Chapter 12

12

A s much as I truly hated Noah Lawrence, I hated the fiend who was attacking the academy with a love potion even more. Therefore, I had no choice but to continue working with him on the solution.

I entered the lab at precisely seven, all my schoolwork and studying more than finished. There had been enough time for me to return to the library and find more books regarding high-level potioneering. I didn't glean the type of information that I needed from it, but I learned some things that could prove useful one day.

"Evening," I greeted Noah, who was already nose-first in a thick tome that could have been from the eighteen hundreds. All I received in response was a curt nod, which I didn't find surprising.

Any sense of camaraderie I had thought we'd built was obviously non-existent, and I was fine with that, especially after last night.

Dropping my bag rather loudly on the floor, I moved next to him to see what it was he was reading so furiously.

"How are mouse whiskers going to help us?" I asked, reading the passage over his shoulder. It was a rather interesting take on the practical application of the whiskers when they were ground down into dust. But even after reading the many uses, I still didn't believe it would do anything for our anti-love potion.

"They're not." Noah slammed the book closed, pushing it away from us before grabbing his black notebook and using the ribbon bookmark to open it. "Here."

He shoved the journal at me, and I rolled my eyes at him. Ever the arse, apparently.

I read through his new recipe, noting the few changes. Instead of horse's mane, mule's mane; instead of lotus petals, lily pad. There were some other ingredient swaps and a few technique changes.

In my mind, I tried to work through the process of the reactions that would happen when we performed the new steps and couldn't see why it wouldn't work.

"I already retrieved the ingredients, so your job is easy today. Don't mess up." Noah pulled the cauldron from the backside of the bench and placed it in between us. Then, he started handing me vials of ingredients.

"You're a right twat today," I mumbled, grabbing the ingredient for the first step.

"I always have been in your eyes," he retorted, pulling a vial from my hand rather aggressively.

"What is that even supposed to mean?" I looked up, glaring daggers at him.

Noah sucked in a deep breath before turning to me. "It wouldn't matter if I solved world hunger. You would still believe me to be a prat."

"Maybe if you didn't always act like one, I wouldn't think you were." My hands went to my hips as I fully faced him, potion forgotten.

"Maybe if you wouldn't worry so much about being the best, you would see I'm not out here trying to ruin your life."

I laughed in his face, shaking my head. "Please. All you've ever done is prod at me and do everything to prove how much better than me you are. Excuse me for not seeing the benevolence in everything you've done to me for the last eight years."

"Last eight… Bloody hell. Baker, if you had truly looked at me the last eight years, you would have seen a much different story. But keep telling yourself that our academic career is just one big rivalry where I continually destroy your spirit."

"What else would you call the constant teasing and mockery? All the times you had to prove to me that you got a point better, or that you would beat me out of the top spot? Where's the alternate storyline there?" I threw my hands up and walked away from him. "You want to tell me how any of that did me any good?"

"It got you to work harder, didn't it?"

I opened my mouth to respond but closed it shortly after. He wasn't entirely wrong. Yes, I was a studious girl all on my own, but Noah had always made me want to work harder.

"As if you only poked me so I would work harder! You did it for your own enjoyment."

"Yes, Baker. As a matter of fact, I did. I loved seeing you get all flustered and mad when you heard I'd beaten you. And I loved seeing you ecstatic when you'd beaten me."

I laughed but heard no joke in his voice. He was serious, and I didn't understand that, didn't understand why he would like both my defeats and my victories.

Because I couldn't think of anything to say, we just held each other's gazes for a while.

"Let's get to work. I really can't be affected by this potion again."

"Professor Fortenberry," I called, gathering my things hastily so I could catch him before he left the classroom.

"Yes, Miss Baker?" He raised an eyebrow at me as he slung his satchel over his shoulder.

The rest of the students in the class filed out, glad to be moving on to the next part of their day. Sometimes, I wondered why it seemed like no one else in this academy cared about the love potion attacks.

"I was wondering what the legal ramifications of using the love potion in such a widespread manner will be. I know we discussed this after the first incident, but there have now been multiple."

Fortenberry scoffed, running a hand through his graying hair. "Miss Baker, there will be no legal ramifications."

"How is that possible, professor? Love potion use is illegal in just a dosage for one person, so how will this perpetrator not face any consequences?" I was on fire, furious at the fact that whoever was behind this might get away with it.

He began laughing, as if this wasn't a serious crime or a serious question.

"Because the leadership in this school simply does not care. Don't you wonder why the person behind this hasn't already been caught? It seems to me as though it should be fairly straightforward, but all this academy has done so far is investigate labs. They've made no genuine effort to prevent any other attacks from occurring. Therefore, whoever is doing such a thing to the students and staff here at Forrestbriar will face no consequences. They won't be caught."

Fortenberry seemed positively unaffected by the words he just spewed.

"Oh, surely, they'll be caught. Perhaps policy enforcement is doing more than what we see. Perhaps they're already close to catching this person!"

"I assure you, Miss Baker, no one in this academy cares enough about the well-being of the students and staff to resolve the issue. Not enough is being done because of their laziness, and unfortunately, that will continue to be the case. I suggest you stay far away from anyone you might fancy. Otherwise, you will be swept up by the potion like the rest of the students." Fortenberry's face was red with frustration as his eyes darted to the exit multiple times.

"Professor, I refuse to believe no one-"

"You may refuse to believe it all you'd like, Henrietta. The fact remains. Have a good day."

Fortenberry rushed to the door, as if he couldn't get away from me quickly enough.

If what he said was true, then Noah and I needed to work much harder.

Groaning, I texted him a message that we should meet up to work on the potion—yet again, we botched our attempt last night. Mule's mane did not mix well with slug.

Then, I rushed to the library, classwork forgotten in the wake of burning need to not only create an anti-potion, but to determine how we would catch the perpetrator.