The Quest of the Prodigy (The Alchemist of Time Book 1) Read online

  “I am smart!”

  “Then stop acting so stupid by giving in to doubt! Come on, there is no time to waste feeling sorry for yourself. We’ve got a long way to go. But I still believe in you. You’re not wasting my time. I won’t let you leave until you are properly primed to begin the first steps to be an Alchemist.”

  Mimi smiled at those words. Richie was right about everything.

  I have a present for you,” Richie told Mimi as she woke from a nap he had grudgingly allowed her.

  “For me?” she asked in genuine surprise. His thoughtfulness made her blush. She wasn’t used to being doted upon.

  “Yes! I know how technically you’re not supposed to have one until Second Year. But, remember that secretary I told you about that booked this room for me?”

  Mimi nodded.

  “I told her I lost mine. Bless her heart, she pulled some strings and provided a spare one for me. So I managed to get you one of these!” he said proudly.

  Mimi let out a shocked gasp as he presented her with an Elemental Launcher. “That’s really for me?” she asked in awe.

  “Yes. I was lucky to get it. You need it to properly understand how each element will work with Tai Chi. The Elements will take longer than two days to understand, but you should at least understand the basics. We’ll still focus on getting you used to the physical workout, too.”

  “Thank you so much Richie! You really are the best! I feel like I have a chance now!” she said and spontaneously gave him a hug and kissed his cheek.

  The golden Elemental Launcher was heavier than she had expected. She felt powerful, recalling the blasts the dueling students had been able to produce. It was surreal to hold something so beautiful, so powerful. She wanted to squeal with excitement, but forced herself to be mature.

  Richie seemed pleased with her reaction nonetheless and gave her another hug, tighter than previous ones and lingering. Brazen with joy, Mimi stood on tiptoe to reach him. The quick kiss caused them both to smile. His happiness made her happy.

  It was time to get back to work. They only had one more day together. She needed to make it count.

  They moved into the sparring position he had taught her, this time both holding an Elemental Launcher.

  “Now before we get started on using the Launcher, it is important to note that there are two different types of fighting with the Elemental Launcher. There is the traditional method, which relies on the elements being compounded inside the Launcher. Then there is what’s known as the Human Element.”

  “That sounds creepy. What is it?” she asked.

  “It’s basically tapping into your emotional Chi for additional power. Aimon always points out that it’s an art, not magic, but first years always call it magic. If you can dig deep within yourself, find your strongest emotion at the time, you could turn it into an element, and get three elements compounded into the Launcher instead of the traditional two. But it takes a lot of skill to be so honest with yourself about what you’re really feeling at your core, as a lot of times you’re feeling more than one thing. So there’s a bit of meditation required to find out your strongest emotion. I don’t have the patience to meditate, so I usually stick with the traditional method.”

  “So what I am feeling now, will give me power?” asked Mimi with a raised eyebrow. She wondered if she were similar to Aimon, but without the pompous attitude. She was too much a skeptic by nature to call such a thing as the Human Element magic.

  “Basically. Some emotions are stronger than others.”

  “How strong is happiness?” she asked. It was the strongest emotion she could identify at the moment.

  Richie smiled at her. It was one of those smiles that made her melt. “Happiness is stronger than anger. And anger is stronger than sadness.” “What about love?” asked Mimi.

  She wasn’t sure if she loved Richie yet, or if it were lust. He hadn’t thought two days was enough time to fall in love, but she knew she was happier because of him than she had been in a long time. Happiness had to have something to do with love.

  It was hard to tell if Richie’s face was turning red, or if his ginger hair was reflecting on his face. Mimi wondered if she actually had the ability to make a guy blush. Meredith had always told her if she relaxed around guys, everything wouldn’t be so awkward. Mimi decided in that moment to try to stop worrying about what could happen, and enjoy what was happening.

  Richie approached her slowly, and she felt like a mosquito drawn to the light. She would give anything to know what he was thinking. His Elemental Launcher rested at his side, yet another reminder to Mimi that this boy would not hurt her, even with the power to do so in his hand, even with the knowledge of her greatest fears and insecurities.

  Her question seemed to have connected them, on an even deeper level than before. Such a powerful word, love. Just the mere suggestion of it caused people to pause.

  To pause and ponder how they felt about another individual.

  He hadn’t answered her, his eyes searching hers, deep in thought. A smile blossomed his face, and the searching expression vanished, replaced with contentment. Mimi held her breath.

  “Why, Mimi, don’t you know? They say love is the most powerful emotion of them all.”

  “Well then, Richie,” she said, taking a deep breath and stepping closer to him. Their knees were almost touching. She put a hand to the side of his face, caressing his cheek like she had only dreamed of doing to someone one day. “What do you think about the element of love?”

  Richie never answered her question. He smirked. “Get back to work, kid. We have a lot to do!”

  Mimi wasn’t bothered by this. He was right, but she was having a hard time breaking the spell.

  “Yeah okay. What are we doing now?” she asked.

  “Run some laps.”

  She frowned, the spell broken. “What?”

  “I told you I wasn’t going to make it easy on you. You need to work on some endurance to get your legs in shape. Just for a little while, since we are running out of time. Then we will work on some kicks to get us back on track. You know, with the Alchemy and Tai Chi only thing. The thing that you requested!” He said the last sentence somewhat desperately.

  Mimi frowned. “This is feeling way too much like P.E.”

  “What’s P.E.?”

  “Hell,” Mimi scoffed, but obediently took off running. She imagined herself running around a pool made from gold in the New York City Library, being chased by Captain Deatherage. It was good motivation. She ran until she felt like passing out.

  Richie whistled, signaling that was enough. The noise echoed around the golden chamber. Judging by the burning pain in her calf, Mimi wondered if she had been running for hours.

  “How long did I go for?” she asked, gasping for air. She grabbed the golden canteen that he offered her and gulped down the water, sounding as loud as a golden retriever lapping from their bowl.

  “Fifteen minutes. Nice work, kid. Not too graceful in your running technique, but you did it. It’s a start.”

  “That was only fifteen minutes?” she groaned. She felt like dying. How did Meredith run track?

  “Need a break?”

  She frowned. “Yes. I’m sorry I need a break after only fifteen minutes, but I’m not used to working out.” She felt lazy admitting this. She hadn’t dedicated any time to her body and health, focusing instead all her life on her mind.

  He touched her shoulder in a gesture of reassurance. “Mimi, that’s okay.”

  Richie was making it impossible for her to focus. He began talking about their next lesson, but Mimi was barely listening.

  “Yesterday’s Mimi didn’t know what the hell she was talking about!” she grumbled. The running had done nothing to get her mind off him. Seeing she had his attention, she added, “Besides, you can teach me more about those Human Element things, those sounded interesting, Richie. Maybe you can teach me about the element of love.”

  For once knowing exactly what she wa
nted, Mimi bravely put her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulders. A Diary had chosen her to save the future. Anything was possible.

  She closed her eyes and smiled, realizing she could hear Richie’s heartbeat. It sounded louder than a drum this close to him.

  “As you wish,” he whispered.

  The warmth of his hot breath on the back of her neck gave her chills and she looked up at him. At last their lips found each other.

  Mimi was flying through the stratosphere, faster than the Bas House. The kiss was wet and Mimi was nervous, but she trusted him, and it was beautiful and sweet. For however long they had, Mimi wanted to be his girl. She was ready to be the leading lady in her own romance story.

  “THIS SHOULD be interesting,” Riche said later as they sat on a chaise near the edge of the pool, talking, cuddling and kissing occasionally. “How about I give you a test of my own?”

  “A test?” she asked with a frown, the bubble of love slowly popping.

  “Yeah, to see what you picked up on Alchemy. I realized it’s not really fair to keep it only physical, since that is your hardest challenge.”

  Mimi scoffed. “You really need to make up your mind, Richie. You keep switching up your criteria!”

  He laughed and kissed her cheek. “I have been known to be indecisive. Aimon loves to remind me of that flaw of mine. But no, this will be totally awesome! It’ll help you understand the elements a little better.”

  She sighed. She wanted to understand him a little better. He smiled and she stood up, willing to do whatever he asked.

  “Could I borrow your Launcher, Mimi?”

  She smiled and handed him her Elemental Launcher. He gave her a nod of thanks, his ginger hair bouncing. Mimi yearned to run her hands through his smooth, ginger hair.

  “I saw a professor perform this a few years ago, to prove to us Second Years how dangerous the Elemental Launchers can be. He warned us to choose our elements in educational duels carefully, or else risk living the rest of our young lives with the guilt of seriously injuring an innocent student. To prove just how powerful each launcher is, especially when combined with another Launcher, he did this.”

  He walked to one wall of the pool house and pushed a button. There were loud grinding gears as the skylight opened up and exposed the night sky. Richie returned to Mimi and began to turn the bottom gears of the Elemental Launchers.

  Mimi smiled as she heard the sound of the bottom gear of the Launchers grinding. “Oh, this is so totally Steampunk!”

  “What’s Steampunk?” asked Richie as he turned the dials once more, producing an even louder grinding sound.

  “Just a lifestyle my brother and best friend Meredith got me into. My brother likes it for the Victorian robots. Meredith likes it for the fashion. I only like it because I’d love to live in the Victorian era also.”

  Richie nodded, clearly confused as he moved to perform his rick. His excitement was contagious. She watched as he took both golden Elemental Launchers and raised them above his head of flaming red hair. Like a cowboy swinging a lasso, he had excellent wrist control. In an instant, hot flames shot out from the launchers and struck the pool.

  “Better duck!” warned Richie, hitting the floor.

  Mimi screeched and mirrored his movement.

  She lifted her head up in time to see almost the entire pool of water evaporate into steam. There was a loud whoosh as the remaining water ejected toward the skylight that he’d opened. Mimi’s eyes widened; the pool was dry, save for a few droplets.

  “You drained the pool!” she cried as she stood and helped him up. He didn’t let go of her hand.

  “Mercury and water don’t exactly mix.”

  “I know,” Mimi said with a nod. “My chemistry teacher made us watch some mercury videos on the Internet, which explained the properties of the element. And this one guy on demonstrated how a black widow spider walked on the dense surface of Mercury. It was neat, but I felt bad for the spider.”

  Richie shuddered. “Ugh, I hate spiders!”

  Mimi laughed.

  “Water scares you, and spiders don’t?”

  Mimi shrugged. “Like I said, it’s a weird phobia.”

  “Well anyway, as neat as it was turning water into steam—and I should totally get class credit for that trick by the way, it’s totally advanced—this is the true part of the test.” Reluctantly he pulled his fingers from Mimi’s and set the dial on both Launchers. He seemed very comfortable holding and performing with them. It was as if such a powerful weapon had become his favorite fashion accessory.

  As the grinding stopped, streams of silver mercury shot from both wands like a waterfall directly into the pool. With impressive speed, the entire pool was filled with quicksilver. The contrast of the dense silver liquid against the rich gold pool was breathtaking.

  “Wow!” Mimi breathed. “We’re all mad here.”

  “What?” Richie asked.

  “The Mad Hatter...Alice in Wonderland. He was said to be a representative of hatters, people who have gone mad from the mercury vapors of felting hats. I don’t want dementia, Richie. I already feel a bit like Alice, falling further down the rabbit hole on this strange journey. I don’t literally need to go mad on top of it all.”

  Richie tossed her back her own Launcher with a laugh. “Do you trust me?”

  Like Princess Jasmine, Mimi nodded.

  “Let me assure you, my dear Mimi, you have no reason to fear. I won’t harm your body or your mind. I am impressed you know chemistry so well. You will make a fine Prodigy. So here is the actual test. Remember yesterday when I locked the pool house with a key?”

  She nodded.

  “Your job is simple, then. Fetch the key. Pass my test. Prove you’re ready for Aimon’s test.” He pulled the key from his pocket, then tossed it into the pool. He would have made a good baseball player.

  Mimi’s heart ached. She now knew what Bas had meant when he talked about Sara Rogers and said that time travelers didn’t belong in any one year. It sucked. She wanted to belong in the year 3000 with Richie. But she belonged back home.

  The key hit the bottom of the pool and Mimi frowned. “You want me to swim in mercury to get the key?”

  “That could be one way, couldn’t it? But after I teach you about all the elements, you just might be inspired another way on how to solve this riddle of mine.”

  It was cute how pleased he was. She wouldn’t deny him his excitement. “Challenge accepted!” she cried enthusiastically.

  “All right! Let’s get this going!” he said and kissed her cheek. They grasped hands and walked to the other side of the pool.

  In that moment, with her hand inside of Richie’s, Mimi was happy. She didn’t care about what time or era she was in. She was with Richie. And that was cause for joy.

  THE ELEMENTS were a lot like chemistry. For once in her life, Mimi saw the true value to science. It did not change throughout time. They might know more in the year 3000, but the basics were the same.

  Still, she took notes, determined not to miss a single thing. She hoped whoever taught her Alchemy was as patient as Richie. Aimon didn’t seem to be. Mimi listened carefully and took many notes as Richie spent the next hour or so explaining all twelve elements in great detail.

  The hours went on. She tried and failed to surpass a yawn. Richie noticed her yawn and pouted. He pulled out from an inner pocket a golden pocket watch. “Wow it’s late! Or, err, rather early.” He sighed. “We’ve been at this for hours. I’m afraid our time is up.”

  “No!” cried Mimi, panic hitting. “This isn’t fair! I need more time with you.”

  “I know. We barely covered up to chapter five of the first year’s Beginner’s Guide to Alchemy.”

  “No,” Mimi cut him off and grasped his hand. “I mean, I need more time with you.” Their perfect time together, their separate world, would be over soon. The world would come crashing back in.

  “Hey, kid,” he said and pulled her chin up gently. “You
don’t need me.”

  “You’re the only one that has ever cared about me.”

  He smirked. “I doubt that. I had to be very persuasive to get you to notice that I liked you, didn’t I? What if you just didn’t see whose attention you captured back home?”

  That couldn’t possibly be true, but it did reassure her.

  “You don’t need me, kid,” he repeated. “I’d love you to stay, don’t get me wrong, Mimi. But from what I understand, you have a future era to save.”

  Mimi’s weakness crumbled and was replaced with determination. Richie was right. She did have bigger problems on her plate than a lonely heart.

  “I do,” she agreed and wiped away a threatening tear. “And I’m sure as heck not going to let a single key stand in my way.”

  “And she’s back!” cheered Richie.

  Mimi laughed and rested her head on his shoulder as she had a thought. “Richie, what kind of mercury is this in the pool? I recall from my chemistry teacher giving us an extra credit assignment to identify the three types of mercury.”

  Richie’s smile was filled with pride. “Elemental mercury, naturally.”

  “I thought so. I trusted you, Richie, that you wouldn’t use the harmful kind of mercury.”

  He chuckled. “The Elemental Launcher is only equipped with elemental mercury.”

  Mimi playfully slapped his shoulder. “You jerk! You could’ve told me that at the start!”

  “Yes, I could’ve. But, my dear, then it wouldn’t have been much of a test would it?”

  Mimi smiled. “I could just swim in there to get it, but I think I’ll challenge myself and use my new Launcher.” She stepped up to the pool and looked down at the symbols on her Launcher. She was excited. Richie had given her newfound confidence in place of fear.

  Selecting the air symbol, which looked like a triangle with a thin line crossing the vertex, she listened for the grinding gears to finish. Richie had explained that the grinding gears was how it charged. It was the reason Tai Chi was used to fight with the launcher, because the students needed to be able to defend themselves while their weapon charged.