Going through the Potions

by Samantha Silver

  But sure enough, a couple of minutes later, I spotted her in the field. She had shifted and was in dragon form again, and as soon as she saw me flying overhead, she shifted back into human form. I landed to see she was soaked through to the bone.

  “Do you want me to make my spell larger so it can fit you?” I asked when I landed, but she shook her head with a laugh.

  “No, thanks. I’m completely drenched already anyway.”

  She really was; her hair was plastered to her face, her clothes clinging to her small frame.

  “Not a fan of going inside?”

  Bridget shook her head. “Easier to think out here.”

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “Did you hear that Blaze’s girlfriend was killed today?”

  “Yes. Did you know her?”

  Bridget shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”

  “Did Kirsten know her? Mention her? They were both studying to be assistant Healers, after all.”

  “No. I don’t think she knew her. Kirsten hung out in a small clique for the most part; Anne wasn’t one of her friends.”

  As soon as Bridget said Anne’s name, my blood went ice cold. I had never said Anne’s name, and yet Bridget knew who she was. That meant Bridget had to have known about their relationship.

  And all of a sudden, everything clicked. It wasn’t Bridget’s parents who would have been ashamed of Blaze and Anne if their relationship was made public. It was Bridget.

  A smart person would have made their excuses and flown off, then told Chief Enforcer Loeb everything they’d figured out. A smart person would have gotten out of there as fast as humanly possible.

  I was not a smart person.

  “You killed them, didn’t you?” I asked casually, and Bridget let out a humorless laugh.

  “What on earth makes you think that?”

  “You were ashamed of them. You found out about them somehow, didn’t you? Maybe when they were at the lookout, their special spot, you flew over and saw them? After all, I saw it from my broom when I was looking for you; you would have had exactly the same view when you were flying in dragon form.”

  Why couldn’t I just stop talking and get out of here? What was wrong with me? Why did I see a fire and decide to throw a giant pile of gasoline on it instead of getting a firefighter?

  Bridget’s eyes narrowed and her spine stiffened. I was right. “Fine,” she admitted. “You figured it out. How long have you known?”

  “Not until you mentioned Anne’s name just then. I hadn’t told you her name. But it all makes sense. You got your witch friend Kirsten to make the poison, didn’t you?”

  “That’s right,” Bridget said with a grin that had no humor behind it. “She also snuck Anne’s phone for a minute after causing a disruption and sent Blaze the text asking to meet at their special spot. Only, I was the one there to meet him. I pretended I was just out for a stroll, and he sat there with me. I offered him a drink from my water bottle, and he drank it. That was it. He stood up and started coughing, and when he collapsed, I pulled out a knife and stabbed him, just to be safe. Then I pushed him off the ledge and ran away as fast as I could.”

  “You’re a monster. All because he was just dating a witch?”

  “Just dating a witch? He was embarrassing our family. We’re not just some random nobodies who can go around dating different paranormals willy-nilly. We’re one of the oldest dragon shifter families in the paranormal world, and one of the richest. Do you know what kind of reputation we have to uphold? We can’t have the son in the family going around dating a witch. That’s just not acceptable.”

  “So you killed him,” I said, crossing my arms. “Why did you have to kill her, too?”

  “Because she was scum. She took advantage of my brother. She had to have only wanted him for his money, and there was no way I was letting her get a penny of it.”

  “How would she get any of his money if he was dead?”

  “She would have blackmailed us—told us that if we didn’t pay her, she would tell everyone about the relationship. Then our family’s reputation would have been ruined. So she had to go. I couldn’t take that risk.”

  “You’re insane, you know that?”

  Bridget scoffed at me. “What would you know? You’re just a poor witch from a small coven that no one cares about.”

  “Yeah, and you killed your brother and his girlfriend for daring to be in love. You’re literally the bad guy in every single movie ever made.”

  “Well, in that case, you’ll understand that now that you’ve figured it out, I’m going to have to kill you, too.”

  Great. Before I had a chance to react, Bridget had shifted back into a dragon. I pointed my wand straight at her, which broke the spell that had been protecting me from the rain all this time.

  Ok, so taking on a murderer directly had not been my plan when I woke up this morning. But hey, you live and learn. At least, I hoped I was about to live and learn. Bridget seemed pretty intent on preventing the former.

  I cast a new shield spell, this one stronger and directly in front of me, as Bridget immediately blast fire toward me. If I hadn’t been quick with my spell, I would have been the world’s worst Pinterest fail.

  I wanted to cast an aggressive spell to force Bridget onto her toes, but if I broke my shield spell, I would be completely unprotected. But I couldn’t just stay on the defensive forever. Eventually I’d get tired, my magic would get sloppy, and I’d become one very-well-done witch. If I wanted to make it out of here alive, I was going to have to come up with a plan.

  I immediately jumped up onto my broom. It wasn’t that I thought I’d have an advantage in the sky; compared to a dragon, I definitely didn’t. I just didn’t really know what else to do. I soared up high, my shield surrounding me like a protective bubble, while Bridget roared and followed after me.

  Almost instinctively, I began flying toward the top of Mt. Rheanier. The higher we got, the windier it was, and the harder it seemed for Bridget to blow fire at me accurately. This was my chance.

  I cut to the left suddenly, diving below the dragon and breaking my shield spell. I pointed my wand at her and shouted.

  “Rhea, goddess mother, paralyze this dragon from head to toe.”

  Unfortunately, Bridget was nimble. Very nimble. She darted out of the way of the spell and roared fire at me once more. I didn’t have the time to cast a spell, so I had to dart to the right with my broom to avoid the flames.

  I looped around, finding myself behind Bridget. “Rhea, goddess mother, put this dragon to sleep!” I shouted. This time, the spell hit, and Bridget’s eyes immediately began drooping.

  She roared at me once more, but it was half-hearted, and the flame that shot out of her mouth could politely be called campfire-esque.

  As I looked around, however, I realized that if Bridget fell asleep here, she was going to fall hundreds of feet to the ground below, to almost certain death.

  “Great,” I muttered to myself. “Life would be so much easier if I were a psychopath.”

  Even though Bridget had killed two people, I still didn’t think she deserved to die, and I didn’t want to be the one to kill her. I wanted justice, but that wasn’t for me to dole out; it was for the legal system.

  “Rhea, goddess mother, attach a cord to this dragon below me.”

  A rope shot out from my wand and hooked itself around Bridget’s paw, above her claws, just as she fell asleep and began plunging toward the ground. As the rope got taught, I suddenly found myself pulled downward as well, the weight of the dragon being far more than what my broom could support.

  “Hopefully they put you on a diet in jail,” I muttered to Bridget as I struggled to get control of the broom and of the dragon. I pulled upward on the broom as hard as I could, but it was a struggle. We were falling toward the forest below at a much, much faster rate than I was comfortable with, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  I could have just let the wand go and let the
rope drop Bridget to the ground. But that would have meant certain death for her. This way, there was still a chance for both of us.

  “Oh, Rhea,” I said as I realized I was going to hit the trees below. “I really don’t want to die with my hair looking like this.” The rain had not been kind to my appearance. They were going to find my body with hair that looked like long worms.

  What? It was my deathbed—or more accurately, deathbroom—and I could choose to be vain if I wanted to.

  Chapter 25

  When I woke up, I groaned.

  “Am I dead?” I asked aloud, looking at the sky. It was still raining. That pointed toward my still being among the living. Or did it? I really had no idea.

  The pain in my leg definitely gave me a good idea. I paused and looked around. I was lying on the ground in the forest. Crushed twigs were beneath me. My broom lay about ten feet away, cracked in half. I couldn’t see my wand, but Bridget lay about thirty feet from me, having taken out a giant fir tree on her way down. Luckily, it had fallen in the opposite direction to me.

  I could hear her loud dragon snores from here. She was still alive. We were both alive.

  Hobbling to my feet, I was distressed to find myself completely incapable of putting weight on my left foot.

  “Shoot,” I muttered, looking around for my wand. “Double shoot,” I added when I saw it, snapped into three pieces, right where I had been lying a moment earlier. Betrayed by my own butt. How far was I from town?

  I pulled out my phone and saw the dreaded words: no service.

  On the bright side, because Bridget’s nap was magically induced, there was absolutely zero chance she would wake up unexpectedly. She was going to enjoy her rest until someone cast a spell reversing it.

  I briefly considered leaving a note just in case someone scampering along the mountainside happened to come across the sleeping dragon and decide to wake her up. But then, I didn’t have anything to write “Murderer—probably best to leave her asleep” on, so I figured I was going to have to take my chances.

  Finding a piece of wood to lean on, I started limping back toward town. At least, I hoped I was heading toward town. I was halfway up the mountain, so I just started heading downhill. I had no other options, really.

  After I made it around fifty feet, I realized it was hopeless. I had one leg, I had no magic, and I was goodness knows how far from town. I ended up making my way back to where I had started and sat back down where I’d fallen.

  It probably would have been easier if I’d just died straight away. Now I was wet, I was cold, I had no way to get home, and I was basically just going to sit here until I eventually succumbed to starvation or something.

  “Well, this sucks,” I said aloud to the skies. Giant raindrops fell on my face, and I closed my eyes, thinking that maybe if I wished to be back in town, it would happen.

  “I can think of better places to have a nap,” a familiar voice suddenly said from above me. My eyes sprung open to see Grandma Rosie’s face staring down at me.

  “I’m injured,” I called out. “Get help.”

  “I am the help,” Grandma Rosie said, weaving down toward the ground. She narrowly missed a tree on the way, and I winced, hoping the two of us weren’t going to end up injured.

  “Didn’t the Healers tell you to stop riding a broom, like, ten years ago?” I asked.

  “What do those idiots know? Besides, if it weren’t for me, you’d still be out here by yourself looking like a drowned rat.”

  She had a point there.

  “How did you find me? How did you even know I was here?”

  “I was looking out the window and saw a witch being chased by a dragon. I didn’t know who it was, but naturally, I wanted to investigate. What if it was linked to the murder investigation? Of course, your mother thought I was making things up, so she wouldn’t come have a look.”

  “So you saw a dragon shooting fire at a witch and figured you’d investigate.”

  “Your tone implies you’re not grateful.”

  “It’s more incredulity. Of everyone in town who might have seen the fight go down, you’re the only one who actually came out to have a look. Thanks, Grandma.”

  “Well, before I help you, you have to tell me why you were fighting the dragon. Is that spell magic?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Please don’t try to reverse it. My wand is broken, and she tried to kill me.”

  “Who is it?”

  “I’m absolutely not telling you that.”

  “I’m not taking you back to town, then.”

  I strongly considered letting Grandma Rosie go and letting the secret die with me. I was just that spiteful. But then, the odds were Blaze and Anne’s killer would go unpunished. And as much as I didn’t want to tell Grandma Rosie what I knew, I wanted Bridget to pay for what she’d done. It wouldn’t be fair to let her go free.

  “It’s Bridget.”

  “Blaze’s sister?”

  “That’s right. She tried to kill me, and I eventually managed to put her to sleep.”

  Grandma Rosie cackled. “What kind of crazy dragon thinks going up against a witch is a good idea?”

  “That one, obviously. Now, can we get out of here?”

  “Climb on,” Grandma Rosie said, motioning to the broom behind her, and I eyed her dubiously.

  “Why don’t I take the front seat?” I suggested. “You can ride in the back.”

  “Oh, please. You think I can’t fly a broom anymore. Well, I can always leave you here.”

  “Alright, alright. But I don’t have my wand, so please try not to do anything ridiculous.”

  “Does that sound like the sort of thing I’d do?”

  Despite having had a dragon try to kill me, I was fairly certain getting on the broom with Grandma Rosie was actually the most dangerous thing I was going to do today. I hobbled toward her.

  “Wow, you look worse than I did before I got that hip replacement,” Grandma Rosie said, and I glared at her in reply, managing to swing my bad leg over the broom handle without too much pain and wrapping my arms around Grandma Rosie.

  “Hold on!” she said, and I squeezed my eyes shut, determined not to look if I was risking death for a second time in just a few hours.

  A few minutes later, I dared to open my eyes and have a peek to see the lights of Mt. Rheanier coming toward me. I almost cried, I was so happy. The adrenaline was wearing off, and I was soaked, terrified, freezing, and feeling a whole host of other emotions I couldn’t quite identify.

  Grandma Rosie, to my surprise and delight, managed to land more or less flawlessly in front of the hospital. She might have nicked one of the trees on the way in, but given how low my standards were, I was considering it a perfect landing.

  I hobbled inside, where an assistant Healer immediately spotted me and rushed over with a wheelchair, which I sat in gratefully.

  “You look like you’ve had quite the adventure,” she said as she wheeled me down the hall.

  “You have absolutely no idea,” I replied.

  Chapter 26

  The next few hours flew by in a blur of people and conversations that I barely remembered afterward.

  Grandma Rosie must have called Chief Enforcer Loeb, because she arrived right as the assistant Healer brought me a warming potion. As I drank it, warmth spread through every inch of my body, like a warm soup on steroids.

  “I’m surprised my grandmother called you,” I admitted when I saw the Chief Enforcer.

  “Oh?” she said, her eyebrows rising.

  “I thought she would have gone to you herself. After all, I know my grandmother is after the reward money.”

  “Does that mean you know who killed Blaze?”

  I nodded and recounted the entire tale, telling Chief Enforcer Loeb that my grandmother could tell her exactly where she could find the sleeping dragon and bring her to justice.

  Chief Enforcer Loeb gave me a hard look. “This is why I didn’t want the family to put up a reward. I was worried
it would lead to a situation just like this one, in which it’s a miracle you weren’t killed. Even though you didn’t know Bridget was the killer when you went to see her, she was the killer, and she went after you.”

  “Well, all’s well that ends well,” I replied glibly.

  “This time,” Chief Enforcer Loeb said, eyeing me seriously with her black eyes. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

  “Not as glad as I am. But thank you.”

  Just as Chief Enforcer Loeb left the room, her head held high and walking with an elegance I knew I’d never have even with a lifetime of practice, my mother came scurrying past her and into the room.

  “Althea! Oh, Althea. My dear daughter, are you alright?”

  “I’m fine, Mom, don’t worry,” I said. “It’s just a broken leg. They’re making a potion to help repair it faster right now.”

  “Nonsense. I can’t believe you were almost killed. I’m going to go make sure they’re making that potion right.”

  “No, you’re not, Mom,” I said firmly. I had to admit, I was touched. My mom could be harsh about my life decisions—which, admittedly, could be better a lot of the time—but when it really mattered, she cared more deeply about me than anyone. “The Healers know what they’re doing. It’s going to be fine.”

  “Is Willow here? Willow should be working here. I trust her to make a good potion.”

  “I don’t think so. It’s late, and she came over and had an early dinner with me a few hours ago. She’s probably at home sleeping.”

  “Well, they need to call her back in here so she can work on you.”

  “Mom, no! It’s fine. How did you know I was here, anyway?”

  “Your grandmother called to gloat. Can you believe that? She wanted to gloat that she was right and I was wrong when I said not to go out tonight.”

  I laughed. That sounded exactly like Grandma Rosie.

  “Of course you’d take her side.”

  “Well, I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of glad she decided to go out,” I admitted. “I wasn’t looking forward to my impending death by exposure, or worse, starvation.”