Page 29 of Potions and Proposals
Peter recoiled, as though reading his mind. Benedict hated how well his brother could read his expressions. “Wait. Does his mean she has our fire?”
“Keep this to yourself. We don’t need this getting out– the swap wasn’t intentional,” Benedict warned, hoping his brother wouldn’t tell his mentor or his superiors. He didn’t want the Hawthornes to get in trouble with higher forces. It would be bad enough if the coven found out.
“This is crazy. I didn’t think it was possible to exchange elements. What are you going to do?”
“Hope we switch back. The spell was meant to keep us from being bound, so once All Hallows’ Eve passes, we should swap back.” There was no point rambling about the wrong ingredient and potion troubleshoots. Lucinda’s element stirred within him, testing its shell, knowing it was in the wrong vessel.
“The town would be up in arms if they knew this happened. She spends all her time amongst those dusty relics; she might find a way to swap you back sooner rather than later,” Peter reasoned. His serious expression was replaced with a cheeky grin. “This might even bring you two closer together.”
Benedict didn’t want him interfering. “I think we’re close enough.”
He made a mental note to stop by the library after work. In the meantime, he’d try to keep his stress levels down and hope no water-based drama happened. He didn’t want to accidentally flood the hotel when it would be at capacity coming up to the Autumn Festival in a couple of weeks.
“When you see Lucy, try a smile. You’ll get farther with her that way than with your usual grimace.” Peter headed for the door as Benedict found himself wishing the dead would stay dead.
“I don’t needto get anywhere with her,” he said, opening the door. “We just need to swap our elements back.”
“I don’t know why the two of you can’t get along. She was always so nice to me.”
“She’s nice toeveryone,” Benedict huffed, pushing his brother out of the door and into the corridor.
“Except you.” Peter smirked. “Maybe that’s why you look at her with those moony eyes – because she’s the one thing you can’t have.”
“Be gone. I’m sure the underworld misses you.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “Careful, brother, don’t get too worked up. I wouldn’t want you to flood the place.”
He disappeared before Benedict could react.
It killed him to admit his brother was right. Lucinda was kind, polite and Good through and through. It only made Benedict want to corrupt her even more; making her act out made him feel like they were on the same level. And maybe then he would feel worthy of her.
He slammed the door behind him, silencing the demons his brother had awakened. They would never be anything, and he’d accepted that long ago. No spell or coven proposal was going to change that.
Having spent two days scouring through the library shelves and reading enough love and elemental spells to make her head spin, Lucy finally found what she was looking for – in the aged pages of a Matherson grimoire, of all things.
She ran her fingers over the ingredients, comparing them to the list Grams had used. Mum and Grams had altered a Matherson protection potion. The potion pre-dated the war on witches. Its purpose was to call out to lost loved ones to help them find their way home. The ingredients made no reference to black pepper, confirming Grams’s mistake.
She wanted to let out a shriek of relief at finally having got somewhere, but thought the better of it, considering the library was crowded with people studying. Taking her phone out of her back pocket, she texted him what she’d found and explained hertheory that the black pepper/bat’s blood swap had changed the potion’s effect from calling elements to exchanging them.
Waiting for Benedict’s reply, she delved deeper into the grimoire for more answers.
Her phone pinged with a text as she discovered there were no concoctions or incantations listed to stop the effects of the potion.
Is there any way to reverse it?
She had been hoping for a little more enthusiasm.
Not that I can find, but the potion’s effects, using the correct ingredients, should wear off when our elements decide it’s safe – whatever the hell that means. However, given the ingredient mix-up, we can’t know for sure. Maybe if we make the potion again with the right ingredients, our elements might switch back. The only problem is that from what I’ve read so far, the further we are from each other, the more intensely our elements will try to bring us together.
Waiting for his reply, she copied down the correct ingredients from the grimoire and prayed a redo would work. She wanted Benedict to read the ingredients himself in case there was something she was missing. She’d never thought she’d see the day when she’d be seeking a second opinion from him.
What if brewing the potion again only strengthens the effects?
I can’t know for sure. If it doesn’t work, I also found something in my notes from the Hawthorne grimoire the order sent me, but it’s a curse-stripping potion and it’s old magic. We could end up losing our elements altogether.I haven’t been able to get down to the vault to double-check, but it’s a back-up option.
It’s been two days, why haven’t you checked the vault?
I have my translations to work off. Rosie is only coming in for the evening study hall so I can’t leave the desk.
