Page 29 of A Dose of Agony
I pause, ladle mid-stir as a thought crosses my mind. My lips part. Excitement swirls in my chest.
What if the potion wasn’t temporary?
It’s likely not even possible to make a potion that would alter a being’s magic in that way. But what if it were? I continue my slow stir of the potion, considering the possibilities.
That kind of potion would be incredibly powerful. Incredibly dangerous. It could be used against Jarron. Or any royal line. It could change everything. Not just in one world but in all of them.
The ripples would continue on and on.
Is that why it’s never been created? Or because it’s impossible? Or because the only person who would want such a potion is a human who has no power herself?
If a supernatural wants to destroy someone, they’d kill them, not take away their magic. But damn, that feels like some serious kismet.
If anyone deserves to feel powerless, it’s the man who used other beings’ desperation to gain power against them. He lured them in with the bait of magic.
Now, I’d take it away from him.
A warm, fuzzy feeling fills up my chest at just the thought of that. Making him live a whole, long life as a human.
“What are you smiling about over there?” a small voice asks.
I jerk my attention to the door, where Lola hovers above Janet’s head. They’re both grinning at me.
“Oh, nothing new. Just plotting revenge and world domination.”
“Oh! Do tell,” Lola says as she darts to me. She flies over the cauldron but begins to cough and drops heavily onto my shoulder.
“Careful, Lola! You can’t just fly into potion smoke like that.” The smoke shouldn’t have a ton of effect, but she’s so tiny that even the vapor could be a proper dose to harm her.
She continues heaving up a lung, so I grab her by the waist and hold her in my open palm.
“Are you okay?”
“What was that potion?” Janet asks, rushing up to check on her.
“Luckily, it was just the nullifier. Whatever you do,neverfly through that one.” I point to the corner cauldron.
“What’s that?” Janet asks, leaning toward the cauldron in question.
“Instant death.”
They both grow quiet, Lola’s coughing suddenly finished.“Define instant death.”
“If brewed right—which no promises, honestly—one drop will kill instantly and leave no trace.”
They remain quiet. Lola blinks three times.
“Is that… legal?” Janet finally asks slowly.
They’ve never really hung out in my potions labs before. It was always my private project that only Jarron or Thompson would join, usually because they were playing bodyguard.
But now, this place can be all of our projects’ space. Janet set up her massive canvas—almost the length of her body—in the corner. She’s working on a spelled painting that will hypnotize anyone who stares at it for longer than a few seconds. Now, she can work on it here while I’m brewing.
And bonus, this means she gets to come hang out with me during her art class for basically the rest of the year. Inner circle privileges for the win.
Honestly, I’m super excited just to see her process. I’m going to have to talk to Laithe about creating a separate spell barrier for sound so Lola can work on her spell-weaving violin. One of her final projects for this year is a song that will put someone to sleep.
Not something she can reasonably practice in here where we can hear it.
