The Golden Lily Page 0,116

sink, burners, etc. The rest was from a different era, vials of oils and dried herbs, along with scrolls and honest-to-goodness cauldrons. Plants and herbs lined the sill of a dark window. There were two more cats in here, and I was pretty sure they weren't the same ones I'd seen in the living room.

"It looks chaotic," said Ms. Terwilliger. "But I daresay it's organized enough, even for you." Upon closer inspection, I saw she was right. All of the plants and little vials were labeled and in alphabetical order. All of the various tools were equally identified, enumerated by size and material. The room's center was a large, smooth stone table, and I set the book down on it, careful to stay on the page I needed.

"What now?" I asked.

"Now, you construct it," she said. "The more of it you do on your own, the stronger your connection will be to the spell. Certainly come and get me if you have trouble with the ingredients or the directions. Otherwise, the more of your focus and concentration that goes into this, the better."

"Where are you going to be?" I asked, startled. As much as I disliked the thought of working with her in a creepy, arcane lab, I disliked the thought of being alone here even more.

She gestured toward where we'd come from. "Oh, just out there. I'll entertain your 'brother'

too since you really do need to do this alone."

My anxiety increased. I'd protested Adrian's original request to come here, but now I wanted him around. "Can I at least get some coffee?"

She chuckled. "Normally, I'd say yes - particularly if you were just doing grunt work to build an amulet or potion. Because you'll be using your mind, the magic will work much better if your thoughts are free and clear of any substances that affect your mental state."

"Boy, that sounds familiar," muttered Adrian.

"Okay, then," I said, resolving to be strong. "I need to get started. Sonya's waiting." Provided she was still alive to wait.

Ms. Terwilliger left, telling me to get her when I was on the spell's last stage. Adrian delayed a moment to speak with me. "You sure you're okay with all of this? I mean, from what I know about you and the Alchemists... well, it seems like you'd actually be pretty not-okay with this."

"I'm not," I agreed. "Like I said, this goes against everything I believe - against everything they've taught me. Which is why you can't tell anyone. You heard her passive aggressive remark about me not practicing? She's been on me for a while now to develop my so-called magical skills, and I keep refusing - because it's wrong. So, she has me research spell books for my independent study with her, in the hopes of me learning by osmosis."

"That's messed up," he said, shaking his head. "You don't have to do this. You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

I gave him a small smile. "Well, I want to find Sonya. So I do have to do this." He gave me no smile in return. "Okay. But I'm just going to be out there - having a tea party with her cats or whatever it is she has in mind. You need me? You yell. You want to leave? We go. I'll get you out of here, no matter what." Something clenched in my chest, and for a moment, the whole world narrowed down to the green of his eyes. "Thank you."

Adrian left, and I was alone. Well, almost. One of the cats had stuck around, a sleek black one with yellow eyes. It was lying on a high shelf, watching me curiously, like it wondered if I could really pull this off. That made two of us.

For a moment, I couldn't move. I was about to willingly work magic. All the protests and arguments I'd given Ms. Terwilliger were like ash in the wind now. I started trembling and felt short of breath. Then, I thought about Sonya. Kind, brave Sonya. She'd devoted so much energy and time to doing the right thing. How could I do any less?

As I'd noted to Ms. Terwilliger, the spell was deceptively simple. It didn't require half as many steps as the fire amulet. I had to keep water simmering in a copper cauldron and add different ingredients to it, most of which were clear oils that had to be measured with exacting care. The air soon grew heavy with the scent of