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“Cool.” I grabbed the book. The paper was yellow and the edges were worn, but the handwriting was still readable. In the margins, someone had written, “Shortcuts result in ineffective potions.” Great. So, no shortcuts. “Cinnamon.”
Adrian searched, and handed the bottle to Chris.
“Next,” Adrian said.
“Salt.”
More muttering from the closet.
“Next.”
“Flour.” Wait a second. “Cinnamon? Salt? Flour? Really? What are we making? A pie?” This was supposed to be a potion, not a home economics project. “If the next thing on the list is pumpkin, I’m going to freak out.”
Adrian laughed. “Cinnamon can be used as cleanser for the blood. Salt grounds any evil spirits. Flour—”
“Did someone say we needed pumpkin?” Chris stepped out of the room with a can of pumpkin puree.
“Jesus Christ. I think my cousins made a mistake and gave me the family cookbook.” I closed the little brown book. “They could at least call it something better than cinnamon. Like bark from the center ring of an ancient tree.” I wiped sweat from my forehead. My wolf was rising along with my nerves. “If we mix these things up, I’m pretty sure we’re gonna make some really bad cookies.”
Adrian grinned. “These are just the ingredients. It’s what you do with them that makes them either cookies or a potion. Give it a chance to work.”
The thought that we could be doing the wrong thing made my mouth dry. I was so out of my element, but I was trying to go along with it. Still, this whole thing seemed really far-fetched.
I chewed on my lip, trying to find my calm but failing miserably. I hadn’t thought about what went into a potion. “How about we skip to the hard stuff? I’ll let you gather all this nonsense.”
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Might take longer to get all the other stuff together,” Adrian said. “Give me the book, and I’ll make a list.”
Dastien swung open the classroom door. His wavy hair was disheveled, like he’d been messing with it while he was on the phone. A pulse of anxiety flowed through our bond, and for once, it wasn’t mine.
“Everything okay?”
“Tribunal stuff.”
Yikes. Not something I wanted to deal with tonight, but I hated to see him upset. “Everything okay?”
“We’ll see. What’s going on?” Dastien asked, changing the subject.
I considered pushing him to find out what the phone call had been about, but decided against it. If he didn’t want to talk about it, I wouldn’t force him. “Adrian’s making a list. You want to go with me to find this stuff?”
“Sure, where’re we going?”
“No idea.”
My phone rang in my bag, Aphex Twin’s ‘Polynomial-C’ telling me that it was Axel. I ran back through the lab, and answered it. “Hey, bro.”
“You rang?”
“Yeah. Like forever ago.”
“Sorry. I kind of had a night, so I slept in and then had classes.”
I laughed. “No shit. I got the email.”
“Jesus. I don’t remember emailing you. What’d it say?”
“Hilarious stuff. You’ll never live this one down.” I grinned as I remembered his confession about a girl he was crushing on. “But hey, I might need your help.”
“What’d you do now?”
