“We’ll figure it out,” Haley said, forcibly. “I think the main point is that we can’t be as relaxed as we were before. Nomore late-night wanderings into cemeteries.”
The three of them leveled their gazes on me, and I snorted. “Yeah, yeah, Moms. Keep your hair on. I promise to stop wanderingaimlessly and giving monsters a chance to eat me.”
“Excellent.” Belle dropped her pen, rubbing a hand over her eyes. “In better news, I think I’ve found the strongest defensespell we have the capability of creating and utilizing. We’ll need to get herbs from the apothecary store because this isbeyond fourth-year advanced spellwork.”
Since it was late afternoon, and we were all exhausted and starving, we returned our books and gathered up the copious pagesof notes we’d taken. Then we followed Belle as she marched from the library and headed for the Stores, the small hut containingall the herbs, potion mixes, candles, and other materials required in potion making.
Students couldn’t just help themselves to whatever they wanted, but when we showed Madam Craney, the witch who ran the apothecary, the spell we were studying, she was more than happy to help us out. No talk of it being too advanced, she was all smiles as she waved her hands. “Oh, yes, dears,” she said, pushing back the huge purple glasses that framed herwrinkled eyes. Her hair was bright purple too, lovely against her brown skin. “After last night we could all use protective energy around us.”
It had been twenty years since the last death at Weatherstone, when a spell had missed its mark and taken out a second-year.The monster murder last night was a thousand times worse, and it would take this magical community a long time to get pastit.
“His parents are with the headmaster now,” Madam Craney continued. She’d always kept up a constant stream of chatter wheneverI’d come in here for supplies. “I hope they don’t take them to Aura Hall until the investigation is complete. They questionedthat poor Logan for hours, and he is such a hero.” Her eyes twinkled as she looked back our way. “Handsome too.”
That was Logan, the handsome hero.
Her monologue trailed off as she delved into the shelves to find what we needed. The familiar scents of an apothecary easedthe tension in my shoulders, reminding me of being back in Mom’s kitchen.
“Rosemary is my favorite,” Sara said, breathing as deeply as I was. “It reminds me of home, and the early mornings when Momwould mix up her healing elixirs in the kitchen.”
Haley’s smile was genuine, for the first time today. “It’s oregano for me. Mom enjoyed using it for every-freaking-thing.Not even joking. Cooking, spells, my homemade toothpaste.”
“My dad was into sage,” Belle said with a shrug, conveying that he wasn’t her favorite person. “Mom liked to grind up ashwagandha,which isn’t as strong in the scent department, but that earthy smell always reminds me of India.”
It was my turn, and I brushed my fingertips across the leaves of the mint plant on the front desk. “Mom doesn’t use active magic these days, but she has all the herbs you could imagine.Lavender, thyme, oregano, sage, lemongrass. You name it, it’s growing somewhere in the house. Jars everywhere, windowsills crammed. I kind of miss all the greenery.”
“No active magic?” Sara queried, and I nodded. “Yeah, it’s to do with whatever happened with Logan’s mom in the forest thatday.” I’d told them why there was a blood oath between us, or as much as I knew anyway. “But it doesn’t diminish her capabilitiesas a witch.”
“It wasn’t her fault,” Belle said fiercely. “Logan is dumber than he looks if he believes otherwise.”
Madam Craney returned with a box of items, and I had a thought. “Would it be possible for me to take a few of the potted herbs?I’d love to keep them in my room.”
Her whole face lit up. “Dear, you can take as many as you like. Our magic is stronger when we immerse ourselves in nature.”
All four of us ended up with a few trays of potted herbs. On our way back, each of us stopped in our room to drop off theplants. I set my tray on the windowsill and hoped I’d inherited my mom’s green thumb, because I now had babies to keep alive.
When we were done, we snuck into the defense spells classroom, needing the pentacles and insulated walls in case we screwedup the spell. With classes canceled, there were no students in this part of Writworth, minimizing our chances of getting caught.
“It’s complicated,” Belle warned, as she set down each piece of the spell before us. “We need to work slowly, and all of uscan check we’re getting every step correct.”
“Especially Paisley,” Sara added. “She’s killing it in spell making classes, and is top of the grade.”
I’d never been top of anything, and without an active affinity I certainly wasn’t going to be for most classes here, butI enjoyed this niche in spells. Hopefully my new skills were enough to get us through a spell of this caliber.
“Okay, we need to swap out the candles for ones with sage, fennel, and lavender,” Belle said quickly, checking her notes.“They should have a dark wick laced with black basil.”
We checked to make sure Madam had given us the right ones, and thankfully their shiny surface and black wick were as described.We placed them on the grooves in the pentacle and used the multitude of flints nearby, left for those who weren’t fire elementals.
“Light them now,” Belle said, and in a few seconds we had five eerily dark flames.
Next, she separated the herbs. A similar array to what was in the candle, with an addition of salt, dragon’s blood—powerfulat warding—and red pepper.
“You take the salt,” she told me. I read the instructions over her shoulder and grimaced at how quickly we had to move. Asingle witch or warlock couldn’t have done this on their own. It would take at least two or three to be safer.
Holding the salt in the palm of my hand, I followed the instructions and flicked it in a counterclockwise motion across theherbs on the table, purifying and mixing it through them all before we began.
“Okay, this is the order,” Belle said, voice steady, even if her eyes held an edge of panic. “I go first, and then withintwo seconds, Haley, you drop the lavender...” She gave us all our tasks, one by one, before taking a deep breath. “Arewe ready?”
Belle didn’t give us time to freak out, barking out the orders again.
