“You look like you might need a break,” Rafael said when he found Hope in the library several hours later. He set a cup of tea down next to her book, spinning the handle around toward her. 
“No time.” Hope shook her head without looking up.
“You’re no help to anyone if you lose all your marbles.”
Hope finally smiled and looked up. “My marbles are fine, thank you.” 
“Look, not that I’m not happy to help you save Lizzie Saltzman but … why are you in charge of it?”
“I’m not. Dr. Saltzman is chasing down every scholarly opinion he can get. Lizzie’s mom and aunt are trying a long distance linking spell just in case anything does happen, her life will be linked to her mom’s. Emma is working with the potions and the chemistry teachers trying to find a cure. I’m just … trying to figure out how many healing potions I can cram into one bottle without it having a bad reaction with the toxin already inside her.” Hope sighed. “That’s the hardest part.”
“And how hard is that exactly?”
“Extremely. Especially considering we still don’t know what the toxin is or what magical properties it has.” 
“Uh, I could siphon it.” 
Hope turned around to look at Josie, her face hardening. “That could be dangerous.”
“I don’t mind a little danger.” Josie shrugged. “If I siphon the magic from the toxin, you can heal whatever’s left, right?” 
“I mean, theoretically -”
“Then bottle it up and let’s go.”
Hope and Josie headed down the hallway back to Lizzie, but Hope stopped when she saw Alaric sitting in his office. She motioned for Josie to keep going. She wouldn't need Hope for the siphoning part. 
“Shouldn’t you be with Lizzie?” Hope asked, starting to fear the worst. 
Alaric looked up. “Jade’s by her side. She calmed down a lot when she came in.”
“That’s good.” Hope set the miracle potion on his desk. “You should get this to her. It’s every remotely relevant healing potion combined into one mega cure with a splash of my blood for extra flavor.” 
Alaric blinked at her slowly, brain still reeling.
“That last part was a joke. Just … give it to her?”
“Of course.” Alaric picked up the bottle. “You didn’t want to give it to her yourself?”
Hope shook her head. “Just let me know if - when it works.”