Шеннон Мессенджер - Keeper of the Lost Cities

The center of the room held two empty lab tables—one gleaming silver, the other sleek and black—and the strangest experiment Sophie had ever seen. Lady Galvin wasn’t there, so she dropped her stuff on a table and took a closer look at the giant bubble hovering over a ring of fire on the floor. Milky liquid filled the bubble, dancing up and down to the rhythm of the flames.

“Step back!” Lady Galvin shouted, rushing over in a rustle of fabric. She yanked Sophie away. “Do you have any idea what that is?” She looked Sophie up and down and rolled her eyes. “No, I suppose you don’t.”

Lady Galvin was slender and wore her red-brown hair in an updo so tight and full of twists it gave Sophie a headache just looking at it. Her cape was hunter green, made of silky fabric decorated with emeralds sewn in elaborate patterns. It swished with the slightest movement.

“It’s alkahest ,” she announced. “The universal solvent. It can only be stored in a bubble of itself because it dissolves everything else. Wood. Steel. Flesh.”

Sophie backed another step away. “Is that what we’re making today?”

Lady Galvin sighed the way Sophie’s dad used to while doing his taxes. “It’s the second hardest substance for an alchemist to make. Don’t you know anything about alchemy?”

“I guess not,” she admitted. And it probably wouldn’t be wise to ask what the hardest substance to make was—even though she was curious.

“All I ask for is a decent prodigy—and what do I get?” Lady Galvin stalked across the room to one of the shelves. “I should be teaching masters to turn living matter into gold, not little girls who don’t know the difference between a tincture and a poultice. Dame Alina probably thinks this is funny, forcing me to teach basic serums. Well, I won’t have it.”

She removed a yellowed card from a small box, grabbed an empty flask, a few jars of ingredients, and a long twisted silver spoon from the shelves and returned to Sophie. “This serum is the first step to turn glass into iron. I’ll have you transmuting metals if I have to walk you through it. Step. By. Step.”

Sophie glanced at the recipe. The chemical formula didn’t look too hard. The ingredients weren’t familiar, but the jars were labeled, and there were only two simple instructions.

Lady Galvin fiddled with her cape and rolled her eyes as Sophie checked and rechecked each amount to be sure she wasn’t making any mistakes. When she felt confident that she had it right, she poured everything into the flask. Then she plunged the spoon in and whipped the liquid the same way she’d learned to whip cream.

“Don’t!” Lady Galvin shouted, rushing forward to stop her—a second too late.

The liquid fizzed and rumbled.

Sophie jumped out of the way just as sticky gray jelly exploded all over Lady Galvin’s exquisite cape.

Sophie watched in horror while the sludge dissolved the luxurious fabric. “I’m so sorry.” She reached for the damaged cape to see if there was anything she could do to salvage it, but Lady Galvin grabbed her hand to stop her. That’s when she noticed the red welt on the back of Sophie’s wrist, where some of the slime caught her.

She sighed. “Better head to the Healing Center.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Sophie was hardly eager to see another doctor, but Lady Galvin looked ready to murder someone. She rushed to retrieve her satchel. “Should I come back here afterward?”

“No!”

Sophie slunk toward the door. “Okay. See you next week?”

Lady Galvin’s face darkened, and she turned away muttering under her breath about incompetence.

SOPHIE STUMBLED THROUGH THE HALLS,the panic making it hard to think straight. Would Lady Galvin flunk her? Should she use the Imparter to call Alden and see if he could help?

“You must be lost.”

The boy’s deep voice brought her out of her trance. He wore a green Level Four uniform, and was sprawled across a bench, watching her with curious, ice blue eyes.

She blinked, noticing the hallways were stark white now. “How did you know?”

He smirked. “It’s the middle of session. Either you’re lost, or you’re ditching—and clearly you’re not ditching.”

“Why couldn’t I be ditching?” she asked, not exactly sure why she was arguing.

“Are you?”

“No,” she admitted.

His lips twisted into a crooked grin. “You’re the new girl, aren’t you?”

She sighed and nodded.

“I’m Keefe.”

“Sophie—but I’m sure you already know that.”

He laughed. “You may be the biggest news to hit the academy since the Great Gulon Incident three years ago—which, by the way, I had nothing to do with.” He flashed a slightly wicked smile. “But that’s not a bad thing. Personally, I’ve always enjoyed being the center of attention.”

She didn’t doubt that. From his disheveled blond hair to the way he’d rolled up his sleeves and left his shirt untucked, she could tell—he was cool. Probably popular, too. So why was he talking to her? She almost asked him but stopped herself at the last second.

“Where are you supposed to be?” she asked instead.

“The Universe. I ditch whenever I can. Lady Belva has the worst crush on me. I mean, I can’t really blame her”—he gestured to himself—“but still, it’s awkward, you know?”

She was 90 percent certain he was joking, but he was also very good looking. She was sure at least half the girls in school had a crush on him.

“And now I get to meet the mysterious new girl,” he added. “So I’d say ditching paid off pretty well.”

She felt herself blush, and hoped he didn’t notice. “I’m hardly mysterious.”

“I don’t know. You won’t tell me why you’re not in session. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

She stared at her feet. “That’s because it’s too embarrassing.”

“I love embarrassing!” He laughed when she stayed silent. “Will you at least tell me where you’re supposed to be?”

She sighed. “Alchemy with Lady Galvin.”

“Ugh, she’s the worst. I had her as a Level Three—and she hated me, probably because I turned the lab table to silver. But she said she wanted me to impress her.” He winked. “Still, I wouldn’t mention that we’re friends if I were you.”

Friends?

Since when did cool, cute boys want to be her friend? Not that she was complaining. . . .

“So, what, did Lady Galvin kick you out or something?” he asked.

“Kind of.”

“Now this I have to hear.”

“You’re going to laugh at me.”

“Probably,” he agreed.

He clearly wasn’t going to let it go, so she kept her eyes glued to the floor. “I accidentally exploded the serum I was making.”

Right on cue, he burst into laughter. “Did you do any damage?”

“Only to her cape—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Do you have any idea how epic that is? That cape is her pride and joy! Did she send you to Dame Alina’s office?”

“No, she sent me to the Healing Center. A little of it got on my hand.” She glared at the ugly red welt.

He studied her for a second, then shook his head. “Wow, most girls would be crying about a wound like that—most guys too. Even I’d be playing it up for sympathy and stuff.”

“It must look worse than it is.”

“Still, don’t you think you should get it treated?”

“I guess.”

He laughed again. “You just turned whiter than these walls. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” There was no way she was telling him about her doctor phobia—she’d never hear the end of it.

“Come on, then. I’m taking you to the Healing Center so you don’t get lost again.” He hooked his arm through hers and dragged her away before she could resist.