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The third question gave me pause.
Deus didn’t know about my true form. And of course, I wasn’t planning on him finding out. I’d never heard him say anything disparaging about any paranormals. It didn’t seem in his nature.
Then again, Ezric seemed to always be near Deus, and the slayer had made his feelings about krakens known. I hadn’t heard Deus condemn the slaughter of my kind.
“When are you thinking you’ll do it?” Ayla asked, eyes twinkling. “Do we need a system? Like a sock on the door?”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t have a clue what she was going on about, so I focused on my bacon. We didn’t get many smoky things under the sea, and I found I loved its flavor. “We’re keeping things casual, so I figure the time will be right at some point.”
Like maybe later today.
Or never, if I lost my nerve like a skittish squid.
“Casual. Right.” She narrowed her eyes. “Well, text me if you want the room to yourself.”
I left brunch six pancakes and two cups of coffee fuller, and that wasn’t even counting the bacon and eggs. Ayla had been right about wearing stretchy clothes.
Heading toward the library, I was in a good mood. Brunch with Ayla had been… fun. Not that I’d ever admit it to her. If the succubus suspected I’d enjoyed myself, she’d start trying to haul me to parties next.
I spent the rest of the morning looking through the library’s extensive section on alchemy. The problem was, a lot of them covered the principles, which I already knew. There was a lot less on what to do if you had the basics in your head, but couldn’t make them work.
Some paranormals aren’t cut out for alchemy,Professor Farrious had said at the beginning of the term.
I’d never imagined I might be one of them. Schoolwork always came easy for me, but not this.
With a sigh, I sagged into a chair and cracked openAlchemy for Dummiesand hoped no one I knew was in the library. I really needed to focus today.
* * *
“Wow.”
My head snapped up, and I winced at the sharp twinge in my neck.
Amadeus stood over my table, surveying the mess of papers, transcriptions, and open books. “I’m going to guess your day was productive.”
“Hardly.” I felt like crying… and I never cried.
“Here’s my attempt at amethyst.” I handed him a gray rock.
Deus held it up to the light.
“Well, it sparkles,” he offered after a pause. “Mind if I take a look at your transformation circle?”
“Sure. I have to clean up, anyway.” I stacked the books and re-shelved them as Deus bent over my carefully drawn circle.
My head hurt, the familiar ache of a brain well used for many hours. I looked forward to turning that brain off for a couple hours.
I took the opportunity to admire him from behind as I returned to my table. The plane of his back was straight, his muscles moving under his tight shirt as he drew something.
As I came closer, I realized he’d hastily drawn a transformation circle. The symbols had been etched out in choppy lines, and he’d swapped out a few of mine for slightly different ones.
“See.” Deus pointed at my paper. “I’ve noticed when you write, you have this little flare, a kind of flick of your pen. I think that’s messing your symbols up.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Farrious says to write naturally, though.”
“I know. But in your case, these little flourishes are confusing the magic. Now where’s the stone?”
Deus found it on the table. “I had to make a couple of modifications, mostly for my birth sign and stuff. What you wrote should work just fine.”
