Nathaniel made his disapproval known.
“No, go.Take a nap and shush,” Thea said, waving her fingers at him.“You don’t need to be here for this part.”
He continued to vent his frustration as he made his way back to the fireplace.
Thea and Guinevere exchanged amused glances.“He’ll get over it,” Guinevere said.
Thea made her way back out to the counter to watch her customers as Guinevere started making her next potion.She watched Nathaniel settle back into his chair and shoved down the voice of worry that said,What if Guinevere can’t fix it?
Things went on much the same way for the next two potions that Guinevere tried.She would research things in her book, come up with a concoction, Nathaniel would act as if it might kill him to drink it—but he would drink it anyway—and nothing would happen.
It was extremely frustrating.
She was ready to give up—whether Guinevere was or not.
She wasn’t sure how she could convince Nat to keep going, though, when she wanted to give up, too.
“That’s the third one,” Guinevere said with a sigh as nothing happened yet again.“I think it’s best for me to take a break.We can reconvene tomorrow, maybe, but I can’t do much more before I start to hurt myself.”
“You can hurt yourself making potions?”Thea asked.
“Yes.It uses a different type of energy, and if I use too much of it, I’ll get hurt,” Guinevere explained.“But now I know to stop while I’m ahead.”
“Thank you for trying,” Thea said quietly.“Even if you couldn’t make it work today.”
Guinevere nodded, her motions slower than Thea would have expected.Perhaps she had overdone it more than she was letting on.
“I’m always happy to help,” she said softly.“I just wish I could’ve made a difference today.”
Nathaniel let out a meow.
“I think he’s trying to tell you thank you,” Thea said.
Nathaniel meowed emphatically.
“Yes, he is, and you’re both very welcome,” Guinevere said with a smile.“I’ll see you later.”
She left, and Thea stared at Nat, who had slunk into the corner.
“I’m sorry she couldn’t fix it today,” she said.
Nat sighed but didn’t say anything else.
“She’s going to try again,” Thea said, not sure if she was trying to encourage Nathaniel or herself.“Hopefully we’ll get somewhere.”
Nathaniel didn’t say anything.He had to be even more discouraged than Thea was.
She sighed.If only she could help more.But this was something he had to face alone, no matter how much she wished otherwise.
“We will figure it out,” she told him.
Or she might not get to spend much time with the man she loved—at least not in his human form.
Chapter eighteen
Nat
Nathaniel’snosebegantotwitch, and instead of being annoyed, he welcomed the sensation, hoping it would mean he was about to turn back into a human.
