Page 35

“Well, I suppose we already believe in magical teleporting boats, so why not? Now I need to wrap my mind around it. My sexy boyfriend is an alchemist.”

“Boyfriend, eh?” Zayan said, simply beaming.

“Well, we are sleeping together every night,” Tom said, backpedaling. He constantly misread people. Was he pushing too quickly? But Zayan had a pet name for him, a name he loved, so maybe it was okay to put a label on their relationship.

He immediately found that his fears were unfounded, because Zayan said, grabbing his hand, “Come on. Your boyfriend wants to show you the Philosopher’s Stone.”

When they descended into the dungeon, the door to Bluebeard’s laboratory was open, and Thierry stood outside, conversing with the Mage.

“We should leave now,” Thierry said. “We don’t want to be late.”

Bluebeard snapped, “They’ll wait as long as necessary,” and Tom scoffed, aghast once again at the sheer magnitude of Bluebeard’s ego.

“Naturally,” Thierry said. “My word, this preparation is exceptional. I can feel the terror from here.”

Then Thierry spotted him and Zayan at the staircase, and added, “Terribly pure it is. Your clients will be pleased.”

True to form, Bluebeard preened and said, “As they should be.”

When Bluebeard finally noticed his apprentices watching, he handed Thierry an ornate wooden case and slipped out the door, turning to lock it with that odd gold key.

Tom announced, setting aside his curiosity about the case held protectively in Thierry’s hands, “Zayan tells me he transmuted lead to gold. Isn’t that stupendous?”

Bluebeard held out his hand, and Zayan dumped the pieces in his palm. Bluebeard walked to one of the sconces on the wall and scrutinized the gold, pushing it around his palm with his finger.

“Acceptable for a first effort,” he said, not at all impressed. “Roughly 20-karat from the slight dullness. When I return, we can do a detailed assay and chart your next steps.”

Tom asked, despite the clear danger of inflaming the Mage’s hair-trigger temper, “What do you have there?”

Bluebeard frowned for a second, and then his face cleared. “Something I’ve been developing for the new product line at Elixir. I have some specialized equipment in my laboratory that’s needed for its synthesis.”

“Sounds interesting,” Tom said, hoping he could parlay Bluebeard’s good humor into a tour of the mysterious laboratory. Zayan’s lab was fascinating, so Bluebeard’s must be even more so. “I’d love to see your methods in action.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” the Mage said, and he could swear the Mage was teasing him. “It’s all highly proprietary, kept strictly under lock and key.” He jangled his keyring, then locked him with a less-than-playful gaze. “You must promise me you won’t enter.”

Knowing the mercurial nature of their patron, Tom quickly said, “Understood. I promise to keep my hands and eyes off your proprietary gear. Anyway, I probably wouldn’t understand any of it. You guys are doing magic down here, literally.”

“Thank you for that promise, Tom,” the Mage said, seemingly mollified. “That sets my mind at ease.”

After they had left, Zayan said, “You know, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard him say thank you.”

“I’m honored, I guess. But I’d be more honored to see the you-know-what.”

“Come on,” Zayan said, unlocking his own laboratory and dragging him bodily inside.

“Have you always locked your door?”

“Bluebeard has insisted lately, ever since the midsummer gig. There may have been an incident. He and Thierry have been whispering about something ever since then.”

“Curiouser and curiouser. So, are you going to show me your stuff?”

“Right this way, Doctor Dalton.”

Zayan took him over to a floor safe and dialed in a few numbers, pulling out two boxes and a jar, arranging them in a line on the table. One box contained a glowing red crystal packed in stained white silk, obviously the result of much messy chemical work. The next box held a chalky white disk, stained with pink and red flecks. The final stone was also red, suspended at the center of an ornate stoppered jar of oil.

“Which one would you choose to make gold?”

“I don’t know. The glowing one looks powerful. Maybe it?”