Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Keeper

Chapter Sixteen ~ The Roots Part 1

Thea walked up to Todd's dorm room and knocked on the door.

"Coming!" he called from behind the door. Then the door opened, and Todd looked back at Thea. His pale face washed over with shock when he saw Thea wearing her Spectrum Scholar vest. "Thea! You decided to be a Spectrum Scholar?"

Thea nodded as she stepped up to come through the door, and Todd moved back to let her in. That's when she noticed a man sitting at Todd's table.

"Thea, this is my dad," Todd explained, motioning to the man; he had the same blond hair as Todd, the same blue eyes, and the same fair skin.

"Nice to meet you, Thea. I'm Magister Alder," the man said with an accent, just like Todd's. He stood up to approach.

She nodded politely. "Nice to meet you, too."

"Ah, so you've chosen the path of the Spectrum, have you?" he said, sounding very intrigued.

Thea nodded wordlessly. Her father's words of warning echoed in her head, and she swallowed and tried to act brave.

"Well, I wish you all the best! Now, I must be off. I have important business to take care of. Son, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye dad," Todd said, and Magister Alder left the dorm room.

Thea stood awkwardly.

"Is something wrong?" Todd asked. On his shoulder, Emerald, his vesperta Chimaera, sat, and they both watched her curiously.

"Something happened," Thea mumbled finally. "My parents, well, we had a fight. And I..."

"Ah, say no more," Todd said with a wave of his hand. "I've had a row with my parents every now and then too. I know how you feel."

He had no idea, Thea thought with a forced smile.

"Well, should we go hang out? It was your birthday recently, after all. We should go celebrate!" Todd motioned for the door.

"Celebrate?" Thea asked, following Todd out of his room.

"Yeah. I know a place we can go. We can meet up with some of my friends. Come on!" He led Thea down the green hall and back to the main hall, heading toward the Keeper's Antechamber. "Hey, congrats on unlocking all seven Fragments," he said.

"Thanks!" Thea smiled, letting the happiness wash away all the anger she had been feeling. "You really helped me out with that example about freezing and melting water."

"Well, I did what I could considering I couldn't explain the Trial to you." Todd tilted his head. "But you had to figure out most of it yourself."

"Thanks for telling me to experiment and solve the Alchemy like it was a puzzle."

"Don't mention it. That Trial is simply brilliant, isn't it?" Todd said.

"Yeah, it was really clever." Thea paused and wondered what she could say about the Trial given that she had sworn an Oath to conceal the Alchemical secrets she had witnessed. Finally she just said, "I unlocked all seven Fragments, just like you!"

"Well, you didn't choose a Focus though," he said, painfully stating the obvious. He gestured to Thea's vest as they continued walking. "Why did you decide to become a Spectrum Scholar, if you don't mind my asking?"

Thea looked straight ahead awkwardly as they walked. Thinking about it brought up her mixed feelings about what had happened with the purple scroll. She couldn't tell him that the Keeper had wanted her to become a Spectrum Scholar, so instead she said, "The Keeper mentioned I could study all seven Fragments if I didn't want to choose a Focus Fragment, and it sounded just perfect to me."