Chapter Two. Did you guys miss me? No, you're not hallucinating, I did change the title from A Lost Memory to A Deadly Secret.

Sorry about the long wait. I do have a couple "good" excuses. Number one, i've been stuck. Max ran off to Maui for an extended vacation and finally came back like last week. While that should've helped, she seemed to be focusing more on later chapters as well as invading other people's stories as my writing partner, Kawaii Stella, will tell you. I just managed to finish chapter two last night thanks to a stomach flu that kept me from sleeping, but there you have it. It was going to be longer but i figured this needed a chapter all to itself. Number two, my grandmother passed away monday November Twelfth. She was an artist, the matriarch to my family, and one of the best people I've ever known. On the upside, however, I have further embraced my writing. Somewhat. I've been having a little trouble churning out chapters than usual but it's not a block I can't overcome.

Also, I have a fanpage on Facebook now. Tari J Deiter. You'll get updates on chapters like exerpts, quotes, and the whole shebang. Also, you'll have the insider scoop on some future stories I'm brewing up. hehe. go ahead and like me.

I don't own Cyberchase or Huntik. Max is mine. Echo belongs exclusively to Kawaii Stella and her story Picking up the Broken Glass.

Chapter Two
Answers

Pi did not sleep when he returned to Shangri-La following the meeting. There was something he had to do. Something important. And it involved utilizing as much time as he had to do it.

The mess of information Nathan, Lok, and the others brought back to him was still right where he had left it – on the floor. As he entered his room – ordering his warriors to leave him undisturbed – he picked up everything hand laid them out on his desk according to type. Then, he settled into a cushion and began to read.

First, he went thought the textbooks, laying all five of those aside when he realized those were merely the same kind of materials he and the other Plo-baQ'krum had approved for use at the school of Frogsnorts. They were tools for studying Alchemy and none of them would provide answers for what Pi was looking for – Ledge's study of the depraved kind of Alchemy he had used. However, Pi was surprised to see the Cybrary's reference section seal taped across the binding and realized these had been stolen out of the Cybrary. He made a note to return them once he was finished.

With the textbooks out of the way, Pi turned to the notebooks. There were seven in all. As he flipped through them, he noticed they were full of note-style texts; formatted the way Frogsnorts' teachers taught their classes. Only half these notebooks were full and Pi remembered the Ledge hadn't completed the courses – acting up which had resulted in his expulsion from Frogsnorts – and each notebook was labeled with subject matter. He set those aside . . . save one.

Number seven.

That one wasn't labeled. The fact Ledge had neglected to give that notebook a name piqued Pi's interest. All the others were named. I slowly opened it to the first page and was astonished to find it was full to bursting with lines of notes. Notes that included words no beginner Alchemist would ever use. The use of advanced terminology continued to startle Pi and he began wondering if Ledge understood any of it. Hacker's son or not, even the best borgs who were designed to understand and use Alchemy couldn't quite understand advanced terminology until their third or fourth years.

As Pi paged through it, he realized the notebook had slowly drifted away from school practices and grew more and more . .. he supposed the word "sinister" was applicable here. He couldn't suppress the collusive shiver that ran down his back. These arts Ledge was studying had been banned because of how they were meant to be used, or because of how they were used.

As a general rule, Alchemy was used as a means of helping people. Though, it had also been used in the past for incapacitating criminals who were going to be executed on the Steel Crucifix. Many argued that was abusing their power while others believed that was helping the criminals endure the pain while they died. Pi, himself, was responsible for aiding in the executions of over fifty criminals before he resigned as prison alchemist and returned to his full-time job as Head of Shangri-La. Aside from that use of Alchemy, everything else that could be deemed harmful was forbidden and the forbidden arts were not taught to young, budding Alchemists.

So, where did Ledge learn any of this? Pi wondered, continuing to read.

As he came to the end of the notebook, he realized the notes were becoming extremely graphic. Beneath the twenty-some circles Ledge had carefully drawn, there were labels and even some lists of Ledge's speculations on how each circle could be used. Over half of the speculations went against the natural order of things and many of those notes belonged to circles Pi had used before but would never dream of using that way.

Then, Pi came to the end of the notebook. He blanched and covered his mouth with his hand. The circle drawn there had three, intersecting triangles. Isosceles to be exact. Pi knew what it was for and, even though he had seen papers features this circle on Ledge's palms, it hadn't clicked what they were until now. And he knew it should explain how Ledge was able to manipulate Max in gargoyle form like that. How he was able to torture the humans like that, too, without touching them.

That can't be possible! Pi thought. That application was lost eons ago! Where did he –

His dark eyes suddenly flicked to the leather-bound journal. He set the notebook aside and grabbed the journal; opening it to the first page. Property of Taarlok was scrawled in neat, old-style script. His hands trembled. Pi thought he recognized the journal as Taarlok's, one of the missing sons of Atreyu. It was rumored that Taarlok had somehow managed to study Alchemy with only a battery pack as his core; an act which should be impossible without a medium of some kind. Even worse, it was rumored that Taarlok even somehow managed to warp the art into something horrible; even using it to conduct experiments on living things, including the Gar-ghoul. Lifebending was invented by Taarlok and, due to his crimes, he was stripped of everything he knew about Alchemy and was banished.

Pi put the journal aside. He thought the journal had been destroyed. So, where did it come from? He didn't need to read it to know where Ledge's depraved knowledge of Alchemy had come from. But, as he flicked it aside, it fell off the table and landed open on the floor. Pi got off his cushion to pick it up. As he went to close it, he noticed the journal's last page was marked with a note from Ledge. He sat down and read it.

I've done it! Now to show the world they were wrong about us. There's more to us than meets the eye. And the first to experience this will be Max. I'm going to enjoy seeing the look on her face when she loses everything.

"When she loses everything" Pi thought. This whole time Ledge had been thinking about killing Matthias. His only target hadn't been Max at all. it was everyone Max deeply cared about. And Matthias topped the list.

But why Max? Aside from the fact she had killed Hieronymus, she did nothing to make anyone hate her so. Wicked was the only person on that list who made a real agenda against the former Shield-maiden. And while Ledge was Hieronymus' son, there wasn't a clue as to how he fit into this picture and anyone who could proved any insight into this was dead.

Or were they?

Pi rose and went to the computer. There, he went through his list of contacts until he came to Ginny's name and selected it. The call was answered by the grouchy red-head Pi knew too well and he suddenly felt very sorry when he realized he had woken her up – he hadn't even noticed it was one in the morning until he read the clock on the computer's task bar.

"You had better have a good reason why you woke me up, Erasmus." Ginny said, irritably.

"My apologies, Ginny." Pi said. "I've been looking into Ledge Hacker's past. And I need your help."

"Can't this wait?" Ginny asked, yawning deeply.

"Until morning, yes." Pi gave in.

"So, why are you calling me now?"

"I need you to set up a meeting with Warren for me. Can you do that?"

Ginny was suddenly interested. "What does Warren have to do with Ledge?"

"That's what I would like to know." Pi said.

"Okay, fine. I'll let him know you're coming." she said.

"Thanks, Ginny."

Ginny grunted before disconnecting.