Alchemy of Secrets

by Stephanie Garber

It started with a whisper you heard while in line at a coffee shop, a story you probably should have ignored.

You don’t know for certain if the stories are true, but you half expect to fall through a rabbit hole as you step through the theater door into the lobby.

“You’re here because of a story,” she says. “Now I’m going to tell you another one.”

There were just two initials on the faceless man’s cuff links: W.M. The Watch Man.

One of the Professor’s legends is about someone called the Watch Man. Supposedly, there are signs that lead to him around Los Angeles. If you follow the signs and you manage to find him, you can ask him the time, and the Watch Man will tell you when you’ll die.”

“The Professor also said that you can make a deal with him to get more time, to live longer than you would have.”

It almost felt like magic. Not big, miraculous magic but the simple magic of timeless things. Of two-dollar bills and handwritten letters, typewriters and rotary phones.

The next morning arrived slowly, reluctant to perform a job it had grown tired of doing.

Forget any guy who doesn’t want you. Only January would have used a different F word than forget.

Leave the dead where they belong, January would say.

sidecar has been around for over a century, and if you buy one of these for the devil, he’ll give you one of his business cards. Each card may be used only once for an appointment with the devil, where you can make a deal for whatever you want, and then—”

The devil is a myth. One you don’t believe in. But when you walk out of the theater, you want one of those cards.

many believed the franchise was cursed. There were fires on set, multiple car accidents involving cast and crew members, several reports of amnesia, and one day, during outdoor filming, an entire flock of doves died midflight and fell from the sky.

But all that came up for Isla Saint were articles about how, that same night—February 27, 2011—she murdered her husband.

“How many of you have heard the Hollywood Rule of Three—that if one celebrity dies, two are certain to follow? I’m not sure when it began, but I can tell you it’s a lie. All three of these deaths are part of a cover-up, a bit of misdirection, to hide the real reason Isla and Ben were killed.”

Hollywood was not built on dreams, it was built on favors from the devil, and the devil does not handle it well when those favors aren’t paid back.”

“I feel like you’re going after the wrong type of guy. I don’t think you actually want someone safe and nice. I think you want someone who scares you a little, like the Professor’s myths. And I think you need someone who won’t make you feel as if you have to hide those dark and twisty parts of you.”

That’s when she saw it, on the underside of his wrist: an indigo tattoo of an antiquity eye, with the symbol for tin——on top and the symbol for sulfur— —below.

Get eaten by a wolf or questioned by the cops.

Holland had vowed that when she grew up, her life would be a television show with oversaturated colors, perky pop music, and lots of kissing.

pale cream business card with emerald-green lettering. JANUARY ST. JAMES Rare Book & Artifact Collections

“It’s okay,” Holland said. “If I don’t live past tomorrow, your drops of blood will only add to the mystery of my death.”

it seemed wise not to trust anyone, particularly any man she found attractive,

Holland could tell that this symbol was actually composed of at least five other symbols—a burning heart, filled in with a labyrinth, which wrapped around an antiquity eye that appeared to have two symbols coming out of it. On top of the eye was the symbol for tin, and below it was the symbol for sulfur.

The Bank is the reason no one who’s not a part of this world ever remembers hearing about the Alchemical Heart. They erase memories, and they’re ruthless about it.”

They did the same with abilities. You’re not supposed to be able to steal an ability from another person, but the Bank has managed to take abilities from entire families, and now they loan those abilities out to those in their employ, as an incentive to get people to work for them.”

It’s said to exist outside of time. One hour in the Regal is one minute in the real world, making it the perfect place for those who never want to grow old, or those who wish to hide.

“When you tell a dark story, it’s important to make sure the people watching never lose hope. You need to give them something bright to hold on to, even if it’s just a color on a screen, reminding them that there is still light in the world. The dark night might get its time every day, but the sun will always rise and put it out.”

the rising of her heartbeat, the way he drew her attention like a magnet. She had known him before.

He was someone … someone to her that she couldn’t remember.

A Metropolis poster in German, King Kong from 1933, Frankenstein from 1931, The Black Cat from 1934, and her favorite, a Casablanca poster from a 1947 release in France.