The very moment we emerged from the woods onto the beach at the south end of Alchemary Island, I wondered why I had not, in fact, been there before.
Whereas the northern and eastern sides culminated in steep cliffs like the one the Dormitory was perched upon and the one spanned by the bridge into Saltstrand, the island sloped gently to the south, specialized soil giving way to a smooth-pebble beach and a single long dock.
“What is this for?” I asked as we traversed the wooden planks above gentle waves washing toward us, glittering in the afternoon sun. A cool breeze lifted the ends of my hair and the hem of my frock, raising gooseflesh on my arms and legs. “I thought supplies came over the bridge from Saltstrand?”
“Most do,” Desmond said. “But some come via ship and are carried up the trail through the woods, to the Refectory.”
“Or the infirmary?” I said, thinking of the path at the rear of the Conservatory.
“Mmm,” he said, and I noted his lack of a true answer.
I’d grown accustomed to the salty scent of ocean air that blew through my bedchamber daily, and I’d grown to love that view. But this one was just as stunning, if different. From the dock, I could see the sea at eye level.
Somehow, that made me feel even smaller.
Desmond sat at the end of the dock and let his legs dangle so that spray from the waves lightly splattered his shoes. He patted the spot beside him, and I gathered my skirt and sat. Under normal circumstances, the moment would have felt peaceful. But the current churning in my mind was much more turbulent than the midafternoon waves gently washing over the pebble beach.
He cleared his throat, an obvious preamble to a discussion that necessitated complete privacy. “There are some things you don’t know about alchemy.”
I huffed, running one hand over the loose braid stretching back and down from high on my temple. “Desmond, I’m still a student. Despite my purported skill, I suspect there are quite a few things I don’t yet know about alchemy.”
He nodded but betrayed no amusement as he shifted away from the sun to face me, folding one leg beneath himself on the wooden planks. “But I’m not referring to the theory or the craft of alchemy. I’m talking about the practice of it. The organizational structure. The…hierarchy. You don’t yet understand where the real power and influence lies, in the alchemy community. Nor can you possibly understand the scale of it.”
A thread of unease wound around my spine.
“I know that the Alchemary is the oldest, most prominent and influential alchemy institution in the world, and that the Bluehelm is in charge of it. So wouldn’t that place her at the top of the hierarchy?”
“It would, in theory,” Desmond acknowledged. “But not comfortably or safely so, given the growing influence of the Alkahest Institute as our academic rival and the fact that the Crown has its own private alchemist.”
“Pryce’s father.”
“Yes.” He looked as if he’d just swallowed a bitter clod of dirt.
“So, you’re saying there are…what? Threats to the Alchemary?”
“Yes. And I’m saying that the Alchemary, in return, poses its own reciprocal threats. As does the Toolkeepers’ Rebellion.”
“My father would never—”
“And that because those reciprocal threats have been escalating for years. For generations”—Desmond continued as I squinted into the sun shining over his head—“much of the true power of the Alchemary has retreated into the shadows, where it has been allowed to grow—and to advance—unseen. Largely unchecked.”
Unease stewed in my gut like laundry bubbling over the fire. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning that there is very little that the elite practitioners of our craft are not capable of. And even less they are not willing to do.”
“In pursuit of the greater good of mankind?” I prompted, as if speaking the words might somehow make them true, despite my understanding that he would not have needed complete privacy in order to tell me howvirtuousthe alchemical elite had become.
“In pursuit of great power.”
Desmond let me sit with the words. With the implication.
I turned toward the north for a glimpse of the beautiful campus I’d come to love, trying to picture it in this new light. Or rather, cast beneath this new shadow. To my surprise, despite their height, not one of the grand buildings was visible beyond the forest, from our position. I felt isolated and protected by the woods and the peaceful churn of ocean waves.
And yet, the rest of Alchemary Island had nottrulydisappeared.
“These elite have veered from the true goal of alchemy,” I murmured.
“Some have truly diverged,” he acknowledged. “Others believe that accumulating power is the only way to protect and enforce the true goal: bettering the world through resisting entropy. Yet regardless of their original intent, people who gain power are rarely wiling to relinquish it. Or to limit its reach.”
