The Alchemist's Notebook (The Village Alchemist 1) by Wohler Kevin

Author:Wohler, Kevin [Wohler, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Bottle Cap Publishing
Published: 2016-05-13T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

In the aftermath of the earth elemental’s rampage, downtown Salt City filled with gawkers and onlookers, reporters and bloggers. Anyone with a smartphone was trying to get close enough to record the devastation. Some still thought it was a publicity stunt for an upcoming superhero movie. Others were convinced some natural disaster had occurred. A few poor souls screamed about the coming apocalypse and scurried off to church.

Needless to say, I didn’t want to be stuck in the middle when the mayor caught wind of this. I doubted she would be pleased to know I was involved when, a) I was supposed to be finding her son, and b) I was supposed to be keeping the whole thing quiet.

I tried to leave, but Decker told me to wait by the curb. She barked orders to a dozen SCU officers who were organizing a descent into the sinkhole. I found a bus stop bench just beyond the barricades and sat down. It had been a very long day.

“You’re getting sloppy, Alchemist.”

I turned around and saw a tall, thin man dressed in a smart blue suit. The cut of the jacket reminded me of a bygone era when men wore suits every day, even when they weren’t going to work or church. Though it was freezing cold, he carried an overcoat on his arm, as if he had just emerged from one of the nearby restaurants. Despite the fact that it was dark, he wore sunglasses. He took a cigarette from a monogramed holder and snapped it shut. Fishing a lighter from his pocket, he lit the cigarette. He exhaled slowly, filling the air with blue-white smoke.

“Viktor. It’s been a while. How’s the city council?”

“Quiet. Which is more than I can say for…this.” He gestured vaguely at the devastation, waving the cigarette in the air.

“Not my fault.” I moved down the bench and offered him a seat.

I looked over at Decker, who had her back to me. Her unwelcome mind reading could have extracted me from what was likely to be an uncomfortable conversation. She was no help.

“I heard it was a gnome,” he said.

“There are no such thing as gnomes.”

“Cut the crap. You know what I mean. It doesn’t matter what you call it. It was an earth elemental.”

“No. Not that either.”

He stuck out his tongue and brushed at it with his fingertips. The cigarette bobbed close to his short-cropped gray hair. “Then what was this?”

“This? This was a garden party. But not my doing. I merely came here to help.”

I leaned back and let my head rest on the back of the bench. Looking up at the clear night sky, I couldn’t see any stars. The bright lights of the city washed them all away.

“Looks to me like you came prepared.”

“A friend gave me a heads-up.”

He lowered his sunglasses and stared at me with deep red eyes that burned hotter than the cigarette he was holding. “What aren’t you telling me, Alchemist?”

I gave Viktor the abridged version. He already knew about the so-called fire elemental.

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