Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Keeper
Chapter Forty-Three

The Retreat

Thea felt herself walk to the door. Against her will, she waved a hand, and the Protection Conversion faded away. C.C. followed her out the door, which had been blown off the hinges while Thea had been trapped inside. She left the mansion, walking calmly across the battlefield that the yard had become.

Thea let out a mental sigh when she saw that her father was still on his Chimaera. Uncle Van and Aunt Fanella were kneeling by Tajana and Corwyn, while Bria and the Keeper stood watch over them.

Chadwick’s father was the first to see Thea coming. He shouted, “Presten, look!”

Her father looked up, and his face washed out with relief. He and Chadwick’s father both took off on their mounts to meet Thea halfway across the yard. The Shadows had stopped attacking and instead, retreated back into the mansion, making it easy for the two to approach unharmed.

“Allie! Are you okay?” he shouted as he was nearly to Thea.

Thea felt herself nod. “I think so,” she answered against her will. She tried so hard to scream for help or run, or anything. Anything to let him know she wasn’t okay. But she just wasn’t capable of controlling her own actions.

Her father jumped off Tawny and grabbed Thea, forcing her face up so he could look in her eyes. Thea didn’t quite look right back at him.

“Allie?!” he said.

Thea blinked and looked through her father. “I’m okay,” she said in a hollow voice.

“Something’s wrong,” Chadwick’s father said, but he didn’t need to tell Thea’s father, who was already leading her toward the Keeper.

“Keeper!” her father called as he tried to pull Thea along. “Something’s wrong with Allie.”

The Keeper hurried to meet them. Thea felt herself reach into her pocket and pull out Dušan. The Keeper looked into Thea’s eyes and then took the Chimaera and ran him back to Tajana as quickly as possible.

Her father took her chin in his hand and made her look up into his face again. “Allie. Talk to me,” he pleaded. “What happened?”

“I’m okay,” Thea repeated. Her eyes stared just slightly off to the left. She tried so hard to give her father a look, or shake her head in her father’s grasp, but it was no use.

He pulled Thea into his arms. “What were you thinking?” he demanded. “You could have died. They could have taken you from us forever. You have years of schooling to get through before you can run into a fight like that again, you got that?”

Inside, Thea was screaming for help, but on the outside, she merely stood there in her father’s embrace, ignoring his words.

“Allie? Say something, please.” He pulled back and shook her slightly.

“Is Tajana okay?” Thea heard herself ask.

“She’s in shock, but now that she has her Chimaera back, she should recover,” he answered.

Chadwick came running up with a huge smile on his face. “Al! You barmy bird! I didn’t know you knew kung fu!” He shook Thea’s shoulders hard enough to warrant a reaction, but Thea didn’t even flinch. “What’s wrong?” A look of concern washed over Chadwick’s face, and he patted Thea’s shoulder gently. “Al. You alright?” When Thea didn’t respond, Chadwick looked at Thea’s father. “What did they do to her?” He sounded incredibly concerned, but more than that, he was obviously angry at the Shadows for what they’d done to Thea.

“Here,” her father said to Chadwick’s father. “Help me get her over to the Keeper.”

The two of them lifted her up and carried her back to the Keeper, while Chadwick and C.C. took up the rear.

Finally, they reached the group, and Thea saw Tajana sitting up in Aunt Fanella’s arms, and she breathed a mental sigh of relief. She tried desperately to think of some way to let them know that she was under the Nightmare’s control, but she couldn’t so much as blink of her own free will.

“Keeper?” her father said, obviously out of patience. “Something’s the matter with Allie.”

The Keeper rose to his feet and finally gave Thea his undivided attention. He stared at Thea for a moment and then looked down to replace a Component in one of his many pockets. In the blink of an eye, Thea felt her face contort with rage, and against her will, she held up her hand toward the Keeper and shouted, “Inanis!”

A black tear appeared in the air right between them.

“Keeper!” her father shouted, and he jumped between them and pushed the Keeper safely out of harm’s way.

Thea watched in horror as a sickening black light engulfed her father. His body seemed to disintegrate before Thea’s eyes. Then with a heart-stopping cry, he was sucked up into the black gash suspended in the space in front of Thea, and a cloudy crystal fell to the ground alongside the lightning gun.

In the next instant, Thea regained control of herself. She stared down at the crystal and fell to her knees. “Daddy!” Her eyes clouded over with tears. “No!” she screamed.

Then the Breaker’s men stepped back out of the mansion and fired several Conversions at the group.

“Quickly, we must retreat,” the Keeper shouted as he knelt to pick up the crystal.

Thea hung her head and shook with violent sobs. Her heart felt like it was tearing open with each beat. She grabbed her chest, leaned forward on the ground, and tried to breathe around her anguish. Several elemental attacks whizzed by over her head, but she ignored the danger and continued to cry. Finally, Chadwick’s dad and Uncle Van pulled Thea to her feet and dragged her away, with C.C. trotting right behind.

The group retreated into the night.

Once the group was across the moat, they started summoning their various forms of flight. Aunt Fanella quickly enlarged Winward, then she and Uncle Van mounted up together. Bria mounted her pardutris and Chadwick’s dad mounted Bannon. Chadwick looked at Thea as she stood there hiccupping in between her sobs. “Al?” he said in a soft voice. “You alright to fly out of here?” he asked, nodding at C.C.

Thea tried to blink the tears out of her eyes, but more tears just kept on coming. She covered her face with her hands and tried to stop sobbing.

Chadwick put his hand on Thea’s shoulder. “Come on, love. We have to get out of here.” He looked back the way they had come, dancing on the balls of his feet and biting his lip.

Thea. C.C. nudged Thea’s head with her nose. The Chimaera sent her a blast of raw feelings: love and apprehension mingled together in a confused whirlwind of emotions. It’s time to go now.

Thea turned to look back at the Shadow Mansion, her heart aching in her chest. All she wanted to do was run back the way they had come and try to bring her father back. But she didn’t know how. She didn’t even know if she could bring him back.

Tawny came up beside Thea and flicked her tongue with her head tilted slightly. Then she turned to look at C.C. and a tickle rippled through Thea’s brain.

Tawny says your father is alive, C.C. told her.

What? Thea looked at Tawny.

He’s trapped in an Eternity Prison. You can get him out, but we have to leave for now, C.C. added, turning to look behind them; Shadows were coming after them from the mansion. Come on, Thea, she pleaded, and she knelt down so Thea could mount up.

Finally, Thea nodded and grabbed the base of C.C.’s wing. Chadwick stepped up and gave Thea a boost up onto C.C.’s back.

“Chadwick,” she said as she straightened up.

Chadwick looked up at Thea, and she noticed how sad he looked. Sad for her, and for her dad, she realized. Maybe he thought Thea’s dad had just died.

“You ride on Tawny with Tajana,” she said, pointing to her father’s Chimaera; the feathery dragon Chimaera was more than large enough to carry the two of them. “My dad would want it that way.”

Chadwick nodded silently, turned to take Tajana’s hand, and helped her climb up Tawny’s forearm and settle herself on the saddle strapped to the Chimaera’s back. Chadwick mounted up right behind her. He wrapped his arms around Tajana, and Thea glimpsed a sheepish smile spread across his face.

The Keeper shrank Sampson, put him safely in his pocket, and turned back into his winged form. With one talon, he picked up the lifeless body of Corwyn and then they all took to the skies.

The long flight went by without incident. When the group finally landed outside the town of Alkborough, Thea was yawning and blurry eyed. She slid off C.C.’s back and leaned against her side. C.C. stood strongly, holding her up. You know, you weigh just about as much as I do, so I carried twice the load half as far. I do believe that means I win the flying contest, C.C. said with a snort.

Nuh uh! Thea replied silently. I carried Quentin all this way, and then turned around and flew back too!

I could fly all the way back to that forsaken Shadow Mansion without a problem, C.C. told her.

Then let’s do it, C.C. Let’s go back and rescue my dad!

C.C. was quiet for a long moment. I wish we could. I’m sorry to say that we must wait for another time to truly see who is the better flier.

Thea almost smiled, but then she let out a single sob. She put her face in the crook of her elbow, turned to lean into C.C., and tried not to cry, but she failed miserably.

Everything will be okay, Thea, C.C. promised as she craned her neck around to nuzzle Thea’s brown curly hair. Thea felt C.C.’s wing caress her back, just as she sent her a blast of love. We’ll go back very soon and rescue your father. Just be a little patient, okay?

Thea nodded, wiped her face, and pulled away from C.C.

Tajana was standing right beside Thea, holding back her blonde hair as it blew in the breeze. She looked a little wobbly, but after the long flight, she seemed to have recovered, at least somewhat. She hesitantly touched Thea’s elbow, and Thea turned toward her and hugged her tightly. Tajana held her silently while everyone shrank their mounts.

The Keeper turned back into his human form and created a portal to take them home. Everyone circled up around the beam of white light. They waited patiently for the two girls.

Tajana finally pulled away from the hug. Thea put her hand on C.C. and shrank her down to her normal pocket-size; nobody seemed to notice that she didn’t use a Conversion Circle, or that she Conjured the earth Component from thin air before performing the Conversion, even though she had never learned how to do that. Someone had already shrank Tawny, and Tajana handed the lavem to Thea; she put C.C. and Tawny into her pants pockets.

Tajana grabbed Thea’s left hand, and then Chadwick took her right hand, and they approached the Dimension Gate.

The Keeper waved his hand, and Corwyn’s body floated in the air near Bria, who grabbed hold of his hand, and then they all joined hands in a circle and the Keeper counted to three.

The group walked into the Dimension Gate together.

Thea looked around, feeling strangely at home in this alien fourth-dimensional world. She spotted the Infinimages of her group landing and preparing and then gathering around the Dimension Gate, all in the same instantaneous moment, frozen in time in front of her.

Then suddenly, Thea saw something that made her stop. There was some very large thing under the ground. Since the Crystal Dimension makes everything translucent, she could almost see what was down there, but not quite. It was circular and looked almost like a Conversion Circle. For a moment, Thea stared down and tried to figure out what she was looking at, but Aunt Fanella took her hand and said, “Let’s stay together, hmm? Everyone is already on their way.”

Thea and Aunt Fanella practically flew through the fourth dimension, taking up the rear of their odd group. Thea numbly watched the crystallized world whiz by them as they went northeast toward Norway. They passed over the United Kingdom in the blink of an eye, then they crossed the North Sea and reached the coast of Norway in literally no time at all.

When they approached the giant black tree atop the cliff, Thea noticed something that she hadn’t seen when she was here the first time. Thanks to the translucence of the Crystal Dimension, Thea could see that the tree was hollow.

And inside the tree, millions of books were suspended on the rings of the tree trunk, almost as if the rings were book shelves. There was definitely something peculiar about the books, but again, just as Thea tried to really take a look, her aunt pulled her along after everybody.

“What are those books, Aunt Fanella?” Thea asked.

“Oh, nothing you need to worry about,” Aunt Fanella said.

“Aunt Fanella!” Thea said with a frown. “What are those books?” she repeated hotly, pointing at the tree up on the cliff.

Aunt Fanella surmised that Thea wasn’t going to take anything but the truth for her answer, so she sighed and said, “Thea, those are the Crystal Chronicles.”

“What are the Crystal Chronicles?” Thea asked, turning to look up at the translucent books.

“A collection of insights written by Astral Dreamers who work for the Keeper, studying the Infinimages and recording what they see. One might call them divinations or omens, histories both past and future. They only exist in the Crystal Dimension, and they are very well protected, so don’t even think about going to take a look.”

Thea nodded, though she continued to stare at the mysterious books as her aunt pulled her along.

The Keeper had already led the group down underground through the tunnel underneath the World Tree, and Thea and Fanella hurried to follow after them. The Keeper drew the Conversion Circle to return them to the third dimension. The odd group came out of the portal right in front of the Keeper’s Chamber, amid a crowd of Keeper’s Animarum with a few Chemists and Alchemists standing close by.

Thea’s mother and Quentin were there, holding hands and waiting nervously with Twitchet sitting beside them. Just as Thea spotted her mother, her mother saw them, and she came running with tears brimming in her eyes. “Oh, Thea! I’m so glad you’re alright!” She pulled her into a hug.

Thea felt tears leak out onto her mother’s shoulder. She sniffed and hugged her back as the sadness grew and grew until Thea couldn’t hold it in anymore. She started sobbing, and her mother pulled away to look at her. “Thea, what happened?”

Thea opened her mouth, shook her head, and swallowed. She looked away, and her eyes came to rest on the Keeper.

Her mother marched up to the Keeper, practically dragging Thea after her. “Keeper, where is my husband?”

“Fiona,” the Keeper said, placing a soft hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry to tell you this.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out the cloudy black crystal that had dropped to the ground after Thea’s father had disappeared into the Eternity Prison. “The Breaker trapped Owen in an Eternity Prison.”

Her mother took the crystal, her eyes wide. “No; oh no,” she uttered. “You need to get him back. You need to rescue him.”

“We will, we will,” the Keeper assured her. “As soon as we can, but first, I need to speak to the three Spectrum Scholars. Chadwick? Tajana?” the Keeper said, raising his voice.

Close by, Thea saw Chadwick standing with a small group, including his father and a lady Thea had never seen before, plus a boy in a Chemist’s vest. Thea assumed the lady was Chadwick’s mother and the boy was his brother; they both somewhat resembled each other. The woman had long chestnut colored hair, a beautiful honey colored face, and a tall slender figure; she wore the white cape of a Keeper’s Anima, with a thin line of orange in the hood and sleeves. The boy had the same black hair as Chadwick, and he wore a long indigo vest, which meant he was several years older than Chadwick

Tajana was standing alone, holding Dušan in her hand. She seemed to be having a silent conversation with her Chimaera. There was a deep frown on her face, and she shook her head and bit her lip.

Tajana and Chadwick both looked up when the Keeper called their names.

“May I speak with you three in my chambers?” the Keeper asked, and Tajana nodded right away and came over. Chadwick pulled himself away from his mother with a genuine smile. He seemed to be reassuring her that he would be right back. Then he turned to the Chemist in the indigo vest and said something, holding his hand out to clasp hands with the boy.

Finally, Chadwick came over, and the Keeper led the three of them through his massive door into the room with a tree for a table and a fjord for a ceiling.