25. Lily
LILY
She changed her outfit three times between going home after her morning class and returning to campus for alchemy, hating that she couldn’t stop herself.
Changing meant that she cared what Sebastian thought she looked like; meant she thought there was a chance he would even notice her as something other than his cauldron-ordained lab partner.
Even so, she couldn’t get the image of him calling her “secretly cool” out of her head.
They’d seen each other since that night on the bridge, to dance, and it had been fine, good, even, but whatever she thought she’d felt in the woods, on the dam, had vanished. He’d asked her about her hike but nodded vaguely at her responses. Mostly he’d seemed tired.
Eventually, she settled on a slouchy cream sweater with horizontal navy stripes, and her well-loved brown lace-up boots.
She pedaled back to campus, light jacket stuffed in her backpack so that she wouldn’t get sweaty.
When she got to Paracelsus, she ducked into the bathroom and checked her lip gloss.
He entered shortly before the start of class, flanked as usual by his roommates.
She felt him coming before she saw him, framed in the doorway, as if his magic were a magnetic thing.
Supposedly some people could actually see the weave of AEther, but she wasn’t one of them.
Across the sea of desks, their eyes met, and he gave her a smile so small that you could only see it if you were looking for it.
Then he took his usual seat and flipped open his leather-bound journal.
Lily busied herself with going over her notes, looking up only as Gemma entered. She kept looking as Gemma made a beeline for the Millay Tower crew. Gemma leaned against the desk in front of Sebastian, studying him beneath her strong eyebrows, and pursed her lips. They were very glossy.
“You look tired.” She reached out and brushed a lock of dark hair out of his eyes.
Lily gaped into her notes. Ahead of her, Allsaires’s neck tensed almost imperceptibly.
She couldn’t hear his response, but Gemma chuckled throatily and swatted him on the shoulder before perching on the desk next to him, her bare legs swinging in their Chelsea boots.
As Chant entered, Gemma slid theatrically into the desk and leaned in to whisper something.
“Hello, hello!” Without looking, Chant frisbee-tossed his leather satchel toward the lab bench, where it spun and landed neatly in the center.
“What an exciting day we have ahead of us. If you’ve done the reading, you should be well prepared for the work of these next few classes.
This week we’ll focus on preparing for the initial stages of the alchemical process through several smaller experiments, designed for you and your partner to hone your process. ”
Lily’s stomach flopped unpleasantly. Working with Sebastian alone—in the library, in the Metaphysics building, the woods—was one thing, but what would he be like here, among his friends, among their peers?
“As we’ve discussed, there are as many different processes as there are alchemists, so lean into your strengths as a unit.
Don’t cave to pressure or conventional wisdom—the more authentic the work, the more likely success.
Today we’ll begin with a simple transformation.
You’ll be working with antimony, and you may reshape, or transmute it into whatever form you desire.
I’ll put further guidelines on the board but grab your partner and get started. ”
A shuffling chaos broke out in the slanting light.
Desks scraped against the floor, and sudden claims were staked to particular tables.
After a brief interchange with his roommates, Sebastian turned in his chair to face her, eyebrow raised.
She gathered her papers and met him at the only table left, between Gemma and Braithwhite, and Vis and Beaumont.
“Antimony,” he said quietly, mouth quirked in thoughtfulness.
“Easy,” she agreed, trying to ignore the heads swiveling in their direction, focusing on the lump of lustrous, dark gray matter in a jar on the table. “The wolf of metals. Any ideas?”
He beckoned her to his side of the table, closest to his roommates, and flipped his leather journal to a blank page.
Gemma’s stare followed her. Lily watched him begin to sketch out an idea, his long fingers firmly wrapped around his fountain pen.
What an asshole, she thought good-naturedly.
An expensive watch peeked out from the cuff of his sweater, which looked to be pure cashmere. She refrained from touching.
Sebastian ducked his head close to hers, and his breath was warm on her ear. “The wolf of metals,” he repeated, and it took her a moment to understand that the sketchy figures on the page were supposed to be wolves. He was a terrible artist.
She grinned, keeping her voice low. “Lead will be easiest to bind with.”
He nodded. “How’s your Living Earth?”
“Solid. Well…” She bit her lip at the unintentional pun, and his subsequent laugh drew the room’s attention.
“Why don’t you make the alloy. I’ll modify Living Earth, unless you want it?” His ash-brown sweater made his eyes that much more vivid and prismatic, and it took Lily a moment to process his words.
“No, your Living Earth is definitely stronger than mine.” She looked at her phone. “Let’s start the process in fifteen?”
He checked his watch and nodded. Lily moved back to her side of the table.
Quickly, she drafted out a purifying spell to protect the integrity of the materials while they worked, then went to the supply cabinets and procured a jar of lead.
She began the punishing process of meticulously weighing out the correct amounts of lead and antimony, her fingers quickly staining black.
If she weren’t in the middle of a crowded room, she would have used some of her spontaneous magic to correctly split her materials and forego the scale.
“Good?” Sebastian said as she added the lead to the crucible and positioned it over a burner. She hadn’t realized he’d been watching.
“Ready.”
He swung around to her side of the table and produced a sharp pick. “For the Living Earth. They’ll be more lifelike with blood. Just a drop.”
Casually, he poked himself in the thumb and squeezed a bead of blood into the waiting crucible.
Lily handed him a tissue and reached for the alcohol swabs, grabbed a new pick, then stabbed herself.
She wrapped the tissue he handed her around her thumb as she reached for the salt and poured it in a loose ring around the Bunsen burner.
“Want to help me cast the purification?”
“Ready when.”
He placed his index finger on the salt circle and closed his eyes, lips moving silently.
Lily watched him for a second, his dark lashes feathery on his cheeks, before calling up her own Words and beginning the spell.
They broke the line, moving their fingers counterclockwise and their free hands in an opposing circle over the unlit burner.
Slowly, the salt trembled, then rose in a column like reverse snow, up to their palms. A sudden calmness suffused her and Lily sighed with satisfaction.
Across the table, Sebastian grinned, looking not unlike the way he had the first time she’d seen him win at Cantrèa, a lifetime ago.
Lily lit the burner, casting a cantrip to speed the process so she could add the antimony, then began to help Sebastian cast the first stage of Living Earth, trying to ignore Professor Chant as he made his rounds, naturally stopping to watch them as they reached the crux of the spell.
He said nothing, but offered an enigmatic grin, one eyebrow raised, before moving off to observe Gemma and Braithwhite.
The first stage of the spell complete, Sebastian slumped back on a stool, his brow glistening. Lily’s stomach growled, and she wished she’d brought a snack.
“Sure,” Sebastian sighed quietly, his voice sardonic. “Let’s use a spell that normally takes all night, but do it in ninety minutes. Brilliant.”
“I think it is, actually.”
He pushed a hand through his hair, glancing away, but Lily caught his pleasure. “I’m starving, want to grab something after this?”
“Sure—”
Behind Allsaires, Beaumont cleared her throat.
“What?” He swiveled to face his roommate as Vis joined them, suddenly crowding his side of the table and making Lily feel very small. “Stop looking at our work.”
Beaumont rolled her eyes. “I have no idea what this is even supposed to be,” she said, sounding terribly French and dismissing their project with a wave. “We were supposed to study for Latin and Evocation III after class.”
“So, we’ll bring our food to the Tower. I’ll pick up lunch.”
Beaumont’s eyes narrowed.