Page 69 of The Alchemists

She tried to convince herself she was sure of it.

PUTREFACTIO

All that is organic must eventually decompose. In all that decomposes begins new life.

草圈苔 (Cǎo Quántái)

金丹道 – 怀古 (The Way of the Golden Elixir – Past Recollections)

SEB

Almost overnight, the entire Windermere bubble morphed. At ten o’clock on Sunday the second clue arrived, ringing out in dorms and lounges across campus. In their suite, sprawled across the couch, Asher started a voice memo and Seb scrawled frantically in his journal. Tori narrowed her eyes, listening keenly.

At 10:02, campus exploded in a flurry of activity. At ten-thirty, the three of them crowded in the window seat to watch a cantrip-fueled skirmish that started on the quad and shattered at least one window.

Unlike after the Revelation, which had left ninety-nine percent of the student body scoffing and cursing, this clue roused them to frantic action on account of resembling an actual lead.

“I don’t understand what they’re all up in arms about already!” Tori had said, slamming her book shut as yet another clash began on their floor. “There’s not even anything to fight over yet.”

“Well, there is,” Seb had replied slyly. “They just don’t have it.”

He’d won his bout earlier that afternoon. It hadn’t been pretty, but he’d gotten the job done. A sort of disappointed ache had ebbed through him all day, after he’d texted Lily when he woke up and she’d said she couldn’t make his match. All he’d wanted was to see her, touch her, fit her to his side, and the world was denying him.

It was probably for the best. No Lily meant time for homework, going to bed at a reasonable hour even if he just stared at the ceiling for ages, and to bring Asher and Tori up to speed. He told them everything about the night before.

Now, over a week later, his Sunday pining seemed silly because here he was, on the couch with Lily curled up against him, doing her psychology homework while he tried to write a paper and thought about her naked instead and tried to ignore texts from Adriana as he stared at his blinking cursor.

“Now that we’re friends, will you tell me what your curse is?” Tori asked from the window seat.

Lily assessed her coolly. “Are we friends?”

Tori flapped the question away. “Friends in the making,” she amended.

“Well, then.” Tori waited, eyebrows lifted. “Oh. No,” Lily said shortly and went back to her textbook.

“Speaking of, I can barely see your…” Asher gestured vaguely from the kitchen.

“Curse aura?” she offered.

“That,” he agreed, placing four mugs of tea on a tray.

Lily shrugged. “I don’t know how it works.” She turned to Seb, tipping her head at his blank screen. “Can you see it?”

“Not in weeks.” He couldn’t stop from flushing.

Lily made a minute noise of satisfaction and snuggled closer. He flipped his laptop closed.

“How much more reading do you have left?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I could be done.”

“Do you have the disc?”

She produced it from her pocket and dropped it into his palm. It was warm from her body heat. He turned it etched-side up and sighed. If there was an obvious meaning he was supposed to take from it, and the second clue, he wasn’t nearly as clever as he’d thought.

“Where did this hole come from? Did we do something wrong?” Lily rested her chin on his shoulder.

“I don’t think so. It’s too perfect.”