Chapter Thirty
November 1
Waning Gibbous
On my way home from the hospital, I made Baba take me by an apothecary.
“I just need to get a couple of things the nurses suggested for the wound care,” I said. “Just be a minute.”
She simply nodded and turned up the Tom Jones cassette tape. Before I exited, I made sure no one I knew was suddenly going to spring out of nowhere and see me exiting the hoopty car. Or at least that’s what I told myself. Actually, I was more worried about anyone seeing what I’d really come to buy.
The bell over the door dinged cheerfully. Unlike the apothecary under LM and Mary’s place, this was a more upscale suburban outfit. It catered mostly to Mundane clientele who had extra scratch to spend on expensive wrinkle potions and youth serums.
As I walked through the aisles, looking for my prize, I threw some arnica cream in my basket to help with the bruises all over my body. According to Baba, I looked like I’d been beaten like a redheaded stepchild, which wasn’t too far from the truth.
Passing a display of ice packs, I threw in a couple of those, too. As well as some Epsom salts scented with lavender. On impulse, I also grabbed a myrrh-and-sweet-almond-oil mix to rub into my scrapes and cuts to promote healing and prevent scars.
Satisfied I had enough purchases to use for cover, I went to the back corner of the store, where a small toy section was set up to entice kids. It took me a couple of minutes to find what I wanted, but when I did, I stared at the box for a full minute, debating with myself.
I hadn’t seen Morales in the hospital. According to the call I’d received from Gardner that morning, he was to be released the next day. Mez was scheduled to pick him up and get him home. It would have been an easy thing to sweep by his room on my way out, but I didn’t. In the hours that passed after our rescue, and with the distance between us in the hospital, I worried about how things would play out moving forward. Would he use my secrets against me? I didn’t want to believe he would, but promises made under stress in the dark don’t always come to fruition in the harsh light of day.
Shaking off the sense of dread, I decided not to worry about what would come. I couldn’t control what Morales did with all the dirt he had on me. I looked at the box again. But I could make things right with Danny. I grabbed the box and marched toward the counter.
Since Baba’s arthritis had been acting up, she didn’t offer to walk me to the door. “Sorry, doll. Until I can afford more Maslin’s, I’m not feeling too spry.”
“I thought you already bought more?” I frowned.
She looked away. “I shared it with Pen.”
I sucked in a breath that didn’t do much to alleviate the sudden heaviness in my chest. Looking down at my hands, I asked, “How is she?”
Baba made a wishy-washy movement with her head. “She’s going back to work tomorrow. Her wounds are healing, but she’s… subdued.”
Instead of commenting, I made myself busy finding my wallet. “How much for the Maslin’s?”
She made an argumentative sound. “I can’t ask you for that.”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering. You do so much for us, let me help you for a change.”
The old woman sucked her teeth for a moment. “A small bottle is eighty.”
My eyes popped wide. “For a small bottle?”
She shrugged apologetically. “It’s clean magic.”
I pressed my lips together and pulled out my checkbook instead. I scribbled a quick check out to her for an even hundred. I figured the MEA owed me some hazard pay, so why not?
Baba took the check and quickly shoved it into her housecoat. “Thanks, Kate.” She wouldn’t quite meet my gaze.
“You’ll tell me if you need anything else, right?”
“Oh sure,” she said, nodding unconvincingly. “Wouldn’t need this, but my Social Security check isn’t due for another week.”
I patted her hand. “It’s no problem. Thanks for the ride.”
Before I shut the car door, she called out. I leaned back inside. Baba’s face was grave. “She won’t make the first move.”
I tipped my chin abruptly and slammed the car door shut before she could elaborate. I’d call Pen eventually and set things right, but for now I needed to put one foot in front of the other.
By the time I limped inside with my apothecary bags, I was exhausted. Danny was sitting at the kitchen table. A book was open in front of him, and he had a pencil jutting from his mouth like a cigarette. He looked up when I stepped in the door with a bag in my left hand, but his eyes immediately returned to his work.
“Hey, kid,” I said. Baba and I had agreed he shouldn’t come to the hospital, but she promised she’d filled him in on the bare basics so he wouldn’t worry.
He made a noncommittal noise. His eyes narrowed on my bandages and bruises. “You okay?”
Judging from his tone, he was worried but didn’t like it. We still hadn’t had a real conversation since our argument.
“Yep. Just little sore.” I placed the bags on the table. “I’ll be good as new in a couple of days.”
He nodded and looked down at his homework again. His movements were tense, as if he was bracing himself for another argument.
“What ya working on?”
“Math.” He didn’t look up.
I placed my hands on the back of the chair in front of me and leaned into it. “Let me ask you something.”
He sighed and looked up. “What?”
“Now that you’re in DUDE are you totally antimagic?”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, Kate,” he snapped. “DUDE is about spreading awareness of dirty magic. Clean magic is fine.”
“Relax, I’m not trying to start an argument here. I’m just curious.” I pulled the seat out and joined him at the table. I took my time getting settled, allowing my thoughts to solidify.
“You know, I never learned how to cook clean magic.” I fidgeted with a pencil. “Uncle Abe always said clean magic was too expensive and time consuming to learn.” I looked up. “He didn’t explain that it’s also generally safer and more stable. That sometimes it can help people.”
Danny’s posture opened a little, and I knew I had him. “That’s sad, Katie.”
“I agree,” I said. “But when you asked me to teach you magic, I thought you wanted to learn the kind of magic I knew. The dirty kind.”
His voice rose. “I tried to tell you that’s not—”
I held up a hand. “I know, Danny. I get that now. But the thing is, I couldn’t have taught you clean magic.”
He nodded impatiently. “I know, I know. You hate magic in all its forms.” He mimicked my voice in a not-so-flattering tone.
“That’s not what I meant.” I tilted my head and looked him in the eye. “Because I don’t know how to cook clean.”
His eyes lit up like he finally got it. “Oh. I never thought—”
I patted his arm. “Don’t worry about.” I reached down to the bag on my lap and placed it on the table in front of him.
“What’s this?” He looked at it with a wary smile.
“Open it.” Suddenly nervous, I chewed on my bottom lip.
The brown paper crinkled open. He gazed down into the bag with a frown. He reached in slowly, almost as if he expected it to be a trick. But then he lifted the box and stared down at it for a long time.
The picture on the cover depicted a kid in a wizard outfit, complete with pointy hat and magic wand. The Little Wizard Cooking Kit was most Adepts’ introduction to basic magic.
“I’m sorry it’s for kids, but it’s all they—”
He looked up, blinking rapidly. “Are you serious?”
I licked my lips and nodded. “I know I promised I’d teach you, but I figured maybe we’d learn together instead.”
He simply stared at me like he’d never met me before.
“When I was a kid,” I said to fill the silence, “I watched the commercials for that kit with envy roiling in my gut like a green snake. Every year I asked Mom for it for Christmas, and every year I got a stupid doll in a pink dress.”
A sad smile spread across my brother’s not-quite-a-man face. “Why didn’t you buy it when you were older?”
I shook my head, my eyes glued to the image of the happy Adept children dancing across the box. “By the time I was old enough to buy one for myself, I was so jaded about magic. I thought dirty potions were superior because they required a craftier mind.” I laughed bitterly. “Anyway… what do you think?”
“I think it’s pretty cool.” He smiled at me with a smile I’d used on him more times than I could count. It wasn’t patronizing exactly, but maybe… sympathetic and encouraging. Either way, I’d take it.
“Obviously we’ll zoom through the stuff in here pretty quick. That’s why I was thinking about talking to Mez about giving us some lessons.”
“Seriously?” His mouth dropped open. “Mez?”
“Do you think you’d like that?”
“Are you kidding? He’s a total magical badass.”
I smiled. “Yeah, he is.”
He quieted for a moment and then looked me in the eyes. “You’re pretty badass, too, Kate.”
I smiled. “Ditto, kid.”
I toyed with the box on the table for a moment. I was screwing up my courage, but Danny didn’t seem to notice because he was too busy looking at his present. Clearing my throat, I said, “There’s something else.”
He looked up. The smile on his face froze. “Uh-oh.”
I sighed and leaned forward. “You know how I was at the old brewery the night Volos came up with the antipotion and Bane tried to kill both of us?”
A shadow passed behind his eyes. I didn’t want to reopen these old wounds, but sometimes you had to rebreak an injury for it to heal correctly. “The truth is, Danny, I helped John cook the antipotion.”
He fell back in his seat. “What?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “John did most of the work. When I went to meet him it was almost there, but he was missing an important ingredient. I helped him by reading Gray Wolf to understand the hidden ingredients in the potion. What I saw revealed the missing ingredient.”
Danny’s mouth fell open, but I wasn’t done.
“The thing is, before John could finish it, Bane busted in and shot Volos full of Gray Wolf. He was… incapacitated,” I said in the understatement of the year. The real truth was that the potion had turned John into a slavering beast that tried to kill me. “So I had to complete the antipotion on my own to save him—and you.”
“Wait,” Danny said, his eyes wide, “you cooked?”
I nodded.
“But, I don’t understand. Why did you lie about it?” His voice rose. “Why did you let me believe it was John who saved me?”
“It’s complicated,” I began. He made a disgusted sound, as if he expected me to brush him off. “Let me finish.”
He relaxed a fraction, nodding.
“I’d spent weeks telling you I didn’t want you to cook. And I’ve spent years preaching the dangers of magic. I was worried that if I admitted I’d worked with magic, you’d think I was a hypocrite.”
I pulled back. “What?”
“Jeez, Katie. You’re a freakin’ hero!”
I bit my lip, ready to deny it. But he wasn’t done.
“I was angry because I thought you’d done nothing to try to save me thanks to your high and mighty principles. I thought—I thought you cared more about proving you could resist your desire to do magic than you cared about saving me.”
“Now you’re the idiot,” I said. “You’re the most important person in my life, kid. Can’t you see that? I love you and stuff.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Ah, man. Don’t get all mushy on me.”
I laughed. “Smart-ass.”
My little brother looked at me with bright eyes. “I love you, too, Katie.”
We both sat there for a long moment with goofy grins on our face. Finally, I said, “All right. What do ya say we bust out some ice cream and learn about clean magic?”
“Shit yeah!”
I was so happy I didn’t even make him pay back the curse jar.