Ess came through for us in a big way. A little over an hour later, we walked back into Leo’s Laughingstock. As before, we were the only customers.
“You don’t do a lot of business here, do you?” I asked.
Leo looked up from where he was straightening a display of masks that crossed their eyes and stuck out their tongues to blow raspberries. “Ah, you came back quickly. I guess you really do need that scale after all. Sadly, the shop has suffered a little. It’s my passion, though. The other business is strictly to pay the bills.”
“Actually, I came with another proposition for you.”
“I’ve already told you my price. If you don’t have the money, there’s no need for us to take this discussion further.”
I approached him and Alex followed. “Oh, I think you’ll want to hear what I have to say. I told you I had connections. What I didn’t realize, is that you have them too.”
Apprehension filled Leo’s eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I know why you don’t fear the Magesterial Council. You’re a snitch, quite a talkative one too from what I understand.”
The color drained from Leo’s face and he held up a hand in protest, but I noticed it quivered. “Now hold on.”
“Oh, I think you should get used to people not letting you explain why you snitched. I’m sure you had to, you had no choice, or the benefit was just too great to yourself. Blah, blah, blah. I understand; I just don’t think anyone else will.”
“No. If anyone finds out, I’m dead.”
I continued to close in on him until my face was only a few inches from his. “I don’t think that’s really what you’re scared of. You weren’t scared of Alex when he threatened your life. No, I think you’re scared because you know they’re not going to kill you, at least not right away. Trust me when I tell you that the body can hang on for quite a long time.”
Leo shook his head. “No one would believe you. I have a solid reputation.”
His voice sounded hollow. He knew it wasn’t true. The sort he dealt with wouldn’t bother waiting for things like proof, even though I could provide that.
“Really? You want to take that chance? Oh, and your name’s actually Leonard, not Leo. So unless you’re okay with Leonard the Snitch being your new nickname, you’ll hand over both your dragon scales. If not, don’t worry, I really doubt the nickname will bother you much given the situation you’ll find yourself in.”
“Fine, you have me. They’re yours. But you have to promise me this won’t get out.” Leo pointed a finger at me with false bravado.
“You’re really not in much of a position to make demands.”
Leo sighed. “It’ll take me some time to go get them. Come back later tonight, and I’ll have them for you.”
Alex chuckled behind me. “No, I think I’ll be going with you.”
“You’ll have to forgive my friend,” I said. “He doesn’t trust snitches.”
“Very well.” Leo’s shoulders slumped. “You won’t be able to follow me because there’s a charm on the entrance that only allows me in.” Leo waved his hand, and a shelf along the back wall swung out, revealing a hidden doorway.
“Wait, so you keep everything here? You lied to us?” I don’t know why I was shocked.
Leo shrugged. “Can you really blame me?”
When Alex went to follow Leo through the doorway, a shield blocked him. However, we were both able to keep an eye on Leo to make sure he didn’t bolt. After a little rummaging around, he emerged with two dragon scales.
“Here you go. My last two, as agreed.” He placed both scales in a velvet bag that had “Leo’s Laughingstock” embroidered on the outside in gold thread and handed it to me.
I peeked inside to make sure they were really there and even lifted one out to ensure there was no trickery at play. “Thanks. I’d say it was a pleasure doing business with you, but I’d be lying. As it is, your secret is safe with us.” Alex followed me to the door, but before I opened it, I turned back around. “And, Leo, maybe try making the outside of this place more inviting. There’s no reason your passion can’t be the thing that also pays the bills.”
With a wink, I walked outside, two dragon scales richer.
Eighteen
Penelope smiled when we entered her lab carrying the bag from Leo’s. “Excellent! I’ve done some more testing on the hairs retrieved and I’m most intrigued to see what’s going to come of this recipe. Not many things stump me, but this has.”
As Penelope mixed the ingredients together, she looked absolutely giddy. For her, this was a puzzle, a mystery she looked forward to finding the answer to. I couldn’t say the same. I had no idea what the potion would do, but I knew who it came from, and that made me wary. If this potion was the key to my mother’s plan, then it couldn’t be anything good.
“How long is this going to take?” Alex asked.
Penelope didn’t look up from her workstation as she ground one of the scales into a fine powder. “It shouldn’t take too long. Once the potion’s complete, there are a few quick tests I can do to give us an idea of its purpose.”
Penelope was meticulous in her work, carefully measuring out each ingredient and adding it to the flask. With each new addition, the mixture would change color or bubble, getting us one step closer to discovering the potion’s purpose. Watching her work reminded me of chemistry class, not my favorite subject. Sitting around measuring things, having to be so precise, wasn’t something I enjoyed. That’s why I’d chosen a caster in Wizards and Fae. Give me a fireball to throw at someone over having to sneak up and stab him in the back any day.
“All right, now one ounce shade of death, and that’s it. Hmmm.” Penelope leaned forward and squinted at the mixture. Then she stepped back and cocked her head to the side. Something wasn’t right. Without warning, she shifted into her panther form and sniffed the potion. As soon as she was done, she stood in her human form and took a pinch of some pink powder she had waiting nearby and sprinkled it in. Nothing happened. “That was entirely unexpected, and quite frankly, disappointing. What you have here is a very expensive flask of nothing.”
“What do you mean nothing?” I jumped off the stool I sat on and came around to get a closer look.
“Exactly what I said. This is not a potion. It has no magic in it whatsoever. The ingredients didn’t mix in a way that produced a magical effect.”
“Are you sure?” Alex asked.
“Absolutely. Did you give me the recipe accurately? Were all the ingredients in the correct order? That can make a difference. Were there any special instructions?”
I quickly ran through the recipe in my mind. Could I have really messed up so monumentally?
“No, the recipe was simply a list of ingredients and the instruction to mix and consume immediately. Is there any chance you made a mistake somewhere?” I winced saying it. I had seen the care she’d taken. It was unlikely she had made a mistake.
“I don’t see how. I mixed all the ingredients exactly as they were listed. The instruction to mix and consume immediately is standard unless it’s necessary to let the potion age. The only assumption I made was that the ingredients would be ground to a powder, but that’s common practice.”
The potion had to do something. My mother might’ve been crazy, but she wouldn’t waste time with a potion that did nothing.
“I’m happy to try it again if you’d like,” Penelope said.
We were down to just one dragon scale. It didn’t seem to make much sense to have her do the exact same thing over again and expect different results. If she did it again, and the potion didn’t work, we wouldn’t have another chance, not without finding another dragon scale. I didn’t think that would be too easy.
“What do you want to do?” Alex asked me.
We didn’t have many options. We had to try again. “Follow the recipe again, but this time narrate everything you’re doing so I can make sure it’s the same as the recipe in my memory. I’ll stop you if ther
e’s a discrepancy.”
Penelope nodded. “I’ll get fresh equipment. We don’t want anything that’s been tainted or has trace amounts of any other ingredients on it.” Penelope set up a new flask and flame and a new mortar and pestle. “Now I’m going to grind the dragon scale into powder.” She narrated as she ground the dragon scale and then the mushrooms in a separate mortar. “Now to start mixing everything together. The first ingredient was one vial of mermaid tears. I can only assume that the recipe is referencing the vial as the standard unit of measurement, and so I have that here.” She held up a standard vial and filled it with mermaid tears.
Something about the mermaid tears niggled at my mind. This was the key, but I couldn’t figure out why. The talisman brought forth the memory of finding the recipe with astounding clarity. Before Penelope could pour the tears into the flask, I used my magic to cast a little shield covering the opening of the flask.
“What—” Penelope looked to me.
“I just remembered something.” My mind was still piecing it all together. There had been more to the mermaid tears. My mother had made a notation next to that ingredient in her notes. Until now, I’d ignored it. It said, “Do mermaids even have tears?” I’d always assumed it was just Meglana’s rambling thoughts, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was more? Meglana didn’t do anything without a purpose. Could that notation have been a clue? “Why don’t you try mixing it without the mermaid tears this time? I think that ingredient may have been listed to throw us off.”
Penelope stared at the list of ingredients again and smiled. “Yes, I think you may be correct. I can’t be sure, but I think I have an idea of what the rest of the ingredients would do when mixed together.” She moved on to the golden monkey hair and continued mixing the potion.
This time, when she got to the last ingredient, the potion briefly sparkled then settled into the pale orange color that Sadie had described. I sighed in relief that I’d guessed correctly.
“Excellent,” Penelope said with a grin. “This is something I can work with.” She once again shifted into her panther form and sniffed the liquid. In her human form, she took a syringe and pulled out the tiniest drop of potion. On a petri dish, she mixed a few drops of the potion with different powders and examine the results. Three of the five powders appeared to do nothing, but two of them changed color, and one even let out a little wisp of smoke. Penelope frowned. “I was afraid that might be the case. I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that I can accurately tell you what this potion does. The bad news is that it’s extremely illegal. I can’t release it to you.”
The illegality did not surprise me. I respected Penelope’s desire to follow the law, even if she did occasionally acquire materials on the black market, but I was leaving with that potion. “Can you at least tell us what it does?”
“Whoever drinks this potion will be able to impose their will on others. It makes the drinker very…persuasive. A weak-minded individual would be unable to resist doing whatever the potion drinker asked. Potions like this, that can take away the will of another, are banned for obvious reasons. I’m sorry I don’t have better news for you.”
Meglana was a master at manipulating people into doing what she wanted. The only surprise was that she had taken the trouble to create a potion when she had such an innate talent in this area. And here I was getting ready to manipulate Penelope into handing the potion over just as I’d manipulated Leo. Like mother like daughter. With every step I took to defeat my mother’s legacy, I only became more like her.
“That’s all right, we’ll just take the rest of the potion,” I said with nonchalance.
“Like I said, I can’t let you take it. It would be illegal.”
“I understand, but it is our potion. We acquired all the ingredients. We even went to your black-market dealer.” The implication was clear. She didn’t have a problem with breaking the law when it benefited her, when she could justify it.
“I know what you’re trying to do. But this is different. This potion crosses a line, a line that should never be crossed.”
Alex stepped up to his mother and looked her in the eye. “Mom, we really need this potion. It’s not something we want to use, but it’s the key to a bigger puzzle.”
“You know I can’t do that, Alex.” Her voice didn’t hold the strength it had earlier.
“Yes, you can. You’re just choosing not to. I’ve never asked you for anything. No one will ever know. You’re choosing to disregard the only request your son has ever made of you.”
Penelope’s mouth set in a grim line. “That’s not fair.”
“I know, but fairness has never been a part of life. It’s not fair of me to ask this of you, and it’s not fair of you to deny me when this is the only thing I’ve asked you for. Please, Mom.”
Something almost tangible passed between their eyes, and Penelope finally surrendered with a nod. “Take it, but be careful. This is powerful stuff, especially in the wrong hands.”
“We know,” I said as I grabbed the flask of potion. “A vial of this is already in the wrong hands. That’s why we need it: to stop them.”
“I don’t know how you’re going to do that, but I wish you luck.”
“Thank you, Mom.” Alex gave her a peck on the cheek.
We would make this right with Penelope, but for now, we needed to figure out how this potion could get us past the frozen cliff.
Nineteen
The door to Penelope’s lab had barely shut behind us when I received a call from Millhook through my orb.
“Perfect timing, we’re headed back now,” I said when his face appeared.
Millhook’s eyes darted away from the orb, as if he were looking at something outside of my view. “Oh, good, good. I don’t want to worry you or anything but…”
My heart leapt. “What is it? Is Nicole all right?”
“Oh, she’s fine, it’s just that we kinda had to change locations.”
“Change locations? Why?” For the first time I noticed the wall behind him was a different bland color than the one we had left.
“Just remember, we’re fine. No need to worry. But I did sense a mage outside our room. So as a precaution, we changed our location. We just hopped over to Maui.”
“What do you mean there was a mage there? How did they find us?” We had gone to a random hotel in Hawaii to avoid this very thing.
“I don’t know, but we didn’t bring anything to Maui except for Nicole’s computer, just in case. We can try to figure it out later. If you’re ready to come back, I’ll be there in a jiffy to make a portal for you.”
“Yeah, we’re ready to go. We’ll meet at the same spot as last time.”
Millhook’s face disappeared, and I started to speed walk through the streets of Concordia to our meeting place.
“How is it possible anyone found us?” Alex asked.
“I have no idea, unless Sadie planted some kind of tracker when we saw her. But even then, I don’t see how it could’ve gotten by me and Millhook. And it doesn’t make sense that only now would it be causing a problem. No, there’s something else going on.”
“Do you think we’ll be safe staying on another island? Maybe we should convince Nicole to stay somewhere else.”
My stress level would significantly decrease if I knew Nicole was safe, but I doubted there was any way for me to convince her to leave without Millhook wiping her memory. I liked having her around, and she’d been incredibly helpful, but I was willing to give that up if it meant keeping her safe. However, it probably wasn’t the wisest choice. “Even if she did leave, my aunt could still use her as leverage. I’d rather have her with us, where Millhook can keep her safe when we’re not there.”
“Let’s not keep him away from her any longer than necessary. You forget where we’re at. No one will blink an eye at you riding on my back.” Alex shifted and took me the rest of the way to our meeting spot. He was right; no one gave us a second look.
When
we arrived, the portal was ready and waiting with Millhook bouncing from foot to foot. “I figured you’d be in a hurry. And don’t worry, everything’s fine. Nicole didn’t even want me to message you, but I thought it might be a nasty surprise if I didn’t.”
“You did the right thing, Millhook.” I stepped through the portal and ran to give Nicole a hug. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, Millhook shouldn’t have worried you. Seeing you appear through a portal like that without missing a beat was more shocking.”
“See?” Millhook said as he came through the portal after Alex. “Told you she was fine. Could’ve been a total coincidence, a mage wanting to enjoy the beach.”
“You don’t really believe that though, do you?” I asked.
“No, but no sense worrying about it. After it happened, I scanned both of us for any kind of magic that could track us, but I came up with nothing.”
“I never sensed anything either. That’s what worries me the most. If we don’t know what to protect ourselves against, then how can we stay safe?” I locked eyes with Alex and knew what he was thinking. Memories of our time running from Casper seemed to flow between us.
“Our best bet is probably to stay on the move. It’s worked for us in the past,” Alex said.
We wouldn’t be safe until I ended this. “I’m sure we’re going to be on the move plenty as we work to figure out Meglana’s riddle.”
“Speaking of which, how did it go?” Nicole asked as she steered me to sit down next to her on the bed. “Did you figure out what the potion does?”
Before I sat, I pulled out the vial and handed it to her. “Yep, here it is. Took a little bit to get it, too. Meglana can never do anything the simple way. Turned out the mermaid tears were a false ingredient. The rest of the recipe created this potion which makes the drinker irresistibly persuasive. The average person wouldn’t be able to help themselves from doing whatever was asked of them.”
“Shit. A potion can take over a person’s will like that?” Nicole looked at the vial with a bit of awe and fear.
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