by Ava Walsh
“It’s okay. You’re okay.” He turned to Elise, his hands in fists. “What did you do? What was it? Boils? What?”
Elise crossed her arms and gave them an evil smile. “Guess you’ll just have to use your awesome teamwork and figure it out. But I’ll save you some time. There is no cure. She’s permanently disfigured.”
“What?” Thea could barely see. Her tears mixed with some of the potion, making everything blurry and stinging her eyes. Her skin still felt like it was on fire. She wanted to run upstairs and throw water on it, but she didn’t know this potion. Water might make it worse. She ran through possible spells and potions in her mind, but she didn’t know what this was and couldn’t think of any way to fix it. “Logan!”
She felt him put a hand on her. “It’s okay.”
“End this, now,” Elise said. “Or next time, it’ll be your lives and not just her face. Got it?”
“Elise!” Logan shouted, but Thea heard footsteps stomping up the stairs.
“Help me,” Thea whimpered.
“Hang on.”
She heard glass clinking as he rummaged through the items on the table. After what felt like ages of her sitting there, burning, he came to her.
“Lay down and close your eyes.”
She laid on the floor and squeezed her eyes shut.
“I’m going to pour this over you. Don’t move.”
As he poured a cool liquid over her face, it put out the burning wherever it touched. He covered her whole face and the burning stopped. He wiped the liquid from her eyes.
“Okay. Sit up.”
She did, and wiped her eyes before blinking them open. She felt her face and, with horror, found that the bumps were still there. She looked at him with panicked desperation.
“I know,” he said. “I’ll figure it out, I promise. It’ll just take some time.”
“But she said—”
“No.” He shook his head. “She was lying. It might not be easy to find the cure, but there is one. There’s always a cure or an antidote.”
“But, but…” The tears flowed down her cheeks. “Do I look hideous?”
“Well, it’s different,” he said. He put a hand to her neck and kissed her. “I can still see your beauty, though.”
“Does it make you disgusted to look at me?”
“It only makes me disgusted that Elise would do something like this. I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”
Then another thought came to her and had her suddenly worried again. “Do you think it’ll hurt the baby?” she whispered.
“No, definitely not. It’s a skin thing only.” Her hand fell to her stomach. He put his hand on top of hers. “It’ll be okay.” But his expression said otherwise.
“What’s wrong? You look really scared.”
“I am.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Thea, when I heard you scream, you don’t know what it did to me. It was like someone reached into my chest and pulled my heart out. And now Elise… If she did this, I don’t know what she’ll do next. I don’t trust her. And I don’t doubt her threat was real. I would never have thought it, but after today, I think she might be capable of anything.”
“So what do we do?”
“I’m not sure. I need to call my parents, I think. Get their advice. I do know one thing. I need to keep you close. I can’t take the chance of leaving you alone.”
“What am I going to do? I can’t go to class like this, with my face all… bubbled up.” She took out her phone and used the camera to see her face. It was worse than she had thought. Red bubbles covered her skin, some oozing a yellow pus. Her face was puffy and distorted, like someone had reached their fingers into her skin and bunched it in places. Fresh tears flowed from her eyes. Logan reached over and took her phone.
“Don’t look. I’m going to call them. For today, I think it’s best if you skip class anyway so you can stay with me.”
“Okay.”
He stood and took out his phone. “I’m calling my parents.”
He began a long phone call in which he lied many times, acting like Elise was just out and this had happened by accident. They were concerned, of course, and gave him some mixtures and spells to try. He hung up and looked at her.
“Well?” she asked.
“I think we got it.” He turned and went to the table, picking up various herbs and liquids and mixing them together. After about an hour, he turned back to her. “I think we’re all set.”
He held out his hand and in it sat a dish of a greenish paste.
“That is going get rid of these boils?”
He nodded. “You kind of dab it on and let it sit.”
“Okay.”
She sat on the sofa and Logan held the dish of paste in one hand while he used a balled up napkin to dab the mixture on her face. It was cold and felt heavy, but if it worked, she didn’t care.
“Want to watch a movie and just hang out? It’ll take a while for it to work.”
“How long is a while?”
“I’m not really sure. Hours, maybe longer.” He kissed her hand as he stood. “I’ll be right back.”
Thea stared at the wall as Logan hopped up the stairs. She took out her phone to look at her face. Now the red splotches were joined by patches of green paste. Some of the bubbles seemed to be going down, but her face still looked awful.
Logan returned with his laptop and they cuddled up on the sofa, watching a movie. After the movie, she checked her face again. It looked a little better, but would likely still take several hours more.
“Do you think we should reapply it?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. We can try. Couldn’t hurt, right?”
“Oh sure.” They both turned at the sudden sound of Elise’s voice. She had come downstairs very quietly.
“What’s your problem now?” Logan asked, glaring at her.
“You found a way to cure her real fast. You couldn’t even stand a single day of being with her when she looked like that.”
Logan shook his head. “Stop this. You’re being ridiculous. You think she wants to walk around like that? It doesn’t matter much to me. I love her just the same, no matter how she looks. It doesn’t change who she is. I wish I could say the same for you. But you’ve become ugly on the inside.”
Thea’s heart had skipped when he said he loved her, but Elise’s face turned to disgust.
“Oh, so now you love her, do you?”
“I do.” He turned back to look at Thea and smile at her. “I know what I’ve said before, but all this has made me realize what losing you would do to me. I love you, Thea. I really do.”
“What did you do, slip him a love potion?” Elise huffed.
Thea’s face grew warm. But she hadn’t. Not since that first time. “No.”
“Right. Whatever.”
“I need to talk to you,” Logan said. He cast his spell, then shifted into dragon form.
“Logan, what are you doing?” Thea hoped he didn’t plan to tell her about the baby. Not yet. She wasn’t ready for that.
He moved to stand in front of the stairs, blocking Elise’s way out. She turned to glare at Thea, then shifted herself.
The two dragons faced each other. Logan’s red and orange scales glimmered bright, in contrast to Elise’s emerald-green scales. Thea couldn’t hear them talking, of course. As dragons, they could speak in their minds.
She watched, wishing she knew what they were saying. After a shorter time than she thought it would take, Elise changed back and shoved past Logan.
Logan changed back and watched her go up the stairs. “It’s obvious you’re lying.”
She gave him the middle finger and slammed the door shut.
“What happened?”
Logan came to sit beside her. “I tried to find out what was really going on with her. Why she’s freaking out like this and acting so out of character. It’s easier to tell if someone is lying when you’re speaking right to their mind. She said nothing was wrong, but she was ly
ing. I couldn’t get her to tell me anything. But she’s madder at me than you. I could feel it. I think she’s truly just concerned for you. But she hates me.”
“Then why did she splash that stuff on me instead of you?”
“I think she wanted to show you that I would break up with you or something. But she saw today. She saw that I really love you.” He bent down and kissed her. “And our baby.”
“Did you tell her?”
He shook his head. “I thought it’d be better for us to do it together and I know you wanted to wait.”
“Thanks.”
“I have a plan for tonight.”
Chapter Eight
Before they went to sleep, Logan cast several spells of protection around his room and Elise’s. He casts spells to detect an unwelcome presence and to detect any magic being done.
By the time they lay down to go to bed, most of Thea’s boils had cleared up. She took a long shower and put on scented lotion. She brushed her teeth carefully, and swirled a bit of Logan’s mouthwash in her mouth. She brushed her hair and made herself look as presentable as possible. There was still some redness and splotches on her face, but Logan applied a fresh layer of paste and she hoped that, by morning, her face would be back to normal.
They hadn’t slept for more than a few hours when Logan sat up suddenly.
“What’s wrong?” Thea whispered.
“Someone is here. The spell was set off.” He crept out of bed and she got up, too. She cast a spell of silence so they could move through the house without being heard.
They snuck together down to the kitchen, where the dim light of the refrigerator illuminated the room. The refrigerator door was open and several containers sat on the counter.
When they were just a few feet from the door, the person behind it stepped back.
“Sophia?” Logan said, in obvious shock.
She let out a squeal and jumped back in surprise. “Logan! I didn’t even hear you.”
“That was the point,” Thea said.
“What is wrong with your face?” Sophia asked, holding back laughter.
Thea glared. “Shut up.”
“What are you doing?” Logan asked.
Sophia tried to stick something in her pocket, but it was too late. Logan reached out and grabbed her hand. He took a long test tube from her and held it up.
“What is this?” he asked.
Sophia crossed her arms. “Why don’t you drink it and find out?”
He sniffed at the potion and handed it to Thea. “Do you know what this is?”
She recognized it immediately. “Yes. It’s the love potion I brewed months ago. How did you get this?”
Sophia glared at her. “You might want to take better care to lock up important things. And maybe don’t label your potions. It makes it very easy for someone to steal them.”
“You broke into my room?” Thea asked.
“No. I happen to be friends with your roommate. I can’t help it if she had to go to the bathroom, and I took the opportunity to go through your things. I never in a million years would have guessed you’d be into this stupid fake magic stuff. So lame. But then I got to thinking that maybe it worked after all. There are certain foods that are aphrodisiacs, and I knew that there was no way Logan would dump me to go for you, so it made sense that you must have drugged him into wanting you.”
“So you stole my love potion and did what exactly?”
“Spiked his favorite orange juice,” Sophia grinned and held up a carton of orange juice.
Thea’s heart sank. All this time, when they both thought he hadn’t been taking the potion, he actually had been. Was it the only reason he was feeling something for her now? She wanted to cry again.
“Except that’s Elise’s, not mine,” Logan said.
“You didn’t drink out of it at all?” Thea asked. Her heart tottered on the edge of hope, ready to fall either way.
“Nope.”
“That’s a lie,” Sophia said. “I saw you drink it! You drank like three glasses of it that one day.”
“When I was sick?” Logan said. “Yeah, when I have a cold, I’ll drink it, but that’s it. Elise drinks a glassful every morning. I can’t stand the stuff.”
“So then…” Sophia looked at them both. “Are you saying Elise has been drinking the potion I put in here?”
Thea shook her head and laughed. “Don’t you even know how it works? You idiot. I made the potion. It has my essence in it. So that means whoever drinks it falls in love with me. When did you steal it from me?”
“After the first time Logan broke up with me,” Sophia said. “When he slept with your slutty ass.”
Logan gasped and turned to Thea. “Think about that. It explains everything.”
It took a minute for it to set in. “Elise is in love with me?”
Logan nodded. “And she’s acting in extreme jealousy against me. Much like Sophia is now.”
Sophia gritted her teeth and scowled. Her voice was small when she spoke again. “So if I gave Logan this potion, it wouldn’t make him love me?”
“No,” Thea said. “It would make him love me. And besides, it’s just for fun anyway. There’s no such thing as magic.”
She squeezed Logan’s hand. They may have said too much already. There was still a secret to be kept, and if Sophia thought the potion was real, it could cause trouble. She needed to think they were full of it.
Logan reached out and took Sophia’s hand, stepping closer to her. He leaned down to whisper into her ear. Thea could barely hear, but she knew what he was doing. He was casting a memory charm to make Sophia forget what had happened. Then he stepped back and took Thea’s hand as Sophia blinked at him.
“I can’t believe you thought love potions were real,” he said. “It was just a joke.”
Sophia glared at them.
“I’m sorry I hurt you, but I’ve known Thea for years. It took me a while to see my feelings for her, but now I know. I love her. I know you’ll find someone great who will love you.”
“Whatever. You’re a jerk anyway.” Sophia pushed past him, shoving his shoulder hard as she went. She slammed the front door on her way out.
“That was nuts,” Thea said.
Several doors upstairs opened. Minutes later, everyone was in the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Steven asked.
“Just my jealous ex-girlfriend breaking in to poison me. I’m going to check everything in the fridge. If you have any food or drinks in your room, I’d check them.”
“You’re a real ladies man,” Steven said.
They all headed back upstairs to their rooms, but Logan reached out a hand to stop Elise.
“One second,” he said. “This involves you, too.”
When it was just the three of them, Logan lifted his hand in a sudden movement and cast a spell that hit Elise square in the chest.
“What the hell was that for?” she asked.
“You were drugged,” Logan said. “That spell undid the effects of the potion.”
Elise looked from Thea to Logan. “What? By who?”
“Sophia,” Thea said. “I made a love potion a while ago. She found it and didn’t know how it worked, so she spiked Logan’s drink, thinking it would make him love her again.”
“Except that she didn’t know it doesn’t work like that,” Logan said. “And she spiked your orange juice.”
“What?” Elise poured a glass of the juice and held her hand around the glass as she cast a spell to reveal magic. The juice glowed faintly. “What the hell?”
“Yeah.” Thea sighed. “So it seems that all your recent anger over us being together was really only your jealousy toward me because you were in love with me.”
Elise spun and pulled her eyebrows together. “That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t have feelings like that for you.”
“I’ve been wondering about that,” Logan said. “It must work even if you have loving feelings that aren’t of a romantic nat
ure. But that could be why you were angry instead of just all gaga in love with her. Your friendship type of love was even stronger than normal and it made you crazy with worry for her.”
Elsie shook her head. “I guess this explains a lot. I wasn’t even sure why I was acting that way.” Then she gasped and put her hands to her mouth. “Oh, no. Logan.” She gripped his arms. “I did something horrible.”
“What?”
Elise dashed up the stairs and returned a moment later, holding his bottle of mouthwash. “I poisoned you.”
“You what?” Logan snatched the bottle from her and cast a spell on it. “Oh. It wasn’t a deadly poison. Still. It would have made me really sick. Why would you poison me?”
“Just to get back at you. I don’t know. It didn’t really make sense, I guess.”
Thea put her hand to her stomach. She’d been using Logan’s mouthwash for weeks. She’d assumed her sickness was all just morning sickness. But maybe it was more.
“Good thing I don’t use this stuff anymore.” Logan opened the cabinet and dropped the bottle in the trashcan.
“You don’t?” Elise asked.
“It makes my mouth burn,” he said. “So I stopped using it.”
“But I didn’t,” Thea said.
Logan’s head whipped toward her. “What?”
“I’ve been using it for weeks.”
His eyes widened and he went to her side, putting his arm around her. “It won’t kill you or anything, but…” He put his hand on her stomach. He looked at her and gulped.
“It might hurt the baby?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he whispered.
“The baby?” Elise asked.
Thea nodded. “I didn’t want to tell you when you were so mad. I thought it would make things worse.”
Elise stared at her with a horrified look etched into her face. “You’re pregnant. With my brother’s baby.”
“Yes.” Thea put her hand over Logan’s. “Would that potion do anything?”
“I’m not sure,” Elise said.
Chapter Nine
The three of them sat in the living room, huddled around Logan’s laptop. They’d been searching frantically in the shifter and witch secret forums to find an answer. So far they didn’t have anything concrete. It was too early to call their parents.