Page 18 of Alchemy of Secrets
When Holland was younger, whenever she got sick enough to miss school, she always told Aunt Beth that she thought she was going to die. Then, of course, Aunt Beth would reassure her she wasn’t going to be killed by a cough or the sniffles or horrible cramps.
Holland wanted Gabe to reassure her now. She wanted him to tell her that, despite what he’d just said, she didn’t need to worry, she wasn’t going to die, not as long as she had him to keep her alive.
But Gabe didn’t say any of those things. He looked as if this was not what he’d signed up for when January had asked for help.
“I’m just telling you the truth,” he said. “The Watch Man is always right.”
“Wait—how do you know about the Watch Man?”
“The better question is, how do you?” Gabe looked at her again, as if he found her less than impressive, and he couldn’t understand how she knew much of anything, let alone an obscure myth.
Holland straightened her spine and met his dismissive gaze straight on.
“I might not be good at fleeing crime scenes and burying all my emotions, but I know a lot about folklore, and the Professor I want to visit is an expert on urban myths and legends. If anyone would know where to find this Alchemical Heart, it’s her. I tried to Google it but—”
Gabe scoffed. “You can’t Google the Alchemical Heart.”
Holland felt her face go red once more. “I know that now . So will you please tell me what it is?”
He sighed. “It’s a myth.”
Normally, Holland loved the word myth . When she heard myth , she imagined her world was about to get bigger.
She believed there was always some truth to every story.
Myths and legends had to come from somewhere.
But Gabe didn’t sound as if he believed that.
He said the word myth the way a parent might say fairytale to a very small child.
“I still want to hear about it,” Holland said.
“All right,” said Gabe begrudgingly. “Have you ever heard of the Sacred Order of the Parallel Dawn?”
Holland had a sudden flash of a shiny brochure that read, Welcome, new recruit!
But she was fairly certain it was a product of her overactive mind trying to find a connection to a class she’d taken on secret societies, because this definitely had the sound of one.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it,” she said.
“But I am familiar with the Order of the Solar Temple and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.”
Gabe looked less than impressed. “This secret society is far older than either of those. It was formed at the start of the Middle Ages by a group who believed in a parallel world that contained magic. The story goes that after one of the members died and then came back to life in a ritual, they claimed to have visited this parallel world and brought back proof in the form of an object that later would become known as the Alchemical Heart.”
The traffic on the freeway came to a halt.
Gabe’s eyes darted around the neighboring cars, and then he checked all his windows and mirrors before saying, “No one knows what the Alchemical Heart looks like, but it’s said to be so powerful that any person it comes near gains an ability, and any object it touches fills with magic.
The Sacred Order realized too late that once any form of magic was created, it could not be destroyed.
The magic or ability would simply be passed on to another person or object.
This is when the Sacred Order of the Parallel Dawn began to fracture.
One faction wanted to destroy the Alchemical Heart. ”
“Wait,” Holland interrupted. “I thought you said magic can’t be destroyed.”
“It can’t be,” Gabe said. “But the Alchemical Heart is said to be the source of all magic, and some people believe that if the Alchemical Heart is destroyed, all the magic it has created will be destroyed as well.”
“This sounds like the most powerful object in the world,” said Holland.
Gabe shot her a look that seemed to say, Thanks for stating the obvious, toots .
“I’m not just stating the obvious. The Professor taught a class on this.
She talked about an object hidden away in a chained library.
” Holland gave him a quick recap, finishing with how the chained book was returned, hollow and empty.
“She never called it the Alchemical Heart, though—she just said it was the most powerful object in the world.”
“That could definitely be it.” Gabe looked at Holland as if she wasn’t completely useless after all.
She tried to hide her grin. She really didn’t care about impressing him. It just felt good to finally have some sort of grip on what was happening. “I just wonder why the Professor didn’t mention it by name?”
“Probably because there is an entire organization dedicated to erasing the Alchemical Heart from history,” Gabe replied. “The Professor’s story sounds vague enough that it wouldn’t draw their notice. But they might kill you for hearing the story I told you.”
“Then how do you know it?”
Gabe scowled. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“I’m just trying to stay alive.”
“I hate to tell you this, but the chances of that aren’t very good.
Like I said, the Alchemical Heart is a myth.
There’s a rumor about a list of dates—months and years—that say when it’s going to pop up, but as far as I know, all that list does is get people who search for the Alchemical Heart killed. ”
Holland had never heard about such a list. Although if it really did get people killed, she could understand why the Professor never shared it.
“If you’re afraid of dying, you don’t have to help me,” Holland said. “All you have to do is drop me off at the Professor’s house.”
Gabe sighed. Holland couldn’t tell if it was an I need to get rid of her sigh or an I don’t actually care about dying sigh. “You really trust this Professor of yours?”
“With my life,” Holland said.
“Tell me where she lives again.”
“It’s actually the next exit.” The cars on the freeway started moving once more and Holland quickly recited the directions.
“I’ll take you there,” Gabe said. “But once we’re there, if I say we go, we go, no questions asked.”
Holland nodded. Although he really was insane if he thought she was ever getting in a car with him again.