NOVEL NEXT Ch. 27 First Meeting…? (Alison)
The calm dark haired beauty paced impatiently on the edge of the large circular teleportation chamber as the men in the center worked to unload a fresh shipment of goods. Her hands twitched at her waist as she glared at the mage who was doing everything in his power to avoid looking at Alison directly. Waiting had been agony. While on the move, Alison could distract herself from Devin’s absence in her life, but the two hours she had to wait after Charles had been teleported away were far harder than she had expected. Sitting still and watching the clock tick by, Alison’s mind spiral back down to a dark place once again. She desperately clung to memories of Devin to stop herself from screaming from the lonely gulf in her heart.
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(Six Years Ago, Earth)
The chemistry class filtered out of the lab room. Laughter and energetic conversations reflected the eager attitude of students who had just ticked off another day from their countdown to summer break. Alison remained at her station, head down, cheek pressed against the cool countertop next to her bubbling concoction. The writhing maroon liquid wasn’t the assignment the teacher instructed the students to make, but Alison had already mastered the subject early in the year and was onto much more complicated self taught lessons in the ways of biochemistry. The teacher learned quickly not to bother her.
The smart ones always did.
Truthfully there was nothing more for Alison to do at school. She could have been done with her little experiment an hour ago yet here she still sat. Staying here would be pointless, yet it was a far more appealing option when compared to going home. Alison made no move to pick up her bag beside her chair. She didn’t reach over to turn off the burner. Instead, Alison continued to watch the bubbling maroon liquid and marvel at its-
“Wow. That’s beautiful.” A voice broke through her melancholy and caused Alison to jerk her head up off of the lap counter.
She turned to find a boy who entered the back door of the classroom and was busy staring at Alison’s creation. The boy, who looked to be in her same grade, stood fairly tall, just over six feet, and had messy sandy blonde hair. His green eyes studied the bubbling concoction with open fascination as he stepped closer.
“I didn’t mean to bother you, but I just had to admire that color.”
Alison was no stranger to boys and their pathetic attempts to pursue her. She was seen as a cold beauty. A hard to reach prize that had been the source of many confessions, in person and through hastily written notes. Alison had little interest in any of it. Truthfully, save for chemistry, there was little in life that she honestly found interesting. Though she could see how the boy who approached her would be considered attractive, she mentally prepared herself to shut him down hard.
“Well…” The boy straightened and looked at Alison directly.
Here it comes. She internally sighed.
“I just came to drop off this file for Ms. Grean.” The boy lifted a vanilla file in his hand and walked to the front of the room to drop it on the teacher’s desk. “Have a good one.”
He waved to Alison casually and turned towards the door.
“Wait!” She called out without meaning to.
The boy stopped and lifted an eyebrow.
“Yeah?”
“You… You didn’t come here for anything else?” Alison fumbled.
The boy smiled a beautiful crooked smile and shook his head.
“No?” He chuckled. “I don’t think we’ve even met before. I’m-”
There was a loud crack that shattered their conversation. Alison looked down, alarmed to see that her quick movements standing turned the heating knob to full blast. Before she could react a quick moving object struck her chest and pushed her down to the floor. An explosion rocked the room as boiling maroon liquid and broken glass rained down everywhere. Alison heard drops land nearby but the person that had tackled her to the ground had protected her from any of the hazardous debris.
“Are you okay?” The boy asked breathlessly as bits of his shirt burned away from the chemicals that landed on him.
“I-I…” Alison felt her heart hammering in her chest.
Adrenaline mixed with sudden and powerful attraction to this person shot through her body like a drug. Her breathing quickened and only now did she become aware of how close their bodies were on the floor of the chemistry lab. His hands were splayed on either side of her head, holding him above her, their faces mere inches apart.
Alison, the cool and collected intellectual, was suddenly at a loss at what to do. She could recite the chemical components of almost everything in the room. She could explain the effects of the dopamine hit her brain was currently experiencing and what the long term consequences of such an exposure would bring. Yet she would give all her knowledge away at that moment in time just to know what she could say or do to express her appreciation to her savior above her.
Their beautiful moment was cut mercilessly short by the chemistry teacher lifting Devin off of Alison and escorting him to the nurses office. The physics teacher was right behind to lift up Alison and inspect her for any wounds. Alison barely heard the questions being shouted at her as she watched the beautiful blonde haired boy limping quickly out of the room.
Those burns look bad. Alison felt her heart tighten as reality set in.
She had been the one to cause the explosion. It was her lab station. It was her concoction that she shouldn’t have even been making in the first place.
My fault. Alison’s breathing hitched. Will… will he blame me?
She couldn’t bear the thought. This new wonderful feeling that filled her empty life had only just arrived. How could she possibly live without it? The physics teacher tried to get Alison to go to the nurses office as well but Alison declined. When the teacher turned away for a second Alison sprinted out of the door. She needed time. She couldn’t let him see her yet.
I need to find out what he likes. Her mind raced faster than her feet as she fled school grounds. I need to figure out who I can be where he won’t hate me. He can’t hate me. He can’t.
Fear gripped Alison’s heart, pushing her to run even faster. She would watch him from afar. Watch him until she was sure she could approach him in a way that would not fail. Alison was ready to change her life for this new feeling that made her life worth living.
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(Six Years Later, Under Riktdon)
“Alison?” The vile mother’s voice brought Alison back to the present.
“What?” She snapped at the old woman.
The vile mother recoiled at the intensity of Alison’s retort.
“It’s nearly time.” The old woman gestured towards the cleared center of the teleportation circle.
Alison leapt forward to take her position. Her lavender eyes burned holes in the face of the mage who would be transporting her.
“Send me.” She barked.
The mage gulped audibly and inspected his book with shaky hands. With an unsteady voice he began the incantation to teleport Alison across the continent to a neighboring country.
“May the gods have mercy on whoever you meet next.” The vile mother made a religious gesture with her hands and bowed her head to Alison.
Alison barely acknowledged the old woman’s words. They didn’t matter. None of this really mattered past getting her closer to Devin. There was a flash of light and Alison teleported away.
What immediately struck Alison was the thick cloud of smoke that clogged the air. She fell to her knees, coughing as her lungs were suddenly assaulted by the hot toxic fumes. The circular chamber appeared similar to the one she just left, though an inferno blazed to her right. If the layouts were the same between hideouts then the tall roaring flames would be right in the staircase that led up to the tavern above. Dark figures moved through the smoke and shouts could be heard over the sound of flames.
One of the figures sprinted to Alison and pressed a cloth soaked in water to her mouth.
“Oh good, you made it!” Charles’ voice was muffled by his own soaked cloth tied around his mouth.
“What’s happening?” Alison shouted through the cloth as her lungs fought to breath clean air.
“There’s not really time to explain. Take this and follow me!” Charles handed a flaming mop to Alison and gestured away from the towering pillar of fame.
“Did you do this?” Alison held the flaming mop away from her body as the pair stumbled forward.
Charles turned back to look at the flames and the figures fighting in the smoke.
“I needed more time.”
