A Forbidden Alchemy

As she steps on the train to Belavere, Nina thinks about how she wants to leave her hometown of Scurry forever.

As Patrick Colson steps onto the train, he thinks about returning to his hometown of Kenton Hill the next day to remain with his mother, brothers, and father. Like the rest of the men in his family, he wants to work in the mines.

Nina arrives in Belavere, the grand city where Artisans do most of their magic. She vows that she will either become an Artisan or somehow stay in this city surrounded by them to avoid working in the mines.

She enters a courtyard packed with other 12-year-olds. Lord Tanner, the Head of House of Lords, explains the origin of this tradition: God sent his daughter Idia to earth as a human being. She fought alongside them to defend their land and when her blood spilled, they noticed that her blood was ink. Now, her crystalized blood is imbued in the material terranium. Drinking this substance is what gives Artisans their powers. He demonstrates his own power by manipulating a rock that changes forms as it spins in midair. Throughout the demonstration, a boy with bright blue eyes stands behind Nina cursing Lord Tanner.

When they line up for the ceremony, the boy introduces himself as Patrick. He guesses that Nina wants to go to the Artisan school, and when he accuses her of not wanting to work hard, she remembers her dad criticizing the Artisans in a similar way. She agrees that Craftsmen aren’t paid enough, that the Artisans keep all the money, and that the Craftsmen endure dangerous conditions, but she is tired of complaining about it.

She shows him that she is wearing pants underneath her skirt and the skirt can transform into a coat to disguise her as a boy. She is prepared to stay in the city regardless of whether she is chosen to be an Artisan.

Patrick and Nina argue about the hierarchy of Artisans: Scribblers, who make ink appear on paper; Cutters, who mold precious stones; Smiths, who work with copper, iron, gold, and nickel, and silver; Masons, who work with wood and stone; Alchemists, who crack open terrarium to find idium; and Charmers, who manipulate earth, fire, and water. Alchemists are rare—the public does not know how many are still alive. Nina wants to be an earth Charmer to prevent mines from caving in.

Patrick doesn’t understand the purpose of the artistic, whimsical things the Artisans make, and Nina explains that there’s meaning behind the beauty. When she tells him her dad hates dancing, he dances for her as others watch and laugh.

She tells Patrick that she knows she will be an Artisan. Patrick, noticing her desperation and hunger, grabs her hand and runs off through the crowd.

Patrick leads Nina to a side entrance where servers make deliveries. Teasing her, he sneaks in, and she hesitantly decides to join him. They witness one boy become an Artisan after drinking the idium. Patrick pulls Nina into a storage closet, gives her a cake to eat, and he shows her a lighter that his dad invented. There, they notice a cellar door and decide to explore. They find crates of idium, and when they hear voices, they hide.

A high-heeled woman orders a man named Thomas to bring more crates of idium upstairs for the ceremony. He suggests that they bring those with wax seals, and she responds that they already have nearly all the Artisan children of the year. He replies that some of the poorer children deserve a chance to succeed. She tells him to bring up the vials that are Crafter-marked and reminds him that he is paid to keep quiet. The woman leaves, and Thomas reluctantly transports the crate.

Emerging from their hiding place, Nina desperately asks Patrick what the woman meant.

Patrick opens three crates to investigate. Two large crates have vials without wax seals and one smaller crate has vials with the seals. Nina puts it together: They mark the vials to give to the Artisans they have already chosen. Patrick’s anger grows while Nina loses hope. He hugs her. Realizing that they must leave before someone finds them, Patrick grabs two of each type of vial.

Nina waits alone in the courtyard. Patrick is gone because they called his town first. When they finally call hers, she approaches the men who administer the vials, produces her own from her pocket, and drinks it. Immediately her senses are altered: She can see and hear more deeply. Soon, dust begins collecting in her hand and then the entire room is caught in a miniature dust storm. The man hesitantly announces that she is an Artisan: an earth Charmer.

Nina is whisked away by the harsh woman whose voice she recognizes from the cellar. The woman tells her that from now on, Nina’s last name is Clarke and she must refer to the woman as Aunt Francis. She grew up in Sommerland, she is the daughter of Aunt Francis’s sister, whose name is Greta Liesel. Aunt Francis warns her if she doesn’t stick to this story, they will be kicked out of the city or worse. Nina is then branded with the Artisan seal and taken to the National Artisan School.

At school, Nina Clarke receives a letter from Lord Tanner, who says he knew Greta and her husband Frederick wonders how he could have missed her having a child. To end the letter, he mentions Nina’s real hometown, Scurry.

At the National Artisan School, Nina keeps the threatening letter in her waistband at all times. The other students have taken to bullying Nina with worms due to her role as an earth Charmer. She is the first earth Charmer in over a century.

As Nina sits in class one day next to a girl named Polly, the professor explains that in addition to idium, the metal terranium contains bluff, which can accelerate healing and be used as a sedative. The headmaster, Professor Dumley, enters the room and pulls Nina and the only water Charmer, whose name is Theodore Shop. He is everything she’s not: proper, eloquent, and the son of Lord Shop, a member of the House of Lords. After a conversation about a Mason who created beautiful doors before killing himself, they discuss whether life is worth living even if one is not producing one’s best work. To Nina’s horror, the headmaster remarks that Lord Tanner suggested that he take responsibility for their schooling.

Dumley asks them to demonstrate their capabilities. With great effort, Theodore levitates tea from the teapot. Nina makes shapes with the dirt and moves it around the room until something snaps and the dirt falls onto them. The headmaster tells them that they have gifts worth dying for.

Theodore tells Nina to call him Theo, and from then on, they are friends.

In Nina’s second year at the Artisan School, Theo gives her a newspaper article about mine collapses and explosions in the north, including one in Patrick’s hometown, Kenton Hill. The article says that there are rumors of Crafter unions, partly as a response to the rumors being spread about the validity of the siphoning ceremony.

Nina visits Aunt Francis at her home in the city. Aunt Francis asks endless questions about Nina’s schooling, especially about Tanner, but Nina keeps the letter a secret. She refers to Nina as a fraud, and Nina responds that if she is a fraud then they all are. Nina asks for an explanation, and Aunt Francis, unsure, says she believes that long ago, everyone drank the idium and the result was a war. Aunt Francis admits that she does not believe that what they do is fair, but she wonders whether their role of protecting the country from invaders is more important than fairness.

Nina wonders whether Patrick started the rumors about the ceremony. When Aunt Francis asks his name, Nina lies and says that she doesn’t know.

In Nina’s third year, they receive news that the anonymous miner union has gone on strike. Tanner refuses their demands. The alchemist scarcity continues, so they have no way of getting new terranium.

Tanner comes to visit Dumley’s lessons with Theo and Nina. He informs them that they should be ready to fight the miner’s union on behalf of Belavere, pointing out that Belavere itself is a trench surrounded by mountains, perfect for Nina’s skillset.

In Nina’s fourth year, she sits alone in the theater, unable to sleep after a dinner days before with the House of Lords. Theo joins her and confesses that he has been offered a position in the cabinet and then the House of Lords when they graduate. She admits she was offered the same—she’d be the first woman in the House—but she had no choice whether to take it.

Theo tells Nina he does not want to do it without her. He tells her that together, as young progressives in the House of Lords, they can change things. He kisses her. At midnight, she turns 16.

Two years later, on the day of their graduation, Belavere is on the brink of a civil war. Two of the three living alchemists have died, creating a massive terranium shortage. Nina sees a cruel depiction of the Crafters in the newspaper—parts of the depiction are true, but they are the way they are for a reason.

As unsure of her place in Belavere as ever, she attends the graduation ceremony. Theo pulls her aside to check in on her after he had ended their relationship two weeks prior. He is being assigned to a faraway town and does not want Nina to wait for him. She is crushed but acts cold. He kisses her before Aunt Francis whisks her away.

Just as she receives her scroll on stage, the earth beneath her begins to tremble and caves in. Artisans try to soften the blow of brick and wood, but walls rain down around them. Aunt Francis instructs her to run, but as they leave the building Nina watches as rubble buries Aunt Francis, and then it buries her too.

Theo finds Nina stuck under the rubble and tells her Aunt Francis is dead. He urges her to come to the House of Lords, where they will be protected. She refuses and begs Theo to run away with her. Theo aligns himself with the Artisans, saying that with her power, Nina will be able to bury the Crafters. She asks him to retrieve Aunt Francis’s body, and when he leaves to do so, she disappears.

Tanner writes a letter to Dumley threatening whoever is harboring the earth Charmer. They need Nina as a weapon, and they fear that the rebels will find her first.