Page 72 of Magic in the Woods
Ingredients.
The baskets of jars were noticeably picked over, the witches who’d rushed the benches having already picked their ingredients. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for me, it seemed none of them knew what to choose to make the potion. I was able to find every ingredient I needed between two baskets. The jars of asafoetida, wild carrot, red rosinweed, a flask of honey-badger blood, and a bag of crocodile teeth filled my arms. I dumped them all onto the work bench, grabbing the jar of red rosinweed that almost rolled away.
The witches around me were already two steps ahead, their cauldrons bubbling and their wooden spoons stirring. I took the time to take a breath, inhaling through my nose and exhaling from my mouth.
I knew how to do this. I could do this.
I poured the honey-badger blood into the cauldron, lighting the burner with the matches provided. This time, I didn’t have Gideon to light the burner for me. I paused. I could’ve used my newly discovered fire magic…but no. That was all too new. I’d probably end up setting the entire workbench on fire.
Popping open the corks, I added the rest of the ingredients, stirring the potion and adjusting the temperature. The potion started bubbling, and I leaned over, breathing in some of the fumes. I inhaled the scent of geosmin—that earthy just-rained smell. Good. That meant it was fermenting just how it needed to. Now it just needed time and occasional stirring.
I smoothed my shirt and continued stirring, wafting the scent of the potion to my nose to check its progress. When itturned a lime-green color, it would be ready. It took time and patience. The opposite of what rage felt like.
“Your face…did it always look like that?” I could hear her from way down the work bench. Matilda was walking, hunched over, along the line of cauldrons, taunting the witches just as she’d taunted me my entire life. “That really isn’t going to work out. You should just give up.”
Her voice got louder as she got closer. “You expect to win a male witch when you look like that?”
I could sense the tension, the irritation from the witches around me. Matilda was teasing them, mocking them. This wasn’t how you ran a Coven, how you inspired witches. I continued stirring my cauldron. It was only a matter of seconds before she was in front of me.
Pop!
I threw my body over the top of my cauldron, screaming as my chest burned from the heat. The witch’s cauldron next to mine had gotten too hot and exploded, sending drops of liquid up into the air. They rained down the back of my sweater, singeing the knit.
Too much honey-badger blood.It made for a volatile brew that often spit up. The poor witch next to me sunk to her knees wailing into her hands. It was too late to start over. Her chance at winning had ended.
I bit my lower lip as I talked myself out of comforting her. I had to win. Prove myself to the Academy and the Coven.
“Dafni!”
Everyone turned toward the yell that echoed throughout the cavern.
Gideon walked through the doorway into the cavern. He had flames shooting from his fingers, the tip of the flame singeing the floor. He looked at where I stood, glancing up anddown, his nostrils flaring. With a flick of his wrist, the flames vanished, and he marched over to where I stood.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “I heard you scream.”
I nodded as he looked at me up and down, seemingly checking if I was being truthful.
Matilda took a step back, slowly glancing back and forth between us, watching our interaction. “You and my daughter, huh, Gideon?”
He sneered at her, shuffling back and forth on his feet, his knees bent, ready for her attack.
Matilda looked back at me. “You’ve been busy, daughter. All the while, I’ve been held in a solid state—waiting for someone to mess up.”
I opened my lips, drawing air into my lungs.
“It was only a matter of time.”
She looked at Gideon, tilting her head to the side. “It was you, wasn’t it? You cut the electricity.”
He stood there, unmoving.
Matilda threw her head back, her cackle echoing in the cavern. “You set me free.”
Gideon’s eyes met mine.No.It couldn’t have been him. Did he really want to hurt me that badly? Was he that scared of me that he had to release my mother? The look he gave me told me everything I needed to know. He’d done it. He’d cut the power and thawed my mother.
“It wasn’t his fault,” Annabel said from behind Matilda and Gideon. She approached the work bench slowly, palms raised in the air. Emily followed behind her, keeping close. “Like I told you, I took the pail outside and didn’t realize the electricity was out.”
Matilda laughed. “Typical Annabel. Always so careless. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten to take your magic-reducing potion as well?”
