Page 51 of Elixir of Strife
“Oh,” Vera trilled, “we do like to have a little bit of fun.”
Maybe I never noticed before, but the Jade Spider had a talent for sashaying into the conversation. It didn’t hurt that she was clutching a pair of unusual cocktail glasses, possibly meant for me and my new friend Hagatha.
“Here. We’re trying something new for Silk. Have a taste and tell us what you think.”
Before anything, I wanted to have a closer look, too. The cocktail was bright red, its glass resembling a bottle, with a slender neck that tapered to a wide base. Very much like the conical flasks they used in laboratories. The glass was cool to the touch, but the cocktails themselves roiled and bubbled, as if made with especially effervescent soda water. Or maybe champagne?
I lifted my glass at Vera. “So are these like magical mimosas?”
She chuckled. “Close enough. We wanted to honor our arcane roots, especially the alchemical traditions. Charming, is it not? It reminds me of a potion one might acquire from a master brewer. Or, you know, wherever fine potions are sold.”
“Delightful,” Edel said, inspecting the bottle as she held it up to the light. “Thank you, madam. It looks delicious.”
She lifted the bottle to her lips and tipped the whole thing down the hatch, never questioning whether the Jade Spider might be offering us a sleeping draught, or some tasty-looking toxin. Edel was a woman who wasn’t afraid of being poisoned because she probably knew how to brew antidotes. And even stronger poisons, too.
I peered at my bottle, shrugged, then tilted it at Vera again. “Bottoms up.”
Not that I needed any help getting it down. The stuff was delicious. The faint blush of raspberry, a quiet sweetness, and there, among the fizz of the bubbles, the tang of a fruity liquor base. Before I knew it, I’d finished the entire thing, my throat tickled, a party in my stomach.
Edel turned her bottle upside down, ensuring she’d drained every last drop. “Absolutely delicious.”
“This is incredible, Vera. It goes down so smooth, too. Almost like a soft drink.”
She flipped her hair. “To be perfectly honest, we did have an alchemist on hand to help with the formulation. And no, it’s only designed to taste that way. Expect a prompt betrayal within the next ten minutes or so. The thing definitely has a kick. We’re still workshopping the name, but for now we’re thinking of calling it Bloody Murder.”
“Ah, yes.” Edel nodded wisely. “Very good name.”
I peered into the bottle and smacked my lips. “That really was good, though. What’s in it, anyway?”
Vera crossed her arms. “Well, I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”
I dragged the back of my hand across my mouth and chuckled. Vera never faltered.
“You know I’m not joking.”
Edel reached for my empty bottle. I shrugged and handed it over. She glanced between the two of them, then looked up at Vera.
“Do you know what’s interesting? When you walked out here clutching both of these beverages, you very much resembled that fellow with the watery bottles.”
“She means the Quartz Spider,” I explained to Vera. “Funny coincidence, that. He was holding both of the Aqueous Elixirs. Well, shortly before he dumped them out into your pocket dimension. I just don’t get it. Why would he follow us all the way in there just to pour out the elixirs? He’s had plenty of opportunities to strike.”
“Hmm. Perhaps he has other designs for them and thought he’d eliminate both you and the elixirs in one fell swoop. The bottles are enchanted, after all, potentially useful in other forms of magic. Remember. The Quartz Spider only ever seems interested in time magic these days.” Vera reached for one of the two empty bottles. “Edel, if you’d be so kind? Please hold your bottle up for me.”
Edel squinted, seeing something I hadn’t quite made out yet. “Ah, yes. I believe I can see where you’re going with this.”
Vera turned the glass she was holding upside down, pressing the mouths of the two bottles together, forming a single, familiar structure. A shiver ran down my spine.
“An hourglass,” I breathed.
This entire time, Brendan Shum was trying to build his own enchanted hourglass. All he needed now was more quickening sand. With the right tools in hand, his time magic could be taken to even more powerful and destructive heights.
What did the Quartz Spider have in store for Dos Lunas?
21
LEON
My mouth fell open wider and wider as Max helped me piece the events at Silk back together. Our time in the webbed dimension had been such a blur, and the thing with Bakunawa drinking all that water didn’t help. Totally scrambled my brain parts. Utter chaos.
