Chapter 29
L ucy waited by the entrance for Benedict to return from scolding a few students. They’d bewitched the buffet to make it look like the food was riddled with maggots. Disgusting to look at, but take a bite and they turned into delicious jellies. Lucy had once pulled the same prank on Benedict’s lunchbox when they were in school.
Thankfully, their time was almost up; more of the senior students were starting to arrive, and the buffet would just be the start. Lucy and Benedict would get to enjoy the rest of the night while the next round of chaperones dealt with the chaos.
“Lucinda Hawthorne! We didn’t realise you were chaperoning. Nothing could possibly happen with you here,” said Cynthia Berkley, head of the parent-teacher association, appearing next to her. The PTA was the closest she could get to power in Foxford, and the way she wielded such power gave them all the more reason to make sure she never joined their table.
“We were just finishing up our shift. Are you taking over?” Lucy asked.
“Oh no, I’m merely here to pay the caterers so they can head off.”
“Shouldn’t they have been paid beforehand?”
“And risk them doing a mediocre job? Not a chance. You’d be amazed how much service improves when you keep the envelope close.” Cynthia pressed her hand against her breast pocket. Given that she was the mother of the child who’d been tormenting Thomas, it was clear the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree.
“Aren’t they staff from the Matherson Manor? I doubt they’d have done any less of a good job. Benedict was kind enough to share his staff for the festival opening, even though the Manor is packed to the brim,” Lucy said, trying to hide her dislike behind a bright smile.
“And it was a kind offer, but you can never be too sure. He’s always hiring people with questionable backgrounds.” Cynthia shivered.
Lucy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I’ll go and find Benedict so you can ask him yourself about his staff. We wouldn’t want anything to go wrong and spoil all the work you’ve done.”
“Maybe I should stay and help you chaperone. I do worry…” Cynthia trailed off, but her gaze drew Lucinda’s attention to Benedict laughing with one of the teachers across the room. He’d softened over the last few weeks, and she loved that he didn’t hide his kindness as much. If she’d lost her Grams and mum, the two people closest to her, she didn’t think she would even be able to get out of bed, but he never complained.
“And why would you be worried?” she demanded.
Cynthia leaned in. “Despite all that he’s done for Foxford, he is a Matherson. You can never be too careful, especially not when you see how him and that mother of his schemed to take your seat. You have to know that you have the PTA behind you,” she whispered.
“I appreciate the support, but I don’t think we should judge anyone because of their past or their familial name.” Lucy folded her arms. “Wasn’t it the Berkley family who sacrificed their firstborns back in the day? Maybe it’s you we should be keepingan eye on.”
Cynthia’s glare could have cut glass. “You do waste your time reading about ancient history.”
“Oh, there’s plenty to know about your family, and some isn’t so ancient. How is Mr Kepner, the history teacher? I heard you both organised this event very closely,” Lucy hissed, placing her hand on a nearby ice sculpture and letting the heat from her touch swell.
Cynthia swept her curls over her shoulder. “You two are as bad as each other. You should be glad my family doesn’t have a vote, because neither of you is fit to guide us.”
The ice sculpture liquified, and water cascaded over a squealing Cynthia.
“Oh my goodness! It must have been the heat of all the candles and the lights.” Lucy reached for her, but Cynthia shrugged out of her grasp.
“Don’t think I didn’t know this was you,” she hissed, wiping the mascara smudged down her face.
“Please do be reasonable – I’d never use my element to pull such a stunt.”
“Everything okay?” Benedict asked, hurrying to Lucy’s side.
“Perfect! Cynthia and I were just catching up. She was telling me she sadly can’t attend our binding ceremony, and then the ice sculpture melted,” she said sweetly. She’d had enough of the Berkley family for one evening.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead supporting either of you!” Cynthia turned, her anger catching the attention of a few nearby guests.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Benedict said, clearly confused. Fortunately, when Cynthia stalked off the guests lost interest and drifted away.
Benedict gathered up the water coating the dance floor. Within seconds the ice sculpture stood once again as though nothing had happened.
“Hardly subtle,” he admonished her.
“The kids must have pulled another prank,” she said with a grin. From his eye roll, he didn’t believe her for a second.
“What was eating her, anyway?”
“Nothing that wouldn’t spit her back out again.”
Benedict laced his fingers through hers. Lucy realised her fingers were tipped with flames, the anger in her veins still not satisfied.
“When I saw you grip the table, I thought you were going to set it alight,” he joked.
“I would have, but I figured melting the sculpture wouldn’t expose our elements. Her stupid comments got under my skin and I couldn’t resist. Thought she could use some cooling down,” she said, still irritated. No wonder Cynthia’s kid had been tormenting Thomas; it was horrible to think there were more like her in town.
The next round of chaperones appeared to relieve them, but as they left she couldn’t stop thinking about the discrimination she’d witnessed. Spotting Thomas leaving with his mum, she stopped in her tracks. Benedict jerked back as she held his hand.
“I can’t believe I didn’t catch it before. Essence of dragon,” she said, staring at his confused face. “There was an old spell in the grimoire I was translating for the Order. In one of the final spells, I couldn’t figure out the translation. It was too vague to decipher, but it was because I mistranslated. It read essence of dragon. In the old myths, ‘essence’ referred to their venom!”
“You’ve lost me. Surely the Order aren’t going to look too closely at one small error?” Benedict said as Lucy started towards the festival grounds. Rosie and Emerson must be there by now.
“It’s not about the Order, it’s about our elements! Dragon venom stripped anyone or anything of its magic or element.”
“So it’s another element-stripping option?” he asked. “We haven’t even tried the last one you found yet.”
“That was a curse-stripping potion; there was no guarantee we’d get ours back.” She didn’t want to admit her mum had destroyed the spell. “Dragon venom works directly on our elements. Those who hunted dragons made a potion to restore their elements if they were exposed to venom!”
“But how does it restore our elements?” Benedict frowned, clearly not following.
“I don’t know! We’re talking about an ancient spell. But it’s written in the grimoire I just spent the past few months translating! All we need to do is use the venom to strip our current elements, and then use the restoring potion to restore our water and fire to their rightful places.”
His eyes widened as he grasped the weight of her words, but he shook his head. “We need the venom of a creature that’s been extinct for over 500 years?”
“I know where we can find some!” Lucy couldn’t believe she hadn’t realised sooner. She owed Thomas and his family one hell of a debt. “The university has some – it’s powdered in their restricted relics section. Maybe we could get in somehow.” Listening to herself talk about breaking into the university and stealing something gave her pause, but she’d only take a tiny amount of venom. “I just need a key to the restricted relics section.”
Lucy bit her lip, unsure how she was going to come up with a good enough excuse to convince someone at the university to hand over a key without raising alarm bells.
“I do know a way we might be able to get in,” Benedict said thoughtfully. “Emerson is only new to the university, but from what I’ve heard—”
“I should have known you’d have people watching him.”
“—the students enjoy his lectures, and the other professors are pleased with his work. They gave him a key to the ancient relic section, even if such privileges are usually reserved for those who have tenure.” Benedict had been on the university board since he’d paid for its new wing with the money his father had left him.
“I might’ve had something to do with his getting the key,” Lucy confessed.
“How?”
“I… might have spoken to the dean on his behalf. He needed access for his lectures. It’s one thing to read about rare artefacts, but seeing them is a different story.”
“Are you out of your mind? You hardly know him!”
“If he can be trusted with our rarest and most powerful grimoires, he can be trusted around some dusty old relics. Anything of value or that is dangerous is stored in the vault, anyway.” She didn’t mention her own doubts about letting him into the restricted ancient relic section. When Rosie had asked for her help, she’d felt it would be a way to make up for lying about the whole elemental switch debacle. “Emerson asked Rosie on a date tonight. It’s why she had me fill in for her. They should be at the toffee apple stall by now.”
Benedict followed her through the winding alleys of delicious foods and baked goods. “A member of the Order is dating a werewolf?”
She’d expected him to be angry. Instead, he looked amused.
“I don’t think that matters right now. Let’s just find Emerson.” Lucy started walking, forcing him to keep up with her. She had never understood how anyone would want to eat before going on the rides, but then again, the food stalls smelt so good it was almost impossible to resist.
“Breaking into the university is a terrible idea, but it seems we’re out of options,” he mused.
“Like going into the woods and visiting a blood-thirsty – sorry, element-thirsty – crone was so genius?” she asked over her shoulder as they moved through the crowd.
Benedict opened his mouth to defend himself, but she wasn’t surprised when he couldn’t come up with a reasonable excuse for his stupidity. He shook his head, and she waited for him to continue. “I suppose we aren’t technically breaking in, if we have a key. Though I’m not sure if my element is having a bad effect on you; I never thought I’d see the day when I’d have to talk a Hawthorne out of breaking and entering.”
“We won’t be breaking anything, merely entering. You can’t talk me out of anything. I’m doing this with or without you, though I’d prefer if we did it together. This is our chance to set things right – we only have ten days before the ritual!” She gave him her biggest puppy eyes.
“Enough with the eyes! I’m in. But we can’t just run off and get the venom now. We need as many people as possible to see us so it doesn’t look like we are neglecting our duties.” He offered her his hand. “If you take my hand, they’ll be too busy gossiping about our PDA to notice we’ve disappeared.”
“Broken into places before, have you? You seem to have mastered the art of disappearing,” she teased, threading her fingers between his.
“Only when my wife-to-be decides to break the law. We can only afford one questionable reputation in our union.” He kissed the back of her hand. She rolled her eyes.
Calmly, they walked hand in hand through the festival grounds. Just before they reached the toffee apple stand, where Emerson and Rosie were handing out delicious treats, Benedict was pulled away by Mrs Crawford, who was complaining about the clowns scaring the kids. Lucy groaned at the interruption, but Benedict motioned for her to go ahead.
“Refurbishing the carousel was a good idea. I think we’ll make back the cost of the decorations on that alone,” Rosie said, handing Lucy a wicker basket of apples before she even had a chance to say hello.
“Hopefully the ticket sales will be enough to cover the refurbishment itself,” Lucy agreed. “The festival is getting bigger. With more magless arriving every year to attend, we have to go big or they’ll go home and never come back.” She checked the thermometer in the caramel, making sure it was hot enough to stay melted without burning. It felt good to be back on familiar ground. Her mind was whirling at the new idea of using the venom, but she tried to put that aside and focus on helping Rosie for now. “How was your date?”
“A-mazing! I thought it might be a dud, since all we ever talk about is work, but we actually have more in common than I thought,” Rosie enthused, placing each skewered apple in a small bowl of their own. “We almost lost track of time when we couldn’t find a free cottage for him to rent, or at least one that didn’t need a bundle of money to be spent on repairs.” Lucy could hear both nerves and an unfamiliar giddiness in her voice. “I figured he could move in with me. I have a spare room, and I don’t even know if anything more will happen between us… we’re only dating, and I know he’s a member of the Order, which I’m not taking lightheartedly—”
Lucy cut her off, afraid she might pass out if she didn’t take a breath. “You don’t need to explain. As long as you’re happy, then I am too.”
“He had to get more paper bowls – we ran out of the ones I ordered with the pumpkins, but thankfully I got a few of the ghost ones as well,” Rosie explained, handing a customer their change. Lucy focused on getting more apples ready for the growing queue, having no choice but to wait until Emerson returned.
To her surprise and delight, she was offered a hot dog smothered in relish and mustard, candy floss, two white chocolate cookies shaped as ghosts, and a hot chocolate by various people congratulating her on her engagement. If she’d known it was going to lead to free food, she would’ve got engaged a lot sooner – even if her corset was about to give up.