Page 31 of Monster's Mistake

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.

CHAPTER 12

Meic

The world isweird inside stone. It’s also kind of normal. I don’t know what I expected it to be like, but it’s not this. The only real difference is that I can’t move and interact with the world around me. At least Nati left the movie playing when she ran out of here so I’m not completely dying of boredom. But that’s only going to be the case for another ten minutes or so, I’m not sure what I’m going to do when it ends, and I’m left to my own thoughts.

I could think about our kiss. Though that’s probably going to make me hard in a different way.

The door opens and Nati reappears, a relieved expression on her face. “You’re still here. Sorry, what a dumb thing to say. Of course you’re still here.”

She sits down next to me and pulls a bottle out of her pocket. She pulls the stopper off it and lifts it over my head, letting the liquid drop down onto me. Her eyes are full of nerves as she watches me intently.

I have no idea what the potion is or what it’s done, but my whole body begins to tingle as it runs over me. The casing that’s around me drops away and I take a deep breath.

Her shoulders slump and she let out a sigh of relief. “It worked.”

“Was it not meant to?” I ask.

“Cethin had no idea if it would or not.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You got the potion from Cethin?”

“He made it for me,” she responds. “I messaged Anja and asked her if he was around. We broke into theCharms and Potionsclassroom so we could make it.”

“Well, I’m glad about that. I owe him one. How long would I have stayed like that without the potion?”

“I don’t know,” she admits.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter.” I wave out my arm to remove some of the lingering stiffness. “So, before all of that, where were we?”

She looks at me, a strange expression on her face. “What?”

“Before you turned me into stone, we were much closer than this.”

“Are you seriously thinking about that right now?” she asks, her voice cracking with emotion.

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