Page 89 of Potions and Proposals
“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 tinyamount 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, andI 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.
Benedict checked his watch, wondering what was keeping Lucinda. She’d texted him to meet up outside the community theatre, though he wasn’t sure why; they had more important things to focus on, such as breaking into the university. He’d barely got away from Mrs Crawford to meet her.
The door to the theatre opened as the Punch and Judy show wrapped up, and Benedict politely held it for those leaving before the next show started.
“Thank you,” a woman said, looking back at him.
