

I wasn’t going to complain too much. I loved reading. I read history, fiction, fictional history, whatever I could get my hands on. Even at lunch I had a secret place away from the quad and the Dolls … away from everyone. It was located between the shop and art classes, where a tucked-away tree stood. I could spend most of my lunch reading under that tree. It was usually the highlight of my day.

The history book felt heavy in my hands and while I wanted to read, I couldn’t stop thinking about Spencer and what my stepmom was going to do when she found out her precious boy had gotten scared by our tiny sidecar accident. Ugh, it was his birthday as well.

“Get started on wrapping the rest of his gifts and then get out back to finish his decorations.” Janet flung her purse over her shoulder and held it tight. “His special cake is finally ready and I have to go to town and pick it up. You’d better not mess up a thing on his birthday, Allie. You have thirty minutes, and I expect everything to look perfect for him by the time I get back.” Her eyes narrowed and she sneered, waiting for a response.

“Yes, Janet,” I said.

Spencer had told her all about his brush with death. Tears had fallen as Janet soaked up his exaggerated tale. When he was finished, she took away all my books for a month and grounded me. She knew I liked books, but she also knew I loved to get out of the house and go to my place in the woods. Being grounded meant many more hours of enduring crappy comments and menial chores. Being stuck in a place I didn’t want to be and wasn’t wanted in was so much worse with no escape. The house would be my prison for the next month.

Janet pulled the back door open and looked at me. I never knew what my dad saw in her bone-thin body and pointy nose. She glared at me through her narrow glasses. It was going to be a long time before she forgot about me almost hurting her little man.

“And don’t think you’re getting a single piece of cake.” Janet chuckled. “From the looks of it, I’ll be doing you a favor.” She left through the back door, looking happy about her remark about my weight.

Another fat comment. I knew I wasn’t fat, but the words stung because she wanted them to. Anyone compared to Janet would be morbidly obese.

Every year I thought my dad would leave these people. We had no real ties to them. Spencer was his stepson. Who knew what guy had spawned that thing. With my dad gone for so long, Janet and Spencer had begun to feel like my family. It’d been ten years since the last time I’d seen my mom, and with each passing year, the memories of her faded, no matter how much I tried to grasp them. They continued to fall between my fingers.

My heart pounded as I thought about my dad dancing with my mom in our old kitchen. I had grabbed at their legs and joined in. I couldn’t remember why we’d been dancing, but they had seemed so happy that night. That was the last night I had seen my mom.

I walked to the kitchen table, and the presents sitting there brought me back to the present. I had gifts to wrap.

The first gift was a new video game of some sort; I didn’t really pay attention. Then, the trading cards Spencer loved to collect. I stuffed some paper over them and plopped them on the pile. Next I pulled out an iPad. The white box gleamed and the Apple logo shone as I ran a finger over it. I had asked for this gift, laughing, knowing I would never get it, or any present for that matter. To give it to Spencer felt like another punishment. I would’ve read books and used it for learning, while he’d just download games and muck it up with Cheetos residue.

I opened the box and slid out the iPad. It shook in my hands as I thought about Spencer throwing it around carelessly. Janet knew he wouldn’t care about this gift as much as I would. She knew I wanted it, but she was giving it to him, and even worse, making me wrap it for him. I could hear her stupid laugh in my head and I felt rage building inside me.

The screen cracked.

I gasped and looked down at it, bringing it close to my face in disbelief. It couldn’t have been me. I hadn’t pressed hard, not hard enough for cracks to spread over the whole screen. I stared at it and wiped the fingerprints off the screen like I was cleaning up a crime scene. I knew I had broken it and I knew it was my anger again. I must have some uncontrollable muscle spasms when I got mad, I figured. This time I hadn’t even gotten that mad. It must be getting worse.

I glanced around the kitchen and stuffed the iPad back in the box, making sure to seal it back in place. With any luck, Janet would blame the broken glass on shipping.

With the gifts wrapped, I went to the back yard.

A couple of white folding tables had been placed on the grass. A few bags lay on them, full of Spencer’s decorations. The backyard wasn’t very big, but it had a white privacy fence around the perimeter, plenty of space to hang the decorations.

I rummaged through the bags and was pulling out the tablecloths as I heard my neighbor start up a lawnmower. I sighed and realized I’d be dealing with that noise the whole time. The air started filling with dust and bits of grass as that unseen person pushed the mower through the grass. I saw the top of his head move past the fence, brown hair bobbing over the white pickets. Mrs. Crabtree had probably gotten herself another landscape boy.

I turned back to the decorations, a
Star Wars
theme this year. I shrugged and draped the cloth over the table. I pretended I was setting up another kid’s party. Maybe the nice girl down the street, who was about Spencer’s age. She’d appreciate these decorations.

Lawn Boy was doing another pass near the fence when the lawnmower sputtered and died. He glanced at me before he disappeared behind the fence but in that split second I caught his eyes and part of his face and wondered what the rest of him looked like. Oh, well, let him figure out that mower and I could get these decorations up.

Next, the streamers. The vinyl fence seemed as good a place as any other. I pulled out pieces of tape and stuck them on my lip. I unwound the streamer and yanked a strip off my lip.

“Ouch!” It had ripped some skin off my lip and I tasted blood in my mouth. “Son of a—”

“You okay?”

I fell backward and landed on my ass.

“Oh my God, you’re bleeding.” Brown Hair leaped over the fence and landed on the grass next to me.

He was gorgeous, and I stammered for words. I touched my lip and looked at the blood on my finger.

He reached down, took my hand and pulled me to my feet.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Mark, your neighbor.”

“No, you’re not. Mrs. Crabtree lives there.”

“Not anymore. My mom just bought the house.”

“I didn’t know she was selling it.”

“My mom has a way of convincing people.” He laughed, and his bright smile made my stomach warm. He looked down at our hands, still entwined. I let go of his and he smiled again. “You have a first aid kit in the house?” Mark looked behind me.

I sucked on my bottom lip and felt the damage with my tongue. It didn’t feel too bad, and the salty, metallic flavor was already dissipating. Could you bandage a lip? Besides, I didn’t know this guy. I wasn’t about to go inviting him into my house.

“I’m fine.”

“You sure? Let me take a look.”

His hand touched the side of my face and I jerked back. I didn’t like being touched, even if it was some hot guy with his hands on me. “Sorry,” I said. “I just need to get these decorations up.”

“Well, let me help you. Decorations can be dangerous, you know?”

I stared at him, trying to use my best psycho detector. He was about my age. His clothes were stylish. Clean shoes. Most importantly, his eyes had some sorrow in them … even if he tried to mask it with his perfect smile. I couldn’t tell if he was being honest with me, but he didn’t seem dangerous.

He chuckled. “I only came over here because I heard a yelp.”

“I didn’t yelp.” My hands went to my hips.

“Call it what you like. It sounded like a yelp to me. Like a puppy calling for its mom.”

“My mom’s dead.”

Well, that happened. I couldn’t spend one minute in a normal conversation before ruining it. He’d probably leap back over the fence.

His expression blanked out for a second and then he looked hurt. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I lost my dad a long time ago.”

A fellow half-orphan. I wondered if he’d gotten the fairy tale evil step-parent to boot.

The subject needed to be changed away from my mom. “I don’t think you’re a psycho.” The words tumbled out of my mouth and I felt even dumber.

He ran his hand through his hair and smiled. “You never know. I could change on you at any moment.”

“Just so you know, I know kung fu.”

“Ooh. I’d better be on my best behavior, then.”

I grinned and felt something deep in my gut. I wanted to keep the banter going, but I took out my phone and looked at the time. Crap, I had ten minutes to get all the decorations up. The chatting would have to wait.

“Get those streamers up on the fence,” I commanded.

“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m Allie, by the way.”

“Pleasure.” He bowed, then went about putting up the streamers.

I busied myself with setting up the tables and organizing Spencer’s presents. And every chance I got, I watched Mark. His fit body showed through his thin t-shirt and I wondered what
he might look like with that shirt off.

The thought of it shocked me. Not the image I conjured up, but my actually thinking it and conjuring it. I had to stop watching him.

We finished with a few minutes to spare. I’d have to go to my hideout soon. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the celebration of Spencer’s birth. “Thanks, Mark.”

“No problem. It’s kind of fun setting up a kid’s party.”

“Not if you knew the kid.”

“I don’t have a sibling, but I’d be happy to help out with their birthday.”

I didn’t want to explain my crappy situation. I’d probably already given him enough reasons to
be wary of me with the whole “my mom’s dead” thing. I didn’t need to pile my home problems on top of it.

“He’s my stepbrother,” I said with disdain. I hoped it didn’t come off as too bitchy, but I couldn’t help it.

He nodded. “My mom never remarried.”

“Well, thanks for your help. But I’d better get going….”

“How does a guy go about getting an invite to a party like this? With all these decorations we put up, I bet it’s going to be a smash.”

He wasn’t making it easy. I might as well scare him off. It wasn’t like he’d be interested in me anyway. “I’m not invited to the party, so I can’t really invite you. I have to stay away until it’s over.”

He raised an eyebrow, probably waiting for me to say I was joking.
God, I wish I was
, I thought. His expression changed to a question as he realized I wasn’t.

“If they aren’t expecting you to be here, then they won’t know you’re missing.”

“Missing?” I did know some kung fu, and stepped sideways in a defensive stance.

He laughed. “You aren’t the trusting type, are you? I meant we should ditch this party together. It’s my first day in Summerford. Maybe you can show me around?” He raised his hands. “I promise, I’m not some psycho. I just find you interesting. I think it’d be cool to get to know you better, seeing as we’re neighbors now.”

My face flushed. I turned away.

“Mark?” a woman’s voice called. I knew that voice and turned back around.

“Over here, Mom.”

A familiar stern face peered over the fence. “Oh, you found a friend already?”

“Mom, this is Allie.”

Her eyes narrowed and I wondered if she recognized me from school.

“Hi, Ms. Duval,” I said. “We met at school today.”

Mark’s eyes went wide. He stared at his mom. After a few seconds, I wondered if I should say something more.

Her gaze passed over him and landed on me. “Oh, yes,” she said, and smiled. “Allie, nice to see you again.”

“I can’t believe you.” Mark stepped closer to his mom.

“It’s time to get back home. I will not have foot-tall grass growing around a house I own, and you’ve got a lot of unpacking to do.”

“Just a minute. And I only have one bag, Mom.”

“Mark,
now
.”

He took a deep breath and turned to me. “Sorry, Allie. We’ll have to postpone that date.” Then he leaned in close and whispered, “I’ll meet you at the side of your house in thirty minutes.” Winking, he darted to the fence.

Date? Meet him in thirty minutes, and he was hiding it from his mom? I hated being part of anybody’s lies, but I felt trapped.

“Alright … nice meeting you,” I offered lamely.