Alchemist Academy: Book 2 (9 page)

Jackie’s mood improved greatly once we’d made a few protective stones. She tapped on her thigh and looked up through the glass ceiling. “You never know how much you miss the sky until you don’t have it for a couple of years,” she said. “Even in prison they let you out for a few hours a day.”

I looked up to the ceiling. It was night outside, and I could imagine the stars shining brightly.

“And something green and growing,” Jackie continued, walking down a row of what looked like tomato plants, touching the tips of the leaves. “You kind of forget about this stuff.” She knelt, smelling the flora.

“There just might be something in the air here,” I said.

“Told ya,” Iggy said, walking up from behind us.

Turning, I saw Kylie wave as she approached with the redhead, Wes, and David in tow.

“It’s in the plants,” she said. “They use the stones to grow them fast and I think all that goodness seeps into them. It dissipates over time, or you just get used to feeling good. But who wants to live like that?”

“First smart thing you’ve said,” Jackie said.

Kylie checked her tablet. “You got that stone?”

I nodded.

“Good. There’s no time like the present.”

“Sure. For what?” I asked.

Kylie smiled, and in the faint moonlight she looked pretty with her milky smooth skin. Much better than tanning-bed Lola. “This glass.” She pointed to a pane. “It’s highly specialized. Do you know how long it took us to find a stone to dissolve it? Also, it self-repairs. We’ll only have an hour or so.” She moved to the glass and ran her hand down it. “I want you to carefully place the stone on the glass right here and then step back.”

I looked to Mark and he nodded toward the glass. Taking the stone out, I made sure to leave the others in my pocket. There was no need to let the others know what I was packing. I placed the stone on the glass, then took a step back and watched as the glass began to melt like it was water, falling to the floor.

The cold air from outside rushed in and sent chills down my arms. I stepped closer, smelling the fresh air and hearing the sounds of the outside, like crickets and maybe the drone of a jetliner. Jackie was right: you didn’t really notice the small stuff until you’d been away from it.

“Now what? We escape?” I asked.

Kylie laughed. “Sort of. You guys hungry?”

My stomach growled at the thought of food and I had a hard time coming up with the last time I had eaten anything. I saw the same look on Mark’s and Jackie’s faces.

“We could stand to eat something,” Mark said.

“I bet you could.” Iggy looked at him appreciatively.

“Come on. I’ll show you how we manage to stay pissed off in this place,” Kylie said. She knelt low and walked through the opening in the window.

Outside, the grass had dew forming on the tips of the blades, making the bottom of my pants damp. A small breeze of the night air brushed over us. It felt like winter was just around the corner. I wondered if we were up high enough in elevation for snow.

As we walked across the grass, I kept looking back at the Academy and the large glass windows rising to the roof. The farther we got from it, the smaller it seemed.

Jackie skipped alongside the group. I’d never seen her this happy and wondered if there were remnants of the food left in her. “This is amazing.”

“Just wait,” Kylie said.

The grass stopped at the edge of a bank and at the bottom sat a poorly hidden car. Kylie took big steps down the sandy bank and jumped the last bit next to the car. “She’s a beaut, isn’t she?”

“Sure is. Two thousand seven Impala?” Mark asked.

“Close. It’s an oh-six,” Wes said, and pulled open the driver’s door.

I rushed down the hill and looked into the windows, expecting food or some kind of storage containers in the car, but it was empty.

“Where’s the food?” Jackie asked.

I put my hands on my hips and had the same question.

“Not here. We have to drive there,” Kylie said.

“Where?” I asked.

“Let me make it a surprise, okay?” Kylie said as she opened the passenger door. “It’s normally just the four of us, so… can you sit on Mark’s lap, Allie?”

“Um, sure.” I opened the back door and looked at the spacious back bench seat.

“Iggy, you can sit on my lap,” David said.

“Gross. I’d rather ride in the trunk.”

“Iggy, you sit up with me. I can hold ya,” Kylie said.

After a few minutes of maneuvering and vying for space, we all fit in the car. I sat on Mark’s lap, which wasn’t too bad of a deal. He kept his hands on my hips and I nestled down against him. This wasn’t the back-seat-of-a-car moment I’d thought we’d have, but it sure beat staying trapped in another academy.

Wes drove next to the bank at a slow speed for a while, putting some distance between us and the Academy. After that, he sped up down the dirt road. It made for a bumpy ride, but bouncing on Mark’s lap made it bearable. He certainly didn’t seem to mind.

My head hit the ceiling on a hard bump and I rubbed my head.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Sorry. It’s a little bumpy with this much weight in the car,” Wes said.

“Come on,” Jackie whined, wedged up against David in the back seat. “Just tell us where we’re going so I can get rid of this sinking feeling in my gut.”

Kylie laughed. “I promise, we aren’t taking you off to kill you or anything like that.” She turned around and faced us over the front seat. “We have to make a run like this every few days or we’d starve. If it gets real bad, sometimes we just take turns eating the happy food and then stone each other to take away the effects.”

The car hit a bump, sending me into the ceiling again. I rubbed my head and felt Mark’s arms wrapping around my waist. He held me tight against him.

“Arm seatbelt,” he said.

I smiled and shook my head. He was obviously enjoying this ride.

Wes veered the car onto a paved road that wasn’t much better than the gravel. I looked back and discovered that the Academy was out of sight. In fact, nothing was in sight. There wasn’t a single light to be seen. I thought about asking where we were going again, but stopped myself. Besides, I really didn’t want the ride to end.

“There it is.” Kylie pointed ahead.

It was still far away, and all I could make out was the glow of lights next to a building. As we approached, I saw a canopy and a sign displaying the price of gas. “A gas station?”

“Yup, and we’ve got an in with the night shift guy,” Kylie said.

The placed looked empty, except for a single black sedan parked near the back. “I’m not sure if this is a good idea,” I said.

“Come on. We’ve got you covered,” Wes said.

Jackie pressed her face against the window, staring at the store as we pulled in. “You think they have Twix bars?”

“They’ve got it all,” Kylie said.

Jackie pulled on the door, but it was locked.

“Let me stop and then the doors unlock,” Wes said, and parked the car.

The doors clicked unlocked and Jackie bolted out.

“She’s sort of a snack freak,” I said.

David slid out of the car, along with the crew from the front, laughing and discussing what they wanted to get—leaving me and Mark alone in the backseat.

“You hear that?” I thought I heard the soft rumblings of a motorcycle and then it disappeared.

“Hear what?” he asked.

I strained to hear the noise again, but it didn’t come back. “You think that cop is still lurking out there?” I said, filling the silence.

“I’m sure he is, but at least we have a few stones to protect us this time.”

Silence fell over the car once again.

Mark shifted under my weight, igniting a spark. I turned on his lap and fell under his heated stare. Spreading out, he slouched down a bit as I put my legs on either side of his.

Placing his hands on my hips, he deliberately moved against me.

Something came unhinged and I needed him. I leaned forward and found his lips with mine. As I pressed against him, our lips parted. I panted for air before going back in. My fingers worked their way under his shirt and ran along his sides. Feeling like I couldn’t get close enough, I looked up to get a grip on the headrest for leverage and saw Iggy’s warm breath fogging the window.

I dropped down and hid my face against Mark’s shoulder. “We’ve got a spectator.”

Mark laughed and shook his head. “Doesn’t bother me.” Using my hips, he continued to move me against him, but I slapped him on the shoulder and sat up. He chuckled and blew out a breath. “What is it about us that makes people want to watch?” he whispered, and rolled down the window.

The cool air washed over me and I was glad for it. I wasn’t sure how much control I would’ve had with Mark and I wanted to wait as long as possible before giving it up totally. Even if he made my inhibitions melt, I was going to control myself.

Iggy looked embarrassed as she spoke through the window. “I just came back to tell you we don’t have a whole bunch of time here. I wasn’t trying to watch you guys or anything.” She shuffled her feet and then darted into the store.

I slid off Mark’s lap and made to open the door.

He grabbed my arm and said, “Hey, before we head in, there’s something I need to say.” I fell back into the seat and looked at him expectantly. “It’s about the life stone. Look, I’m sorry for acting like a jerk about it. If I thought you were dying, I would have done the same thing.”

The words flowed and I waited patiently for them to stop. When they did, I leaned in and lightly kissed his lips. “I know. I was just waiting for you to come around.”

He barked out a laugh. “Okay, know-it-all, let’s check this place out. You seem like a Sour Patch kind of girl to me.” He put an arm over my shoulder.

“Twinkies. Let me guess about you. Tiger Milk or a power bar, I bet.”

He laughed. “I haven’t eaten anything sugary in a long time. Maybe some almonds.”

“Boring.”

We entered the store in a good mood, but stopped at the door. Kylie and her friends were frozen in amazement, watching Jackie ravage a bag of Doritos. She looked up at our arrival and grinned with a nacho cheese smile.

“You have no idea how good this is,” is what I
think
she said with her mouth full.

“Hey, I didn’t agree to this many of you,” the man behind the counter said. He was wearing a blue vest over his plaid shirt with a nametag that said his name was Jarrod.

“We can always take our tokens elsewhere,” Kylie said.

Jarrod crossed his arms and sat on his stool behind the counter.

“Besides,” Kylie said, leaning closer to Jackie, “I want to see how far she can take this. I’ve already counted two Twix bars, half a box of Red Vines, a can of Dew, two bags of Doritos and what I think was a hot dog.”

“M&M’s,” Jackie said. “There was also a bag of peanut M&M’s.”

Mark dangled two slender yellow cakes packaged in a cellophane wrapper and labeled with the glorious Twinkie banner. I snatched them from his hand.

“Thanks,” I said, and peeled the wrapper open.

“We should get some real food as well,” Mark said, and went down the boring aisle of bread and deli meats. “Jackie, you’re going to get sick.”

“Whatever, Mark. I’m sure the cucumber-flavored tofu is in the all-organic section of the gas station,” Jackie said.

Jackie did slow down, though, and looked at the Ding Dong in her hand. She turned over her hand and inspected the stains and smears. They were the scars and bruises of her vicious attack against food. I wondered what Kylie and her friends would be giving the clerk to allow such abuse to his store. Tokens, Kylie had said.

By the time I had finished the Twinkies, Mark came back and delivered some wonderful turkey sandwiches. Jackie came and joined us, holding her gut.

“Not a word, Mark,” she said.

“We’d better get some Pepto or something.” He looked back down the aisle.