Alchemist Academy: Book 2 Read Online Free PDF

okay?” Jerry called from the front.
    “Yeah,” Mark responded.
    “That was real close. I’m not sure what you guys did, but they’ve sent out everyone to find you. We’re not that far now.”
    The truck started up and I moved into a more comfortable position. As we veered back into traffic, I stumbled and fell into Mark. His stiff body received me and I spent some time getting off of him.
    “You two want to make out or whatever, go ahead. I don’t mind,” Jackie said.
    She could still put color in my cheeks. I cleared my throat and kept a good foot away from Mark. “How many people can do what we do?” I asked.
    “I don’t know, but my mom’s found them all over the country. I bet there are a lot of people who don’t even know they have it in them,” Mark said. “Like you, before I moved next door.”
    “I self-taught,” Jackie said, and stretched out her legs on the wood-planked floor. “After my awesome family reunion, everything seemed to piss me off. I ended up at this group home, creepy as hell, but they let us bake.” She laughed. “Let’s just say, alchemists shouldn’t bake angry, unless you want your cookie batter to explode.”
    “Then you got a visit from our friendly neighborhood Academy recruiter, right?” Mark asked.
    “Yep. A few weeks later, Darius showed up at the group home and promised to take me away from everything. You wouldn’t believe how excited I was when I first got there. That was the mean part, and maybe why I was able to make so many stones. They took away something from me I didn’t know I’d had until it was gone. Funny how it works like that.”

 
     
     
     
    The truck came to a stop. I really had no idea where the baker had taken us and only hoped there wasn’t some delivery door back to the Academy. Standing near the middle of the truck, we waited for the door to slide up. The latches sounded and the back door flew open.
    Standing silhouetted by the outside light was Ms. Duval.
    “Get out,” she ordered.
    I darted to the end of the truck with the others. Sitting on my rear, I hopped out onto the asphalt. A few other cars and a couple of motorcycles were parked near the Cheers Diner. The dirty windows allowed an advertisement for meat pie to show through.
    “I can’t believe you guys got out of there,” Mark’s mom said, panting as if she’d been running a mile.
    “Hey, Mom.” Mark hopped from the truck. “That place you sent us to was a hell on Earth.”
    Ms. Duval covered her mouth and ran to him, then wrapped him up in a big hug. Mark held back his arms for a few seconds before matching her affection. Seeing her embrace her son sent a wave of jealousy through me. My mom and I hadn’t gotten a moment, only a brief glance at each other before she was hit by a stone and pulled away by the men she’d come with. She’d said my name, though. She knew me, and now she knew my face. We would have our moment.
    “That wasn’t the Academy. It’s run by the dark alchemists, and I should have known—the protocols were all wrong. It’s just that when I saw you had the gift. . . .”
    “I’m sorry, Mom.”
    “Hey, Sarah,” Jerry greeted, coming around the corner of the truck.
    “Jerry,” Ms. Duval responded. “Thank you so much for doing this.”
    “I owed you,” he smiled. “Besides, if these kids are drawing this much attention, they must have done something wonderful to those dirtbags.”
    “Attention?” Sarah asked.
    “An alchy cop pulled us over after I dodged one of their checkpoints. Sarah, if they’re willing to be openly searching for the kids, they won’t be safe no matter where you stash them.”
    “Almost nowhere.” She nodded.
    “Hi, I’m Jackie,” Jackie interrupted.
    “Hello.” Sarah shook her hand. “Were you in there with them?”
    “Yes, and we left a whole slew of people behind. We’d really like to find a way back there. Maybe with some help?”
    Sarah glanced at Jerry and then back to Jackie.
    “I’ve been