Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Breaker

Chapter Ten ~ The Trinitas Legend ~ Part I

Chadwick jumped to his feet and left his room. He was almost to the door when Fiona cleared her throat and said, 'Are you going somewhere?'

Chadwick hesitated and then turned back to look at her. He summarised his conversation with his mother as quickly as possible and then added, 'So I need to go talk to my godfather. Now.'

'You're grounded, Chadwick,' Fiona said.

'You're not my mum,' Chadwick said before stopping to think.

'While you're living with us, you might as well get used to being treated like you're one of my own,' Fiona retorted.

Just then, Tajana opened Thea's door and came out into the sitting room with them. 'I need to go pick up some things for my journey and start packing,' she said. 'Do you want me to talk to your godfather for you?'

Chadwick scoffed. 'He wouldn't listen to you, and you know it.'

'You're right, he wouldn't,' she said with a frown. 'Sorry I can't help.' She hung her head and went for the door.

'I already have a plan to take care of this little conundrum,' Fiona put in after Tajana was gone. 'In the meantime, Thea will just rely on her Chimaera to keep her Kundalini under control.'

Chadwick clenched his jaw so hard his ears started to roar. 'Fine,' he said, and he turned back and stormed off to his room.

Chadwick slammed the door shut and sank down to his bed. He felt a blast of anxiety that was so strong he couldn't sit still. Pacing his room didn't help. He nearly kicked the desk when he felt a tiny nudge in his brain. Almost like someone was pressing on his very thoughts, moving them to the side to make room for her. And that's when he realised Stella was calling him. He thought Tajana would have taken her, but when he stood still and focused, it felt like Stella was right next door.

Chadwick calmly exited his room, flashed a fake smile at Fiona, and knocked on Thea's door.

'Come in!' Thea called, and Chadwick slipped into her room. Thea was sitting at her desk, her head craned around to look at him. 'Chadwick, was that you slamming doors and yelling?'

'Sorry?' he said in typical British fashion (which meant that he wasn't the least bit apologetic).

'What's all the commotion about?' she asked.

'I'm just a bit cheesed off that your mum grounded me,' he admitted, all the while searching the room for Stella, but he couldn't see her. 'Whatcha working on?' he said curiously, noticing that Thea had a notebook out on the desktop in front of her.

'Just writing,' she said. 'It relaxes me.'

That was when Chadwick noticed that Stella was playing with Thea's noctos on the bed. They were both little bits, barely tall enough to measure the height of his fingernail, and they were chasing each other around the bed. In their teeny state, the folds of the blanket on the bed created big valleys and hills for them to romp about. Now that he was close, he could feel a sort of tingle in his brain that made the inside of his head feel prickly.

'They sure did get chummy rather quickly,' he observed, sitting down on the end of the bed and watching them.

'C.C. says Stella is going to make a great addition to our team. She's a feisty one,' Thea said, turning back to her notebook.

'What did you say you were writing?' Chadwick asked.

'I didn't,' Thea replied, not looking up.

'Oh ... kay,' he replied simply. 'I can take a hint, sorry for barging in and interrupting, 'n' all that.' He got up in a huff and was about to grab Stella when Thea dropped her pen.