Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Keeper
Chapter Sixteen

The Birthday Party

When Thea returned to the ground floor of the Crowning Chamber, the room was still crowded with Alchemists and Chemists. She couldn’t spot her parents anywhere. Unable to decide what else to do, she merely went to the exit and let everyone walk by her as she searched the crowds with her eyes. All the while, she couldn’t stop thinking about how her parents had escorted her to the Great Hall for her own safety. Was she in danger right now without them there to look after her?

Then she spotted her mother in the crowd, and she held her hand up in a rush of relief and waved at her. “Thea, where have you been?” her mother asked with measured patience as she marched forward and grabbed Thea’s hand.

“I was just with my friend,” Thea said. She knew she would need to lie to her mother about the secret passageway and going into the city, and she braced herself.

“I’ve been here this entire time, and I couldn’t replace you. Where did you sit for meditation?”

Thea looked down at the polished marble tiles below her feet. Then she took a breath and prepared a half-truth. “We were under here.” She pointed straight down.

“Under the mezzanine?” her mother clarified.

“Yeah.” Thea looked up into her mother’s face and hoped she wasn’t turning red from lying.

Her mother took her to the side away from all listening ears. “Thea, you have always been free to come and go as you please on the ranch, because there wasn’t much in the way of danger there. But here, there is so much that could happen. Your new friend could be a spy sent by the Breaker’s Shadows.”

“She’s not!” Thea said, shaking her head angrily. “She’s a good person, Momma! She was helping people!”

“Helping people?” She furrowed her eyebrows at Thea.

“I mean … she helped me, and a few others meditate. She’s really good at it.” The lie made Thea feel giddy with adrenaline.

Her mother waved her hand dismissively. “Regardless, can’t you see that I only want you to be safe here?”

Realizing what she had risked on her little trip outside, Thea slowly looked up at her mother and nodded. “I only wanted to make a friend,” she said finally. “I’ll stay with you next time.”

Her mother looked into Thea’s face for a moment. Thea tried to look back at her, but her eyes ended up wandering off toward the wall of books in the library behind her mother. “Well, you’ll be attending your lessons soon enough anyway,” her mother said finally. “I can’t keep my eye on you every second of the day.”

Just then, her father came up the steps from the dojo. “There you are Allie!” he said. “I’ve been losing my mind, looking all over for you.”

“Sorry, Daddy,” Thea said, in all honesty. It hadn’t occurred to her that her parents would worry this much about her. Yes, she had disappeared without saying anything, but she had only been gone for an hour. Nothing had happened, even though she had gone all the way outside with another Spectrum Scholar.

Her mother let out a quiet tinkle of laughter. “It’s okay, Thea.” She came over too, and they ended up in a big group hug on the mezzanine with Alchemists and Chemists walking by to return to their lessons. “We’re just relieved that you’re safe.”

Thea smiled uneasily and hugged them both. “Yeah, me too,” she admitted in a wavering voice, her throat suddenly closing up from the intense emotions.

“You remember what I said about the Code Breaker, Allie,” her father said under his breath so that Thea could barely hear him. “The moment a Shadow Alchemist sees you in that Spectrum Vest, you could be in all sorts of danger. They could lie to you, or try to manipulate you, so it’s best to make sure we always know where you are.”

Thea gulped and nodded. “I understand.”

“Come on, now, let’s head on over to your birthday part,” he said, and they turned to leave the Crowning Chamber.

Her father knocked on the door to Aunt Fanella’s domicile, and someone instantly pulled the door open and jumped out into the hallway. It was a boy, several years younger than Thea, with wavy sandy blond hair, brown eyes, and a manly hooked nose that made him look older than he actually was. “Are you my Uncle Owen and my Aunt Fiona?” the boy asked. He didn’t wait for an answer. “And cousin Thea! Mum, they’re here!” he yelled as he ran back inside.

Before Thea and her parents could step inside, Aunt Fanella came to the door and screamed with excitement, giving each of them a stifling hug, reserving extras for the birthday girl. Thea smiled as she stepped inside, followed by her parents.

Their home resembled her own parents’ domicile in nearly every way. Golden streamers floated in midair around the room, glowing softly.

Then she spotted two Chimaeras sprawled out in front of a small wood burning stove, both the size of large dogs: the lyndis lying beside what looked like a griffin, with the body of a lion and the head, wings, and talons of an eagle. The griffin-Chimaera watched in unsettling silence as the guests came through the door.

A man sat in a big green armchair. He had dark hair and the same hooked nose as the boy who had opened the door. His slicked back hair and pronounced widow’s peak gave Thea the distinct impression of a hawk. He wore orange robes and held a wooden quarterstaff across his lap. The man stood up and came forward to shake her father’s hand. “It’s good to have you back, Presten,” he said with a crooked grin. “We need all the Hands we can get. And Fiona, you look lovely as ever.” He took her hand and gave her a gentlemanly kiss on her hand. “Is it good to be home?”

“Of course; it’s like we never left,” Thea’s mother said with a polite smile. “Silvanus, this is my daughter Thea.” She turned and gestured for Thea to come forward.

The man, Silvanus, paused awkwardly when his eyes met Thea’s, and Thea noticed that his hooked nose perfectly matched the beak of his Chimaera. In the awkward silence, Thea stared at the floor. “Yes, Althea,” Silvanus said finally. “I heard you have been paired with Todd Alder. A fine match. You two will do marvelous things together, no doubt.” Silvanus clapped Thea’s father on the shoulder. “Just like your old man and me. People still tell stories about our Joint Trial, don’t they, Presten?”

Thea’s dad laughed. “We were one heck of a Pair, that’s for sure,” he said.

“Don’t get us started on that,” Thea’s mother said.

“What?” Thea asked, realizing just how little she truly knew about her parents. It was shocking to fully appreciate that all her life, Thea thought her parents were boring ranchers with no stories to tell, when in reality, they had lived exciting lives as Alchemists, doing important work for the Keeper. Thea couldn’t wait to learn more about their pasts, how they had met, and everything. “Tell me the story,” Thea begged.

“Maybe after the celebration,” her father said. “Tonight should be about you, after all.”

“I got you this!” said the boy as he jumped out of nowhere with a rectangular package in his hands.

“Quentin!” Aunt Fanella said with a laugh. “Tell the truth! That present is from all Thea’s cousins, not just you.” Aunt Fanella turned to Thea. “Your other cousins are off completing Trials and working for the Keeper all over the world. They wish they could be here, though.”

The boy, Quentin, smiled sheepishly and tried again to hand the package to Thea, nicely this time. Thea smiled and took the present, replaceing it to be much heavier than she’d expected. Thea immediately used both hands to hold the heavy package. That’s when she noticed the other presents someone had piled on the couch in the room.

“Can we do presents now, mum? Please?” Quentin asked, almost as though it was his birthday instead of Thea’s.

“That’s up to Thea,” Aunt Fanella said with a grin.

Thea nodded, suddenly excited at the idea of getting birthday presents from Alchemists. She sat on the couch near the small mound of presents, and Silvanus returned to his green armchair, while Aunt Fanella claimed the pink chair beside him, and Thea’s parents sat on the couch with Thea. Quentin sprawled out on the floor and let out a cheer. Thea couldn’t help but wonder exactly how old Quentin was. He was only a head or so shorter than Thea, but she was short for her age. She knew it would be nice to live so close to her cousin. Now with Quentin and Tajana, Thea would finally have friends who weren’t animals. She would finally be able to play with someone who wasn’t one of her parents or an animal.

Thea peeled away the golden wrapping paper of the gift from her cousins and found herself holding two wooden boxes engraved with the Cerulean Insignia—three overlapping Circles, a triangle, and one last circle in the center. Thea handed one box to Quentin and opened the hinges of the other box to reveal a crystal ball fitted in the felt lining of the box.

Alchemy has crystal balls? Thea wondered as she took the ball from the box. Unlike a typical crystal ball, it was impossible to see through because instead of water and sparkles, the glass globe had been filled with a thick shimmery silver liquid. A strong herbal smell permeated the room, coming from a small silver pouch that had been hidden under the crystal ball inside the box.

Inside the box, she found a silver crystal ball stand engraved with three Chimaeras that formed a circle to hold up the crystal ball. Quentin sat up on his knees and took the stand out of Thea’s box. He pointed to each Chimaera. “Here’s an aquileo like my dad’s” he said, pointing at the griffin-like creature. “And this is a falquos,” he said, pointing at what looked like a hippogriff. “And a pacerta,” Quentin said, pointing at a dragon-like Chimaera with four legs and scaly horned overlapping forewings and hindwings.

Quentin opened the other box and took out the crystal ball and silver stand with three different Chimaeras. “And the noctos,” he said, pointing at a creature that looked just like Thea’s Chimaera, C.C. “And the vesperta,” he said, pointing at another dragon that looked more like Todd’s, with leathery bat wings attached to the Chimaera’s fore and hind legs. “And this one’s a caprequos,” he finished, with his finger on the unicorn’s horn. So that was what Tajana’s Chimaera Dušan was called. Caprequos. Thea smiled softly.

“Thanks Quentin,” Thea said. “They’re awesome.”

“You don’t even know what they do!” Quentin said, jumping to his feet. “You can spy on people now!”

“Quentin!” Aunt Fanella said sternly. “A divination globe is not for spying, it’s for scrying.” Fanella turned to Thea. “Nowadays, divination globes are made in pairs. The second one will go to your parents. Use the white petals of the Sacred Datura as the Component. Code Word Divinitas. Gaze into the mercury inside the globe and you will see out through the other globe. With enough practice, you can learn to hear as well as see, and then you can hold conversations across any distance, small or great.”

“You mean like a telephone?” Thea asked.

“Oh sure, compare it to those strange Recreant contraptions.” Fanella waved her hand in annoyance. “Just you remember, Alchemists have been using globes and mirrors and even scrying bowls, to communicate across long distances for millennia. I wouldn’t be surprised if we gave them the idea for their contraptions in the first place.”

“I think it’s awesome,” Thea said with a smile. She set the crystal ball on its stand. It fit snuggly in the embrace of the three silver Chimaeras. Quentin put both boxes on the coffee table, and then he put the first globe atop a box, right above the Divination Insignia on the lid. Thea handed the second globe to Quentin, and he set it atop the other box in its stand.

Thea took another gift from the stack on the couch. Instantly, she knew it was a book, and she saw the tag that proclaimed it was a gift from her parents. She tore apart the wrapping paper to reveal a thin plain brown book embossed with Alchemy Symbols. Thea flipped through the empty pages and realized it was a journal.

“A Chemist’s Burgeoning Compendium,” her mother explained. “It’s enchanted to add more pages as you need them,” she said with a smile. “But on the outside, it’ll always stay thin. Plus, it has every tool you could possibly need to draw all the different Conversion Circles.” She gestured for Thea to open the journal again.

Thea opened it again and found a collection of tools all fitted in their own pockets in the front cover: a medium-length pencil with an eraser, a ruler that folded once so it would fit in the notebook, as well as a metal compass and circular protractor.

“That is a renewing pencil,” her father explained. “Every time you put it back in its pocket, it will return to its original state by sharpening itself and renewing the eraser. The compass has two preset sizes for making inner Insignias, and you can trace the protractor as well to make the outer Conversion Circles.”

“It’s for your lessons, not your stories,” Thea’s mother finished, and she gave Thea a wink. Thea smiled and hugged the journal. She almost couldn’t believe something this magnificent actually existed.

“What stories?” Quentin asked excitedly.

“Oh, you don’t know.” Her father grinned. “Allie’s an amateur author. She’s written, what? Fifteen books?”

“Fifteen? Wow!” Quentin exclaimed.

Thea nodded with an embarrassed smile at Quentin. Then she took another small bag from the stack.

“That one’s from me,” Aunt Fanella said.

Thea pulled a tiny box from the bag and opened it. Inside she found a silvery pendant engraved with a simple Insignia. A circle within a circle, with a crescent moon around the inner circle and connecting it to the outer circle. Inside the inner circle, there was a peculiar Symbol. The Amalgam Fragment, Thea recognized immediately.

“It’s a Fortification Charm,” Aunt Fanella said. “To keep you from losing your memory again.” She gave her an apologetic smile.

“Again?” Thea raised her eyebrows, suddenly very uncomfortable. She hadn’t told anyone about the argument with Todd, or about how Todd stole her memories because some tutor told him to.

“Althea hasn’t lost her memory to an Extraction Conversion,” Uncle Silvanus said with a stern look on his face.

“Of course she has. She just doesn’t remember, of course,” Aunt Fanella said. “When we arrived in Bergen, an entire crowd of Recreants saw us, so I had to take care of them, but Thea didn’t have a charm yet. I feel just awful about it.”

Uncle Silvanus gave Aunt Fanella a slow nod. “I … see,” he said.

Thea took the necklace out of the box and clasped it around her neck. “Thanks Aunt Fanella. I feel much safer now.” She made a playful smile, but the truth was that she felt incredibly uncomfortable. She couldn’t quite figure out why, but it made her think about C.C. The tiny Chimaera seemed to be sleeping in her pocket.

“There’s more,” Aunt Fanella said, and Thea went back to the bag and found another small box with yet another necklace charm. This one was in the shape of the Cerulean Fragment. “That one is an Intuition Amulet, to help you understand other languages,” Aunt Fanella explained. “With so many people from all over the world, all gathering here at Blackthorn and Burtree, it would be impossible to attend lessons without it. All you must do is put it on, and you’ll be able to understand anyone who talks to you. If they have one too, then they’ll be able to understand you as well.”

“Neat! Thank you, Aunt Fanella!” Thea put the necklace on and smiled as she took up the next present and tore the paper. It was also a small box, very long and thin. She opened it to replace a heavy silver quill pen inlaid with a fancy design and topped with a gray feather.

“That’s a solid silver Endless Ink Quill,” Uncle Silvanus said. “It doesn’t need an ink well, because it will never run out of ink. It also writes on any surface. Pure silver so your breath can shrink it. And the feather serves as a Component to enlarge it again. Very handy when you’re caught in a pinch.” He winked at Thea.

“Wow! Thanks, Uncle Silvanus.” Thea put the quill back in the box and reached for the next present, a medium sized bag with a tag wishing her a happy birthday from the Keeper. “The Keeper got me a present?” Thea looked up at her parents in surprise. They both nodded with smiling faces.

“The Keeper got Thea a present?” Quentin said. “Wow! He must really like you.”

Thea hesitated. She highly doubted that the Keeper gave every new Chemist a birthday present. She was reminded of what her father said about the ranch being the Keeper’s idea. She knew he wanted her to grow up safe, but she never imagined he would give her gifts, as if he was her grandfather.

Thea reached into the bag and pulled out some shimmery tissue paper. Wrapped in the paper, she found the most interesting contraption she’d ever seen. It fit in the palm of her hand, a circular dial with roman numerals like a sundial. A tree was engraved into the dial’s center, complete with a silver key locking the knothole in the tree trunk; the key protruded from the sun dial to cast a shadow on the roman numerals. But most amazingly, a miniature sun floated above the sundial, flashing red and yellow with miniature solar flares. “Wow,” Thea said with wonder.

“What a fantastic present,” Thea’s mother said. “You will need to thank him.”

Thea nodded with her eyes on the suspended sun. She smiled in wonder at the thought that such a magical thing could be created with Alchemy.

Finally, she took up the last present, which was from her parents, a large square package. She tore the wrapping paper away and inside she found a chest of drawers engraved with leaves and vines. There were seven drawers. Thea opened one drawer to replace that it was divided into many small empty compartments.

“To keep all your Components,” her father explained. “You have enough compartments there for every single Component you could possibly think of, and a drawer for each Fragment to help you keep them sorted.”

“Cool,” Thea said. “Now I just have to fill it up.”

“Oh, you will,” her mother said with a friendly hug. “You will!”