I’m sitting at lunch, reflecting on how my day has been so far. Silveny covered my dreams, so I actually got good sleep for once. Agriculture was fairly easy, though I did get a little messy. It’s not my strongest subject, but I’m not terrible either.
“Lori?” Sophie says, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“Everyone’s here now.”
“Right.” We had been waiting for everyone to get to the table before I shared why I was absent yesterday, so I wouldn’t have to explain it a million times, and so Sophie doesn’t accidentally share anything I had wanted to keep private. “So, I wasn’t here yesterday, because I had flashbacks in my dreams. And they happened in a way that I needed a day to recover, so… yeah. Sophie was telling you guys the truth.”
“Well why did they start in the first place?” Dex asks.
“Probably just because it’s disorienting to be in a new universe, especially one so similar to my old one.” Everyone seems mostly satisfied with this answer, so Biana takes over.
“Is everyone still coming to the sleepover?” She asks. Everyone says that they are, so she continues. “Just leap to Everglen after you grab all the stuff you’ll need for the night.” We talk about how excited we are for the rest of lunch. Then all too soon, it’s time for alchemy.
“You must be Lori.” Lady Delmira says when I walk into her class.
“Yeah. I should probably warn you that I am terrible at alchemy.”
“Well, I’m here to help you learn.” I want to tell her not to waste her energy, and that I’m a hopeless case, but that seems rude, so I stay quiet. “How about we start with a simple one.” She shows me a page in a book with a recipe for… some elixir.
“Uh… I’ll try.” I measure out all the ingredients, look at the instructions again, and start combining them. The mixture turns a bright pink, which the instruction book says is good.
“WAIT DON’T-” is all I hear before the thing explodes all over my face. It doesn’t hurt, but it is really sticky. What did I even do? I know I didn’t whip it, which is why the first time I exploded something during alchemy didn’t work. “Oh. You should go to Elwin. That stuff doesn’t come off easily.” Two days at Foxfire, two healing center visits. I’m not going to survive this class.
“Elwin?” I call when I get to the healing center. Lady Delmira wasn’t kidding when she said I’d need his help getting the stuff off me. Did I mention that it was bright pink?
“Lori? What are you- WHAT IS ON YOUR FACE?”
“I had my first alchemy lesson today.”
“WHAT DID YOU DO?”
“I don’t know! But this stuff isn’t coming off. Lady Delmira said you would be able to get it though.”
“What even is it?”
“I… don’t actually know. She said it’s the same stuff that Keefe tried to sneak out into Dame Alina’s office.”
“Was she any more specific than that? He did that… a lot.”
“She also said it was October 12.”
“Ohhhh thaaaaat one. It never made its way to Dame Alina. He shook it a little too hard, and it got all over him.”
“That… sounds like Keefe.” He goes into his office, and comes back with a foul smelling basin and sponge. “What is that?”
“Best you don’t know. Just close your mouth.” He uses the sponge to bring the liquid to my face, and it’s horrible. But when he uses a washcloth on my face, the pink goop comes right off.
“Thanks.” I say when he’s done.
“No problem. And here’s a little perfume. You do NOT want to go to study hall smelling like that stuff.” The session is almost over, so I just sit in the healing center while Eliwin practices a speech about being careful on me. I’m pretty sure it was meant for Sophie.
So how was alchemy? Sophie asks telepathically.
Well I had to go to the healing center.
WHY?
I got a very sticky mystery pink goop on my face.
Wow, I think you might be worse at alchemy than me.
Is that a compliment…?
Take it however you want to.
Um… ok.
By the way, tonight.
Yeah?
If you push back a single flashback, I’m sending you home.
Fine. I won’t.
Promise?
I promise.
Good. And nobody will judge you if you need to leave.
I’ll be fine.
Ok. She severs our connection. After study hall ends, we go back to Havenfield. I grab the spin the bottle board, and my pajamas.
“Ready?” Sophie asks me, holding the bottle.
“Ready” I say as we make the leap to Everglen.