Source Fire: A Young Adult Fantasy (Arcturus Academy Book 5) Read online

  “What work?” I followed, albeit slowly. Work didn’t sound near as nice as kissing.

  “Between the radioactivity and the orbs, we’re going to figure out where Nero is headed next very soon, and when we do there’ll be no time for coaching, let alone access to the forge. Now, move it.”

  “You want her to coach you?” Tomio sounded intrigued.

  Ryan’s laugh was dry and sarcastic. “No. I’m going to coach her.” His gaze cut to me and he crooked a finger. “Time to learn some alchemy.”

  I exchanged a wide-eyed look with Tomio, but before I could react further Ryan had vacated the cafeteria. I went after him.

  “Can I come?” Tomio called.

  When Ryan didn’t answer, Tomio added a short conversation with himself: “Why am I asking him? I don’t care what he thinks, I’m not missing this.”

  We fetched fireproof clothing, put it on, and met Ryan outside the CTH.

  The stale smell of neoprene in a room that hadn’t been aired in a while was strong in my nose. Evening light filtered in through the skylights, casting angular shadows on the mats. My mind cast briefly back to the mind-bending, surprise kiss Tomio and I had shared on these very mats not so long ago. I stole a glance at him. He appeared oblivious to my thoughts.

  When we crossed into the forge, I flicked the ventilation on and Tomio got the lights. The quiet but powerful industrial fans began to circulate the air and the stale smell dissipated.

  Ryan carried his bag over to one of the hafnium sinks and set it down. He began to remove items and line them up along the counter. “The way Arcturus teaches alchemy is slow and relatively safe, we don’t have time for that.”

  “That sounds ominous.” Tomio picked up a red bottle that looked like engine oil. “Redheat.” He shot Ryan a look of mild concern. “Diesel additive?”

  When he was finished setting out the items, Ryan disappeared inside the metals closet. Drawers opened and closed, then he emerged holding a jar containing a soft, silvery-white metal, a bowl with dull gray metallic chips in it (which I knew was boron), and a bottle containing a lump of bright blue copper chloride. I’d seen it among the academy’s stores but had never worked with it before. He set these items on the table along with the rest.

  “Vodka, potassium chloride, boron, calcium chloride,” Ryan listed off.

  I ran my eye over the items. “These are all dangerous. If they’re not downright explosive, then they’re caustic or unstable.”

  Ryan grinned. “Yes, and if Basil knew what I was about to show you, he’d have kittens, so this stays between us, at least until you’ve recovered.”

  Tomio’s head snapped up. “Until she, pardon?”

  Ryan leveled Tomio with a look and jacked a thumb at the door. “If I’m going to have trouble with you, lover-boy, then leave. Aside from Nero, Saxony is the most resilient Burned mage we know. She’ll be fine. She’s going to need alchemy in the near future, trust me.”

  Cockroaches of anxiety scuttled along my spine, but there was a hot thrum of excitement as well. “I’m ready.”

  Ryan sent Tomio a questioning look.

  Tomio put up both hands. “It’s fine, I’m just here to observe. I won’t interfere.”

  “This is what Nero taught you after you delivered the orb, isn’t it?” I could still see the way Nero and Ryan had exchanged colored fire across the lava of Vesuvius. It was a sight I’d never forget.

  “Yes. He couldn’t teach me everything because I’m not as strong as he is, but he gave me the principles and how to accelerate them, though you won’t have time to master it fully. That takes years. The faster you learn alchemy, the more danger there is. To you, I mean. You won’t feel great when you go to bed tonight, but you’ll recover. Can you trust me on that?”

  “I guess.” I understood that when I saw the assortment of compounds he’d assembled. If this was easy, everyone would do it, and I’d already seen something of what alchemy in rookie hands could do.

  “Good. Very quickly, it’s important for you to recognize the difference between alchemy and idle fire, since both come in rainbow hues.”

  “Adults don’t produce idles…” I paused, remembering the gorgeous deep-emerald flames Ryan had produced down at the beach, “…at least, not very often. And children certainly can’t do alchemy.”

  “Yes, but more than that, you can tell an idle from alchemy by its hue. They each come in orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, red and indigo, but alchemy is brighter.”

  “More artificial looking,” I guessed. “Almost neon?”

  “Yes, how did you know that? From Vesuvius?”

  “Before that. The intruder I chased before our first year started produced bright, sapphire flames I’d never seen before. It reeked of chemicals and ignited things superfast.”

  Ryan nodded. “Which brings me to the next difference: most alchemy has a smell, though not always, since there are other factors at play, such as environment. Also, an experienced mage can minimize the stench they give off.” He picked up the redheat diesel additive. “Let’s start here. Each of the alchemical colors will enhance your abilities in a different way. This additive contains nitromethane, which will increase your combustive abilities. I couldn’t find pure nitromethane, so you’ll have to absorb the blend and burn off what you don’t need.”

  My throat closed up and it took me a second to process what he was saying. “You want me to ingest that?”

  Tomio made a suppressed gargle in the back of his throat then fisted a hand into his teeth.

  Ryan ignored him. “Yes, but not through your mouth, through your skin. I’ll pour some into your palm. Hold it and raise your body temperature steadily until you’ve absorbed it all. The nitromethane has to penetrate to the core of you, where all that volcanic lining is hidden. When that lining cools, the additive will be part of you.”

  “Permanently?”

  Ryan nodded. “Permanently. This is what you’ll never learn here at the academy. They teach Unburned mages with a tiny drop of substance at a time. It’s less dangerous for the student, but the effects are weak and temporary. Only Burned magi are strong enough to do what you’re about to do.”

  “Have you done this for all the colors?”

  Ryan unscrewed the cap. “This isn’t about me, and you’re stalling. Hold out your hand.”

  I made a shallow cup with my palm and Ryan poured the oily substance. He set the bottle down and put his hands on my shoulders. Frog-marching me to a clear space in the forge directly beneath the ventilation, he said, “Don’t allow yourself to combust. Think about pulling in, not pushing out. And don’t raise your temperature too fast.”

  “That’s a lot to think about,” I muttered, stoking my fire to life and letting it wash around my body beneath my skin.

  But already I could feel what he meant. By channeling the energy of my fire into slow-moving turbines churning from my skin into my center, I could feel the chemicals sinking into my hand. A sizzling feeling began in my palm and crawled up my arm as I raised my temperature. A moment later, a whooshing sound filled my ears.

  “That’s it.” Ryan’s voice sounded like it was coming from the speakers of an old-fashioned radio.

  When the sizzle reached my shoulder, it rushed forward, filling my torso with a churning, acidic burn. It scorched its way up my throat. My mouth and esophagus felt swollen and it became hard to concentrate on keeping my temperature steady, as my breathing became labored.

  “Ryan—” I gasped, as his face blurred and refocused, blurred and refocused, like a vintage movie reel.

  “Don’t stop now.” His words buzzed in my ears like static.

  Nausea clenched at my stomach as the chemical poisoned me, soaking its way through my stony guts. My head began to pound and my muscles felt lethargic. I wanted to sit down. No, I wanted to lie down. Right now. I desperately needed to be horizontal.

  “Keep it up.” Ryan’s voice drifted into my ears. He sounded like a tiny wasp perched at the threshol
d of my ear canal.

  Tomio said something but I couldn’t understand him. Either he was too far away, or he was speaking Japanese, perhaps to himself.

  There came a change in my fire and flesh, a subtle shift of flexing coolness. The nausea began to ease. My vision slowly cleared and the thick feeling inside my mouth diminished. My heat faltered as my heart jumped. Was I finished?

  “Don’t stop now,” Ryan said, sounding clearer. “You’re almost done.”

  I increased the temperature of my body further and felt the quickening of something deep within. Something foreign but tolerable, the way bone heals around the screw for a dental implant. “Ryan,” I gasped, this time in a dizzy wonder.

  His voice was muzzy. “Did you feel it?”

  I nodded. Well, I’d felt something.

  “Feel what?” Tomio’s voice came from somewhere far away, rasping with exasperation and strain.

  “You can come down now. You’re past the point of no return,” Ryan murmured. “And I’m right here.”

  I let my temperature fall and my fire slow its circular, curling flow, wondering why Ryan thought I was worried that he was going to leave or be too far away.

  Then my knees buckled.

  Ryan caught me and lowered me to the neoprene mat. The world spun around the central axis of his face as a strong malaise rushed over me with a vengeance. Tomio’s concerned face appeared over Ryan’s shoulder, his eyes huge. I gagged and twisted against Ryan’s grip, turning over to vomit my pizza onto the forge’s floor.

  “What have you done to her?” Tomio hissed as I hung my head between my knees. He rubbed lazy circles on my lower back and held a glass of water where I could reach it.

  I was still too dizzy to open my eyes, but I found enough voice to croak, “I’m okay.”

  “See?” Ryan replied, who sounded like he was pacing impatiently back and forth in the middle of the forge. “And I’m doing her a huge favor. You have no idea what we’re up against.”

  “I was in the volcano, too, remember?” Tomio snapped, sounding more irritated than I’d ever heard him.

  I pawed the air, looking for his knee. When I found it, I squeezed gently, trying to let him know that I really was okay. I wasn’t feeling nearly as ill as I had. By the time Tomio and Ryan had the vomit cleaned up and the smell ventilated out of the forge, my stomach had settled.

  Ryan blew a sarcastic breath. “That was nothing. He was toying with me. Don’t you realize that? Mages are dropping like flies. Of the Burned on the agency roster, only me, Saxony and Basil remain. And even working together the three of us might not be able to take Nero down.”

  Tomio stiffened and I thought I could imagine something of what he was feeling. He was a champion fighter. He wasn’t Burned, but he probably thought his martial arts abilities made up for that. To be so easily discounted had likely lifted his hackles, maybe even sparked doubts in his own abilities. I expected Tomio to protest, but he didn’t say anything about Ryan’s obvious dismissal. Instead he addressed me in a soft tone.

  “Think you can sit up yet?”

  I wasn’t quite ready, but for Tomio’s sake I nodded. Leaning back, I opened an eye and took a few deep breaths as the room spun. When it slowed, I opened my other eye and aimed a smile at him.

  He smiled back and held up the glass of water.

  I took it and drank. It did help.

  “I wouldn’t bother waiting for the sickness to pass,” Ryan said, still pacing. “In fact, I found that I felt better right after I used it.”

  I rubbed my eyes and blinked at him, blearily. “You’re saying I should use the redheat now?”

  “Yes. As soon as possible.”

  “Why as soon as possible?”

  “First, because it’s the final step in solidifying the alchemy in your tissues. And second, because this is going to take all night if you don’t move through the colors faster, and I’m exhausted. I’d really like to get some sleep before the sun comes up.”

  “Charming,” Tomio said, rolling his eyes.

  I got to my feet, swaying unsteadily. Making sure I was beneath the ventilation, I lifted a hand and sent a blast of fire shooting from my palm. The light from my flame reflected on Ryan’s face and in his eyes as he stepped back.

  “Doesn’t look much different, to be honest.” Tomio’s voice came from directly behind me.

  I lifted my left hand. “That’s because I wanted to set a benchmark.”

  Expressing will to use my newly acquired alchemy, I threw another jet.

  A neon yellow pillar of spitting, hissing fire—as fat as a bike tire and so dense and bright that stars popped in my vision—exploded from my palm with a sound like a dragon’s roar.

  Tomio yelled in surprise. Ryan blinked at the glare, shielding his eyes with a hand. He smiled in a self-satisfied way.

  I stopped the jet and relaxed, realizing that Ryan had been right. All of the dizziness and nausea was completely gone. I felt fine.

  There was a moment of silence, and then Tomio uttered a rare curse word, impressed.

  “Was it easy?” Ryan asked.

  “So easy,” I breathed. “All it took was a thought. It was effortless.”

  “Welcome to the world of alchemy.” Ryan strode toward the counter loaded with toxins. “Let’s do lithium next.”

  “What color is that?” Tomio almost ran over to the assortment of bottles, eyes wide and curious, all irritation with Ryan had vanished.

  “Red.” Ryan picked up the lithium and beckoned.

  “What does the red one do?” I asked, not moving from my spot.

  Ryan gave me a withering glance. “What do you think? It’s lithium. The same stuff used in batteries.”

  “Stamina?”

  “Exactly.”

  I crossed to the boys, a small amount of dread kindling in my stomach. Extra stamina would be nice. I could easily recall how I felt after carrying Ryan’s dead-weight through miles of abandoned mine. Still, I’d only just started feeling better and wished I had more time before tackling the next one. “Will it feel as bad as the redheat?”

  Ryan answered cheerily. “Worse, I’m afraid. You’ll feel this one more in your head. Wait till you do copper chloride. That’s the green one. What a trip.” He paused when he saw the look on my face. “You’ll be fine. Pain is beauty. Right? Isn’t that what girls always say? Or is it ‘beauty is pain’? I forget. Anyway, hop to Cagney.”

  3

  With Orb in Hand

  Tomio was too much of a gentleman to be tapping on my door at two o’clock in the morning.

  Or was he?

  Throwing the sheet off, I got out of bed and padded to the door, bare soles cool on the hardwood as the tapping came again. Whoever it was, it wasn’t urgent. The knocking was half-hearted at best, almost like they weren’t sure they wanted to wake me. Maybe that’s because I’d only had a day and half of rest after all the crazy chemicals I’d taken in, and I still hardly felt like myself. But even I had to admit, though the process had been miserable, I felt like a loaded weapon in a way I never had before. The dread I used to feel when the team finally pinpointed Nero’s next target had somehow morphed into impatience. I hoped the chemicals weren’t making me over-confident. If they were, Ryan would never admit it out loud. Doubting ourselves was the kiss of death.

  I pulled the door open to see Ryan standing in the hall, one hand behind his back. He gestured that I should come with him.

  “Where to?” I whispered, but he walked down the hall without waiting for a response, pulling his hidden hand in front of his torso.

  I made an educated guess about what he was holding, and withheld further questions as curiosity got the best of me. Grabbing the fireproof shirt and shorts I’d thrown on my chair, I changed out of my pajamas and slid my feet into a pair of flip-flops. I scampered after Ryan as I pulled my shirt into place. Dover was hot tonight, in spite of being close to the Channel.

  I caught up to him and fell in step with him as we crossed
over a landing, heading for the CTH. As suspected, Ryan had the black box containing the orb cradled against his stomach. He put a finger over his lips and didn’t speak until after he’d closed the CTH doors.

  “Are you going to tell me why we’re doing whatever it is we’re doing in the middle of the night?” I asked, shadowing him over to the forge. This place was quickly becoming associated with some wild memories. Why did I get the feeling I was about to make one more?

  “Because if the others knew we were doing this now, they’d want to be here. The fewer people around, the better it is for you.”

  “For me?”

  “Yep.” Ryan set the box on the edge of a hafnium crucible, then crossed to the wall and switched on the ventilation. He returned and flipped the lid open, exposing the silver orb.

  My gaze was drawn to its smooth, curved surface.

  Ryan plucked the orb from its nest. “It needs to be someone other than me.”

  “Why?” I asked, having somehow lost the ability to look away from the relic.

  “So there’s more than one witness.” Ryan took my elbow and steered me to an open place on the forge floor, directly beneath a fan and not far from where I’d tossed my pizza.

  He placed the orb in my hand and stepped back. “Heat it up.”

  The ball felt cool and hard, totally inanimate, but heavier than a rock of the same size. I rubbed a thumb over the raised line, feeling its smooth coolness.

  “How high?”

  “As high as you can.”

  I shot Ryan a look of concern. “You mean, melt it?” I didn’t know what the metal was, it wasn’t like anything I’d handled before, or memorized for my classes.

  “It won’t melt.” Ryan leaned against the edge of a sink, crossing his arms.

  “You sure? I don’t feel like getting on Basil’s bad side.” I could produce somewhere in excess of eight-thousand Fahrenheit, maybe more. I’d never pushed myself to the limit before. Whatever this little orb was made of, it wouldn’t survive the kind of heat I could produce. There wasn’t any material that could except hafnium.