Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

Nati

I pace back and forth nervously outside the Charms and Potion s classroom, terrified that a member of staff is going to find me before Anja and Cethin do and get us all into trouble. Especially as that means Meic will still be captured in stone.

Footsteps sound from down the hall and Frank slithers out of my hair, giving a loud warning hiss.

“Shh, you’ve got me into enough trouble tonight,” I chide.

He lets out a belligerent hiss and disappears amongst my other snakes. I roll my eyes. They’re making it difficult to not want to use the potion that’ll subdue them, especially the next time I’m on a date.

If Meic ever agrees to go on one again.

I let out a sigh of relief when the footsteps reveal themselves to belong to my roommate. Her silver-white hair is braided neatly down her back, suggesting that she was in bed alone, rather than with Cethin, but he’s with her now, a serious expression on his face.

“Are you all right?” Anja asks me once she’s in earshot.

“Can you get us into the classroom?” I ask, looking between them.

Cethin nods and steps closer to the door. Purple smoke dances around his hands, and I watch it curiously. It’s almost the exact same shade that Anja used to dye her hair before she stopped. I wonder if that’s a coincidence, or if it’s something to do with their mate bond.

I push the thought away. I don’t have time to ask about anything like that right now.

The door clicks and we head inside.

“We could get into trouble for this,” Anja warns. “We might have drawn a bit too much attention to ourselves when Cethin was brewing me a potion to help me unlock my banshee side.”

I grimace. “It’s an emergency, I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important.”

“Where’s Meic?” Cethin asks. “I thought the two of you were on a date?”

A furious blush reaches my cheeks. “That’s the emergency.” I clear my throat. “He’s sort of made of stone right now.”

“Ah. Well, at least that tells me why I’m needed.” He heads over to the storeroom and goes straight for a specific book, flicking through the pages.

“Do you think he knows the right potion?” I ask Anja.

She shrugs. “Better than either of us does.”

“You’d think they’d teach gorgons to do it,” I mutter, rubbing a hand over my face. “Eurgh, what a mess.”

She leans back against the nearest desk. “Want to talk about it?”

“I just need the potion...”

“It’ll take a while,” she reminds me.

“I turned my fated mate into stone. It’s got to be the worst first kiss in the history of first kisses.” Saying it out loud doesn’t do anything to make me feel better. If anything, it has the opposite effect.

“Okay, that’s a lot to unpack,” Anja says, looking past me to where Cethin is preparing the potion. I don’t know if it’s because she just wants to look at him, or if she’s purposefully not meeting my gaze.

“Yeah,” I murmur.

She turns her attention back to me and doesn’t seem to have any issue looking directly at me, which I suspect means she really does just want to watch her boyfriend working. It would be cute if it wasn’t so nauseating. “What do you want to start with?” she asks.

“What am I supposed to do when he’s no longer stone?” I ask.

“Talk to him,” she responds, the matter-of-fact tone almost soothing. “It’s not like he doesn’t understand how unpredictable magic can be, and he’s well aware that you’re a gorgon.”

“You don’t think he’ll be mad?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know him well enough to be sure, but I think it’s more likely that he’ll make a joke about you making him rock hard.”

I manage a weak smile. “I can only hope he does that.”

She gives me an odd look. “I thought you hated it when he made those jokes?”

“It’s complicated. But if he makes a joke now, then it’ll mean he isn’t so angry at me that he never wants to see me again.” I’ll take a million bad gorgon jokes if that can be the case.

“So he’s turned to stone, but you don’t seem very worried about turning me into stone right now. Are banshees immune or something?” Anja asks.

“You haven’t been bitten by one of her snakes,” Cethin says from where he’s starting on the potion.

I stare at him in shock. “You know?”

He nods. “And I’m going to need some venom from the offending snake.”

“Right.”

Anja looks between the two of us. “So that’s how gorgon magic works?”

“Yes.” I make my way over to one of the beaker drawers and pull out one of about the right size, covering it with a piece of muslin to make this easier. “All right, Frank, time to earn your penance.” I hold up the jar.

He retreats amongst the other snakes and I let out a frustrated sigh.

“Anything I can do to help?” Anja asks.

I shake my head. “I’d rather only have one person turned into stone.” I reach into my hair and pull on Frank gently, knowing I won’t hurt him.

He hisses in response.

“If you hadn’t bitten Meic, we wouldn’t have to do this,” I respond, using the glass in one of the cupboards to get him into position.

He reluctantly opens his mouth and sinks his fangs into the fabric stretched over the top of the beaker. I hold him in place for a few minutes.

“How much do you need?” I ask Cethin.

“As much as you can get.”

“Okay.”

I let go once I feel Frank relax, assuming that all of his venom is now in the beaker. It will refill in about ten minutes thanks to the magic. I wish it took as long for it to refill as it does with normal snakes, which would be really helpful for preventing gorgon accidents, but there’s nothing I can do about that.

I head over to the workbench and put down the beaker. “That’s what I’ve got.”

“That should be plenty,” Cethin says without taking his eyes off the small cauldron in front of him. I don’t think his reluctance has anything to do with fearing my gorgon magic though, it has everything to do with watching the pot in front of him.

I go to rejoin Anja, my nerves reaching new heights as I think about how long Meic has spent in the secret room completely turned to stone.

“So, your first kiss?” my friend asks.

I nod. “Yeah.”

“And it was awful?”

“No. The kiss was great. It was Frank biting him and then me turning him into stone that wasn’t so good,” I admit, not seeing the point in keeping it to myself when it’s kind of obvious given where we are.

“Ah, fair.”

“No other questions?” I ask.

She chuckles. “I’ve had a first kiss with my fated mate, I’m not asking so you don’t have to tell.”

“It didn’t go any further than that,” I say quickly. “It was just a kiss, then Frank bit him.”

“I guessed.”

A large puff of smoke comes from Cethin’s cauldron, and he coughs a few times. “Sorry.”

“Is everything all right with it?” I ask.

“Yeah, it’s supposed to do that.”

“How many times have you had to brew a potion like this?” I ask.

“Never. But the instructions mention it.” He waves towards the open book on his desk.

“Oh.”

“So, I’m going to warn you now, there’s a chance that this isn’t going to work. I’ve never made it before,” he says seriously.

“What else am I going to do? It’s not like I can leave Meic in the room until he turns back to normal.”

“Is Meic ever really normal?” Anja murmurs.

I roll my eyes and don’t respond. “I don’t even know how long that’s going to take. My mum told me that it depends on how much venom gets into the system, but I don’t know how to measure that, or even how to.”

“It’ll be fine,” Cethin says. “Meic will understand.”

“Mmm.” That remains to be seen, but I know there’s nothing I can do about it. What’s done is done, I just need to undo it.

Cethin pours the potion into two bottles and holds them out to me. “One should be enough, but I think the potion will keep for a few weeks, so just in case.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I owe you one.”

“Not necessary, Nati. I like a potion challenge.”

“He does,” Anja responds. “Do you want us to come with you while you undo the stone?”

I shake my head. “I think I’d rather do it alone.” I don’t think I could stand to have witnesses to the conversation that’s to come, even if I’m a little worried about it. “But thank you, both. I know we could get into trouble for this.”

Cethin shrugs. “We’ll just clear up and make sure we don’t get caught. Last time, they could tell that someone had been in the classroom but not who.”

“Maybe we should start thinking about getting you a cauldron for your dorm room,” Anja muses.

Cethin laughs in response. “I don’t think Afan would be too impressed with that, especially if he knows that the potions are to help you two.”

“He’s still very anti-fated mate?” Anja asks.

“He’ll come around when he finds his,” Cethin responds.

“I’m going to go,” I say, waving to the door. “But thank you.”

They wave goodbye to me, though I think they’re already more interested in each other than in me. Which is fine. I have a ghoul to get back to normal.