Page 53 of Magic in the Woods
Gideon’s face lost color, and he shook his head. “No way—that stuff’s terrible.”
I extended the spoon further. “You never know, you might just fall in love with me,” I teased.
He leaned forward, wrapping his lips around the spoon, taking the liquid into his mouth.
Ouch.I didn’t know what exactly hurt or why it hurt, but it did. No one wanted a frizzy redheaded weird witch like me. I turned back to the cauldron, ladling another spoonful. I let out a breath. Why did I want him to like me anyway? He made my body feel out of control. I wasn’t here for silly love games or to meet my prince charming. I was here for power, for control, for Prime.
“Do you know how to make other potions?”
I spun around, the pink potion flinging from the wooden spoon still in my hand. “What else should I make, Gideon?” I knew I was lashing out, but my feelings were hurt. “A learning potion because you don’t attend classes? A pleasure potion so you don’t have to stare at me with those…eyes?”
“My eyes? What’s wrong with my eyes?” Gideon asked, a smile growing on his lips.
He knows what I meant.I scowled before turning around and continued ladling the extra potion into small flasks.
“But seriously, Dafni.” Gideon leaned against the workbench, the liquid sloshing around in the cauldron as his hip pressed against it. “If you can make potions, all different kinds of potions, you should practice.”
I pushed the cork into the flask forcefully. I probably wouldn’t be able to remove it again without some pliers. “And why would I need to do that?”
“Because I know something you don’t.”
“And what’s that?”
“What the water task will be.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Gideon
“You do?”Dafni asked, her eyebrows furrowed above her nose. It was the freckles on her nose I loved to stare at. No one at the Academy had them. Everyone had been here, underground, away from the sun, for far too long. Dafni had them, though, proof that there was life above the surface, a sun that didn’t shine from only the pentagon window at the top of the dome.
The rest of us down here in the dark were rotting, slowly deteriorating, becoming disfigured. I’d had the black mask around my eyes since I could remember, but the veins falling down my cheeks were new. Further proof that this place was killing us.
The only sunlight I ever saw was from that damn window at the top of the dome. That was what made Dafni’s freckles sointriguing. She’d been to the surface, experienced life outside of the Academy. The rest of us couldn’t say the same.
“I do,” I said.
Dafni paused for a moment before continuing to ladle the excess potion into a second flask she’d found. I shouldn’t have teased her like that, drank her love potion antidote. I didn’t think it would do anything…not that she hadn’t made it right, just that the way I felt wasn’t going to be suppressed by a potion.
“What is it?” she asked, as though she wasn’t interested in my answer. Like the answer wasn’t what every water elemental witch wanted.
“It’s rage,” I whispered. “They want you to make a potion that creates one of the strongest emotions.”
“And you don’t think I can do it?” she asked.
“I’m not sure even the seasoned witches at the Coven can do it,” I said.
She glared at me.
“You can do whatever you want here at the Academy, right?” Dafni talked down at her cauldron instead of turning to face me. She was mad. Irritated with me. Her cheeks flamed red, and she scooped the potion with such vigor that it caused me to take a step away for fear of being splashed.
I chewed on my tongue, remembering the words that’d left my mouth earlier. They were true. I could do whatever I wanted at the Academy. There were no rules except that I was forced to stay here.
“If you can do whatever you want, then why don’t you just leave?” Dafni asked.
“And how do you think I can do that?” I asked.
“Find a door. Use your legs.” Dafni turned back to the workbench, pulling a clean cauldron from the shelf below.
