Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Keeper

The Code Breaker

Pethboc let go of Thea and set the walls of the vast entry room aglow with his red Protection Conversion.

Thea wheeled around, but there was nowhere for her to go. The red glow was trapping her in the entryway.

Thea warily turned around to watch the two men.

“Is the girl unharmed,” the Breaker said as Pethboc tried to check the other man’s wounded shoulder. The Breaker swatted Pethboc’s hand aside and said, “Check her first. There were Conversions flying everywhere. She could have easily been hit by something.”

Thea realized then that her neck felt wet. She reached up to the side of her neck and felt a sting as her hands touched something warm and moist. Her hand came away bloody, and Thea couldn’t help but wince.

“See? I insist you heal her first,” the Breaker said to Pethboc.

Pethboc obliged and turned to focus on Thea. “Let’s have a look, then,” he said, but Thea took a step back.

“Why would you bother healing me?” Thea couldn’t help but ask.

“Be reasonable now,” Pethboc said patiently. He held up his hand and waited for Thea to come forward. She could see that he was bleeding too. Outside, something hit the window, and it shattered in a loud burst of red light.

“Not until you heal Dušan,” Thea said as she crossed her arms.

Pethboc sighed and pulled the tiny caprequos out of his pocket. The little Chimaera was barely breathing, Thea could tell even from this distance. Pethboc pulled a tiny knife out of a pocket and pricked the Chimaera gently. Then he used the blood to coat his special healing ring, pulled out a vial of clear liquid, which he poured into his hand and finally, he pressed the ring to Dušan’s side and said the Word to heal him. Thea walked up to Pethboc and let him touch her neck with his ring. “Confervo,” he said, and Thea felt a tingle as the cut closed.

“Let me have Dušan,” Thea demanded, holding her hand out.

Pethboc raised his eyebrows at the Breaker, who shrugged with a wave of his hand. Then he winced and reached for the arrow that was buried in his shoulder. Pethboc gave Dušan to Thea without a thought, and then he jumped to the aid of the Code Breaker

Thea gently held Dušan in one hand, C.C. in the other, and put her hands together so the two Chimaeras were side by side. C.C. and Thea both watched Dušan sleep. He seemed to be breathing easier now. Thea hoped he and Tajana would be okay.

I think you saved him just in time, Thea, C.C. told her. Well done!

Thanks, Thea replied silently.

“I’ll have to push the arrow the rest of the way through,” Pethboc told the Breaker as he pulled a black stone from one of his pockets.

“No stultify stones,” the Breaker insisted. “I can’t be drugged up now.”

“If you insist. Brace yourself,” Pethboc said, and he waved his hands in a flourish. He used his Kundalini to break the arrow shaft off. He tossed aside the end of the arrow and then he pushed the rest of the arrow all the way through the Breaker’s shoulder; the Breaker grunted and bit back a curse. After quickly pressing his healing ring to the cut, Pethboc said, “Confervo.”

“Let me see that,” the Breaker said as he rolled his shoulder and winced. Pethboc handed over the arrow. “Just as I thought. Poison,” he said.

“I’ll extract it,” Pethboc said, pulling a lump of clay from a pocket. He helped the Breaker take his suit jacket off and unbutton his white shirt, which was bloody and tattered in one shoulder. Then he drew a Conversion Circle with the clay, over the place where the arrow had pierced him. Finally, he took a knife and scraped off what he could of the poison from the arrowhead. With the poison on his fingertip, he said, “Separo,” and the clay seemed to melt into the Breaker’s skin; drops of greenish blood appeared on the Breaker’s shoulder, and Pethboc swiped the green ooze away.

“That should do it.” The Breaker brushed Pethboc aside and gave Thea his attention. “Allie, I’m truly sorry for the circumstances of our meeting.” He waved his hands in the air to indicate the hectic situation. As if on cue, another blast from outside made the walls flare red. “Alas, there was nothing I could do, but I’m sorry all the same. I do hope you can come to forgive me, with time.”

“Forgive you?” Thea blurted out. “You kidnapped me and my friends. My Mentor is dead because of you!” Thea’s head spun with anger. “I should kill you, not forgive you!” she yelled, taking a step closer, but with the tiny Chimaeras in her hands, she only stood there, feeling close to tears.

The Breaker gave Pethboc a stern glare. “What happened, Ruis?”

“I erected a Shield around the library to hold them in, and the kids attacked it with a shelf from the bookcase,” Pethboc said with a sigh. “The blast mortally wounded Todd Alder.”

“Alder?” the Breaker replied. “Thomas must be furious with you.”

“Yes, he is,” Pethboc responded. “Trust me when I say that I am truly sorry for what happened,” Pethboc said, turning to Thea. “We never intended for anyone to lose their lives.”

Thea sniffed as a tear fell down her cheek. She glared at them. “He’s still dead though, and it’s your fault.”

“Surely you cannot blame me for that,” the Breaker put in with mock outrage. “I was trapped in an Eternity Prison when it happened.”

Thea turned away. “What are you going to do with me?”

“We don’t intend to do anything with you,” the Breaker said. “We only wish to talk to you.”

Don’t listen to them, Thea, C.C. warned.

Thea responded to C.C. with the mental equivalent of rolling her eyes.

“How long have you been studying at Blackthorn and Burtree?” the Breaker asked.

Thea glared at the floor, refusing to answer.

“Her Trial was three days ago,” Pethboc offered finally.

“By now you must have noticed something strange,” the Breaker said.

Thea looked up at the handsome man, but she wouldn’t let herself respond.

“You’re special, and you know it,” the Breaker said with a smile. “There have no doubt been some signs that the Keeper doesn’t look at you as he would a normal Chemist. Some sort of favoritism. Exceptions to the rules, or extra attention, by any chance?”

Thea tried not to show a reaction to the man’s words, but she couldn’t help but think about the birthday present the Keeper gave her. And Todd said her Reading should have happened with all the other Hopefuls in front of all the Chandlers who didn’t have Mentors yet, but the Keeper had Read her Chakras in secret, in his own Private Chambers, right after she arrived at Blackthorn, almost as though he knew when Thea would arrive.

Her parents had even allowed Thea to create a Chimaera when Initiums weren’t allowed to have them, and then they told her that the Keeper would make an exception for Thea. Then most of all, Thea had been trapped on the ranch by the Keeper’s White Walls. Her whole life, the Keeper had been protecting her, and now, here was the Code Breaker, seemingly aware of it all. Thea desperately wanted to know what made her so special, but she refused to believe that the Code Breaker would tell her the truth, even if he knew.

The Breaker’s eyes flicked down to C.C. and he smiled. “You have a Chimaera. Surely by now you’ve learned that Chemists need to wait until their Joint Trials to create Chimaeras?”

Thea set her jaw and refused to answer.

“Your birthday is July seventh,” the Code Breaker went on.

Thea’s jaw dropped. How did this stranger know that?

The Code Breaker smiled. “How long ago was that?”

“Four days ago,” Pethboc offered.

“And you’ve already started your training,” the Breaker said. “That was either impeccable timing, or more favoritism.”

Thea looked away and jutted her jaw out.

The Breaker let out a gentle chuckle. “Come now, surely you can admit that something is going on here.”

Thea glared at the Breaker. “Even if I do admit it, that doesn’t mean I want any answers from you!”

The Breaker grimaced, and Thea realized she had truly hurt the man with her cold words.

“Thea used a Secret Circle to Shapeshift into the form of her Chimaera,” Ruis Pethboc said, rather excitedly. “I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Then it did work,” the Breaker said, his face splitting into a triumphant grin. “I knew it would!”

“What worked?” Thea blurted out.

The Code Breaker took a step forward and brought his voice down to a near whisper, just as another blast hit the Protection Conversion. “My girl, you are special in that you can perform any Conversion without the use of a Conversion Circle or Code Word.”

Thea raised her eyebrows in mock shock. “No I can’t…” She tried to deny it, but she couldn’t help but wonder how the Code Breaker knew that about her. The realization made her heart jolt in her chest.

“I promise you, it’s true,” the Code Breaker insisted. “Try it. I challenge you to do something remarkable, something you don’t even know how to do, or even something simple, but without a Circle.”

Thea shook her head. “You’re lying!”

“What use would it do to lie?” the Code Breaker asked, feigning shock.

“I don’t know, it’s just what the Code Breaker does. He lies, right Professor Ruis?!” Thea glared at Pethboc. “I want to go now. Let me out.” When neither man made a move to oblige, Thea yelled, “Now!” and a tiny flash of dark power surrounded her body.

“Thea, if you really want to get out, why don’t you simply remove the Protection Conversion yourself?” Ruis Pethboc held his hands up.

Thea stood glaring at the two men, unsure what to do. C.C.? I don’t know what to do, she finally admitted.

Calm down, for starters, C.C. scolded. And for Heaven’s sake, stop listening to them. They are only trying to manipulate you.

But they’re right, Thea admitted. It’s true.

So it’s true that you’re special. Does it mean anything coming from these men? C.C. seemed wary underneath her sure-of-herself mental tone of voice.

My dad told me not to tell anyone, but the Breaker already knows about me and my natural ability, Thea replied, a tear glistening on her eyelash. She blinked the tear away. The Keeper said my dad made him swear not to tell me why I’m special. If the Code Breaker will tell me why I’m a natural at Alchemy, it could mean that I can trust this stranger more than I can trust my own parents! What if the Keeper and my parents didn’t tell me for a reason? What if they are the ones manipulating me? You remember the purple scroll, don’t you?

C.C. stayed quiet.

“Allie, my girl, we have surely done plenty to break our trust with you,” the Breaker said finally. “I’m only asking you to try this one silly little thing, to prove to yourself whether or not we are lying to you. It’s your choice, of course. However long you would like to continue living this oblivious little life of yours, it’s up to you.”

Thea walked away then, because she couldn’t look at the Breaker anymore. She started pacing the entryway, while outside, the fight still raged on. Every second she spent in here, refusing to listen to these men, was another second out there where her friends and family were fighting—and maybe even dying—for her. That thought was enough to stop her in her tracks.

Thea looked down at C.C.

Her Chimaera stared back at her with her round owl eyes. Thea … Please stop and think before you do this.

I did think, and I’m done wasting time while everyone keeps fighting to rescue me. Thea closed her eyes and imagined C.C. growing bigger. She inhaled and exhaled and activated her Kundalini with a mental spark.

Out of thin air, a coiled vine grew and wrapped around Thea’s wrist. Then the tiny Chimaera stared back at Thea as she started to grow until she was so big, Thea had to kneel and put her on the floor. The Chimaera continued to grow until she was the size of a proper horse, and Thea turned to look at Pethboc and the Breaker.

“Without the Component too?” the Breaker asked, breathless with excitement.

“No, Mage, she Conjured a vine on her wrist,” Pethboc said.

“See, my girl, didn’t I tell you?” the Breaker said, stepping forward triumphantly. “Do you believe me now?”

“How did you know that about me?” Thea demanded, unable to resist the urge to ask.

“Let’s just say I’ve always known this about you,” the Breaker answered cryptically, “And when you’re ready, I’ll be here to explain it all to you.”

“I’m here now, and I’m ready for you to tell me,” Thea said.

The Breaker looked back at Thea, and the air hung heavy between them as Thea stared him down.

Finally, the Breaker smiled. “You almost had me there. But it’s not time yet. I suppose I should have said, I’ll be here to tell you why when the time is right.”

Then Pethboc stepped forward, held his hand out to Thea, and said, “Praesum.”

Thea! Your Kundalini! C.C. cried, and all too late, Thea remembered that she was vulnerable with her Kundalini outside of her body. In the blink of an eye, Thea found herself unable to do or say anything. A sickening sensation came over her as she realized she was no longer in control of her own actions.