“I wouldnotwant to be caught in there,” Marcus remarked. “People have died.”
“And you see why I was worried,” Alistair said.
“So what happens with the potion after fifteen minutes?” I asked.
“We drink it,” Alistair stated simply.
I paused for a moment, unsure if we could trust him. “We drink a potion… that you invented.”
“What, you don’t think it’s strong enough?” he demanded. “It’s a damn good spell, I tell ya. To create a locator spell from the simplest of ingredients is an incredible feat. I could probably make millions selling it to the coven, though I never got the chance before I was sentenced to this shithole.”
“By the sounds of it, things were shittier back in Octavia Falls,” I joked.
Alistair laughed. “With the shit coming out of that Astromancer’s rear end, you might be right.”
We all shared a laugh. It was strange to be laughing after so long of not feeling much of anything. Alistair seemed a bit abrasive, but at least I could relax around him.
As soon as fifteen minutes hit, Marcus rushed to shut off the burner, and the potion stopped bubbling. “It looks like goo,” he told us, sounding disgusted.
“Well, what did you expect?” Alistair asked. “Vanilla pudding?”
The potion made glopping noises as Marcus scooped some into small cups. “If we’re gonna drink it, I expected something that looked a little more appetizing than… this.”
“If you’re desperate enough to find whatever you’re looking for, you’ll do anything,” Alistair said. “Bottoms up.”
Marcus handed me one of the cups. I sniffed it, and it smelled like sweaty socks. I wasn’t entirely convinced this was a locator spell. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one of Alistair’s pranks, like he’d tried to pull on the professor he’d accidentally poisoned. But Marcus gulped his down, and he didn’t start shitting his pants, so I figured it was safe. I tipped my glass back and drank the thick, bitter potion.
I didn’t really know what to expect, but I certainly didn’t expect the chair I was sitting in to disappear beneath me. My head spun, and I felt as if I was soaring high in the clouds. The air was cold but humid. My heart began to race, but then I felt Oberi’s nose nudge against my hand.
It’s a vision, Charlie, Oberi told me.Relax.
I calmed down and let the vision take me wherever it wanted. I focused on the keys, and felt the vision shift. I came down from the clouds, until my feet hit solid ground. I heard shouting in the distance, then the sound of gates clanging shut. I couldn’t tell where I was, so I approached the noises to get a better idea of where the vision had taken me. As I neared the gates, my magic began to drain from my body. I’d become so accustomed to the feeling now that there was no denying what was ahead.
Noxite. The vision had taken me to the Institute.
The second I realized it, the vision shifted around me. I was somewhere damp and cold, a lot like the alchemy room I wasactuallysitting in. At first, I thought the vision had worn off, but the silence was deafening. No way was I sitting next to Marcus, who was always fidgeting. I couldn’t make sense of where I was before the vision shifted again.
An ice-cold chill surrounded me. When I tried to breathe in, no air came. I began to panic. For an Air Elementai, losing your breath was one of our greatest fears. I couldn’t figure out anything else about my surroundings before the vision changed again.
A strong force grabbed my body and whipped me through space at lightning speed. Wherever I’d just been, I was thousands of miles away now. I came to an abrupt stop and swayed on my feet. The air was chilly around me, and a shiver ran down my spine, though it wasn’t because of the cold. It was more like… someone was watching me. The sounds of a bustling city welled around me, and for a second, I thought I was back in Detroit.
That was all I heard before I was whipped back into my body, gasping.
“Holy shit,” I rasped, gripping on to the edge of the table for support. Oberi nuzzled his head against my arm, like he was trying to comfort me.
“What the hell was that?” Marcus demanded breathlessly.
“It’s one hell of a trip, isn’t it?” Alistair said proudly.
Marcus’ breathing slowed. “Yeah, but I couldn’t make sense of any of it.”
“Did you see anything?” I asked him.
“The Institute,” he replied in a chilling voice. “Then everything else was dark.”
“Same,” I agreed. “Though I more or lessfeltthe Institute.”
“Then that means…” Marcus trailed off, because he didn’t want to say too much in front of Alistair.
