Kalli squealed when the phoenix answered my summon. “Oh, Suzaku! I missed you so much!”

The large fiery bird nuzzled Kalli affectionately.

I told you he was just waiting for you to come back.

Kalli beamed as she hugged the great red bird’s neck. I wish he could come to Gaia with me. Is there any way to make it happen?

I shrugged. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to. The idea of Byakko meeting some of the Gaian gods made me chuckle.

I don’t think it’s possible. They wouldn’t have any believers over there.

Kalli nodded mournfully. I know. Suzy just explained it to me.

Look on the bright side, maybe Lamentus will let you ride him.

Kalli’s face twisted in mock disgust. Ew! I don’t want to mount a fat green grizzape.

A what?

She gaped at me. A grizzape. What do you call them?

I don’t know. Just ape, I guess.

She stuck her tongue out at me. That’s just silly.

When we took to the sky, I regretted not having easier access to air travel on Gaia. Sure, there was the airship, but I had to send for it and it wasn’t always guaranteed that they would allow us to use it.

Do you think Mrs. Hodgins is working today?

Kalli shrugged, her hair caught in the breeze. Probably. What day is it?

Tuesday, I think.

We landed in the alley behind the strip mall containing the guild office. Kalli smiled as Suzaku shrunk and twisted into an elaborate design around her dress.

When we entered the guild, a bored-sounding receptionist greeted us. “Good afternoon. Please present your guild cards.”

It had been so long that I was worried I’d lost mine. Kalli and I scoured our bags but managed to produce the plastic cards.

Melvin Murphy

Summoner: Level 16

Status: Academy Student

Guild Rank: D

Restrictions: None

Guild Fame: 1062

Kalliphae Hellquist

Pyromancer: Level 12

Status: Academy Student

Guild Rank: D

Restrictions: Magical Contract (2)

Guild Fame: 845

She looked at our cards and back up at us, “Are these up to date?”

We shook our heads and I proudly announced, “I’m level thirty-six now.”

“That’s very nice.” She said with a slight roll of her eyes. “Please wait patiently while we update your files.”

“But we’re just here to…” I began to object.

She shushed me with a finger to her lips. “Shh, wait patiently while we prepare accurate guild cards for you. It won’t take but a moment.”

Out of nowhere, a grey-haired blur emerged and tackled Kalli, wrapping the startled girl in a hug. “Kalliphae! How many times have I told you to call me when you come to Earth. I’ve missed you!”

Kalli blushed and struggled to breathe against the onslaught of the overbearing woman. Mrs. Hodgins looked over at me and smiled. “I’m glad you’re well too, Melvin.”

I wondered when exactly it was that Kalli stole my best Earth friend. Well, before I met the gang at The Academy that was. Mrs. Hodgins finally let Kalli go and directed us back to the library. “Come this way, you two. Helga, we will be in my study. Have their cards brought there when they are ready.”

“Yes, Mrs. Hodgins,” Helga said, her tone much more professional.

Mrs. Hodgins led us through the library through a chained-off door that I thought led to the restricted section. It wasn’t what I expected, but in a way, it was so much more.

Grand offices that by themselves could have been full buildings lined a circular open-roofed courtyard. Mrs. Hodgins led us to an office that might as well have been another library. Three stories tall, her office consisted of a series of desks with comfy reading chairs, surrounded by multi-level bookshelves.

She grinned at us conspiratorially. “I have access to so many rare and exotic books now. It’s all thanks to you, Melvin. Not only did you introduce me to this world, but when you awakened me, I was able to grow and evolve at a much faster rate than I could have ever imagined possible. I’m level twenty-four now and I’m the head researcher at this branch. I’m also in charge of appraisals after the last one got fired for undervaluing items submitted by guild members.”

Her comment brought back memories of haggling with the guild over artifacts we found under the ocean. At least Kalli kept hers. She walked around the room looking at the books that lined the walls. “Have you read all of these?”

Mrs. Hodgins smiled, running her fingers over a few of the books. “I’ve read a great deal of them. Some of the skills I picked up are the ability to speed read and read multiple books at once. Combine that with my ability to retain the majority of what I consume and my dream of truly understanding this world we live in is slowly becoming a reality.

GONG

GONG

GONG

We all looked at a grandfather clock that rested in a corner of the room. It was noon! Kalli and I looked at one another in alarm and I started for the door. “We need to get back. We have an appointment with…”

Lavender didn’t tell us who exactly we were supposed to meet. We probably should have said something to the receptionist about our appointment. Mrs. Hodgins shrugged us off. “Don’t worry, kids. Lavender explained all about your dilemma and I’ve instructed Dr. Pemblescrap to meet us here.”

“Dr. Who?” Kalli asked, sounding out the name in silence.

“Pemblescrap.” She repeated. “She is the highest level Alchemist in the western United States. If it’s a potion or formula of any kind, she will be able to identify it.”

Just then a green-skinned woman wearing a witch’s robe and a pointy hat poked her head in. “Hey everyone. Am I fashionably late?”

“Never!” Mrs. Hodgins chirped, making her way over to one of the tables with more than one chair. Every chair in her office looked comfy.

“Is it normal to have green humans on Earth?” Kalli asked, covering her mouth in embarrassment when we all looked at her.

I shook my head and Dr. Pemblescrap laughed. “No, dear child. This is an unfortunate side effect of my chosen profession. I’ve been poisoned more times than I can count. Eventually, my skin just didn’t bounce back, and here I am, the wicked witch of the west.”

“You’re a witch?” Kalli gasped in amazement.

Everyone laughed and I shook my head.

Another Earth movie. I’ll tell you about it later.

Kalli nodded and smiled. We’re going to have to watch some of these movies together.

It’s a date!

“Oh, right.” Dr. Pemblescrap muttered absentmindedly, digging in her pocket. “I got the new guild cards for you two.”

Melvin Murphy

Summoner: Level 36

Status: Self-Proclaimed Emperor

Guild Rank: C

Restrictions: Self-Imposed Contract (1)

Guild Fame: 22,642

Kalliphae Murphy

Pyromancer: Level 29

Status: Crown Royalty

Guild Rank: C

Restrictions: Self-Imposed Contract, Magical Contract (1)

Guild Fame: 17,111

“Self-Proclaimed?” The words escaped my mouth against my will.

The other three stared at me and Dr. Pemblescrap explained. “The guild declares your status based on a lot of things. Currently, that is what you identify as. When it comes to royalty, the system seems to frown on people who declare themselves to be royal as opposed to historical institutions.”

“Sue me for being ambitious,” I grumbled, wishing I could change my card.

Then, I remembered I could. A quick edit fixed my dilemma.

Melvin Murphy

Summoner: Level 36

Status: Emperor

Guild Rank: C

Restrictions: Self-Imposed Contract (1)

Guild Fame: 22,642

Item:

Guild Identification Card (Edited)

Components

Plastic, Ink, Mana

Item Rank:

D

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Murphy

Upon taking a closer look, I noticed that while the edited tag did appear on the item itself, the inscription on the card looked normal and untainted. I was careful not to let any of the others see as I stuffed it back into the fanny pack.

Dr. Pemblescrap looked at the two of us expectantly. “So, which of you has treasure for me to examine? I have to tell you, I am more than a little excited.”

Kalli reached into her bag and took out the vials she managed to steal from Altara’s lab. Each one was very different from the next. Dr. Pemblescrap examined each in turn.

The first was a sinister-looking thick red liquid with bubbles trapped inside. The second was green and nearly opaque. It reminded me of what I expected poison to look like. The third was a clear liquid that could have just been water. Finally, the fourth vial contained a pure black fluid that looked like death itself.

“Very peculiar.” Dr. Pemblescrap whispered, holding each vial up to the light. “Where did you get these?”

“A very evil person’s house,” Kalli replied, her voice ice cold. “We sort of stole them.”

“Really?” The older woman replied shaking the red one experimentally. “These are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”

Was she the best alchemist in the western US?

Name

Geronima Pemblescrap

Class

Alchemist

Level

83

Affection Level

Studious

“What do you mean?” Kalli asked, sensing my apprehension.

“This is not alchemy.” She said, setting the vial down and picking up the black one. “I think this red one is congealed blood of some sort though I can’t be sure. There seems to be some kind of impurity present that isn’t chemical in nature. All of them have an odd aspect that I just can’t put my finger on.”

“Mana,” I said absentmindedly.

“What do you mean?” Mrs. Hodgins asked, giving me a curious look.

Kalli and I exchanged a glance. Should we tell them about Mardella?

I shrugged.

I don’t know. I think it’s safe to tell them about the emotional mana. We should just leave Mardella out of it. Especially where she is right now.

She nodded and I spoke out loud. “The foreign element is mana infused with raw emotion. We found out that our cores are corrupted with hate-filled mana.”

Dr. Pemblescrap looked at the vial in her hand with renewed interest. “Are you saying you can infuse mana with an emotion? And infuse it into a concoction like this? Very peculiar.”

“Well, we’re not certain that that’s what this is,” I explained. “We just got information about what happened to us. How do you know what’s in those vials? You just held it in your hand. Can you see something?”

She laughed swapping for the clear vial. “I have a special ability, Chemical Appraisal. It allows me to know what a potion consists of at a glance. Obviously, the level of the mixture matters but I am sufficiently high level that most potions can’t get by me. I’ll admit, I was a little curious why these aren’t spilling their secrets for me. Infused mana is a new one that I’ve never heard of. I think I’d like to meet this Altara.”

“I doubt that,” Kalli said with a grimace. “She’d probably kill you before you got to ask any questions.”

Dr. Pemblescrap rubbed her chin as though she were weighing the pros and cons of information versus potential death. After a while, she reached into a rather large purse and began piecing together a complex chemistry set. Vials and beakers of various sizes interconnected by tubes and passing over open-flame heat sources filled the table we sat at.

Gas masks and goggles were handed out to everyone and she advised us. “Please stand at the far side of the room. There is a very real chance that these might react in unpredictable ways.”

We all stood back, crouching behind a sturdy oak desk as the alchemist began her experiment. She began with the red liquid. I watched closely as it bubbled up out of its vial, sucked into a tube that fed it into the contraption.

As it passed through the first round chamber, it heated and quickly began to boil. When it passed into the next tube, the bubbles were gone. From there it split in three directions, each one filling a different vial.

Mrs. Pemblescrap removed one of the new vials and held it up to the light. Frowning, she dug in her bag and pulled out a bottle with a clear liquid inside. Using a dropper, she applied a single drop to the vial.

“Ah.” She let out a moan as the liquid frothed and overflowed. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“What happened?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity. Perhaps Alchemy was a useful class.

Dr. Pemblescrap removed her gloves and reached into her bag for a fresh pair. “That was a failure. I hoped to separate the potion into its base components but instead, it spoiled. Don’t worry though. We still have two more samples. I’ll test those later. Pick a color, clear, black, or green?”

“Black!” I announced, deciding that was the most evil-looking one.

“Very well.” She replied, replacing the empty vial the red potion had come in with the black one.

The process started innocently enough. We watched in silence as the black fluid invaded the tubes connecting it to the large heated flask. Then…it exploded.