Page 108

Ria looked over at him and smiled. “Yeah. We will.”

A knock at the workshop door interrupted them, and the receptionist leaned inside. “Nikos is here.”

Ria glanced at the clock. “He’s early.”

“Apparently, professors can manage it,” Asterion said, earning a look from her before they headed into the hall.

They found the satyr in the main conference room, surrounded by plants. Several pots covered the table, along with glass bottles filled with different shades of blue liquid. He was bent over one of the smaller plants, trying to untangle a vine from his sleeve. “I told you to stay in the pot,” he muttered.

“You brought half a garden,” Ria greeted.

“I brought what I needed.” Nikos straightened and picked up one of the bottles.

“This is for Liora. The Moonmoss wasn’t the problem. We harvested it too late.”

Ria took the bottle from him. “How late?”

“The concentration is higher just after they bloom.” He reached for another bottle. “I tested both preparations. These are almost twice as potent.”

Ria immediately started asking questions, and the two of them were discussing harvest times, concentrations, and plant parts Asterion had never heard of. He stopped trying to follow and instead looked toward the hallway when he heard approaching footsteps.

Korinnae hurried into the room with Ligaya behind her. “Nikos! Is that the Moonmoss serum?”

“Some of it.” Nikos moved one of the vials farther from her. “Don’t touch anything.”

“I wasn’t going to.” Korinnae leaned over the table to touch a plant. “What’s this one?”

“Don’t touch that either,” he said, moving it back to its original position.

“I’m just looking,” she protested as Ligaya came up behind her, laughing.

Korinnae glanced at the human and seemed to remember her manners. “Oh! This is Ligaya. She just moved here from the Upperworld.”

Nikos looked up, his ears immediately perking forward. He frowned and forced them back, but not before Asterion noticed. From Ria’s expression, she had too.

Ligaya gave him a smile, but before either of them could speak, Korinnae shifted backward and bumped into her. Ligaya stumbled into the table, knocking one of the pots sideways. She caught it before it hit the floor, only for Nikos’s eyes to widen.

“Don’t touch that!”

Ligaya stared at him, the pot in her hands. “Little late.”

“Put it down.”

“I was stopping your plant from smashing on the floor.”

“It wouldn’t have smashed.”

Ligaya looked down at the ceramic pot. “It’s literally in a pot.”

“The plant would have protected itself.”

“From the floor?”

“Yes.” Nikos started toward her, but before Ligaya could answer, the plant released a cloud of pale pollen directly into her face.

Ligaya coughed and shoved the pot toward him. Nikos grabbed it, getting a face full of pollen himself, while Ria took one look at the two of them and said, “Oh.”

Asterion didn’t like the interest in her voice. “What?”