Chapter 4 #2
Therese appeared indignant, frowning up at me with reproach.
“I apologize if it gets cramped in there, but I hardly know how else to transport you without losing you,” I said. “And anyway, I’m making a potion that will allow you to communicate with me for a short time. Won’t that be nice?”
Therese hopped in a semicircle, showing me her backside.
I snorted in response, then eyed the cauldron as it began to boil over.
In another minute, I’d ladled a portion of the lightly steaming liquid into a cup and approached Therese with it.
“Okay,” I said, setting it down before her.
“Now, just take a sip, and I’ll be able to understand what you’re trying to say. ”
Therese eyed the cup with trepidation. But before she could take a sip, Narcissa shot out and shoved her face into the cup, lapping at the liquid with wild abandon.
“Hey, now, that’s not for you,” I protested, yanking her away and tossing her aside.
I scowled at the spilled potion on the countertop, but Therese didn’t seem to mind.
She flung out an overly-long tongue and retrieved it with some of the potion.
Deeming it tasty enough, she approached the puddle and stooped down to sip at more.
“That potion should have been mine anyway,” a girl’s haughty voice said in my head at the same time Narcissa mewed at me. “I’m the one who gave you the idea.”
I turned to Narcissa with narrowed eyes. “And why do you wish to speak to me? So you can gloat about how you destroyed those lovely orchids I brought in for you?”
Narcissa ignored the latter question. “Because you are going to bring me with you on this expedition, of course.”
“Bring you with me?!” I chuckled. “I hardly think so.”
“I am your familiar,” Narcissa said, puffing herself up.
“You made an agreement with me. I am to aid you in your witchly duties, and this most certainly counts. I tire of merely running superfluous errands for you, like dropping off your letter for that girl’s father.
Such chores are beneath me. It’s time you take me seriously. I can be useful.”
I considered, watching Narcissa’s tail swish back and forth behind her, as if she was anxious. Perhaps I had been too dismissive of her over the years. “This is too dangerous,” I protested.
Narcissa tilted her head. “You’re an escort. That should hardly be dangerous. But you’ll have the opportunity to see the world along the way. Why shouldn’t I get to share that with you?”
“It’s more than just an … Auggie has already been whisked away into witch territory. I need to rescue him.”
“All the more reason for my aid.”
A smaller voice added her own to the chorus in my head as Therese’s frog form squeaked. “Mr. Witch, am I to go with you? It really would only be fair to bring your familiar along.”
I sent an exasperated look in Therese’s direction. “I see how it is. You two are ganging up on me.”
“She’s always been so kind to me,” Therese said, frog eyes blinking at me slowly. “She could watch over me when you’re too busy with Augustus.”
“She’s more likely to eat you,” I muttered, then paused. “Unless….”
“Unless?” Narcissa asked suspiciously.
I sent her a wide smile that clearly made her uneasy.
Good. I sauntered over to the cupboards and pulled out an array of ingredients: cicada husks, a portion of a paper wasp nest, dried kraken tentacle.
Narcissa watched with skepticism as I ground the ingredients together with a mortar and pestle, then added goat urine.
I pushed the resulting potion toward Narcissa.
“I’m not supposed to drink that?” Narcissa said, giving it a sniff and turning up her nose.
“It’s my condition of you joining the party,” I told her.
“And what does it do?” She reached a tiny paw out to the mortar and batted the liquid tentatively.
“It will make you sick if you even think of eating a living creature.”
“No living creature?” Narcissa’s eyes widened, and she stood ramrod straight. “What will I eat? You’ll let me starve to death?”
“You’ll still be able to eat meat. You’ll be fine. And this way, Therese will also be fine.”
“You don’t trust me.” Narcissa skulked.
“No, I don’t.”
“It’s okay, Mr. Witch,” Therese said. “She doesn’t have to.”
“See?” Narcissa agreed. “Even the frog-child wants me to eat her.”
I sighed as Therese gulped loudly. “It’s this, or David is your sole companion for the next fortnight.”
“Fine, fine,” Narcissa growled, lifting herself up along the lip of the mortar and bringing her face close to it. She yowled dramatically before taking two small sips. Clearly it wasn’t terrible, for she drank it rather steadily after that.
Satisfied, I opened the cupboards to return the ingredients, but Narcissa leapt onto the shelves ahead of me. She pushed her face into a bowl of bat wings and tossed one out onto the countertop. Next, she got ahold of dragon scales.
“Whatever are you doing?” I demanded, crossing my arms. “Is this the sort of tantrum I can expect if I take you along?”
Narcissa chortled. “Hardly. You want me to be useful on your trek, don’t you?”
I tilted my head curiously as she pulled out a tail snipped from a puppy. I winced at the sight. I knew it was a necessary evil, but some ingredients were unsavory. I only hoped they were harvested ethically. It was probably for the best that I didn’t know. “What exactly are you driving at?”
“I’m your familiar,” she said. “I’m very observant of what you do in your kitchen. I could make some of these potions in my sleep if I had hands.”
I continued to watch until she seemed satisfied with what she’d collected and pushed the ingredients into three separate piles. “There,” she said. “That should do it.”
I examined the first pile. Ingredients to sharpen smell. That would be useful actually, in tracking down Augustus. Begrudgingly, I nodded to Narcissa. “Very well.” I looked at the next group with more trepidation, finger lingering on the bat wing. “You want to fly?”
“What if I fall off that broom of yours?” Narcissa demanded with a loud sniff. “It’s for my own safety. Anyways, I will be able to get around more freely with wings.”
I grumbled in agreement. The effects could be reversed when we returned.
The third pile made me laugh outright. Dragon scales, ghost peppers, sulfur, phoenix eggshells. “Narcissa. I am not going to allow you to breathe fire.”
“And why shouldn’t I breathe fire? I have a right to defend myself, especially if we are venturing into witch territory. And to aid you if circumstances demand it, of course. And anyway, I saw you give that little dragon the power just last month.”
“Because dragons are supposed to breathe fire,” I pointed out. “Cats are not. Especially cats who chew on poor, defenseless orchids to spite their owners.”
“Partners,” Narcissa corrected.
“Partners,” I conceded. “But no, I am not going to allow you to be a flying, fire-breathing bloodhound of a cat. You would positively terrorize the neighborhood.”
Narcissa was about to protest, so I lifted a finger to stop her. “However, I will bring the ingredients along, and should occasion call for it, I will allow you to breathe fire for a very short time.”
Narcissa grinned, then even went so far as to rub her head against my arm. “Just imagine all of the horrible little men I could burn to a crisp in your name.”
I scratched behind her ears. “Aw, who’s my scary little nightmare goblin?”
I looked into the water basin. Auggie appeared, eyes closed. He seemed to be bouncing, before I realized he was on the back of a horse. A horse. Good. I could catch up quickly on my broom.
Scrying was a frustrating magic. I wanted more context than what this picture was showing me. I needed to know where he was.
“Amplius,” I said through gritted teeth as I took a moment to slice my dagger over my index finger.
I hissed at the sting of the blade, then held it over the water, watching as drops of my blood fell into the basin, mingling with the water, giving the images an even sharper quality. “Ubi es,” I demanded. “Where are you?”
And then the image faded.
I growled down at the pod around my neck as it slowly drained of power.
Most magics used an imperceptible amount of energy from the caster, procuring enough from the ingredients to compensate for the spell’s demands.
Scrying required force of will to keep the vision open for a longer interval.
The longer the glimpse, the more energy necessary.
And in case I ran into trouble in Ambrosia’s territory, I would need that energy.
I ended the spell, continuing to stare into the water for a moment, despite the vision having faded. I glanced to Narcissa. It appeared I would need to rely on my familiar to find Auggie for me.
Therese cleared her throat, and I turned to watch her attempt to crawl over to me with her bulky, squat form, then trying for a small hop that she seemed satisfied with. “Do I get powers too, Mr. Witch?”
“No,” Narcissa and I said at the same time.
Therese looked put out, but I grinned at Narcissa. With any luck, I would come across the ingredients necessary to return Therese to her true form soon. It was unsettling seeing her in such a state.
Therese groaned. “Fine. But … you don’t happen to have any flies lying around, do you? I’m positively starving.”