Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Keeper
Chapter Thirty-Four

The Homunculus

“So now what?” Quentin asked.

“The way I see it, the Shadows are gonna be back any minute to take that tray out of here,” Chadwick said, nodding at the plastic tray from their meal. “When they come to take it away, we have to be ready to extract the glass from the window so we can get out.”

“Then we need to get ready now,” Thea said. She took the quill out of her pocket. “Quick, Tajana! Take the pen.”

Tajana snatched the quill from Thea and got to her feet to head to the bathroom.

Thea watched her go and suddenly realized a problem with their plan. “Wait. What if they notice you’re missing, Tajana? They might check the bathroom for you and see that you extracted the glass from the window.”

Tajana stopped and looked back at Chadwick. She bit her lip.

“The only reason why they didn’t notice Chadwick was in the bathroom last time was because—” Thea took a breath. “Because of what happened to Todd.”

“You’re probably right.” Tajana started pacing.

“We need to make a homunculus,” Chadwick said.

“A what?” Thea asked, her eyes big with curiosity.

“How do you know what a homunculus is?” Tajana asked.

“Oh, come on, everyone knows that!”

“Everyone except me!” Thea said.

“It’s an animated doll; some people call it a golem,” Tajana explained. “I don’t know how to make one.” She looked away from everyone and brushed her hair behind her ears.

“That’s rubbish. I know you know how,” Chadwick said after watching Tajana carefully.

“I haven’t had that lesson!” Tajana insisted. “That’s a level seven lesson, and you have to swear an Oath of secrecy when you learn it, and besides, not everyone can learn how to make a homunculus.” Tajana shifted her feet awkwardly.

“You’re lying,” Chadwick said confidently.

“I am not!” Tajana scoffed.

“Whenever you lie, your ears go red and you always play with your hair.” Chadwick gestured to Tajana’s hand as she brushed her hair behind her ears for the second time. Her ears were bright red.

She groaned and looked up at the ceiling.

“Come on!” Chadwick said with a laugh. “You have no problem breaking the rules for your little orphans. Where’s your passionate spirit when we need it?”

Tajana sighed. “Fine. I know how to make it—”

“—I knew it!” Chadwick interjected.

“—But we don’t have what we need to animate it. Besides, that’s a dangerous Conversion, Chadwick, and I don’t have time to teach you how to do it.”

“Don’t worry,” Chadwick said. “We’ll switch places, so I go into the bathroom again. And the animating part isn’t important. We can just create my homunculus and put it on the floor. It’ll look like I’m sleeping.”

“That might work,” Tajana admitted. “But the first Conversion is rather dangerous, and I only watched someone do this once. I’ve never actually performed the Conversion myself. Are you sure you want to try this?”

“It’s our best idea,” Thea said.

“Correction, it’s our only idea,” Chadwick retorted.

Tajana wavered, trying to decide what to do. Finally, she nodded and said, “I need a little bit of your hair.”

Chadwick ran his fingers through his dark hair. He roughly messed up his hair and tugged until he finally pulled several strands free. He handed the hair to Tajana and said, “I trust you.” She nodded and drew a Sigil on the floor with the Endless Ink Quill. Thea watched carefully, curious to see how a homunculus was created. Quentin came up behind them, obviously interested too.

To Thea’s surprise, Tajana placed Chadwick’s hair on the Sigil. Thea had expected the hair to be a Component, but it was the Focus instead.

“Okay, lie down, Chadwick,” Tajana said, and Chadwick got on his back near the Sigil. Then Tajana touched Chadwick’s forehead and said, “You sure you want to do this?”

Chadwick took a big breath and nodded. “Quick, before I change my mind.”

“Similo!” Tajana said in a harsh whisper.

Chadwick groaned, and his muscles went rigid. His eyes fluttered open in a blank stare, and he started shuddering violently.

“Chadwick!” Thea exclaimed as she reached out for him.

“Stay back! And shush!” Tajana said through gritted teeth. She slid her second hand under Chadwick’s head to protect him from injury. “He’ll be okay.” But he continued to shake on the floor, his eyes wide and staring blankly.

Tajana’s Kundalini entered the Insignia, which glowed bright green. Bit by bit, her Energy worked to change the appearance of Chadwick’s hair. First it began to shimmer. Then it quivered and twisted on the Circle. Finally, it started to morph into a very tiny person that looked vaguely like Chadwick, though it was so tiny, it was hard to tell how closely the tiny homunculus resembled the Chemist.

Tajana let the Conversion end, but Chadwick continued to tremble on the floor, his eyes half open in a blank stupor.

“Why is he still shaking?” Thea reached to grip his arm tightly. The muscles bunched up under his skin, sending his whole body into juddering tremors. The vacant look on his face made Thea worry he was seriously hurt.

“The Conversion activated his whole brain at once,” Tajana explained. “It takes a moment to calm down after all that. He should be okay soon.” Despite her reassuring words, Tajana sounded very worried.

But she was right, Thea realized. The shaking was already going down. Chadwick’s eyelids drooped, barely open, and his body shivered. Even though he was barely shaking anymore, Tajana continued to cushion his head. Thea squeezed his arm and waited for his muscles to stop quivering. She rocked on her knees, wanting to help but knowing she could do nothing.

Finally, Chadwick went still, and his eyelids twitched shut. He took a small loud breath, snoring arduously.

Thea realized her heart was pounding. She shook Chadwick’s arm. After how hard he was shaking, he was now surprising, shockingly still. “Chadwick? Are you okay? Is he okay?” Thea asked, turning to Tajana.

Tajana stroked Chadwick’s face. “Chadwick?” she crooned.

But Chadwick was out cold and barely breathing.

“Come on, Chadwick,” Thea said as she squeezed his shoulder. She just had to do something, even if she had to break the laws of Alchemy to do it. She took a big breath and tried to activate her Kundalini. It felt like she was grasping at empty air though, and she grit her teeth. No way was she letting someone else die. She breathed a slow calming breath and tried again, and she felt a flutter about her shoulders as her Kundalini responded to her.

Thea set her hand on Chadwick’s chest and closed her eyes. She breathed deeply. Somehow, Chadwick took a breath along with her. Thea furrowed her brow as she took another breath, and another, and somehow, she helped Chadwick breathe right along with her.

Chadwick’s face flushed red as oxygen flowed back into his lungs. Thea’s head went swimmy with relief. She didn’t know she could do something like that, but she was so happy that she could. Of course, if she could make him calm down when his claustrophobia bothered him, then making him breathe seemed like a related Conversion.

Then suddenly, Chadwick coughed weakly. He took another breath and went into a coughing fit. Tajana pushed him to his side, and after a long bout of coughing, he managed to swallow and take a breath. Finally, he groaned, and his eyes squeezed shut and then cracked open.

“Hmm?” Chadwick said around panicked gasps for air.

“Shh, Chadwick, I’m here,” Tajana stroked his face.

“Tajana?” His eyes trembled, and he gave up and let them fall shut again. “What … happened?”

“We made a homunculus, remember?” Tajana said patiently. “You were the Component, so you’re probably feeling woozy.”

“Did it work?” he asked in a confused slur. He seemed to be completely out of it.

“Yes, it worked,” Tajana said, gazing down at the miniature Chadwick on the floor. The tiny replica was wearing the same boots, white tunic, and slacks.

“Wow,” Thea breathed. “That is amazing.”

“Holy headache!” Chadwick complained with his eyes closed.

Tajana touched his forehead with one hand and her own head with her other hand. “Tactus,” she said softly.

Chadwick’s eyes fluttered up as he sighed heavily. “Thanks. I needed that. Bugger me, though. I need a ten-hour kip.”

Tajana blinked and swayed on her knees a little, and Thea wondered if Tajana was actually taking their pain onto herself when she performed that Conversion. “Push through it, Chadwick. We’re almost out of here.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, and he tried to push himself up, but he failed and let himself back down to the floor. Thea knelt down and offered Chadwick a helping hand. He grabbed her arm, and Thea helped him sit up. They leaned together against the side of the bookshelf, their shoulders touching. “Ta, Al,” Chadwick said as he rubbed his head.

“Are you okay?” Thea asked him, turning to put her hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged. “I’ll live,” he said in his typical comedic fashion, but Thea couldn’t let it go.

“That was some intense Alchemy you and Tajana just did,” she said, wondering just how much she could describe the Conversion without scaring him unnecessarily. “I had no idea there were Conversions that use people as Components.”

Chadwick nodded silently.

“It was so scary to watch,” Thea said. “Do you remember any of it?”

“Not even a little bit.” He yawned and blinked, his eyes on the red ripples going up and down the wall in front of them. He seemingly teetered on the edge of passing out.

Thea was impressed with how he had bravely agreed to be the Component for the homunculus, when Tajana had warned him it was dangerous. He had made her feel better about Todd’s death. He had been there for her in a very different way than Tajana and Quentin had. On top of all that, he had used the shelf to hit the Protection Conversion when he didn’t know what would happen, and he’d done that to save her. She was rather ashamed of herself for ever suspecting him of having ill intentions. She wanted him to be alright. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked him.

“Right as rain,” Chadwick said, looking sideways, though his eyes went past Thea. That’s when she realized that Tajana was watching them. “Don’t worry your pretty head over me.”

Tajana nodded as she knelt near them. She used the pen to draw an Augmentation Insignia on the floor. Then she gingerly placed the tiny homunculus over the Symbol. She reached out to the bookshelf, and with the wood as a Component, she said, “Augendi!”

Before their eyes, the tiny Chadwick became life-size, and Thea’s eyes went big. The homunculus was an exact copy of Chadwick. The hair, skin, and eye color were all a perfect match, the face was an exact copy, and the homunculus even had Chadwick’s Conversion Circle tattoos all over his hands.

“What a trip!” Chadwick said as he stared at the homunculus. Thea tried to imagine what it would be like to stare at an exact copy of herself, and she shook her head in wonder.

Tajana shut the homunculus’s eyes, grabbed one of the homunculus’s arms, and got to her feet. Thea grabbed the other arm and together they dragged the homunculus around the bookshelf, closer to the library entrance, where the Shadows were sure to see it. It was surprisingly light, and they easily positioned the homunculus so that it looked like it was sleeping.

That was when Thea noticed that it might look exactly like Chadwick, but it didn’t breathe. It lay there, unbearably still, obviously not alive. It made Thea think about how Todd had been so still when he died. Thea jolted as a vision assaulted her mind. Chadwick, eyes closed, lying in a puddle of water in some dark place. She shook her head with a jerk, and the mental image faded away.

Tajana looked up to see Chadwick tipped over onto the floor past the bookshelf. She sighed and went back around the shelf to him. Thea’s heart started to pound. What if the Shadows decided to come back right now?

Tajana shook Chadwick’s shoulder. “Chadwick … Chad? You need to stay awake.”

Chadwick opened his eyes and shook his head. “I know, alright?”

“Get up, then,” she said, not unkindly.

Thea offered Chadwick her hand again. Chadwick smirked and took her hand and Tajana’s as well, and the two girls pulled him up to a sitting position. Then they tugged again, and Chadwick slowly got to his feet.

“Keep your spirits up,” Thea said.

Chadwick gave Thea a real smile. “We’ll get through this together,” he said. Thea nodded, and then Chadwick took the pen and the sand back from Tajana and went toward the bathroom.

“Stay calm, stay quiet, and stay awake,” Tajana said.

Chadwick nodded and took a big breath. Then he started breathing heavily, his eyes darting away from the bathroom doorway.

“Chadwick, calm down, calm down,” Thea said, pushing on his shoulders with her hands. She closed her eyes and focused on her Kundalini, and then she sent him another rush of calm Energy, like she had in the secret passageway. He sighed heavily. “You okay now?”

He nodded. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Thea said in a rush. “Just get ready … and stay awake!” She nudged him toward the bathroom, and he went in and shut the door behind him.

Thea went back toward the shelf and took her position on the floor, ready to act like she was suffering from her Kundalini Syndrome.