Get with the Potion

by Samantha Silver

  Rachel’s eyes watered and she pressed her lips together as if considering my words, then she nodded. She had come to a decision.

  “Fine. You’re right. I wouldn’t call it bullying, but Danielle did like to play pranks on people. Janet was the latest person. She just always had her nose stuck in those books of hers, and Danielle wanted to make her appreciate the outdoors a bit more.”

  A snarky reply was on the tip of my tongue, but I managed to keep it inside. After all, I wanted information from Rachel. I needed to keep her on my side.

  “I understand. Danielle was just having a bit of harmless fun.” Barf. As if. “Who else was she playing these little pranks on recently, and did any of them end worse than others?”

  Rachel bit her lip as she considered her answer. “Well, let me see. There was Janet, that was recent. Before that, Anthony Green. And also Aubrey Stein. Oh, and Jon Gress. He was really mad at Danielle; he muttered that she’d be sorry one day. If any of them were going to have something against Danielle, it was him.”

  “Ok, thanks,” I said with a nod, making a mental note of the new names. Four names in total. Four potential murder suspects. I turned and made my way back to the Academy.

  My first stop was the concoctology professor, Professor Kaminek. He was a staple at the Academy and taught the most important subject, potions, to every single witch and wizard in their final year.

  Concoctology was the official name for the study of potions, but nobody ever called it that. Professor Kaminek was one of the most popular professors in the Academy. He had been the concoctology professor for a good twenty years at this point, so most of the witches and wizards under the age of forty had learned from him. He was still youngish, in his late forties, with receding brown hair and brown eyes that always looked at you over the top rim of his glasses. He had always dressed very well, joking to students that he had thirty new children each year, so instead of having offspring of his own, he could spend his meager earnings on nice clothes and toys. He had a round face and a friendly mouth, and as soon as I made my way into the classroom, his face lit up.

  “Leda Everwood. Well, isn’t this just a lovely surprise? What brings you back to the Academy?”

  “Hi, Professor,” I said with a genuine smile. Even back when I was attending the Academy, while a lot of the professors weren’t my biggest fans, Professor Kaminek had always treated me well. He had been harsh but still fair when I had missed one of the most important exams of the year, and he had done his best to get me back onto the right path, whereas a lot of his coworkers had given up on me straightaway and written me off as a loser who would never amount to anything in life.

  I was going to prove them all wrong, but I knew Professor Kaminek would enjoy watching when I was finally successful. He was one of the good ones.

  “I was hoping I could chat to you about Danielle Dashwood.”

  The smile fell from the professor’s face. “Of course. What a tragedy, what has happened to her. And the rumors being spread about your sister.” He trailed off, shaking his head sadly. “I don’t believe a word of them, of course. Ali is a free spirit, but she isn’t a murderer.”

  “Thank you for your support,” I said. “It has been difficult for her, but of course she feels worse for Danielle. It really is awful what has happened.”

  “Truly. How can I help?”

  “Well, I was speaking with Rachel and Jess, her friends. They were telling me about a few people that Danielle had been bullying. I was wondering if you could tell me about some of them, since you’d know them all. There’s Janet, Jon Gress, Anthony Green, and Aubrey Stein.”

  Professor Kaminek sat down on the corner of one of the desks and took off his glasses, wiping them off with the cuff of his sleeve.

  “Now, I do need to ask you why you’re asking for information on these students.”

  I sighed. “Frankly, I’m hoping that I’ll find something that might help clear my sister.”

  “Do you not think that Chief Enforcer Loeb is doing her job properly?”

  “It’s not that. Not that at all. I think she’s an excellent enforcer. But, you know, two sets of eyes are better than one, that sort of thing.”

  “Now that’s an attitude I would have expected from your sister rather than you,” Professor Kaminek said with a smile. Whoops. I was really not getting the hang of this.

  “Well, you know, sometimes I don’t give her enough credit. Ali can be really smart when she wants to be.” I knew Leda would be seething at me if she could see what I was saying in her name. But hey, how could I resist?

  “Well, look at how you’ve matured in the few years since I last saw you,” Professor Kaminek said, swelling with pride. Yes, matured, that was definitely it.

  “Thanks,” I said with the most Leda-like smile I could manage.

  “Honestly, though, I’m not sure what to tell you about those students. If you’re asking me whether I think any of them could have murdered Danielle, well, it’s hard to know. Janet is a quiet, soft-spoken young witch and I really can’t see her doing that sort of thing. Aubrey keeps to herself quite a bit as well. I don’t think either one of them have the personality. As for the two young wizards, well, you never know. I would have a chat with them and perhaps look into their pasts a little bit. I’m afraid I can’t say more than that.”

  That was interesting. It sounded like one of the wizards might have had something in their past I needed to dig into more deeply, but I could understand how Professor Kaminek didn’t want to tell me directly.

  “Good to know,” I said with a nod. “Appreciate it.”

  “Look, I don’t want to get anyone in trouble. But I do want Danielle’s killer found. I told Chief Enforcer Loeb everything I know already. And it wasn’t like I was telling her anything she wasn’t already privy to, anyway.”

  I nodded, reading through the lines. Whatever had happened with one of the wizards had to have involved the enforcers.

  “I see what you mean. Thanks again for the help.”

  “Anytime, Leda. I hope your sister’s name is cleared. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

  “Will do.”

  I left Professor Kaminek’s classroom and considered visiting another few professors, but eventually decided against it. After all, I had some pretty solid leads to go on, here.

  Chapter 13

  I left the Academy and began to head back toward Leda’s apartment. There were still a few more hours to go until the potion’s powers would end and we would swap bodies once more, but to be honest, the conversations I’d had so far today made it obvious that I was not capable of imitating my sister well enough to keep getting away with it.

  So I went back to Leda’s apartment and reversed the sleeping spell. She woke up a minute later, blinking groggily at me.

  “What the…what’s going on?” she asked, until the memories of the night before came flooding back to her and she jumped up like a shot. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. You seriously drugged me and then cast a sleeping spell on me so you could imitate me? What is wrong with you?”

  “Before you accuse me of anything,” I said, raising my hands in front of me, but Leda was not in the mood to be appeased.

  “Accuse you? You and I have obviously switched bodies. That doesn’t just happen by accident. Why on earth did you do it?”

  “I had to get some information from Danielle’s two friends, and they wouldn’t talk to me if I looked like me,” I explained, and Leda threw her hands up.

  “Great. Now you’re investigating a murder and pretending to be me while doing it. Well, if you did anything dumb and Chief Enforcer Loeb comes looking for me, I promise you I’m telling her it was you.”

  “That’s fine, but you’re going to want to listen to what happened at work today before you keep being mad at me.”

  “Of course. Of course you went to work pretending to be me. You couldn’t have just called in sick, or taken a personal day, or done literal
ly anything else.”

  “You’re right. I did think of that, but it was too late. One of the employees had already seen me. But I also got you that promotion you were after.”

  That stopped Leda in her tracks. Her mouth was open, ready to scold me some more, but nothing came out. She closed and reopened her mouth a couple of times before speaking again.

  “You’re joking, right?”

  I shook my head. “No. There was an incident. I handled it way better than you would have, and Sandromiraa gave me the promotion afterward because Andrew froze and did nothing while I saved Natalie and the whole second floor.”

  Leda looked like she was going to pass out. “You have to tell the whole story.”

  I recounted the tale, start to finish, and when I was finally done, Leda burst into laughter. “You’re insane. I’m sorry I yelled at you. Well, I’m kind of sorry. You still shouldn’t body swap with people without their permission. But I’m so glad you were there today. You’re absolutely right, I would probably have panicked and hidden under the table. You were always so much better at that quick-thinking stuff than I am. But now, what if it happens again?”

  “Then you’ll have to dig deep and be the hero again,” I replied with a grin. “But don’t worry. I assume fire ghosts don’t get summoned from cauldrons on a regular basis at Smells and Spells.”

  Leda laughed. “That’s true. It’s unlikely to be a situation that would repeat itself anytime soon. I can’t think of any other time that’s ever happened.”

  Well, at least she was willing to laugh again. That was a good sign. It made it less likely that she was going to try and stab me for what I’d done.

  “Anyway, congratulations, Manager Leda.”

  This time, she shot me a warning look. “Don’t think I’m not still mad at you. I appreciate that you got me that promotion, but you still slipped poison into my drink and cast a spell to make me sleep for a day so you could go out and try solving a murder while pretending to be me. What happens if the killer thinks I’m investigating and comes after me?”

  “Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything remotely dangerous to you,” I said. “I just spoke to Rachel and Jess, and then to Professor Kaminek.”

  “I can’t believe you’re talking about this like it’s completely normal. When did you decide to start investigating, and more importantly, why?”

  “Because half the town thinks I’m a murderer. Honestly, going around as you was a relief because I could finally make my way down the street without people ducking into alleys to try and avoid me.”

  Leda’s face softened. “That does suck. But for Rhea’s sake, Ali, let Chief Enforcer Loeb do her job. You know, the one that she’s trained to do and that you absolutely are not?”

  “Two heads are better than one,” I argued. “I come into things with a fresh perspective.”

  “Your idea of a fresh perspective is just to bulldoze your way through everything you can find until you get at the truth.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  Leda looked at me, exasperated. Did I really look like that when I shot exasperated looks at people? I supposed so. “So you’re going to end up murdered. You almost died the last time you did this.”

  “The key word there being ‘almost.’”

  “No, the key word was definitely ‘died.’”

  “Well, I’m here, aren’t I?”

  “Because you got lucky and Grandma Rosie is as insane as you are. You shouldn’t be doing this.”

  “I know. Willow already told me all of this.”

  Leda sighed. “And I’m guessing none of it got through that thick skull of yours.”

  “Hey, right now it’s your thick skull.”

  Leda gave me a snarky look. “Anyway, if you’re insistent on doing this, what did you find out from Professor Kaminek? You didn’t say anything embarrassing or silly in front of him, did you?”

  “And ruin your reputation as the world’s most perfectly boring paranormal? Of course not.”

  “Gee, for some reason, I don’t believe you.”

  “I’m going to ignore that. Anyway, to answer your question, yeah. I found out from Rachel the names of four students Danielle had been bullying—or playing pranks on, as Rachel claimed—and Professor Kaminek told me to look into the two wizards. Jon Gress and Anthony Green.”

  “Ok,” Leda said. “I don’t know either one of them.”

  “Well, that’s not helpful.”

  “What can I say? I haven’t been at the Academy in a few years, and teenage wizards don’t tend to come into Smells and Spells that often.”

  “Fair enough,” I replied with a grin. “Anyway, I’m going to go speak with them, and I also want to do some digging in Pacific Cove and see what I can find out. All once we’ve changed back to our normal bodies,” I added hurriedly.

  “Good,” Leda replied. “Also, my goodness, do you exercise ever? Your body feels like I’m moving through molasses.”

  “Hey, you’re not exactly Hercules yourself,” I retorted.

  “I heard at least three different cracks when I got up,” Leda replied. “That is so not normal.”

  “I get exercise.”

  “Walking to get takeout doesn’t count.”

  I flipped Leda the bird and made my way toward the couch in the living room. We had a few hours to kill, and I was going to enjoy them by watching a bit of TV before our bodies switched back.

  Sure enough, exactly twenty-four hours after I had drugged Leda in the first place, the same strange effect happened to her face, and a minute later she was back to looking like, well, herself. I looked down at my familiar hands. As much as I had kind of enjoyed pretending to be my sister all day, I was also very much enjoying being back in my own familiar body.

  There’s no place like home, after all.

  Chapter 14

  By the time Leda and I had swapped back to our own bodies, it was too late in the night to really do anything in the investigation, so I headed back home and fell asleep almost immediately.

  Waking up early the next day, I decided my first step was to try and talk to one of the two wizards at the Academy that Danielle had been bullying. I didn’t know Anthony Green, but I did know of his family—Mt. Rheanier was a small town, after all—and I knew they all had the exact same brown curls and protruding chins that made him easy to identify in the crowd of students heading to the Academy the next morning.

  “Anthony?” I called out to one wizard who fit the bill exactly. He turned and looked at me, confusion written all over his face.

  “Yeah?”

  “You don’t know me, but my name is Ali. I was hoping to have a chat with you.” Anthony glanced back toward the Academy, a worried look on his face. “Don’t worry, it’ll be quick. I’ll get you back here before your classes start.”

  “I guess so, then,” he replied. “What do you want to talk to me about?”

  “I heard you were one of the students that Danielle Dashwood had been bothering.”

  He stuck out his chin. “So? That’s not a crime, is it?”

  “No, it’s not,” I replied. “I just want you to tell me about what she was like.”

  “The worst. She was awful. Look, why do you care, anyway? You’re not an enforcer, are you?”

  I shook my head. “No, I’m not. I’m just someone who’s trying to find out what happened to Danielle.”

  Anthony narrowed his eyes at me. “I know who you are. You’re Ali Everwood, the witch everyone is saying did it. That means if you’re going around asking questions, you’re trying to find someone else to pin this on, and you think I’m a good patsy.”

  He turned as if to go, and I started to panic. I needed to talk to Anthony. “No, no, listen, wait. It’s not like that at all.” Ok, it was exactly like that. Though I was after the truth instead of a patsy. “I’m trying to get to the bottom of what happened, that’s all. I’m not trying to pin anything on you. I want to know if you know anything about who might have wanted her dead.�
��

  Anthony stopped. He didn’t turn back toward me immediately; it was like he was trying to decide what to do. Finally, he made a decision. He turned.

  “Fine. Yeah, I can tell you who wanted her dead. I did. Do you know what she did to me?”

  I shook my head.

  “A couple of years ago, she started a rumor about me, saying that I had assaulted someone at a party and that the enforcers were coming after me. She told me if I paid her five thousand abras, she’d stop, but I don’t have that kind of money. I figured she’d realize that and go away, but then she actually went to the enforcers! She told them that I had assaulted someone. They showed up at my house. They spoke to my mother. I couldn’t believe it. Then of course, word got out, and everyone at the Academy found out about it.”

  “Wow, what a terrible thing to do to someone.”

  “I know, right? She was a nasty piece of work. I’m glad she’s dead. But it wasn’t me who did it.”

  “Where were you that morning, when she was killed?”

  “Sleeping. It was at, like, five in the morning or something, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” I replied.

  “Have the enforcers spoken to you yet?”

  “Yes,” I said, nodding. “They came by the other day. How about you?”

  Anthony shook his head. “No. But they’re going to come. They have to. They know the whole story, and I’m really nervous about it. I didn’t kill her. I swear I didn’t. I don’t know how to make them believe that.”

  “Just tell them the truth,” I offered. “Maybe don’t mention the fact that you wanted her dead. You’ve moved on from what she’s done, haven’t you?”

  “Yeah,” Anthony replied. “I just do my best to stay away from her.”

  “Can you think of anybody else who would have wanted her dead?”

  Anthony nodded. “Yeah, a few people. But I’m not telling you who they are. Honestly, I’m ok with the person who did this getting away with it. As long as I’m not the one who ends up in jail, that is.”