Alchemist Academy: Book 4 Read online

  Alchemist Academy

  Book Four

  Matt Ryan

  Contents

  Untitled

  Untitled

  Untitled

  Other Books By Matt Ryan:

  Also by Matt Ryan

  Upcoming titles by Matt Ryan

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Untitled

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Untitled

  Book 4

  Copyright © 2017 by Matt Ryan

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products

  of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual

  events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in

  any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the

  publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For information on new releases or if you

  want to chat with me, you can find me at:

  www.facebook.com/authormattryan

  or www.authormattryan.com

  Cover: Regina Wamba

  www.maeidesign.com

  Editor: Victoria Schmitz | Crimson Tide Editorial

  Formatting: Inkstain Interior Book Designing

  www.inkstainformatting.com

  Also by Matt Ryan

  The Preston Six Series:

  Rise of the six

  Call of the Six

  Fall of the Six

  Break of the Six

  Fury of the Six

  End of the Six

  Alchemist Academy Series:

  Alchemist Academy: Book 1

  Alchemist Academy: Book 2

  Alchemist Academy: Book 3

  Alchemist Academy: Book 4

  Upcoming titles by Matt Ryan

  Warship Independence:

  Warship Independence: Void Invasion Series(Sept - Oct 2017)

  Independence Lost: Void Invasion Series(Sept – Oct 2017)

  Avarice Online

  Avarice Online: The 7 Realms Series: Litrpg Adventure Book 1(Sept – Oct 2017

  Avarice Online: The 7 Realms Series: Litrpg Adventure Book 2(Oct – Nov 2017)

  Survive This! Fame Fortune and The Apocalypse Book 1(2018)

  Chapter One

  The anger raged in me as I floated in the white void. I screamed at the nothingness surrounding me. My mother had said I’d be gone in a blink of an eye, but look at me—stuck in an endless abyss, with only my thoughts to keep me company.

  I’d never had so much hate.

  Using what I had at my disposal, I frequently tried to use my anger to break through the suspended animation stone’s clutches, as I had with Quinn’s, but this one wouldn’t budge. After a while, I grew weary and just let go. The problem was, I couldn’t sit, walk, or run, as there was nothing to do such things with. So, I just floated like a marionette whose puppet master had gone home for the night.

  My chin quivered. I wanted to cry, but I fought it back. Why? I don’t know. No one was around to see me break down, but I didn’t want to cry.

  “Mark?” I called out in a weak voice, then straightened up and yelled for him, again and again.

  I wanted to hear his voice. Panic built as I thought of being alone and trapped in this white world. Would I lose my mind as Blaine had?

  A deep guilt swept over me. Why had I given the stone to my mother? She had turned into a monster under the power of the philosopher’s stone. I knew this to be true because the stone had shown me the future, but I hadn’t wanted to believe it at the time.

  There was a hope though. A prophecy about a powerful little girl—not of this world—who would challenge Cathy. The stone showed me her and a group of six.

  But if Cathy was defeated, who would free me from this prison?

  The room felt heavier, as if the air had weight to it. I struggled to breathe, even though I knew everything was a construct of my mind. All I wanted to do was see Mark again, see my friends. Cathy said she wouldn’t hurt them, and I believed her. But she never said I’d see them again, which was what worried me.

  “Mark!” A tear streaked down my face as I screamed. Silence followed. If he was in here with me, maybe I’d have a chance of making it through this.

  With nothing changing, and no sleep cycles, it was hard to tell how much time had passed.

  I’d been in a state of mental rest for God knows how long. My brain went into hibernation from time to time, as a way to protect myself from going crazy. But this time, my awakening to full consciousness was marked by a significant change in environment. The white nothingness, usually stagnant, seemed to be moving like it was liquid.

  The whiteness began to discolor to off-white, then gradually shift toward gray. After an unmarked time, it all raced by me, like I was moving at a great speed. I wasn’t sure what was happening. All I could do was cling to myself, and watch as the world shifted in color.

  Then the soft grays swirled and mixed with the white, but it continued to get darker and darker, until everything that was once white was now black. I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face; I wanted to scream. And maybe I did, but any sounds I made didn’t seem like they were coming from anywhere but my head. With my heart pounding, I clawed at the darkness. This was so much worse.

  Then a small crack of white formed in the distance. A light running down, like a zipper through the middle of the blackness. The open seam grew as it unzipped around me. I floated toward the light as it got wider and wider. Spinning around, I looked at the blackness behind me, then headed toward the light.

  I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I was ready for a change. I watched as the final bits of the white light destroyed the last of the blackness.

  Then I fell.

  Gravity returned and it sucked the air from me as I scrambled for something to hold onto, but there was nothing to stop me from falling. Then I landed on my back on a soft surface. My head rested on a pillow.

  I squinted at the bright light above me and moved my hand over my face to shield it. That’s when I noticed the fan blades spinning, and the sounds . . . there were actual sounds, not just the ones conjured in my head.

  I sat upright and saw I was in my old room. Not the academy’s, or the house I shared with Jackie at my mom’s, but my actual room. In the house where I’d spent most of my childhood years with Karen and my stepbrother; my old poster of an Irish castle in a green grassy field still taped to my wall.

  Could I be conjuring this with my mind? Was this a coping mechanism for the panic that consumed me? If it was, I could make this work.

  Then I saw Jackie across the room, standing in the corner, watching me with tear-filled eyes. “Allie, are you in there?” she whispered.

  “Jackie?” I questioned.

  A show of relief washed over her face and she rushed to me, gathering me in a hug. I pushed her back, looking at her face. She looked older, more like a woman now, more mature.

  Then Mark’s voice caught my attention. “Allie,” he said. I turned to
see him get up from the floor next to my bed.

  “Mark!” I leapt off the bed and into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist as we hugged and kissed.

  “Is this real?” Mark whispered, pulling his head back enough to search my face.

  “If it isn’t, it’s better than the alternative, right?”

  “I’ll take it.” He smiled. “I can’t believe I’m seeing you again. I thought I’d be stuck in that world forever.”

  “Me too.”

  My bedroom door busted open with Bridget storming in, and Carly on her heels. In the hall were Kylie, Wes, and David, all staring at us somewhat shocked, but with big smiles. Some had tears, and they all rushed into the room.

  They had aged. David and Wes looked like full-grown men now. David even had the makings of a small beard developing. But Bridget had changed the most. Not just in her clothes, but her face. The fierceness wasn’t there—she looked worn down. Then her face lit up as we made eye contact, reminding me of the Bridget I grew up with. She was still in there, somewhere.

  I dropped my legs to the floor and stood next to Mark, grabbing his hand. I didn’t want to lose our physical connection just yet.

  “Sorry,” Bridget said. “For some reason, Jackie thought you should be alone when you awoke.” She glanced at Jackie, then rolled her eyes.

  “I’m just so happy to have you back,” Carly said.

  David, Wes, Carly, and Kylie all rushed up to us, creating a crowded area. Then they were hugging us. I felt a few kisses on my forehead and it was all a bit overwhelming. I had just seen these people a few days ago.

  I swallowed and barely wanted to ask the question, but I knew I had to. “How long have we been gone for?”

  They backed away, pity spreading over their faces. They all looked to Jackie. Jackie walked over and grabbed my free hand, holding it in both of hers. Which was strange, but not as strange as the tears in her eyes that continued to fall. My anxiety grew the longer she didn’t answer my question.

  “Allie, Mark,” Jackie addressed us both, collecting herself before continuing. “You’ve been gone for a little over four years now.”

  That wasn’t possible. I stumbled back, letting go of their hands. “What? But I was only in there for a few days.”

  “Four years?” Marks said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

  “I’m sorry,” Jackie said. “We tried so hard to find you. It took us way too long, and I’m so sorry. We searched the world over. Concentrating on your mom’s compounds, and questioning the people around her. So many stones were created and used in the pursuit of finding you. Wes, Bridget, and Carly even went undercover, did your mom’s bidding, all the while trying to find you. But none of that matters now, because in the end, we got you back. Look at you two, you’re so beautiful. You haven’t aged a day. It only felt like hours in there?”

  “I thought it was a few days at most, maybe a week?” My thoughts trailed off. Four years. What’d happened in that time? They went undercover and searched the world for four years? I could see it in all their faces, they’d gone to hell and back for us, and the weight of it crushed me. I didn’t want them to suffer, and because I made that stone, they all had.

  I felt the bandages on my hand and remembered like it was just moments ago that my mom used a stone on me and Mark. My hand still hurt.

  “My mom, what’s she been doing?”

  “Cathy’s gone off the deep end, feeding the philosopher’s stone with soul stones to gain strength. She’s done terrible things, Allie. Terrible, terrible things. I’m so sorry.”

  “I’ve done unmentionable things for her,” Bridget said, looking at the floor.

  “We all have in some way,” Carly added. “This is her world now, for the most part. But for some reason, we’ve all been spared.”

  “I made her promise to not hurt you all. And I know it might be hard to believe, but it’s not her who’s terrible, it’s the stone. It’s making her do these things,” I said and sighed. If I wanted to be truthful, it was a mixture of both. But the moment the stone had passed through my hand, I’d felt the greed in it. It wanted more to get to the next ascension, if there even was such a thing.

  “I don’t care what’s behind it. She needs to be stopped,” Bridget said.

  “I care. It’s my mother. She sent me away to hide me from all of this.” It was a sick justification of her actions, but I wanted to find some way to not condemn her. “How did you find me?”

  “We had help from a group—people your mom was hurting. They fought back with us and in the end, we got your stones. I don’t think your mom even knows we have you yet.”

  “Who helped you, other alchemists?”

  “No, they were . . . let’s just say they’re gone from the picture.”

  My mind raced with questions and I felt the weight of their stares on me. They had so much hope in their faces, as if they were expecting something from me. I wanted to sit down and hear everything that happened over the last four years, but I tried to put myself in their shoes. They had been searching for years, and now they had us. A victory for them. I wasn’t just their friend brought back to life, but a goal they had obviously spent an enormous amount of energy pursuing.

  “Why, of all the places, did you wake me up in my old house?” I asked.

  “We were worried you might have gone off the rails a bit.” Bridget twirled her finger next to her ear.

  Jackie nodded. “We thought if you had lost it, that familiar surroundings would possibly calm your crazy mind down.”

  “Wouldn’t this be the first place my mother would come looking for me?” I asked.

  Mark went to the window. “This doesn’t look like Summerville.”

  Walking over to the window, I saw a jungle with long, green trees, and lush foliage. Turning to face them, Jackie wore the look I’d seen many times, telling me she’d done something mischievous.

  “What’d you do, Jackie?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “We moved your house.”

  “The whole thing?”

  “Yes. Now, come on, there is more to show you, and someone you need to see,” she said.

  I closed my eyes, trying not to scream. “Can I have a moment alone with Mark?”

  “Um, sure,” Jackie said, then glared at Mark. “Don’t you go taking her away from us.”

  They all filed out of my room. I needed a moment to search his eyes and make sure he was truly okay. I felt okay, but I couldn’t help worrying about him. The group had gone, but Jackie hung out in the doorway.

  “Sorry, but I can’t let you out of my sight. Not just yet,” Jackie said. “Don’t worry about it, it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve watched you guys.”

  I faced Mark. “Was it only a few days for you as well?”

  “It felt like an eternity to me, but I’m not sure, I lost track of time in there.” Mark rubbed his head. There even seemed to be new creases near his eyes, as if he’d been sad for a long time.

  I reached for his hand and rubbed it with my thumb, waiting for him to make eye contact. “Are you okay, Mark? You can tell me anything. In fact, I need you to.”

  “I’m as fine as I can be. We’ve woken up in a new world, Allie. One where your mom isn’t the same person. And from the sounds of it, you still think you can save her. Haven’t you seen enough to know what she’s like? Do you really feel there’s a chance to save her? Or can we finally do what we’ve been wanting to do, and run away from it. We could leave this place. We can make the stones that keep us hidden from the world.”

  “We can’t abandon our friends.”

  He glanced up at Jackie, then moved closer, putting his hands on my shoulders. “It’s just, every time we get wrapped up in this, you get hurt.”

  “Last thing my mother said to me was that she wanted to protect me from what was coming.”

  “She wanted to protect you from her. Who knows what she’s turned into after four years of being unchecked. I doubt she resembles anything y
ou remember. If she’s using the human population for their souls, only to further her power, then we need to keep an alchemist like you as far away from her as we can.”

  I hated this. I’d spent most of my life thinking my mother was dead. Then we got back together, and it was so joyful and amazing. We shared a gift of alchemy. She’d given me that gift and now I’d created a stone that was getting in the way of everything being okay.

  I didn’t want to argue about it now, but I did feel it wasn’t my mother acting on these things alone; it was the philosopher’s stone influencing her. It was pouring poison into her from the center of her chest. I wanted my mother back, but I didn’t want to kill her in the process, and I sure as heck didn’t want to run from her for the rest of my life.

  I looked over to Jackie standing at the door, looking nauseated from our conversation. “Jackie, tell me you found a way to destroy the stone?”

  She pushed off the wall and walked toward me. “Let’s just say there’re a lot of people who want to get to know you,” Jackie said. “In fact, these people that want to meet you right now think you’re the only one in the world who can stop her.”

  Chapter Two

  We stood at the threshold of the home’s front door. “Karen’s not here, is she?” I whispered to Jackie.

  Jackie shook her head, then smiled. “Her and that little turd of a son are just fine though. I made sure to take care of them.”