18

Gilbert left shortly after I asked him to become my tutor, a task he seemed all too excited about. We decided to meet up at the secret room the next day after my extra hours with Kaz, which gives us an hour to work before dinner.

Finally alone and at peace, I can begin my research.

Crossing the room to the potion lab, I retrieve the sample from my bag and carefully place it on the surface. Luckily, it seems to be alive still, pulsing angrily as it did after I cut it off. Black liquid clings to it like blood, and when I opened the vial, I nearly gagged at the stench.

It smelled of rot and decay.

“Let’s get this over with,” I say to myself and start unpacking all my equipment from my bag and lining them up on the worktop.

Gran first started teaching me the basics of healing when I turned sixteen, how to identify an illness by examining the symptoms, and what herbs and incantations to combine to create a healing potion. I admit, charms and potions are my favourite forms of magic, seeing as they’re only as pure as the crafter’s intentions.

And seeing as my intentions were only ever pure, my charms and potions’ effects were stronger than average, especially when intended for good.

Which explains why I took to healing magic as easily as I did. None of my residents at the Oddity ever got sick – or stayed sick – for long. I made sure of that. So, why would a blight be any different? It’s just another illness, a new one that hasn’t been studied yet. And once I’ve found a cure, it will pass and become as common as another cold or flu.

Sitting down, I cast an orb of light above the worktop and move the magnifying glass over the sample. Up close, it looks even more disgusting than it already is. The pulsing mass, upon closer examinations, contains little veins of its own. I prod at them with my forceps, frowning as they change from an inky black to a murky red colour.

Something about it seems familiar.

Transforming the forceps into a tiny scalpel, I carefully cut a slit into one of the veins. Immediately, it starts oozing the black liquid that I saw with Emily…only to turn murky red when it oxidized. The stench it gives off is nauseating, causing me to gag and clamp a hand over my nose and mouth.

But there’s a hint of something I recognize underneath that rot. Braving another sniff, I screw my eyes shut and inhale slowly, pushing through the smell of decay until I find that subtle undertone.

Henbane.

That’s what is causing the foul odour.

“But why would a blight smell like henbane?” I wonder out loud.

Grabbing my bag, I rummage through it for my journal – or one of my many journals. One on poisonous plants, to be precise. I’m almost at the bottom when my hand suddenly brushes against something cold and…very much alive.

Shrieking in mild fright, I yank it out and hold it to my chest where my heart is racing. Staring at my bag with wide eyes, I try finding the courage to look inside it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid of critters and living things. But I’d rather like to know if they’re venomous before grabbing them with my bare hands.

My heart spikes yet again when the bag moves on my lap and a little head appears at the opening. I’m ready to swat at it when it suddenly looks at me, and I recognise those beady little eyes and flicking tongue.

“Siri?!” I gape at her, and she stares at me, tongue flicking happily. “What on earth are you doing here? I left you at the shop!”

She blinks.

“You wanted to keep an eye on me?” I huff in exasperation. What does she think she can do if something bad happens to me? Hiss at the danger? Inhaling slowly, I calm my raging thoughts before addressing the issue. “Look, I’m grateful for your concern, but it’s too dangerous four you to be here. I don’t even know if animals are allowed at Alcove, and quite frankly, I’m too –”

I stop talking when Siri darts back into the bag only to emerge a moment later with her beanie on her head. She slithers out and over the worktop, and only stops to flick her tongue at the sample I was studying a minute ago.

“What do you mean?” I frown, struggling to see the connection.

Twisting her head, she drops her beanie next to the pulsing rash sample that still reeks of…henbane.

My eyes widen in realization.

I was looking for her beanie among the henbane that day in the shop. Right before I was hit by that vision. I remember it clearly, the man standing over that cauldron, and the murky red liquid that was brewing inside of it. It is almost the same colour as the veins on the sample.

“Siri,” I breathe and scoop her up to place a kiss on her head, “you’re a reptilian genius.”

She flicks her tongue proudly.

“Henbane. That’s one of the ingredients used to create this blight,” I ramble, reaching into my bag to retrieve that journal.

Once I found it, I flip to the ‘H’ pages and scan the plants until finding the one on which I conducted a study on henbane. My eyes scan through the information.

Henbane, also known as Hyoscyamus, is notorious for its toxicity as part of the Nightshade family. Its most distinctive features being their pale yellow, bell-shaped flowers and…dark purple veins.

I look back at the sample on the table, and only then discover it was never black, but dark purple.

Returning to the page, I read on, “Symptoms of consuming henbane include a loss of muscular control, fever, hallucinations, and delirium. And if consumed in large doses, coma and…death.”

This is exactly what Eisley told me. The blight first starts as a fever before escalating, turning its victims either mad or killing them. Only, now I know madness is but the last symptom before the victim dies.

Inducing Zari into a magical coma was the right thing to do, I’m sure of that now. Imagine if her symptoms worsened to the point of delirium. Imagine the havoc a rabid werewolf would cause to both the human and supernatural worlds.

And imagine the pandemonium of supernatural beings unleashing hell upon earth if this blight spreads. Magians, werewolves, vampires, and other creatures raining mad chaos – it’s as close to extinction as we’ll get.

Suppressing the panic twisting in my gut, I look at Siri confidently. “At least we know how to cure henbane poisoning, don’t we? We can look into that when we start crafting a cure for this blight.”

She flicks her tongue and slither up to my head where she usually perches. It seems she’s here to stay.

Filled with new determination, I return to my research. This is progress and perhaps also a way to prove to Kaz that I am, in fact, an asset for his reputation.