Alchemist Academy: Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page A

me, but I just ran. I didn’t want to see my mom like that anymore. I wished she had died before I ever saw her. It had soiled my childhood memories, and. . . .” Jackie stopped and sniffled.
    She turned her head up to look at me. “Just don’t think your kid memories are an accurate portrayal of your parents. They aren’t. Your mom could be someone entirely different than who you think she is. She willingly left you, Allie, just like my mom did. A real mom doesn’t do that.”
    I squeezed her much harder. Her words stung. I was putting my mom on a pedestal because there had to be a reasonable explanation for why she’d left me, something dire and noble. My mom rescuing me in the Academy had proved she cared enough to get me out of there. But she hadn’t left just me, she’d left my dad as well. When I thought of my dad, my chin quivered. He’d be home soon. He’d promised.
    “Don’t start crying on me,” Jackie said, and pushed away from my chest. She composed herself and turned to Mark. “What’s your deal, Mark?”
    His eyes looked misty as well. I was sure he was as disturbed by Jackie’s story as I was. He looked at the floor of the truck. “I guess I’m a card-holding member of the dead parent society.”
    “So your mom is the alchy?” Jackie asked.
    “I don’t know if my dad had the gift or not. My mom won’t talk about him. She has it, but it’s weak.”
    “She’s a Malki, like you?”
    “Yeah, just like me.” Mark looked away.
    A police siren blared from behind the truck. I jolted up and looked at Mark and Jackie.
    “We’d better hide,” Mark said. “It’s illegal to ride in the back of one of these.”
    “Great,” I said.
    We crowded behind two pallets at the back of the truck. From the floor, I could see under the wooden pallet to the end of the truck. The siren continued to blare and I felt the momentum of the truck shifting forward as we slowed. We jerked around as it stopped.
    Cars could be heard whizzing by—we must be next to the freeway. I thought I heard footsteps in the gravel by the side of the truck.
    “What’s the problem, officer?” Jerry asked.
    I closed my eyes and listened to the words.
    “You drove around our checkpoint back there. Why?”
    “I have a delivery to my East L.A. store. I was just trying to make good time.”
    “Step out of the truck and open the back up,” the officer instructed.
    “Okay, no problem.”
    I pulled my feet in tighter and watched the back of the truck through an opening in the pallet. The door lifted open, and the outside light flooded in.
    Jerry squinted, scanning the contents of the truck. “Here you go. Just some flour and baking supplies. You know we give the men in blue fifty percent off all purchases in our stores. It’s not something we advertise—”
    The officer stepped forward and put his hand in Jerry’s face. If we stayed still, I didn’t think he could find us. The officer was wearing black gloves and I spotted his motorcycle behind the truck, parked on the dirt shoulder of the road, lights still flashing.
    His hand touched the metal edge of the truck and clunked. I strained to see the yellow stone in his hand. He tapped it on the metal and rolled it under his palm. I froze as much as any freeze stone would make me and felt the quick breaths coming from Jackie on my arm. I didn’t dare move even my eyes to give her a look.
    “Don’t ever avoid a checkpoint again,” the officer said, and stuffed the stone into a leather box clipped to his belt.
    “Yeah, will do. Bit early for a DUI check, though, isn’t it?”
    “Move along or I’ll find a reason to ruin your day.”
    “Okay, will do.” Jerry pulled the door back down.
    I breathed out as if for the first time. The motorcycle started up and the sound of gravel being flung let me know he was gone. An alchemist cop? I couldn’t believe what I’d seen. How many people in the world were part of this?
    The van door opened and slammed shut. “You guys