Chapter 28

28

T he Jubilance potion cast was a success, especially with the campus alerts announcing it to everyone. But what harm could be done with a potion such as that? None. The alert simply told everyone to enjoy their bliss and be wary of the love potion, as if that simple warning was enough to stave off the side effects. The academy's lack of action made me sick to my stomach.

With our current mission complete, Noah took me back to his flat, where we spent the rest of the day between his bed and the couch. And on the floor. And on the kitchen island. The same went for Sunday. Monday morning rolled around, and for the first time in my life, going to class saddened me.

After I finished my classes on Monday, I went in search of my best friend.

I couldn't hide this any longer, and I knew I wanted to come clean to her about my lie and how it had turned into the truth. I wanted to gush to her about Noah and everything I'd learned about him the last few weeks, how he is nothing like what I would have expected. She needed to know how serious I was about this.

Bouncing on my toes nervously, I knocked on her dorm room door, hoping that, for now, she was alone. I would fill Remy in later.

"Ivy?"

"One second!" I heard her yell from the other side of the door. After about a minute, she opened the door.

Cautiously, I peered in, wondering if I'd interrupted something, but no one else was in the room.

"Hey!" I pushed into the room, immediately wondering why Ivy looked on edge.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Ivy said, averting her eyes. That was always a dead giveaway that she was lying. I'd known her long enough to understand.

I simply raised a brow at her and sat on her bed. It was neatly made, unlike the rest of her room, which was always in a state of disarray.

"How's it going?" Ivy asked, slowly pulling out her chair at her desk and sitting.

"Fine, I just wanted to—are you sure everything's okay?" Everything seemed off about her. "Did something happen with Remy?"

Ivy's brows shot up. "No! Of course not! We're great!"

Obviously, they weren't, but I would let her tell me that in her own time.

"I need to tell you about Noah," I started, biting my lip. It felt weird that I was going to gush to her when it was clear she was struggling with Remy, but her eyes instantly changed.

"Did he hurt you?" She stood abruptly and walked to sit next to me on the bed.

"No! No, the opposite, actually. Ivy, when he told you at dinner the other day that we were together, we weren't—"

"Ivy, do you think this will be…" The door to Ivy's room swung open, and Remy halted the second his eyes landed on me.

All the air escaped from my lungs.

Remy's hand was barely pulled out of his bag, but I could see exactly what he held: three vials with beautiful, glittering pink liquid. I knew what it was without having to see the look on their faces.

"Why?" The word came out as a choked whisper but it was the only word I could force out of my mouth. Though there were plenty of other words that came to mind.

"It's not what you think, Henri," Ivy started, moving to stand in front of me, blocking my view of the vials.

I remained silent, my glare bouncing between my two closest friends as I waited on whatever explanation she thought could convince me it wasn't what it appeared to be.

Before they even spoke, I ran through every conversation I'd had with Ivy lately, every attempt to get me to go on a date, every push. I clenched my jaw.

"Remy had nothing to do with it, not really. He just had to get…extra potions today." Ivy looked sad, and I tried to soften the flexed muscles on my face, but I couldn't. I couldn't even feel guilt for how hot my blood ran. She turned, grabbed the three vials from Remy, and silently waved him out.

Her eyes looked hopeful when she turned back to me, as though I would just brush this under the rug. As though she didn't need to explain why she was holding a glittering pink love potion.

Late nights studying old texts, multiple botched attempts, and endless stress over making an antithesis to the love potion that had been plaguing the school and my every waking thought. This whole time, I'd thought these attacks were made by someone nefarious who wanted to wreak havoc on the school. I never imagined that it would be my own best friend.

My silence spoke more to my anger than my words ever could, and I refused to make eye contact with Ivy. Instead, I watched her sway from foot to foot.

"I was just looking into ways to encourage you to get out there more, you know? And I thought I could try to convince you to go on more dates, take you on double dates, but every time I asked, you said no, that you had no time for romance. I was doing research for a project when I came across a book that had been banned for forty years, and I couldn't help but read it. That's where I read about experiments done a hundred years ago with the love potion.

"Magical researchers dosed over three hundred students at an upper-level academy. They did it through the food, and multiple testimonies showed that the unknowing participants were grateful for it, glad that it got them to pursue romantic interests they'd been hiding."

A low, humorless laugh pushed from my lungs, and I finally looked up through watery eyes. "So you thought you would do the same experiment on Forrestbriar? And that everyone would just thank you?"

"Well, I was just hoping it would affect you and maybe a few others, which was why I learned spell-casting. That's how it went to the entire school."

"I know," I cut across, rolling my eyes at her. When she gave me an incredulous look, I rolled my eyes. "Did you think I would stand by and not figure out exactly how all of this was happening? Of course, I knew it was spell-cast."

"I guess I didn't realize you'd figured that part out. I didn't know that it would cast to so many people. After the first few times, I realized you were truly unaffected. I thought it was the potion at first, but it was just…well, you."

I laughed again. "So you used an illegal potion, accidentally cast it to the entire campus, and it didn't get me to profess my love for anyone. What I don't understand is why you kept doing it?"

Ivy bit her lip, tears falling down her cheeks. Still, I couldn't find remorse for how I spoke to her. My harsh tone was the least of her problems. She continuously shook her head.

"I thought maybe it would eventually work for you, that you were just too stubborn to give into the potion. Or that if I took you out to meet other guys, you'd eventually fancy one of them."

Looking away, I couldn't stop shaking my head. This was absurd. All the harm done to students across this campus was caused because my best friend couldn't stand that I wanted to remain single.

"And what about the multiple cases of harassment? What about how, if it wasn't for Noah, Daniel could have hurt me? Did you think about that?"

Ivy opened her mouth to respond but closed it shortly after.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think about that. I thought it was helping. So many people are happy now that the potion got them out of their shells! There are new couples everywhere because of it." She sounded so defensive. I tried not to laugh at her.

"How could you be this careless, Ivy? It doesn't matter that it had some positive outcomes! What about all the relationships it destroyed? It is illegal and incredibly harmful to the ones who didn't reciprocate feelings! Were you hoping to spend the rest of your life in magical exile? Because the second anyone finds out it was you, your wand will be destroyed, and you'll be stripped of all magic!" I huffed in anger and panic as I paced her room. Just as I was about to continue, my heart nearly stopped as one last piece of the puzzle slid into place.

I turned so fast on my heel, Ivy jumped in surprise. Horror gripped me, and I wondered if I truly knew Ivy at all. A dark, disgusted feeling gripped my insides with barbed edges.

"What are you planning to do with the poison?"