Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
FRANKIE
“INCOMING!”
I looked up at the sound of Brody’s voice just in time to see Seamus’s golden retriever, Rootbeer, leap into the air right for me. I braced myself and tried to catch her but the next thing I knew we were sprawled on the cement with all of her floof in my eyes and mouth. I giggled and rubbed her with both hands.
“SORRY!” Brody yelled, this time closer. “I was not expecting her to do that!”
Seamus groaned. “Rootbeer, you can’t tackle people?—”
“She can tackle Frankies anytime and she knows it!” I giggled, still buried beneath eighty pounds of soft golden fur. “There are some hills we’re all willing to die on.”
Seamus just sighed, but he did force Rootbeer off of me, then helped me to my feet. “Ya know, she reacts to Tenn like this. Must be that Proctor blood.”
That made me grin. I ruffled her ears as her tail wagged fast. “Then I can’t wait for her to meet Bettina.”
Brody stopped in front of us. “Man, we were playing fetch with my frisbee and then she just bolted.”
“It’s okay. She’s selective with her terror. Birdie and the others are inside eating. I’ll take her with me. Thanks for running her.”
Brody bumped Seamus’s fist. “I needed it too. Catch you later. Bye, Franks!”
“Bye!” I smiled. It was funny to me to find which people started calling me Franks like Uncle Kyle.
“C’mon, Rootbeer, you crazy girl.” Seamus waved for me to follow him, with Rootbeer immediately following in line beside him like the good service doggy she was. “Don’t be nervous, Frankie?—”
“That immediately makes people nervous, Seamus,” I said and signed as we walked. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” His blue eyes sparkled with excitement.
He talked to Rootbeer as we walked, and it was the cutest little conversation about her frisbee catching, so I didn’t interrupt. We went back inside the same building Constance had taken me to meet Professor Rigdon, but we didn’t return to that library, thankfully. No, he led me all the way down the hall to where another set of wooden double doors sat. When he pushed those open, my breath actually left me in a rush.
It was kind of similar to the library down the hall yet so different. Instead of two walls of books, there were rows and rows of potion bottles and vials. Where the actual library had felt like someone’s bougie living room, this place was a workshop. There were large wooden tables spread throughout the giant room, and they reminded me of chemistry lab tables but more rustic like in woodshop classes. Students were scattered throughout, heads bent over cauldrons and piles of herbs,
“What is this place?”
Seamus grinned. “You know how Swords has their training room with the mats where everyone fights?”
I nodded.
“This is the Cups’ apothecary.” He gestured around. His face was absolutely beaming with happiness like a little kid who just saw all his presents under the Christmas tree. “This is where we work. We make potions and stuff here. These stacks carry basically any ingredient we could need to make potions. There are solids and liquids and even the restricted section with some vials of gasses, but I’m not supposed to know that.”
I grinned. “I love watching you work with this stuff.”
He frowned, then glanced around to all the other students in the apothecary who I’d just realized were definitely curious about me. He cleared his throat. “What did you say?”
I signed, ‘ I love watching you work with this stuff. Your whole face lights up.’
‘I feel at home here. Peace,’ he signed back with a blush in his cheeks.
‘ So, you like being in Eden? Glad you came?’
He nodded immediately. ‘ I found my path here.’
I stood up straight from petting Rootbeer. ‘ What’s that?’
He shrugged, then signed, ‘ I’ve never felt like a healer, at least not for arcana. So, I am going to work with the Earth-healers. Our job is to restore and regrow what we use.’
That made me smile. ‘ You’re going to be perfect for that. What about Ava?’
‘ Earth-healers are not only Cups, though they mostly are. But Ava is joining us.’ He leaned down and petted Rootbeer’s head. She was focused on the room around us, back into work mode to guard her owner. ‘ Float too. ”
I reached out and squeezed his arm, then signed, ‘ I hope I can help somehow.’
But he was shaking his head already. ‘ You are supposed to be helping your Coven-mates . . . with your potions .’
I groaned and threw my hands up, then signed, ‘ I don’t know how. I can’t even remember what the symbols were.’
He frowned and pursed his lips. “One step at a time. Close your eyes,” he said softly.
“I will humor you, O’Brien.” I shut my eyes and waited.
“Okay, you didn’t eat lunch, so are you nauseated?” I must’ve made a face because he chuckled. “Right, so think about the nausea you feel and why you can’t eat, really feel what you feel, then push your magic out and let it show you what you need.”
I opened my eyes and stared up at him.
“Like at fairy fountain?” He smirked. “You’re humoring me, remember?”
“Okay, but if I make a mess or hurt people, it’s your fault?—”
Seamus cursed, which he didn’t do often. Then he whistled really loud, which made me open my eyes to look. He waved his hands at everyone in the room, then held my left arm up for everyone to see my Mark. “Frankie is the Tower. She needs to try some magic. So, if you can all just keep your heads up for a minute while we try something? Not sure what it’ll do.”
All at once, every single student ducked under their worktables, then gave the thumbs-up.
“I don’t know how I feel about this reaction.” I chuckled and closed my eyes again. “Okay, here we go. Feeling what I feel for what I need.”
I took a deep breath and thought about what I needed, which was something to remove my nausea. For a few heartbeats, I let my stomach roll and churn like the surf after a storm. All right, magic. Please don’t hurt anybody, but show me what I need to use to make this potion. Then I pushed my magic out of me on an exhale. I felt it tingle down my arms, through my fingers, and off my nails. Students gasped. I opened my eyes and stared. Just like before, like at fairy fountain, my magic shot out of me in neon-blue waves across the room in four different directions. Except as my waves hit different stacks, it then crawled up until it circled around four specific individual vials.
My jaw dropped.
Seamus laughed. “I love watching that.”
All at once, the students leapt out from under their worktables with giggles and grins. They gave me a round of applause. My face was on fire. Even more to my surprise, four of the other students climbed up on the ladders attached to the racks to grab the items my magic was signaling for. Seamus waved for me to follow him across the room to where one of the worktables sat open. There was a pretty chalice sitting beside a stack of books and a row of half-empty vials. Rootbeer bounced over to the table and lay down on a fluffy dog bed right beside the wooden stool.
“This is your worktable, isn’t it?”
“Good girl. You can relax.” He petted Rootbeer’s head, then sat on the stool. “Yep, they gave me a designated table against the back wall here so Rootbeer can see the whole room.”
“Here you go.” A blonde girl in glasses sat four bottles on the table and smiled. “Are we safe to continue working now? Or do you need any help?”
“Thanks for bringing these over, Terri. You’re safe to work. We know what her magic will do now but expect to see more of it soon.” Seamus pulled the bottles over toward where I stood beside him. “Not sure if she’ll need help but we’ll let you know if we do.”
“Thank you, Terri.” I smiled and waved as she spun away. Then I turned to Seamus. “Now what?”
He pushed his pale, golden chalice toward me, then opened a notebook. “Now you make that potion while I take notes.”
“Right. Of course. So I just take these four vials and pour them into your chalice—hey, why not a cauldron?”
“Did you get a talisman weapon when you were sorted?”
“Yeah, my sais.”
“So, for Cups, our talismans are chalices. They are chosen and blessed in the same kind of way which gives us some magic to work with.” He slid his chalice over a rune carved into the wooden table. Instantly the chalice lit up. “It allows us to test a potion’s effectiveness without brewing it in a cauldron over a hearth because that takes longer. Talisman chalices let us make a practice round.”
“And once you confirm it works as intended, you take it to a cauldron.”
“Pretty cool, right?”
“Pretty epic.” I grabbed the first vial, the biggest one, and poured what looked like grape juice into the chalice. Then I sniffed. “Smells like grape juice.”
He grabbed the empty vial and scanned the label. “It is. Interesting. Okay, next?”
The second and third vials contained some kind of herbs, but I had no idea what they were. When I poured them into the vial, Seamus nodded and scribbled in his notebook while mumbling, “ Interesting. Very interesting. ” Then I poured the last vial of what looked like glitter. “ Really? ” He laughed in a short burst. “So interesting.”
“Okay, why is this all so interesting?”
“I’ve never seen this combination for nausea.” He picked up the chalice and held it up to his nose to smell it. “Incredible. Drink it.”
I flinched. “Wait, right now?”
“That was the whole point, wasn’t it?” He held it out to me. “Go on. Let’s see how you did.”
“Sure. No problem.” I licked my lips, then brought the chalice up and took a sip. The flavor was richly sweet. By the time I swallowed, the nausea I’d been feeling completely vanished. My eyes widened as I sat the chalice back down. “Holy shit. It’s gone. It worked.”
“Hell yeah!” Seamus stood up and yelled, “By any chance is anyone here nauseated?”
Another girl, this one with royal blue hair and a septum piercing, walked over. “Yeah, I didn’t sleep last night and that makes me nauseated. Why?”
“Wanna try a potion to cure it?” I slid the chalice over to the edge of the table. “Just worked on me.”
“Say less . . . Bottoms up.” She closed her green eyes and took a sip, then her eyes flew open. “Whoa, it’s gone. What’s in this?”
Seamus slid his notebook to the middle and the two of them launched into a chat about the nitty gritty details of the potion I’d just made. Movement behind Ms. Blue Hair caught my eye. When I looked I found Constance and Katherine walking toward us. I smiled and waved my arm up high to get their attention.
Constance’s blue gaze spotted me and brightened. She whispered to Katherine, then led the way over to us. “Hi! Bentley sent us.”
I snort-laughed. “Fuckin’ Bentley. I know why . . . it’s for this potion. Constance, please try it?”
“Sure, Bentley. Why not?” She shook her head and took a sip from the chalice without hesitation. Her eyes widened and she looked down at it. “Oh my Goddess.”
“What’s wrong?” Katherine leaned in and squeezed her elbow. “Connie?”
“My morning sickness is gone.” She blinked over to Katherine. “Nausea is gone.”
Katherine gasped and stood up straight. “That was fast. Let me see that.”
She took the chalice and inhaled deeply, then she took a sip like she was sampling glasses of wine. Seamus slid his notebook over with a giddy smile. She scanned the notes while sniffing the potion again.
“Hey, Tower girl.” Miss Blue Hair held her hand out for a high-five. When I slapped her palm, she grinned. “Happy to be your guinea pig anytime. Thanks for the belly clean-up.”
“You’re welcome, and thank you!”
“ Frankie, ” Katherine whispered. “This is revolutionary, Frankie. You have no idea. Pain I can take away quick, but nausea is a bitch. Mind if I?—”
“Go for it. Give to the masses.”
Katherine did a little happy dance and then tapped on the table. “Seamus, wanna come help me with this?”
“Really?” He jumped up and clapped his hands. “I’ll be honored. Frankie, that okay?”
“Yeah, my man. Go for it.” I smiled as he giggled and scooped up the stuff we used. “And take Rootbeer. She’ll lose her mind about all the dogs in the house.”
Seamus’s eyes danced with joy. He bent over to her “Hear that? Playtime, Rootbeer. C’mon, let’s go.”
Constance and I laughed as Katherine, Seamus, and Rootbeer danced out of the room. I was about to ask her what I should do next when her stomach growled.
She gasped and pressed her hands to her stomach. “I’m hungry.”
“You’re hungry.”
“ I’m hungry! ” She giggled and dove for her phone. With quick fingers, she tapped on the screen, then held it up to her ear. “Daniel, I want a cheeseburger. Yes, right now. Meet me there?”
And then she, too, was racing out the door. As she slipped out, Lennox and Savannah came in. They both frowned and stepped aside, watching her leave. I sat on the stool and opened the Potions 101 book, but the words weren’t making any more sense than they were before.
“Ma’am, what did you do to Katherine?” Savannah leaned on the table in front of me. “I just saw her skipping. ”
“And Constance was naming food she wanted to eat.” Lennox grabbed the book from me and pulled it to her. “Ew, why are you reading this? What’s going on? Bentley sent us.”
“Bentley’s been busy today.” I laughed and then explained everything that happened since I met up with Professor Rigdon. “So, yeah, that’s the scoop.”
“Rigdon is super chill and wicked nice. I’ve taken many potions classes with her over the years and a few random classes.” Lennox tapped her neon-yellow fingernails on the book’s cover. “I know she was trying to help you the way she would a Cup, but Seamus was right, it doesn’t work that way for you. She’s never taught a Card before, so don’t be too hard on her.”
I nodded. “Okay, that’s fair. I won’t. But I don’t know what to do now.”
“Well, let’s see if we can work that magic for the quest at hand.” Lennox pointed to the air above her head. “Since it worked for the nausea?—”
“Except I can’t remember the symbols I saw during initiation. They stopped showing. So, I don’t know what I’m needing to make?—”
“I don’t think you need to for this step.” Savannah stood up straight and narrowed her eyes on me, which made me squirm because as the Death Card I knew this girl was seeing more than I wanted to share. Especially after last night’s dream. But Savannah wasn’t talking about any of that. Instead, she said, “Try to close your eyes and think about that moment during initiation when you saw all the symbols. Even if the details are fuzzy, just bring yourself back to that moment.”
Bring myself back to that moment. Right. I can do that. Totally.
I squeezed my eyes shut and pictured Holy Ground out behind Headquarters. I saw my Coven-mates lined up in a circle around me with five of them standing at points of a pentacle shape. They were all smiling and laughing about that wild story of Tenn’s initiation during a hurricane. It almost made me chuckle thinking about it. Clouds that hadn’t been there slid over our heads and roared. They flashed, then lightning sliced through the sky and slammed right into my chest. Electricity shot through my muscles. I clenched my teeth and groaned. Sharp pressure pierced through my heart and down my spine. Magic sparkled along the ground like light shining through tree branches. The pentacle drawn on the ground turned bloodred. My heart stopped again just like it had that day. A gust of wind swept sand across the field that felt like little shards of glass when they hit my skin. The sand caught in the blood of the pentacle.
No, no this is too early. Not this part, brain. Skip ahead a few seconds.
My ears began to ring. My muscles tightened and locked down. Even my throat felt tight like I couldn’t get enough oxygen in. It was happening again. My body rumbled and shook like I was on a roller coaster. I felt my magic rushing to the surface, but I was helpless to stop it. My arms flew up and my magic shot out of me as neon-blue flames. They flowed in every direction, rolling away from me in waves and heading right for my Coven-mates. They all frowned and watched it get closer, but they didn’t move. It hit Tennessee first, crashing into his chest. His magic flashed bright green and blue everywhere my flames touched. Except for those gold bands on his arms, those glowed so bright I had to look away just as my magic hit Bettina and burst in a cloud of pink smoke. One by one all around me my neon-blue waves crashed into the others and forced their magic out. Tegan’s whole body glowed as white as the sun. I glanced around with my heart in my throat. As their magic began to subside, little pink flames flashed over their heads. They swirled around, then morphed into symbols.
I gasped—and the image vanished. No more symbols, just a hint of a pink glow lingering in the darkness behind my closed eyelids.
“ Miss ma’am ,” Savannah drawled.
Lennox cackled. “This is fun.”
I opened my eyes, and my legs gave out beneath me. I crashed back onto the stool even though I didn’t remember standing. Everyone else in the apothecary stood, their eyes wide and jaws dropped. They turned to stare at me, but I was too busy focusing on the streams of neon-blue magic streaming across the room to light up dozens of different vials.
“Oh my Goddess, it worked?—”
“Of course it did, silly goose.” Lennox pulled her wand out of her back pocket, then flicked her wrist. Magic sparkled from the tip of her wand for a moment before a wooden cart appeared out of thin air. “Now, let’s collect all our ingredients and see what we can make.”
Savannah pulled her wand from where she’d stashed it inside her Doc Martin boot. She flicked her wand around like an orchestra conductor. “Come to, mama, my pretties! We have a party waiting just for you!”
Lennox grinned. “This is going to be fun.”