Alchemy of Secrets

by Stephanie Garber

“What you’ve written is good.” “Really?” Holland asked, relieved. “You’re an excellent writer,” he said sincerely. “The Professor’s notes mention that you were briefly a Storytelling major in your undergrad, and it shows. You pulled me in right away with your version of Natalia West’s death. The way you connected her rapid rise to fame in the 1950s with her mysterious death was smart, and you did a clever job of drawing parallels between the strange details of her death and those of other celebrities who died under tragic or unexplainable circumstances.” Adam flipped through a few more pages. Holland tried not to grin. She was still upset by everything he’d said about the Professor. But she also couldn’t help thinking that maybe there was more nuance to Adam Bishop than she had given him credit for. He seemed to really understand what she was doing. And he’d called her smart. “Unfortunately”—Adam shut the folder and looked up at Holland with eyes that had lost their smile—“you can’t use any of this.” “But—wait—” she stammered. “You just said it was good.” “It is. Your theory that some of the most famous deaths in Hollywood were actually murders committed by the devil is extremely entertaining, for fiction.”