CHARLIE
“That’s it!” Ava said proudly as she dropped the last ingredients into the potion. The recipe she’d developed with Marcus was potent, and it took days of simmering before we could add the finishing touches. The cauldron bubbled as she sprinkled the last of the herbs inside.
We sat in the Witch Tower the day after Ava’s trial. Ava stirred the potion over the fireplace. A few other witches chatted at a study table across the room, but they paid us no mind. It wasn’t unusual for students to brew all kinds of things in the Witch Tower, so it was the best place in the Institute to prepare the potion without drawing attention to ourselves.
Most witches at the Institute couldn’t brew anything more than a simple study potion to help them focus. The Warden kept more potent ingredients on tight lock-down. But Takahashi had smuggled us the ingredients we needed, and the true potency came from Marcus’ death magic.
“Just a few more hours of simmering, and it will be done,” Ava said.
Finally, I’ll be free to run!Oberi raved.
A loudthumpcame from overhead, and the girls across the room shrieked.
“What the hell?” one of the girls yelled. “I’ve been hearing noises like that all day.”
Marcus raised his voice to say, “It’s just a friendly poltergeist!”
“Like a ghost?” The girl’s voice raised a few pitches.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared of ghosts,” Marcus said.
Rich coming from him. The man used to nearly piss his pants at the merementionof spirits.
“Ghosts don’t scare me!” the girl insisted. “I can see ghosts. I can’t see… whatever the fuckthatis. It’s freaking me out!”
Thethudcame again, louder this time, which prompted another round of screams.
“Let’s get out of here,” one of the girls suggested, her voice trembling. “I don’t mess with spirits I can’t see.”
The girls quickly gathered their books and fled.
Marcus sighed. “It’s just Thaddeus. I don’t know what they’re so afraid of.”
“Don’t worry about them,” Ava said. “The fewer people in the Witch Tower, the better. Our brew is almost done.”
“I can’t even communicate with him anymore,” Marcus said in a depressed way. “He’s so confused he doesn’t respond. He just floats around all day, aimlessly trying to scare people, because that’s what he thinks he’s supposed to do. I don’t think he remembers his life, or how he became what he is.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Ava replied softly. “There’s nothing more we can do for him.”
The cover clanged against the cauldron as Ava placed it on top.
“Does this mean we’re getting out of here tonight?” Kallie asked.
“According to Takahashi, the next ship off Darke Island leaves in the morning,” Ava said. “We’ll take the potion tonight, and they’ll discover our bodies before breakfast. Then we’ll be out of here.”
“And the antidote?” Kallie asked, sounding a bit nervous.
Ava’s spoonclangedas she stirred a second cauldron. “We’ll hand over the antidote to Takahashi tonight, so the Demigod Guardians can administer it on the ship and wake us up.”
Rishi growled. I didn’t think he liked the idea of drinking a death potion, but he was going to have to suck it up, because he needed to get out of here, too. Legally, the Warden couldn’t separate us from our animal companions, so Rishi and Oberi had to take the potion with us.
This whole plan was risky. If the Demigod Guardians were somehow intercepted and we didn’t receive the antidote within twenty-four hours, we would die. But we had to risk our lives to get out of here. It was the only way.
“We should eat before we take the potion,” Marcus suggested. “It will help curb the side-effects once the antidote is administered. We’ll be tired and confused when we wake up.”
We left the potion simmering as we headed down to the cafeteria. Marcus and Kallie laughed and joked a few paces ahead of us, but Ava and I said nothing. I hadn’t been able to feel her emotions through our bond since the trial started, and that worried me. I wasn’t going to pry into her head, but I needed to know she was all right.
How is she, Oberi?I asked.
