by Linsey Hall
I ran my hands around the edges of the door, trying to get a feel for the kind of charm that protected it.
"How strong is it?" Maximus asked.
“Fairly weak, but I think that’s because the protection charm is behind the door, not on the door itself.”
"Ready to open it, then?"
In response, I turned the doorknob and pushed it open. The door swung wide without issue, revealing a massive laboratory filled to the brim with vials of ingredients, glass beakers, equipment of all varieties, and dozens of potion books.
My eyes widened. I hadn’t been born with an innate interest in potions, but I'd really become obsessed lately. I'd love to spend time wandering around here. But time was the last thing we had.
Right in front of us, a thick heavy purple mist rose up from the floor. I coughed, the smoke burning the back of my throat.
"What is it?" Maximus stepped back.
I stared hard at the smoke, frowning. I thought I'd seen something like this once, in one of Lachlan's potion books. But what had it said? Definitely that the smoke was poisonous. So far we were fine, but we couldn’t breathe much more. I glanced around, looking for something to stop the smoke. Since there was no charm on the door, it meant that the smoke would rise up every time someone entered, even if they were an employee. So I had to find some kind of antidote, or something to make it stop.
There was a shelf to the left of my head, right next to the door. Hundreds of vials of potions sat on it, as if they were waiting for just this opportunity. I wouldn't be surprised if some were even placebos, meant to distract the unwitting and unwelcome visitor.
"I need to find something to counteract the smoke.” I bent down and sniffed gingerly at the wafting poison, needing to get a better idea of what it was made of. I coughed violently, my throat burning.
"Be careful!” Maximus grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
"I know what I'm doing." Mostly.
I focused on the scent of the smoke, picking up the distinctive smell of lilacs. My mind raced, trying to remember what I’d read in the book. There was something to counteract it, a liquid that would diffuse it quickly.
Lilacs, lilacs, lilacs...
My memory clicked into place, and excitement flared in my chest.
I spun back to the shelves stuffed full of potions, searching them. I tried to breathe shallowly, not wanting to inhale too much of the smoke. “I’m looking for a murky brown potion the color of black mud. It’s actually a liquid made of coal dust, and it should counteract the lilac smoke.”
I grabbed several off the shelf and peered more closely at them. Maximus handed me a couple as well.
Only one of them looked like it was made of floating particles of coal dust suspended in clear liquid. I put the other four potions back, and turned to the smoke.
My lungs burned from holding my breath. I uncorked the glass vial and splashed the liquid onto the smoke. There was a brief hissing sound, then the smoke disappeared.
I gasped, gratefully sucking in air, as my heart pounded in my ears.
The stone floor beneath my feet was speckled with the dark potion, clearly showing hundreds of applications of the black liquid.
I looked at the glass vial in my hands and grinned when I saw what I expected. It was already refilling with the coal dust potion.
“Remind me what the flower looks like?” Maximus asked.
“It’s red with yellow tips and green center. About the size of your palm.”
Maximus pointed toward the glass ceiling where dozens of hanging baskets were hooked onto the rafters where they got the best sunlight from the glass roof above. Each was filled with flowers. Unfortunately, they were so high it was difficult to see inside the baskets.
I stepped deeper into the laboratory, keeping my eyes peeled for any scientists or guards who might already be there. If they were, they might not realize that we were intruders. We still looked like the scientists, and I hadn't hesitated long before pulling down the proper potion to diffuse the smoke that guarded the space.
“Hello?” I called, deciding to get it over with.
If someone were here, it was better to know about it now. I didn't want them seeing us and realizing that we weren’t supposed to be here, even if we did look like employees. The ones we were impersonating might not even work on this level, and I didn’t want some guards showing up because I hadn’t noticed this place was already occupied.
But there was silence all around us, and my shoulders relaxed. "I think we’re alone."
"Good, let's make this quick." Maximus climbed up onto a table next to me, his movements graceful and quick. "It's easier to see from up here.”
I mimicked his motions, climbing onto another table on the other side of the room and searching for any baskets that contained a red flower. There were many, but none that contained exactly the right one.
I pulled down a couple to get a better view, still unable to find what I was looking for.
"Is this it?" Maximus's voice sounded from across the room.
I turned, spotting the flower gripped in his hand. It looked almost right—the colors were all there. But they weren't exactly the right shade, and the shape was slightly off.
I shook my head. "No, I don't think so,"
I wished that Romeo, Eloise, and Poppy were here. They had such a great sense of smell that they could probably find this flower in no time.
I was digging through another hanging basket full of various blooms when a voice sounded behind me. "Hey! What are you doing in there? You shouldn’t be on the tables."
Oh crap. I turned, reaching into the potion bag that I'd slung over my side. My hands unerringly found the sleeping potion that came in a triangular glass bomb.
The woman in front of me was pale, with blonde hair and blue eyes that were nearly translucent. She looked like she hadn't seen the sun in a decade. Her glasses were perched on her nose and her hair tied up in a messy bun. Probably scientist.
She stood there with her arms propped on her hips, and a glower on her face. "You know you're supposed to use the ladders. I don't care if it's faster to climb on the tables, it's not proper lab protocol."
Oh yeah, definitely a scientist.
I threw the potion bomb. Her pale eyes widened just briefly before the glass slammed into her chest. The liquid exploded over her, blue and gleaming. She didn't even have a chance to scream. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and her body sagged.
Maximus leapt to the floor and raced to her, grabbing her before she hit the ground. He laid her carefully under the table where she wouldn’t get stepped on.
"She'll wake up in about an hour,” I said.
“Good.” He climbed onto the table again and resumed his search.
I kept hunting, and when I finally saw the flower, my heart jumped. I was about to reach for it when a voice sounded from the comms charm around my neck.
"Rowan!” It was Bree. “We found the beast’s lair. How close are you to finding the missing ingredient? No one else has had any luck."
"Just found it." I grinned. “We just need to get back to the train depot so that we can transport out of here. This whole place is protected by a non-transport spell." I hadn't even finished my sentence when a siren blared through the room. "Oh crap, Bree. We've got to go. I think they figured out we’re here.”
"Hurry, and be safe!”
“You too.” I plucked a dozen blooms and packed them in a tiny plastic box, then shoved them in my jeans’ pocket. I jumped off the table and looked at Maximus. "Let's get the hell out of here."
He yanked the door open and hurried out onto the stairway. We raced down the stairs as fast as we could, joining other employees as they surged toward the exits. Whatever that alarm had been, no one wanted to stick around.
For a while it seemed like we might be able to just flow out with the crowd, blending in with them. But when we hit the main entry hall, two guards spotted us, scowls creasing their faces.
One po
inted and shouted, “Hey you! Stop!”
Crap.
“Run,” Maximus said.
I sprinted forward through the crowd, shoving one hand into my bag of potions. When I found the stunning potion, I yanked it free and hurled it at guards’ feet. It slammed into the ground in front of them, the glass shattering and the smoke billowing up. The guards plowed right into it and immediately started choking. A moment later, they fell over.
I leapt over their bodies as we raced out of the building and across the snowy lot, heading for the skis that had been abandoned on the ground earlier.
Shouts sounded from behind, guards yelling at us to stop in English, French, and German. As if I’d suddenly hear halt and stop dead in my tracks.
Ha. No way in hell that was gonna happen.
Fortunately, the glamour potion not only made us look like the scientists—we wore their clothes as well. I slammed my ski boots onto the skis, grateful to hear them click as they attached. I grabbed the ski poles that had fallen to the ground.
Maximus and I pushed our way toward the ski slope that would get us away from here.
To our left, eight guards sprinted toward us, each dressed in identical dark blue uniforms. Four of them pulled out magical stunners that looked like wands. I'd only ever seen them demonstrated at the Protectorate, but they could hurl a massive jolt of magic that would shock a person so hard, they’d wet their pants and pass out.
No way going to be me.
I picked up a little momentum with my ski poles, then reached into my potions bag and found the one that was the equivalent of a banana peel in a cartoon. I hurled it at the guards, then dug my ski poles into the snow, zipping forward. I turned back to look at the guards and spotted them piled on the ground, struggling to rise in the snow.
I reached the top of the hill, and my skis tipped over. I whizzed down the hill behind Maximus as wind burned my eyes, and I prayed I wouldn’t fall.
Overhead, the roar of a helicopter broke through the quiet of the day. I looked up, catching sight of a guard hanging out the door, ready to hurl potion bombs at us.
Oh crap.
I turned right, zigzagging down the slope as the guard threw potion bombs down at us. They crashed into the snow, exploding with black smoke and splashes of red liquid.
"Almost there!” Maximus shouted from ahead.
I dug my ski poles harder into the snow, gaining speed. The helicopter swooped above, diving lower so the guard could get a good shot. He flew in front of me, so close that I could see the blue of his eyes.
I barely managed to avoid the bombs he hurled. Soon, I spotted a clump of tightly packed evergreen trees at the base of the hill. They’d provide a little cover, so I skied right for them, plowing into the evergreens as a potion bomb hit me in the shoulder, exploding against my jacket.
I fell into the snowy trees, branches scratching my face and neck. The trees provided a little cover as I tore off my jacket, my shoulder burning with pain.
Ahead of me, Maximus yanked off his skis and reached for me, pulling me through the trees.
“This way,” he said. “There’s a building.”
The cluster of evergreens was pressed up against a small building, and we slipped inside. The space was no bigger than my apartment, full of various tools and cans of gasoline. Another work shed.
Maximus still looked like the nerdy scientist, and I was sure I did, too. I was still wearing his ski boots after all. I dug into my potion belt and yanked at the antidote, then took a little swig and passed it over to Maximus, pain already tearing through my muscles as I transformed.
He drank the rest, and within seconds, he looked like himself.
“Maybe they won’t recognize us now, and we can sneak to the train station to transport out of here.” I searched for a second exit—one that didn’t lead into trees and a ski slope—and found it.
We exited into an alley, and I kept my gaze trained at the sky, searching for the helicopter. I could hear it but didn’t see it.
When we made it out onto the main street in town, the atmosphere was tense. Tourists kept glancing up at the helicopter. I looked, too, pretending to be confused, but I walked as quickly as I could toward the station.
"Hey you!” a gruff voice shouted from behind us.
I didn’t have to turn to know it was a guard.
“Run!” Maximus sprinted forward, and I followed, my heart thundering.
We raced past shops and restaurants, darting around people and jumping over benches. We were so close to the train station. We just had to get past the tracks, to the outskirts of the village where the transport blocking charm no longer worked.
Fortunately, there was no long line to get into the train station, probably because there was no train this time of day.
“Guards in front,” I shouted, spying a few of them at the entrance to the station.
Maximus veered left to avoid the guards, and I followed.
“Hey!” Their shouts echoed through the street.
We sprinted by, not stopping, and spilled out onto the train platform. As I’d suspected, there was no train there.
“Get across the tracks!” Maximus shouted.
I leapt onto the tracks and ran across, my feet sinking into the soft snow on the other side. Next to me, Maximus reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a transport charm, then hurled it to the ground.
The glittery gray smoke burst up, and I lunged into it. At the last second, I glanced over my shoulder, spotting the angry faces of the guards as they jumped onto the track in pursuit.
15
Maximus jumped into the smoke right as the ether sucked me in and spun me through space. A moment later, it spat me out on the front lawn of the Protectorate.
I gasped, whirling around to see Maximus appear out of thin air behind me. No guards arrived behind him, thank fates.
Panting, I propped my hands on my knees. “Holy fates, that was close.”
“Too close.” Maximus was only slightly out of breath, but it was the most winded I’d ever seen him. “I’ve never skied before.”
“You did well.”
“You didn’t see my dismount.” He shot me a wry smile.
A laugh escaped me.
“Rowan! Maximus!” Jude’s voice sounded from the castle. “Did you get the ingredient?”
I turned toward Jude, catching sight of her standing on the main steps, her starry blue eyes bright on us.
“We did!” I hurried toward her, then jumped up onto the castle steps as I dug into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out the little plastic box of flowers.
“Excellent.”
Footsteps thundered down the stairs at the main entry, and I peered around to see Hedy, making way too much noise for someone so small.
“We’ve got it!” I held up the flowers.
“Excellent!” She raced toward me, grabbed the flowers out of my hands, and kept running, right onto the lawn and in the direction of her workshop. “I’ll have it done in an hour. Two, tops!”
I turned to go after her, but Jude grabbed my arm. “She can show you how to make the potion later. Right now, there’s a briefing in the round room for anyone going on the mission to confront the demons and their beast. I assume you want to be part of that?”
“I do!”
Jude looked at Maximus. “You, as well?”
He nodded sharply.
“Come on, then. Your sisters are waiting, Rowan.”
We hurried up the stairs and down the hall, entering the round room to find the table pretty full. Ana and Bree sat there, along with their boyfriends, Cade and Lachlan. Caro, with her platinum blonde bob and thousand-watt smile sat next to the dark-haired twins, Ali and Haris.
Caro’s silver eyes darted to me. “We heard you got the necessary ingredient?”
“We did.”
She grinned widely. “Well done.”
Ali and Haris nodded, leaning back in their chairs.
“This will be a good fight, th
en,” Ali said.
Jude took a seat at the head of the table. Though it was round and there technically was no head, wherever Jude sat seemed to be imbued with extra importance.
I sat next to Bree, and Maximus sat next to me.
Ana leaned forward, her blonde hair swinging over her shoulder. “Our scouting mission revealed that the demons have a headquarters on a tiny, unnamed island between Greece and Turkey.”
“Unnamed?” Maximus frowned. “I thought every rock in that sea had a name.”
“They do. If they’re on a map,” Bree said. “This island was on no map. In fact, clouds hid it for the first two hours of our visit. It took a while to find it, and we only saw it once we were in the sky.”
“It’s located closer to Turkey than to Greece,” Ana said. “And it seems like it’s only a temporary headquarters. There’s not much on the island besides the demons and their beasts in a tiny, decrepit church.”
My head jerked up at the plural. “Beasts, as in more than one?”
“We think they have two,” Jude said.
“Crap.” I frowned. I’d been worried about that. “Did I get enough flowers for the potion?”
“Hedy seemed pleased,” Maximus said.
“Good point.” I looked at everyone. “So, what’s the plan, then?”
“According to Hedy, the birds need to drink the potion. Or at least, get some in their mouths. Their feathers repel other potions.”
Fantastic. That would be super easy.
“We were thinking that Ana and I could attack from the sky,” Bree said. “Draw the beasts out and deliver the potion. Cade, Lachlan, and Maximus could approach the island with the rest of the PITS. They’d go by boat. There, they would take out the demons and find their leader. Hopefully figure out their end goal.”
“What about me?” I asked. I wanted a chance to grill some demons about this dark magic. Even if I did manage to dampen it by stopping the beasts from feeding, I needed to figure out what it was and how to get rid of it entirely.
“Your aim is the best,” Jude said. “You can ride on Ana’s back and throw the potion at the monsters. Get it in their mouths and we succeed.”