Page 21 of A Drop of Anguish
I sigh. “I never intended to enter the Akrasia Games. Saying they saved me ‘from entering the games’ sounds like I wanted to enter and they stopped me. Really, I was saved from my sister’s killer when he tried to force me to enter.They’re making me not only the villain but a weakling at the same time.” I guess it’s not far from what I expected people to think, but it still gets under my skin to hear it.
I know the whole school thinks I entered the Akrasia Games, but I thought the rumor was that I’d changed my mind. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Now, they think the handsome, powerful princes stopped me from getting myself killed while desperately seeking power.
No one speaks for several long moments.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter.” I push away from the table.
“Where are you going?” Lola squeaks.
“To get food. I’ve got to walk through the arches anyway.”
No one follows me as I march past the rows of tables to the front of the lunchroom.
My “fight” with Auren caused another dozen stories to surface about me. Auren was suspended for a week, and even though it was clearly her fault, everyone blames me. Another powerful student absent from the school because of one meaningless human.
Then again, some of those whispers have been about how Auren couldn’t beat me in a fight without magic, so she cheated. At least that one makes me sound strong.
Even though in real life, they all have magic, it’s nice to know word is getting out that I’m not completely useless.
I grab an apple and a chicken salad wrap and head back to the table. My friends are still quiet when I sit back down, and I pick at my food without actually taking a bite.
“So,” Thompson says after another moment of awkward silence, “what kind of potions are you working on in your independent study?”
I sniff and force a bite of my wrap. Again, he brings up the exact subject I need to refocus my mind from bad to good. “A couple things,” I say with a shrug.
“Will you really let me see it?”
I nod. I don’t know what’s up with Thompson, but I don’t mind helping him with a potion. Maybe I should avoid being alone with him, but my gut isn’t telling me that’s something to be concerned about. There is something about him that concerns me, but outright violence isn’t one of them.
Unlike many of the other wolves eyeing me now.
10
Wolves Can Brew Potions Too
Thompson whistles a joyful tune as we walk through Under Hall. It’s chilly down here, even more so now that it’s winter. Though there’s a fireplace at the end of the hall and a few scattered torches, it’s not enough to truly warm the brick tunnel leading through the basements, where my independent brewing station is located.
A set of wolf shifters stare openly from the end of the hall.
I try not to make it obvious how closely I’m watching their every move, as if they might pounce at any moment. I barely notice a vampire exiting a room until she leans close as she passes.
“Got yourself a bodyguard, have you?” she whispers. Her bright-red lips curl into a cruel grin as she saunters past.
Thompson doesn’t comment or even react, and so I follow his lead and push through the heavy wooden door to my personal haven without a word. Steam pours from the room, billowing up to the hall ceiling.
“Whoa.”
I smile the moment the acrid smoke dissipates as I enter my potion chamber. Thompson blinks several times as the air clears, then he follows me in. I release my final bit of tension as the door clicks shut.
“How many are you making? You said a few. This is more than a few!”
Pride wells in my chest. “I haven’t really been keeping track. Half a dozen?” I purse my lips and count my active cauldrons. “Seven,” I answer definitely.
He just stands there, staring for a very long moment. I wait for his brain to kick-start back up.Finally, he shakes his head. “What the hell, Candice?”
“It’s not that many. I’ve got a list of a dozen more I want to do.”
He throws his hands up. “Well, why not? Make ’em all, why don’t you?”
