Page 100 of Upside Down Magic

“Trustme,”Liliansaid. “It’llhelp.”Shesmiled slyly. “AndIwon’t tell a soul.”

“Won’ttell what?”Dorseyasked.

“Thathe faked being sick to get out of doing the first potion, of course,”Liliansaid smoothly.

“Ididn’t?—”

“Oh, thank goodness,”Aprilmurmured with relief. “Thosewere really good tacos.”

“Fine.Yes,Idid,”Huttonsaid.

“Hetook a potion for somedelicateissues before going to the meeting and he was too shy to admit it,”Isaid. “Sohe bowed out rather than have the potion he had ingested influence the results.”

“Delicateissues, huh?”Drusaid, laughter in her voice.

“Shutup,”Huttonsnapped.ToLilian, he asked, “Areyou sure it’ll help?”

“Yes.”

“Bathroomissues maybe?”Dorseysuggested.

Huttonrounded on them. “IfIhear a word about me and delicate issues outside this room, you’ll all pay for it,” he snarled.

“Sure,”Drusaid. her lips twitched.

“Don’tthreaten me, young man,”Dorseysaid. “Ihelped change your diapers.”

“You’venever set a foot inClawstoneParkin your life, and my father hated your guts.”

“Eh.”

“Thepotion,”Ireminded them. “Canwe get back to it?”

Hutton, looking absolutely thunderous, knelt by the bowl and offered his arm. “Doit already.”

Imade the cut and allowed a couple of drops to fall into the potion before using the gauze to stem the shallow bleeding.

“Thankyou,”Isaid genuinely.Hecould’ve refused, calledLilian’sbluff and stomped out of here, but he’d stayed and given his blood because it would help.

Hewas a good egg.

Hegave me a curt nod and stepped away.Lilianjoined the group, giving me space to do my magic.

Herecame the trickiest part: using enough magic to make the potion, but not enough that the original spell would feed off it instead of being neutralized.Plus,Ineeded to keep some power to activate the spell on the two items themselves, andIwas already somewhat drained from all the magic detecting.

Iheld the bowl in my hands, closed my eyes, and allowed the faint scent of the herbs to invade my senses, the feeling of the cool glass against my skin, the reassurance of the clear quartz placed in the circle.

Magiccomes from allblood.

Togetherit becomes anunstoppable force.

Magictingled down my arms and, through my fingertips and the glass, into the moon water, herb mixture, and blood.Itook the glass stirrer and added the rest of the spell.

Letmagic’snatureprevailoverdisruptivespells.

Thestreaks of blood and herb mixture swirled around each other, first tentatively, then interacting.Oncethe potion was well mixed,Iput the stirrer aside, fighting a wave of weakness trying to take over my body.

“Done,”Iwhispered.

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