Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Breaker

Chapter Sixteen ~ The Reduction Conversion ~ Part II

As soon as Grey left to grab the Reduction Conversion Circle, Chadwick turned to Thea and shook his head. 'Blimey, you have one heck of a memory, love!' he exclaimed. 'I had to look at my notes on the Augmentation cycle for weeks before I had it memorised.'

Thea shrugged. 'I have an incredibly accurate memory. My dad-' She cut herself off and her face caved in as she frowned in devastation.

Chadwick put his hand on hers. 'Your dad is going to be fine,' Chadwick said quickly. 'We'll rescue him, I promise.'

Thea took a few uneven breaths, closed her eyes, and nodded. 'I miss him so much. I'm so mad at the Breaker for-trapping him in that Eternity Prison!'

'Shh!' Chadwick said, gesturing for her to keep it down. He nearly attempted to Convert a Reverberation Conversion to conceal their conversation, but he didn't have the Component he needed. He harshly whispered, 'We don't really want that to be common knowledge. No one knows the Code Breaker is free.'

Thea's mouth popped open in shock. 'Sorry,' she hissed

Chadwick shrugged. 'No worries. Besides, the Eternity Prison is a Lost Insignia,' he said under his breath. He hadn't realised until now, but something didn't make sense to him. How had the Code Breaker Converted an Eternity Prison?

When the Keeper had trapped the Code Breaker in the Eternity Prison more than a week ago, the whole community of Alchemists at Blackthorn and Burtree had been in an uproar. Here, with this new and unique Conversion, there was finally proof that the Keeper had been keeping certain Conversions a secret. After centuries of secrecy, it was finally coming to light that those theories about the Lost Insignias were not simply theories.

And now, even as he was convinced that the Eternity Prison was a Lost Insignia that only the Keeper could Convert, he was learning that the Code Breaker had trapped Thea's dad.

'That's not good news,' Thea admitted. 'I don't know how we'll rescue my dad with the Keeper gone, if he's the only one who can undo it.'

'Did you think about how odd it is that he's trapped in the first place?' Chadwick couldn't help but ask. 'When the Keeper is the only one who's supposed to be able to do that Conversion?'

Thea shook her head silently, the tears brimming up and spilling over again.

'Enough with the waterworks,' Chadwick said in mild exasperation. 'We'll figure it out. I promise.'

Thea sighed heavily and nodded.

Maybe it wasn't a Lost Insignia after all, Chadwick mused. Maybe it was just an off-the-wall Component that nobody had ever tried to use with the Tempus Conversion, which allowed Alchemists to manipulate time. It seemed possible, if unlikely.

Maleficus Grey came back with the Reduction Conversion Circle tile. She set it on the table and said, 'Don't do the work for her, Chadwick! She has to figure it out, but you can give her hints of course!' Then she moved on to check in with another group.

'Alright?' Chadwick said as he slid the tile toward Thea. 'The Code Word is Minuo.' He raised his eyebrows and pushed his lips together into a fine line, anxious to see how long it took her to figure out how to match the Components to each Focus for this Conversion.

Thea furrowed her brow at all the items and looked to Chadwick for a suggestion.

He reached for the worm and set it on the Insignia as the Focus. Then he grinned back at her and gestured for her to pick a Component and start guessing and checking.

Thea didn't seem to like that idea. She clenched her jaw while she stared at the Components. 'Chadwick ... I'm exhausted,' she said finally. 'Venarius Houghton made me create so many vapours, I'm practically tapped out.'