Oh, great. Now my face burned with shame because what the hell was I doing down here? What’d happened to me? When did I become this creature?
I used to be so much better than this. None of this shitty pining or feeling guilty for being me. Rolling through life with my head held high, working hard, playing harder. I missed myself. I missed everything.
Stop being so fucking weak!I scolded myself.
You see, being love-starved and a prick didn’t make for a great combination. It destabilized all the defenses, turned a strong man into jelly.
Erin arrived with a vial of glamouring potion. “What happened?”
That was my cue to get to my feet and shake this off. “Nothing.” I moved away, my back to both of them. I shook my hands and hopped from foot to foot to release the bad energy.
Be gone, you little shit!
“What a terrible smell,” Erin said.
I faced her, covered in a fresh set of Isaac armor. “Right? It totally threw me off.”
Ollie just stared at me.
Erin pinched her nose, glancing between us. “Is it ready?”
Ollie checked his watch. “One minute to go.” Dipping his head, he returned to the cauldron.
He touched me…
Erin cocked her head. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yes,” I replied brightly. “I’m all good.”
I could tell she didn’t believe me, but she left it there. “I have a plan for you.”
“Oh?” I rolled my shoulders, centering myself.
“Ollie will drive you out of the mansion grounds looking like two High Coven agents. You’ll then meet Alice and April somewhere discreet.”
Sneaky.
“There you will swap cars, and you can take the potion and change.” She smiled. “Ollie can pretend to be your bodyguard and drive you to The Coral as Isaac Davenport. I have the perfect outfit for you, son.” She chortled.
Ollie said nothing as he filled the potion vial.
He couldn’t take the glamouring potion provided, seeing as it was brewed to hide me, Riley, and Drake. Although Drake wasn’t famous, it was better to disguise him anyway seeing as he was Riley’s man.
“Meet me at my bedroom in ten minutes,” Erin told her son.
He handed me the vial without a word. I drank it, tasting nothing but warm milk.
Okay then.
A puff of sweet-smelling pink mist wafted from my skin, vanishing into the ceiling. The magic broken.
“Excellent,” Erin said, handing me the glamouring potion.
I gulped it down, the deceit sliding back into place. Perfect. Simple. Just how it darn well should be.
Ollie filled six more vials, keeping one, placing the others into a rack on one of the floor-to-ceiling shelving units. We were starting to build up a collection of potions and ingredients in both spell rooms now. Better than those shelves being empty, and the cobwebs were gone, the bare floorboards less dusty than before.
“Everything is in hand,” Erin directed at me, then left the room.
