Chapter Eighteen - Herbology
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Herbology
BLYTHE WALKED WITH me through the hall, straight from Basic Magic to Herbology. Blinking rapidly, I stifled another yawn as I struggled to wake up this morning. My mind was such a whirlwind after last night that I hadn’t slept until about an hour before needing to wake up for classes.
“Did Mr. Ares seem more grumpy than usual this morning?” Blythe asked when I pulled open the glass greenhouse door.
My eyes widened and I blew out a breath. “It’s really hard to tell with him.” That was a major understatement.
She nodded in agreement. Professor Scarlette gestured for us to pull up stools in front of the garden beds this time. We often used earth magic first, either to increase the growth of herbs or to dry plants before bringing them over to use for potions.
After all the note-taking Mr. Ares gave us while he acted more on edge than normal, I was glad this class rarely required in-class notes. Notes were always saved for homework. It might have been weird, but I had hoped that he might have been on edge because of our kiss.
The moment we were instructed to continue the growth of ginger roots, the class turned back to glance at me, snapping me from my thoughts. Every time we were told to use earth magic, they watched me as if measuring my every movement, waiting for a mistake. I ignored them, still clearly very much on their radar. I had yet to hear of a worse disaster circulating. The normal embarrassing slip of magic was mentioned, but nothing that had the headmaster coming in to check in on it. Blythe never paid attention while she dealt with some of the same looks.
I wondered if Professor Scarlette and Mr. Ares really did have a thing, and if they still did. Blythe mentioned it was over the summer. Did I have a right to be jealous? Definitely not. There wasn’t anything between us, it just sort of happened in a really random moment. A moment I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about, even though he was always completely distant, a cold edge to him with no trace of warmth. For just a second last night, I almost doubted those thoughts.
“Hey, was it true about them being a thing?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
Blythe narrowed her eyes on the Herbology professor. “I don’t know. My mom hasn’t said anything new about it. I haven’t seen them together in the halls, so probably not.”
I frowned, staring above at the sun piercing through the heavy gray clouds. What was wrong with me?
Once instructed to practice, my hand waved over the ginger, letting the leaves sprout up from it until the roots grew enough for me to dig it out from the soil. I ignored the stares I got, mostly from Christina, like she was trying to judge my magic. I was really sick of it at this point. To be fair, I may have overdone it with the ginger in my frustration. It was also a bit easier to cast earth magic after feeling what too much felt like and actually letting go, but it had always been the easier one for me.
“Anything new with you and Caleb? I heard you get back a little later than normal,” she asked.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Lastrada called me into her office to tell me I need to take tutoring. It’s with Mr. Ares on Tuesdays.”
“That makes sense, most of us had some. My brother just turned fifteen, and even he’s getting tutoring. Though he can barely use magic at all, really only water for now,” she said.
“I didn’t know you had a brother.”
She sighed. “Yeah, he’s super annoying but we grew up close—even with the almost five-year age gap. Our parents are gone a lot, so we were mainly raised by nannies. They want me to get into real estate, but I’m just not as excited about it.”
“That’s got to be tough. It sounds like a lot of pressure. ”
She shrugged while trying to use her magic to dry the ginger. “Actually, Caleb visited a few times over the summer. My parents just closed a deal with Caleb’s parents right before the school year started for some random place in a nearly abandoned city outside of a prison. It’s all they’ve talked about recently.”
It sounded like she didn’t want to discuss her parents or growing up right now, so I went with the change of subject. “You know him well from outside of school?”
“Not really, but we grew up together. This summer, we both sat on our phones while they met at my parents’ place, not that I have anything against him, we just never really clicked. Now, they are talking about some other deal. So, I’ll probably see more of him,” she said, as we lifted everything we needed from the list on the board into our arms and set up at a potions table.
Professor Scarlette beamed around the room with warm hazel eyes while fixing her red hair into a high ponytail. “Brew it right and you’ll have a potion for increasing your fire element, brew it wrong and, well, it’ll settle an upset stomach,” she announced.
“This isn’t right.” Blythe frowned at our cauldron after we spent fifteen minutes adding everything.
“Umm… try this.” I reached for a vial at the back of the class, tossing it in.
Her mouth dropped open. “Hey, that worked.”
We watched as the ingredients swirled until it finally combined into something new. It was hard to believe it worked so well. I only knew it because of the boring chapters Mr. Ares had me reading last night. Before the craziest evening happened—when the last thing I ever could have imagined happened. I kissed him. Apparently, letting myself get so worked up led to bad decisions. Though, I really liked it. For a moment, through his anger, it felt like he understood me. Like he wanted it as badly as I did.
That pull, that frustration, didn’t seem to settle in today’s earlier class, when I caught his stare lingering on me more than once. He’d look away quickly, I ended up doing the same. Otherwise, the class was normal, but my mind couldn’t stop thinking over the way he touched me. In a random heated moment, he looked at me like I was his, like I was a gem he wanted to cherish. Then his demeanor changed. It was like a blast of ice water poured over me.
I wanted to tell Blythe, but it really didn’t mean anything. Still, I wished I could have gone over how insane my night turned out with her. The secrets just kept piling up. Her family knew him, too. Saying something could have complicated things.
“Looks wonderful, Valentine. Solace,” Professor Scarlette said to us as she passed. “It’s just the right color.”
Blythe scooped up a bottle and stoppered it. I took the cauldron, emptying the last of it down the sink drain. “You don’t want any?” She frowned at me. “How’s your fire practice going?”
“Better.” I smiled. “There’s no reason to not keep it small for now.” I had honestly been tossing any potions away that we got from this class. I knew they were minor, but after the stares of exploding all over the common room and still getting called a freak between classes—it wasn’t worth taking the chance.
Our aura class continued as normal, this time Professor Douglas had us practicing readings again. Levi raced across the room to sit with us as soon as we were allowed to find partners.
Caleb kept smiling at me from his seat before he turned to Trevor. Things kind of cooled off between us after the lake party, but I still felt awkward after last night with Mr. Ares. While I never wanted it to be serious with Caleb, I enjoyed spending time with him. His careless attitude made him so easy to be around.
“Alright, Harper. Let’s see what my future holds,” Levi said, placing his hand in mine.
The flow of his magic surfaced the moment my hands met his. It was cold, but also vibrant and electric. Struggling to clear my thoughts and focus on him, nothing came to mind.
“I don’t think I’m good at this,” I said to him. “I have no idea.”
He shook his head. “You gotta relax more. I’ll try yours.”
Avoiding the non-stop pull my mind kept going to was increasingly hard in this class with Mr. Ares sitting in again, as usual. Every time I failed to not look, I’d catch him staring over at Caleb whenever he wasn’t focusing on Professor Douglas’ lesson. This time when he cleared his throat, my eyes turned to find him staring back at me.
I knew instantly what that look was for. I glared back at him.
He didn’t get to say if I could have my friend aura read for me. Plus, when Levi practiced with me, it never felt like the claws trying to take from my past like it did with Professor Douglas. Still, I made sure those memories were tucked away. While aura reading was for the future, opening your mind could bring all kinds of things to the surface.
“You can trust me,” Levi said. His eyes held a look like I really could.
After a moment of silence, Levi’s bright green eyes bore into mine. He squinted at me.
“Professor Ares,” he said.
“What?” I asked.
“Sorry, I guess he still wants to be called Mr. Ares, how everyone knew him before. Yeah, I see his face when looking at your future. Blythe said you’re taking extra lessons with him, so that makes sense. Hmm, but also, I don’t know. It’s dark now, outside. I think that’s the best I’m going to get.” His hand went to the back of his neck, but his eyes darkened.
That felt too close. I pulled my lip into my mouth nervously, sucking in a sharp breath when feeling the sting of the bite Mr. Ares left on it. When I looked up at him, his eyebrow cocked, a heated look started in his eyes as he stared at my lips. Then he blinked, and the look was gone.
His words from yesterday echoed in my mind.
“This can’t happen again. I’m your professor.”
“ Someone marked you.”
I had to admit, his demanding tone drove me crazy. Even if it would never happen again, there was something I really liked about seeing his possessive side.
“Okay, do mine,” said Blythe, placing her hand in Levi’s .
He held her hand and tipped his head. His freckle-covered nose crinkled in concentration. His whole face abruptly lit up and he barked a laugh, causing some students to stare at us.
He rolled his eyes. “I should have known this was where your focus was going to be. Your birthday. Same as always, except this time you must be planning on extra snacks because I could see multiple bowls of popcorn as clear as day.”
“When’s your birthday?” I asked her.
A rosy blush bloomed on her light brown skin. “In like a week and a half.”
“You didn’t tell me!” I bumped her shoulder.
She laughed. “I was going to. I was hoping to go for the dramatic flair by pushing those thoughts forward. You’re invited, but it’s never really a big deal. It’ll be the same tradition of snacks and a movie at my house. It’s usually just Levi, me, my brother, and sometimes if either of us has a date. You’re both welcome to bring a plus one.”
Professor Douglas walked around the class, stopping at my desk. “Shall we try again, Solace? I heard you demonstrated quite the earth magic. Perhaps you have something great in store for your future.” He extended his hand to me.
“Greg, a word, please?” Mr. Ares said. I stilled at the sudden closeness of his voice, up from his normal seat in the back of the class, now standing behind me.
“Of course, Nick.” The aura professor’s tone was clipped with obvious irritation.
Mr. Ares pulled out a paper. They headed to the professor’s desk at the front of the room, staying there in some silent conversation until the class ended.