Page 62 of Of Potions and Honey
“Of course not, but if you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”
“At least I’m not being actively unhelpful.”
Mira was barely listening to their bickering. She was still looking at the pool while something was scratching at thewindow of her mind. Purple water. There was something here, but whatwasit?
“…just saying that, if none of us know the first thing about this… water science-”
“Some of us know something, we just have to make that-”
“Dye the water!”
Mira jolted upright. Of course. That was what this reminded her of. That was how they could prove it!
“Mira?”
She turned to find herself the centre of wary stares. This time, she didn’t care. Grinning, she got up, because she couldnotsimply sit around now.
“I know how we can prove where Golden River is getting the water from.” She spun around to face them. “It’s a long shot, and we’d still have to look a few things up, but I think I know how to do it, in a way that even the mayor can’t ignore.”
Twenty-Six
Theplansuchasit was, needed more planning. It needed research, and it needed Mira to spend more money that she technically did not have, but if they couldn’t fix this mess, then she wouldn’t have much left anyway, so she placed the order. While she waited, she and Yoni took a trip to Heartfield to scour their library for any information that could potentially be useful to them. What they found was shaky at best, but if they’d put it together correctly, there was a solid chance that this would work.
And if it didn’t… Well, Mira wouldn’t have to live with the embarrassment for long. She’d go back to Willow Harbour and pretend that it never happened, much like everything else. Surely there would be no harm in burying what had been one of the best times of her life like that.
She hoped, dearly hoped and prayed, that they weren’t wrong. Because that day in Heartfield almost felt like they were whole again. The weather was spectacular, the lunch they got from a stall near the train station delicious, and not once did Yoni mention the shop, or the debt, or anything else that wouldhave marred their time together. They simply enjoyed a nice afternoon out, and after they returned to Emberglen and parted ways for the night, Mira wished all the more that they’d succeed, because she wasn’t sure anymore what she would do if she lost this, too.
With an order of that size, it took almost two weeks for it to arrive. When it did, Harper incredulously asked what in the world was in a package that large, to which Mira vaguely explained that it was for the shop, preparations for the fair, all of that. Harper did not seem to believe a word of it, but when Kayden showed up to help Mira load it onto his cart and get it where it needed to be, she thankfully refrained from prying any further.
Mira suspected that the whole town would know by nightfall that she had gone entirely mad, which might not even be completely inaccurate.
With the cart, the way to the spring took longer than usual. Their progress on the narrow trail was slow, and for once, they both seemed happy enough that tourism had died down almost entirely recently. At least that way, Archimedes was unlikely to bowl any hapless visitors into a ditch.
“That’s donkeys for you,” Kayden said. “If he has a destination, he’ll get there, whether you like it or not.”
Mira clung a little more tightly to the side of the cart. “I’m just glad he can manage the trail. I didn’t think it would be that bad.”
“Don’t worry, this isn’t his first time,” Kayden said wryly.
Mira glanced at him. “You do this often?”
“Whenever someone trips on a root and can’t walk back into town to get patched up.”
Mira looked ahead again, where Archimedes seemed entirely unbothered by the uneven path he was being asked to trot along on. “That makes sense. Good Archimedes.”
When they made it to the spring, Kayden got off the cart to manoeuvre Archimedes and the cart around in the clearing. Once the back of the cart was as close to the pool as he could get it, he tied the donkey to a tree, told Poppy to hop off the cart, and went to help Mira with the packages.
“You really think this is going to work? That and lavender?”
“We checked everything we possibly could.” Mira made a face. “We even went to ask about an inquiry into the water status, just in case. Has to come from the mayor’s office or be a legal matter, so. We’re making it one of those things, and at this point I don’t much care which.” Mira shuddered at the memory. “When I tried to shower this morning, there was mud in the pipes.”
Kayden winced in sympathy. “All right. Let’s make it a legal matter, then.”
Mira dearly hoped that nobody would makethisa legal matter as they unloaded the packages, opened them, and proceeded to carefully pour their contents into the pool. With how little water was in there, Mira had been worrying that the powder would clump and stick, but it did exactly what it was supposed to do – dissolve without a trace, to be carried into the wells and then, hopefully, the bottling plant that Mira at this point was fairly certain was hiding in that warehouse.
“There we go. All done.” Kayden tossed the last empty paper bag into the back of the cart and stood beside Mira. “So what now?”
“We wait.” Mira tucked her hands into her pockets. “According to what we found, this stuff won’t get filtered out before it reaches the wells. So it’ll get into the bottles eventually.”
