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

  “And if I fail?”

  “Then I was right, and you haven’t a strong enough body nor spirit to handle Alchemy.”

  “I won’t fail.”

  He nodded. “Very well. And good luck. This test has sent many home crying.”

  If he meant to scare her, he did a good job of it. The confidence it took Richie two days to build was already starting to fade. She straightened, determined not to let Mimi, the Barkleys or her brother down. “I’m not scared.”

  “Well that’s a good start. And since Richie is my best friend, and he does believe in you so much, I feel obligated to share this piece of advice with you. Try to stay calm. Victory will be swifter if you stay calm. Remember, doubt is failure’s greatest weapon.”

  MIMI WAS prepared to duel. To her great surprise, Aimon left. She stood in the empty room alone for several minutes, confused. Then, without warning, it happened.

  The room began to stretch long and narrow, like a rubber band. Even after witnessing time travel, Bubble Universes and Elemental Launchers, it was very bizarre. Mimi looked around, waiting for the test to become clear.

  All of a sudden the bleachers dropped with a slam and disappeared. The windows turned pitch black and the temperature became unbearably cold. The comfortable sweater JAB had made her wasn’t nearly enough to keep her warm.

  A sharp pain bit her arms as the cold air attacked her, and rubbing her hands over her arms proved useless. Then there was a loud echo of something hitting the floor. She prayed it was something useful that would get her out of here. Mimi reached down until her fingers found a grooved, metal object. It felt like the neck of a bottle, and she found the depression of a switch. She felt nervous about flicking it. What if it was dangerous?

  The cold was numbing her fingers as she felt the round, wide sphere at the end of the stick. It felt like a flashlight. Holding her breath, she pressed down on the switch. A beam of light shone instantly, and she was relieved.

  The light reflected off a thick block of ice. She frowned.

  The room had transformed into a larger-than-life maze comprised of thick sheets of ice. It was too dark to see how far the maze of ice stretched. Knowing there was no way but forward, Mimi exhaled into the freezing air and took off into the maze.

  The further Mimi walked through the maze, the more she felt lost. Some walls of ice were taller than those adjacent to them, and the unevenness of its construction made mapping a way out much harder.

  As she turned a corner, feeling colder by the second, something caught her eye. It looked like a giant, glowing fish swimming through the ice, green and purple. How could an animal swim through ice?

  The creature was long, like a snake.

  In fact, the body of it looked exactly like a thick snake found in a Brazilian rain forest she had read about. The body was definitely a snake, but the head…was a bulldog.

  “If your chubby face gets any closer to that ice, your tongue will stick to it,” a voice warned her as she stepped closer to the ice, trying to get a better look at the impossible creature.

  The voice was hauntingly familiar. Not until she turned to see who was talking was she able to identify it. It was her.

  In front of her was an identical version of herself, looking rather annoyed. It was worse than seeing a doppelganger. This was a walking reflection, vocalizing Mimi’s deepest insecurities.

  “Who are you?” the original Mimi asked, unwilling to accept what she saw.

  “I’m you, stupid.”

  “But...how?”

  The other Mimi shrugged. “You’re the architect of your own test. You projected me...who is you.”

  Mimi frowned as she looked herself over. “Man, I’ve got to lose some weight!”

  “Hey! Not my fault you’re fat. Anyway, that’s not why I’m here.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “Well, I was crafted to be your doubt. It wasn’t easy to get here since you actually had some confidence for once. But now that the creature has you scared, it is easy to appear with your confidence thinned. Too bad you can’t thin your body just as easy, huh?”

  “Hey you don’t have to be so mean!”

  “Just trying to help.” The other Mimi rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I’d give up if I were you. Remember how scary that dog was as a kid? That one that bit you when you were seven? Well this one looks twice as mean, doesn’t it?”

  Mimi bit her lip. It did look very mean. She could hear the eerie sound if ice crackling as the snake got closer. “I can outrun it,” she said.

  “Can you? I don’t think so, it looks fast,” said Doubt.

  “Well...then I can fight it!”

  “How? With what? You barely know how to use that Elemental Launcher, and you’ll probably hurt yourself before you hurt the creature. Or burn down the entire building. Then Aimon’s father will know you’re here, and you’ll lose an opportunity to learn Alchemy and be the Prodigy.”

  Mimi scowled at herself. It was not fun hearing her own fears being projected so blatantly.

  “I can be a warrior if I try. That’s what Richie said,” Mimi reassured herself.

  “Ha! Richie! He doesn’t really know you. He just pretended to like you. He doesn’t know how much of a goody-goody, play it by the rules, coward you really are. You’re so afraid of getting hurt, dear, that you won’t be able to engage in a fight. Not with Deatherage. Not with the King. And certainly not with this creature here.”

  Mimi looked away from her other self and realized the snake-dog was only a few feet away now. Without thinking her hands went to her neck, to the Time Shifter and Richie’s key. He cared about her, and he believed in her. She believed in her.

  “You’re wrong. Richie believes in me! So it’s time I believe in myself!” she yelled at Doubt.

  The sound of ice breaking as the snake-dog swam closer was growing louder. When she looked at her other self, that Mimi was gone. Mimi backed away as the snake-dog broke out of the ice and emerged into the cold open air. She screamed as eight hairy legs began to grow from its torso. Doubt was nowhere to be seen, and she didn’t know if it felt better to be alone or not.

  The creature was growing bigger, and so was the maze, stretching higher and higher. Mimi had to do something, or run.

  As she sprinted through the maze, she could hear every crushing step the monster of her greatest phobias took. It wasn’t moving as fast as she had expected. Now the size of an elephant, the creature’s largeness was slowing it down. It was now bigger than an elephant, and seemed to keep on growing. It was crushing the walls of ice it ran into, and she could hear the shards of ice breaking underneath its feet.

  “Someone help me! Anyone!” she cried.

  But there was no one to be seen. No one to hear her scream.

  She felt the icy ground pound beneath her soles of her sneakers. Finally the pain was so great, it made her feet and legs feel heavy as bricks. Her legs felt like they were being cremated with how hot they were burning from all the running.

  There didn’t seem a way out. Every time she turned, all she saw was a dark corner made from ice.

  After what felt like hours of running, she hit a dead end. She collapsed against a wall of ice. She couldn’t do it anymore. Her legs burned too much.

  You are the architect of your own test.

  The words of her doppelganger echoed in her mind and she gasped. Of course! Gazing up at the monster, her eyes began to swell with tears. It really was a mixture of everything that she had been scared of since childhood. Even the ice. How could she have forgotten about the ice? She was afraid of water...ice is made out of water! This test was constructed of her lifelong fears.

  “Bravo, now you’re getting it.” Her other self was back, looking smug.

  “But what good is understanding my fears if I can’t defeat them?” Mimi asked. “I’m tired of running. I can’t run anymore.”

  “No, you can’t. You’re going to fail. And then you’ll never be the Prodigy. Aimon was right, you’re
worthless.”

  “No, no, no! I’m not giving up just yet!” cried Mimi. “I’ve read about snakes, dogs and spiders before. What is an enemy they all have in common?”

  “What?” asked Doubt.

  “Humans.” She laughed with delight. “And you know what else? You need to leave me the hell alone! I won’t fail. Richie does care for me. And I’m going to prove Aimon wrong! I am the Prodigy. Maybe not yet, but I will be. So shut up!”

  At those unbreakable words of confidence, a bright yellow glow appeared, brighter even than those of the Time Shifters, and the other Mimi broke into a thousand glass shards, like the mirror Richie had shattered for her.

  Mimi let out a cheer, glad the other self was gone.

  She pulled from around her neck the gold chain. Two keys around her neck. That was what she told Richie. She stared at the Time Shifter. It’d be easy to escape out of this room and into the Bas House. She could run away like a coward if she wanted to. But then her eyes lit on Richie’s key, and she no longer felt cold. She was no longer scared. She’d make Richie proud. She kissed the sun key, wishing instead she was kissing Richie.

  As she closed her eyes, she felt herself grow taller.

  If she had designed the test with her fears, then, she logically theorized, she could also define the test with hope and confidence.

  The maze grew smaller as Mimi grew with her confidence.

  The fear monster growled as it turned to look directly at her with burning eyes of hatred. It stomped around and kicked at the ice with its eight hairy legs, ready to charge at her. Mimi raised her Elemental Launcher, which had grown in size with her. The beast barked and charged.

  Mimi was strongly against animal cruelty, but she would make an exception for something that was trying to eat her.

  Turning the disk of the Launcher to the symbol of Gold, she also moved the smaller hand to Water. After she pushed the button, a loud grinding came from the Launcher as the elements were combined together. In seconds, a jet of liquid gold shot from her wand. The beast howled in pain as it was covered from head to toe in liquid gold. Ice formed around the monster, solidifying its demise.

  Her doppelganger was wrong, she really could win. Confidence was her greatest weapon.

  Mimi shrunk down to normal size, warm again at last. The bleachers and blue mats were back to normal with the test complete.

  The door swung slowly open. Aimon Hamilton, the boy who thought he knew everything about people, stared at her.

  “Well, I’m surprised,” Aimon said after a moment. “A lot of contestants don’t figure out it is their own fears. Looks like Richie was right when he told me to give you a chance.”

  “Would you have given me a chance if he hadn’t?”

  “Probably not. But thinking about what could have been is a waste of time.” He walked into the room. “How do you feel?”

  Mimi was surprised at the sensitive question. “I feel tired.”

  Aimon smiled at her. “I’d be worried about you if you weren’t tired after using all that energy. Let us eat. Then you should rest.”

  As they walked out of the dreaded room, Mimi heard a strange beeping tone. Aimon paused their walk and pulled out of his pocket the same type of golden Holo Call that Richie had. Aimon pushed a button and soon a projected image of Richie appeared.

  “You guys done with the test?” he asked Aimon, anxiously.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, how did my girl do?”

  Mimi’s heart fluttered at his endearment.

  “She passed.” Aimon’s tone of disappointment didn’t amuse Mimi, but she cared little about what Aimon thought of her right now.

  Richie let out a laugh. “I told you she would! Guys, guys, she passed!”

  Mimi smiled as there was a cheer in the background from Bas and her brother, feeling quite proud.

  “Is the trumpet ready?” asked Bas as he leaned over Richie’s shoulder to get in view of the Holo Call.

  “Do you even care I passed, Bas?” Mimi asked.

  “Oh, yeah, I’m proud of you. Means we don’t have to search for another Prodigy. But I’ve been waiting two days for the trumpet! Two days is like forever for a time traveler. I’m used to being able to pop into time and skip the waiting bit...so yeah, I don’t mean to cut your parade short, but, golden trumpet!”

  MIMI SMILED as they joined Richie, Bas and Albert in the Curing Room. Bas looked like he was ready to pop with excitement, and Albert looked happy. She walked up to her brother, whom she hadn’t seen in two days, and gave him a hug.

  “Geeze, Mimi, get off me!” he cried and pushed her away.

  “I’m sorry,” she admitted. They weren’t the type of siblings to hug all the time, so she understood his objection. “But it’s a relief for me to know you’re safe. Thank you Bas, I’m glad I don’t have to kill you for getting him into trouble.”

  Bas laughed at her joke and nudged Albert’s arm. “Like I’d let anything happen to him. I might not be a perfect guardian figure, but I do know how to stay out of trouble. Mostly.”

  She smirked at him. “Somehow I doubt that.”

  “Now, I didn’t say I know how to keep myself out of trouble.”

  Everyone but Aimon laughed.

  “Let us check on the trumpet,” said Aimon, breaking up the merriment.

  “Lighten up, Aimon! This isn’t a school test.” Richie reminded his friend and lazily wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

  Mimi understood his stiffness. She was always worried about the rules, she sometimes forgot to have fun until Meredith and Tucker, her two best friends in the world, would remind her to lighten up.

  She could hear Bas holding his breath as Aimon lifted the black lid off the large black box. He placed both his hands inside the box, and pulled out a golden trumpet.

  “Amazing,” breathed Mimi. She would have doubted it was the same trumpet, if she hadn’t seen and experienced all she had in the last two days.

  Richie squeezed her shoulder. “It’s possible, kid, and soon you’ll be able to master the technique. So you best start believing in Alchemy.”

  Mimi smiled at Richie. “I guess I had better.”

  Mimi felt like her mouth should still be unhinged with all she had seen over the last few days. A brass trumpet was now gold! It was one thing to hear Richie talk about Alchemy like it was an art and martial arts like a lifestyle, but to see it in person was incredible.

  It was one thing to learn the elements of the Launcher, information similar to chemistry, but to transform something into gold like Aimon had done to the trumpet seemed twice as difficult as learning about the Elemental Launcher.

  Richie placed a hand on her shoulder and she smiled at him, her worry melting away. He had looked so proud of her when Aimon said she completed the Fear Test. She had surprised Aimon. The affirmation lifted her soul.

  Bas led them through the halls with ease, making Mimi wonder just how often he visited. Was Bas abusing his friendship with Aimon to turn objects into gold? What was this obsession with gold about, anyway? She would have to ask him one day, when they knew each other better.

  Mimi was surprised to find herself feeling so affectionate about her strange entourage. Despite Bas being a thief, he had saved her and Albert’s lives, and she trusted him and his lively gait through life. His excitement was contagious to the rest of them. Two students of Alchemy. A little brother. A time traveling thief.

  “Where are they going?” asked Mimi with a frown as Albert and Richie ran ahead. She had just reunited with Albert, and didn’t want to lose him again.

  “Don’t worry,” laughed Bas. “You’ll see.”

  Aimon scowled at Bas. “Best not be anything wrong, Bas. Don’t need you to get banished twice.”

  Realizing Aimon didn’t know what was going on was not reassuring to Mimi. It was late now, well past sunset. The night had set in and students were either studying or enjoying their free time.

  Bas paused by a door halfway down the gold
en hallway.

  “Here we are,” said Aimon as he let them in using a golden, rectangular key. There was a beep of the locking mechanism, a hiss of steam, and the door swooshed open from above for them. The lights inside the room were off. Aimon flicked them on.

  As the room illuminated, Albert jumped from underneath a long golden table, yelling, “SURPRISE!”

  “What’s this?” Mimi asked, looking around in confusion.

  The golden table was spread with Mimi’s favorite Asian appetizers, including meatballs, pot stickers, Dim Sum and sushi. Chinese lanterns and gold and silver confetti decorated the room, along with strands of glowing yellow bulbs and bamboo shoots. Mimi was amazed at the creativity. Bas pulled a tiny remote from his pocket and music filled the room, upbeat with trumpets, drums and guitars. Pop music from the future. Her little sister would love this.

  “It’s a party!” said Richie, nudging her arm as her face fell.

  “Well I guessed that, but what’s the special occasion?”

  “You!” replied Richie with a wink.

  “Yeah Mimi!” cried Albert. “I was telling Bas I was kind of worried about you, working so much. I said you get cranky when you get stressed, and no fun to be around.”

  “Wow, thanks.”

  “And I said let’s throw her a party,” added Bas. “An Academy of Alchemy style party! Okay, so the music is a bit ancient for them, it’s from the year 2459, but it fits the mood. The only music they listen to at the Academy is really slow and boring Chinese meditative music. Totally not party worthy!”

  Mimi raised an eyebrow. “Bas, just how many times have you been here?”

  “A lot before he was banished,” Aimon admitted. “He was practically a resident on my couch.”