The Alchemists Academy Book 2: Elemental Explosions: Alchemists Academy Series, #2

By Kailin Gow

From the ALA YALSA Award-winning author and multiple award-winning filmmaker Kailin Gow comes the Alchemists Academy Series...

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A new student has entered The Alchemists Academy, and he brings with him an explosive power that threatens the Academy and the legend of Merlin. Wirt thought he was the only bad boy at the Academy, but he was wrong. Not only is Roland Black worse than Wirt, but a new teacher had replaced one of their beloved teachers, and she has more planned for Wirt and his friends than just lesson plans. Alana, his crush has grown prettier, and now he is rivals for her attention with not only his best friend Spencer, but newcomer Roland, as well. On top of that, it is their second year, and the year where all the students must pass a test to move on to the Elite Class at the Academy. The Elite Class is the only class in the third year at the Academy, and the students who fail will be sent home, others will face something even deadlier.

Elemental Explosions is Book 2 of the bestselling Alchemists Academy:

Elemental Explosions is Book 2 of the bestselling Alchemists Academy:

Book 1:  Stones to Ashes
Book 2:  Elemental Explosions
Book 3:  The Quantum Games
Book 4:  The Year of the Elite - Coming Soon!
Book 5:  Prophecy's End - Coming Soon!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kailin Gow
• Release date: Sep 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386806844

Kailin Gow

It's official! Read about Kailin and her books being adapted into films and tv series here: https://filmdaily.co/obsessions/kailin-gow-loving-summer/ FIND OUT MORE ABOUT KAILIN GOW AT: https://linktr.ee/KailinGow including how to get a free book from her! Kailin Gow is a million-selling international and USA Today Bestselling author of over 680 published books! She writes in many genres under her name and other pen names. She has been an invited speaker on Book Expo America, appeared on CBS News about writing books with social issues, and the Top 15 National radio regularly on women's issues, women in film and Hollywood, and leadership. She holds a Masters in Management from USC and degrees in Social Ecology, Criminology, and Filmmaking. She is an author influencer on Instagram, owns a podcast network with multiple channels, is a multi-award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, actress, and host. Her books have been made into games, animated short films, and series. Currently, a number of her book series have been optioned, are in development, or pre-production, including her YA Fantasy Sci Fi Thriller FADE (which has been optioned) and Red Genesis (also optioned) by Netflix producers. Kailin Gow is a regular guest in radio and television on women in Hollywood and filmmaking, naming the top Women Execs to Watch. She is a judge in film festivals, writing contests, and is also a voting member in the Academy Awards. AWARD-WINNING INTERNATIONAL MILLION-SELLING AUTHOR, PRODUCER, AND TV PERSONALITY Kailin Gow is an internationally-recognized multi-award-winning multi-genres USA bestselling Asian American author and woman director/filmmaker who has written and published over 400 books under Kailin Gow and her pen names. She is both traditionally-published as well as indie. Considered a digital publishing pioneer, her books have been downloaded over 10 Million times around the world. She is known as one of the most prolific authors internationally who not only writes novels but screenplays fast, but of world-class quality they win prestigious awards like the ALA YALSA Awards and Los Angeles Film Awards. Besides having gone to law school, she holds a Masters Degree in Communications Management from USC and Drama/Film and Social Ecology Degrees from UC Irvine. She has also been a longtime member of TED Talks. She is the first Asian American author to have sold over 1 million books and to be featured on Amazon.com's homepage as an indie Author Success Story. Her success as an Indie Author and advocate for Indie authors during the early Kindle days has inspired many to take a plunge to become authors. The first Asian American woman who is independently published to appear on Amazon's homepage as an Author Success Story, she also represented Amazon as an author spokesperson during Amazon's Kindle Family Launch press conference in Santa Monica and at Book Expo America where she was an invited speaker. A digital publishing pioneer, she was one of the first authors and publisher to publish digitally back in 2001. Prior to becoming a full-time author and filmmaker, she worked as an Exec in Legal and Production at Walt Disney Company, a writer/producer for Cable Television, an Exec at high tech start ups, and Exec at Fortune 100 Hotel and Travel Corporations where she has managed and trained hundreds of employees on world-class service and operations. She has also been a professional model, a tour director, journalist, re-organization consultant, a secret mystery shopper/consultant for top brands, and professional speaker who has been an invited speaker at Book Expo America, Girl Scouts, Asian America Heritage Week, and more! FUTURIST AND SOCIAL INFLUENCER A social influencer, she has over millions of views on her YouTube channel and her Vimeo channel with over 1.5 million views on her Bitter Frost trailer and award-winning animated short film alone. She is a judge on writing contests for writing incubator social sites, has been a member of TED Talks, and is one of the most quoted modern living authors today. She has also been regularly published as a contributor on Fast Company magazine on articles about publishing, leadership, business, and social issues. https://www.fastcompany.com/1800256/social-media-and-future-publishing-industry

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Acknowledgements

This is for Team Kailin :  You know who you are. You’re the ones who help make the magic happen with me.  Thank you!

Prologue

Wirt dreamt that he was sitting in his room, acutely aware it was a dream. Only it wasn’t his room. Not now. His room was the one at the Alchemists Academy that he shared with Spencer, his half of it a complete mess while Spencer’s was pin neat. This room was the one he’d had in England with his last foster parents, Joan and Peter, decorated according to their idea of what a boy his age should have liked, and several years too young for Wirt as a result. There was the bed, the small desk, the wardrobe with the familiarly unexplained dents in the front. Not to mention the football themed wallpaper. Wirt hated football.

Without thinking about it, Wirt found himself wandering downstairs, a strange sense of excitement in his stomach. Somehow he knew, in that way you did in dreams, that it was Christmas morning, and that they would be waiting for him in the kitchen, ready to exchange presents. That was even more proof that this couldn’t be real, because he had never actually done that with Joan and Peter. As with so many of the places Wirt had stayed, he hadn’t been there long enough.

Sure enough, there were two figures waiting for Wirt in the kitchen. Only it turned out that they weren’t his familiarly ineffectual foster parents. A man and a woman, both pale and dark-haired, stood in the middle of the kitchen smiling at him. They seemed strangely familiar, and for a moment Wirt couldn’t help noticing how much they looked like him.

Of course they do, he pointed out to himself then. What else would my parents look like? Wirt knew that they were his parents in the same way that a flower knows which way to turn towards the sun, with the curious certainty that you only ever get when you’re asleep. That he hadn’t known it a moment ago didn’t seem to matter. Given that Wirt had never seen his parents when awake, he wasn’t sure how he knew it now, either.

He handed over a couple of presents that he hadn’t been aware of carrying, which turned out to be socks and a multicolored scarf when his parents opened them, suggesting that Wirt was every bit as bad at buying presents in his sleep as he was when awake. Even so, they smiled in a way that suggested that Wirt had gotten them exactly what they had always wanted. His interest increased when his mother held out a brightly wrapped and beribboned box, which Wirt held for a moment, staring at it. He’d never had this. This moment of anticipation when he didn’t know what he was going to get, with his family looking on.

The moment didn’t last long, and Wirt opened his gift in a shower of wrapping paper. His parents looked on, those same smiles present on their faces. He looked down into the box, only to see that it was empty. Or not quite empty. Inside was a square of paper, on which careful handwriting stood out clearly. Wirt picked it up and read the words Merry Christmas, beloved son. You cannot see, taste, or smell your gift, but you will know it when you feel it.

What? Wirt asked. I don’t understand. Is this some sort of riddle?

His dream mother and father didn’t say anything. They just smiled and stared at the box in a way that suggested that Wirt was missing something. Not knowing what else to do, Wirt reached down into it, searching it by feel in case there was something at the bottom that he might not have noticed.

There was. Wirt yelped as something closed around his wrist, and tried to yank his arm back. It didn’t move, and as Wirt looked down, he saw dark fingers clasped on his arm. They weren’t just dark-skinned; they were absolutely black, as though carved from onyx or jet. They were as implacable as stone too, refusing to relinquish their grip as Wirt tried to jerk away.

Help me, he said to his parents, but they just shook their heads sadly, staring in that way parents had that told you that whatever was happening was for your own good.

The arm pulled at Wirt, and it pulled with far more strength than Wirt had ever experienced. He tried his best to brace himself against it, but slowly, inexorably, the hand drew him towards the box. That swirled with darkness now, and Wirt got the feeling that it was suddenly far deeper than it had been a moment ago.

He found out as the hand dragged him in, though how he fit into the box, Wirt wasn’t sure. He only knew that he fell. Only after a second or two, he wasn’t falling. He was walking along a tunnel instead. The walls were of natural earth, while huge tree roots showed up at intervals like roof beams and standing stones lined the walls, marks on them seeming to tell a story that Wirt could not understand.

The tunnel came to an end, and Wirt found himself in a cave. It was huge, and smooth, without the craggy outcrops of rock Wirt might have expected. There were no torches, but the walls seemed to glow with reflected light. It was one of those things that Wirt had come to expect. In the middle of the floor rose a stone slab, grey and imposing. Though perhaps not as imposing as the form of the armored figure laying on it.

As Wirt drew closer, he got a closer look at that figure. He was a young man, broad-shouldered and blond, wearing a mixture of plate armor and chainmail, marked with the insignia of a dragon and a crown. Wirt knew the crest marked him as not just another knight, but a royal knight.

The other young man’s eyes flickered open, focusing on Wirt. It seemed to take him a moment to gather himself, as though the knight had been asleep for a long time. How long, Wirt could not be sure, but he couldn’t help noticing that the armor had cobwebs on it in thick layers around the joints. The royal knight’s gaze was direct, and something about it told Wirt that this man was used to people following his commands. No, not something about the gaze. Something deeper.

Merlin, the man on the slab said, looking at him.

What? Where? Wirt looked around, and then looked down at himself. He wasn’t wearing anything that he would normally have chosen. Instead, he was wearing some sort of robe, an almost silken grey, edged with silver lettering that he couldn’t read. It looked like the sort of thing one or two of the teachers at the school might have worn, though even most of them seemed to prefer more modern things than this.

Merlin? It is you, isn’t it? The knight looked at Wirt for a long moment and then nodded. You broke the spell. You brought me back. You succeeded, Merlin.

Wirt wanted to tell the man that he had got the wrong person, but he found that he couldn’t. Maybe this part of his dream wasn’t meant to make sense. Instead, he had to follow as the knight stood, brushing cobwebs from the joints of his armor and looking around the cave.

Do you know where we are? the knight asked. Wirt got the feeling that he was used to Wirt having the answers to things. That was certainly more than Wirt’s teachers were used to.

I don’t know, Wirt admitted.

The knight nodded and seemed to come to a decision. We must find the others.

What others?

And we must find my sword too. That is vital. I just don’t feel properly dressed without my sword.

Wirt shook his head in apology. What sword?

The knight looked at Wirt again. Are you well, Merlin? We must find my knights, and we must find Excalibur.

Wirt at least understood that part. Isn’t Excalibur King Arthur’s sword? The one he pulled out of the stone?

Well, it is mine.

Hang on, Wirt said, trying to keep up. "Your sword? You’re King Arthur?"

The knight’s eyes narrowed a little. Are you making fun of me, Merlin? Only, I really don’t think this is the time or the place. You know that I’m not at my best in the mornings even when I haven’t been... well, like this.

I just need to be clear, Wirt said. You’re King Arthur, right?

The royal knight looked at Wirt, and again, Wirt couldn’t help the feeling that this man was born to command. Wirt could easily imagine him commanding armies, or ruling from a castle, or giving orders to hordes of retainers. Given the faint look of annoyance on the knight’s features, Wirt could also imagine him having wizards who didn’t do his bidding locked up.

You’re King Arthur, Wirt said, certain of it now.

Good. The knight swept Wirt up in a hug that was all the more crushing for wearing armor while he did it. You know, it’s really good to be back, Merlin old friend.

Wirt, who was having a certain amount of trouble breathing, could only nod. He still didn’t know why this strange knight was calling him Merlin, but he also still couldn’t quite manage to point out the mistake.

King Arthur stepped back and took another look around the cave.

Now, where did you say my sword was? Good to see that it’s not stuck in the stone this time, at least, but I really do need it back, Merlin.

Wirt was about to say that he didn’t know where the sword was, but he was quite surprised to find that he did. Or at least, he knew that he knew where it was. More than that, despite the part where Wirt was absolutely certain that he couldn’t be Merlin, he also had the simultaneous feeling that he knew the knight before him very well.

It was just that he couldn’t put his finger on how, any more than he could pin down the exact location of the sword King Arthur wanted so badly. Wirt concentrated, trying to think. Trying to remember. Trying to come up with some sort of answer.

And the dream faded.

Chapter 1

Wirt woke in the room that he shared with Spencer, looked at the clock on the wall, and winced. He was late for breakfast. So late, in fact, that if he didn’t hurry, he would probably be late for his first class too. He got up and got ready, picking his way through the mess that he had left over much of the floor. When Spencer moved his stuff back in later, reclaiming his half of things, Wirt dreaded to think how it would pile up.

Wirt hadn’t gone anywhere over the summer. He hadn’t had anywhere to go. So he had spent his time at the school, exploring, or visiting Llew the dragon down in his cave, or just generally trying to keep out of the way of the headmaster and some of the stranger Things that still stayed around. He’d had a few lessons with Ms. Lake over the summer, working on his transportation skills, but even so, Wirt was surprisingly glad that the new year had started. He suspected the feeling wouldn’t last.

Wirt chose his customary hooded top and jeans from the box that conjured clothes into existence as he needed them, before heading out into the hallway and shooting down the transport tubes that ran through the inside of the giant tree in which the Alchemists Academy sat.

Wirt smiled to himself at that. It was amazing how soon the impossible could fade to something approaching normal. Though he suspected that he would never get used to the sheer speed of the tubes. The one he was in deposited Wirt at the entrance to the cafeteria, and he went to the hatch for whatever breakfast the wood nymph cooks had picked out for him today with their not very accurate crystal ball. It turned out to be porridge. Apparently, turning up late annoyed them.

Wirt sought out Spencer and Alana, both sitting at a table in one corner. Spencer was wearing black, as usual, his blond hair neatly combed in stark contrast to the mess that Wirt’s inevitably was. He grown a little taller and broader shouldered after the summer break, while Alana...

Alana was amazing. Her dark hair fell in waves almost to her waist, and she wore a dark sweater and slacks today. She seemed older than she had when Wirt had last seen her; more grown up, with the previously girlish prettiness of her features maturing into genuine beauty. Wirt couldn’t help staring at her, and he noticed that Spencer was doing much the same. Priscilla, Alana’s roommate and the school’s resident royal princess, didn’t seem to be there this morning.

Wirt sat and ate quickly, trying to catch up with the others as he did so. Spencer had mentioned yesterday evening that he had spent some of the vacation on an extended trip with his father, but when Wirt brought it up now, Spencer seemed not to want to talk about it. Wirt was just about to ask Alana what she had done over the summer when the bell rang for the first lesson.

They all had the same first class, up in one of the higher reaches of the tree. It was something called ‘Elemental Manipulation’ and sounded better to Wirt than a lot of the subjects offered at the school. Certainly better than the magical accountancy that Spencer’s father forced his son to take. Wirt took a seat next to the other two, and had just settled down when the principal walked in, accompanied by a woman.

Wirt had spotted Ender Paine several times as he was wandering the school halls over the summer, and had mostly tried to avoid the man.