Maybe it really was just about her getting it into her body, in which case maybe adding a little honey wouldn't have hurt anything. But, no, she figured she'd been right before; it almost definitely would be better to save the experimentation for the second glass, and she needed a control.
So she finished the cup, drinking it nearly as quickly as she could without burning herself or burping it up, then moved the cup in a circle three times. Counterclockwise. Then, she turned it upside down, setting it on the saucer and tapping the top seven times.
"Going to do a tea leaf reading?" Nick asked. He sounded genuinely curious.
She smiled. "I try," she said. "I'm not very good at it, but it's at least something I can practice without-"
"Is our girl putting down her skills again?" Merlin's voice nearly thundered through the room, jolting her to attention. She thought if she had still been holding the cup, she might have dropped it. As it was, her shoulders shook at the sound, and once she registered what he'd said—"our girl”—she had to blink several times to find a response that was not Maximum Cassandra Awkward.
"I..." Well. Or try to. She winced as yet another sentence of hers trailed off into oblivion.
Merlin raised his eyebrows at her, coming around the side of the bed to look her intensely in the eyes. He seemed to get more comfortable with her as the day went on, and while she wasn't put off by it by any stretch of the imagination, she also wasn't sure what to make of it. She was pretty sure she was reading into those two words, though. Or had been pretty sure, until he lowered himself onto his knees beside her, then leaned in so he was mere inches from her face.
He stared at her, not blinking, and she wasn't sure what the desired or expected response was, so instead of trying to respond, she just stared back. It seemed like he was trying to understand something, and after a couple of moments he pulled back, clapped his hands together, and rose to his feet.
"Ah, now, one of us shall wait with her. But I suppose all of us here is overkill, and probably overbearing," he said.
"I... what exactly are we waiting for?" she asked.
He shrugged, the palms of his hands facing the ceiling as he did so. "I don't know. I suspect you'll know when whatever is going to happen happens."
"Okay, well, I hope you're right," she said. "It'd be a pity for you to have spent so much time on this expedition only to learn I'm exactly who I say I am." She flipped the teacup back over to look at its contents. She wasn’t sure what she saw. Was that a… balloon? Maybe a pumpkin? She blinked and whatever it was vanished.
"Chin up, beautiful," Merlin said, and Cassandra felt her cheeks heat at the compliment, even if she wouldn't have been surprised to learn that was how he talked to all the women he came across. "Even if you're exactly who you say you are, you're everything we need you to be."
But what if I can't help you save Rasputin? she wanted to ask, but she bit her tongue to keep the question to herself. It probably didn't really matter, really. At any rate, while she didn't trust herself to be helpful, she trusted Merlin's ability to know what he was talking about, so if he said she'd be helpful, perhaps that would be inevitable.
But magic was a finicky thing. Maybe she'd be helpful in a roundabout way, rather than what he assumed? She might never know, she realized, and she laid down as she tried to become comfortable with this knowledge.
"Who do you want with you?" Merlin asked. "I assume that as handsome as I am, I'm probably not the best option, since I tend to be more boisterous than my friends here."
"I...." Cassandra yawned. She was getting tired. Had she been tired five minutes ago? She didn't think so, but it was hard to be sure. "I don't think I want to choose between you," she said, finally.
Merlin chuckled, his eyes bright with amusement. At what, Cassandra wasn't sure. It seemed like he knew more than he was letting on sometimes, and it seemed like he was making a joke about it with himself. "You don't have to choose," he said, and she tried to ignore what she thought he was saying between the lines. "I'm not asking you who you want to spend forever with. Just... who feels right to have next to you for the moment?"
Even that felt like too much. But Cassandra wanted to be easy to work with, so she closed her eyes and tried to figure out who was waiting for her in the other realm. Or in her imagination. Or in her lust mode. Whatever.
But when she closed her eyes, the truth wasn't what she expected, and she didn't know how to articulate it, anyway.
"I think..." she started.
"Yes?" Merlin prompted.
She saw three figures in her mind's eye, and she was still working to hone in on them. They all became clear in a few moments, and she almost didn't want to admit to it aloud, but she was nothing if not brave, and what did she have to lose now, anyway?
"I want all of you to stay with me," she said. "That's what feels right."
Merlin's eyes became brighter, and she wondered if she was imagining it, or if it was some sign of a magical Knowing. From her end or his, she wasn't sure. It seemed like the joke he was telling himself got funnier. He threw his hands upwards, but caught himself before he yelled.
"Why, of course you do," he said, as if this answer from her should have been what he expected all along. "I'll grab some cushions from the couch and we'll make a party of it. And we'll be here when you wake up. Sound good?" he asked.
But Cassandra had fallen asleep, and she was deep in the first dreams that would become the rest of her life.
Chapter Five
To Cassandra, it felt like she had slept forever. She had vivid dreams like she had not had in years, and perhaps most surprisingly, she could recall them all perfectly when she woke up. She dreamed of cities and travels, of snakes within meadows, and, mostly, she dreamed of Nick, Merlin, and Isaac.
The men were speaking in whispered voices when she woke up, more of their back and forth about the theories they had about formulas and translations and what the philosopher's stone was. It all felt very abstract to her, but it made her think of something that had happened in the. She wasn't sure whether she could connect that equation to the theories they were sharing, but perhaps it was worth a shot. And she didn't want to ask them to dumb it down for her sake, either.
She laid in bed for a long few minutes longer than she strictly needed to wake up, and then she heard the topic of the whispers change.
"Her breathing changed. Do you think she's okay?"
"Do you know how the potion works? Maybe this is when she's getting the visions."
"I assumed she'd be awake for those. Maybe go into a trance. Not pass out."
"Do you think I should tap her-?"
"No, let her sleep until she wakes up on her own-"
"How do you know?"
Cassandra couldn't help it; she broke into laughter. All the voices went silent as she did so, and she thought she felt their eyes on her. She opened her own, finally giving up entirely on the pretense of being asleep, and looked at them.
"I had the strangest dream," she said, looking from one to the other. "And you were there," she said, pointing at Merlin. "And you... and you..." she added, pointing at Nick and Isaac.
They all stared at her expectantly, but when no one laughed, she sat up and raised an eyebrow. "I suppose it'd be too much to expect any of you to recognize a quote from a popular film, huh?" she teased them.
Nick and Isaac exchanged glances. Merlin smiled back at her. "Ah, beautiful," he said, "as you may have guessed, I'm not exactly the movie connoisseur sort. However, when this is all past us, I would be delighted to make an exception for you to show me this piece of media," he said.
She smiled, trying to corral her overactive imagination back into its proper order. After this is all past us? The phrase kept reverberating through her head like a cruel joke. She both didn't think he could mean what he'd said and also really, really hoped she had understood him correctly. The result was a mixed message, and she wasn't sure how to interpret it.
"Why do you do that?" she aske
d without thinking.
For once, Merlin looked taken aback. Serves him right. "Why do I do what?" he asked, and the question appeared to be genuine.
It was enough to make her almost feel bad. But only almost.
The air between them was tense. Cassandra had backed herself into a corner, she knew, and the only way out was to be exceptionally awkward and explain that she was reading between lines that weren't there.
Then, help came from an angle she didn't expect: Isaac.
If she had any skill at reading expressions at all, his told her he had had to do damage control for Merlin's shenanigans more than he would have preferred. "For what it's worth," he started, "Merlin generally tells you precisely the truth, and is skilled at communicating exactly what he wants to communicate." When Cassandra opened her mouth to object, he continued, "Specifically, if you feel you are getting mixed messages, chances are he means all the interpretations you think he might mean. Does that help?"
Cassandra looked at him, pretty sure her eyes were filled with admiration, and fine with that given the extent to which he had saved her. "Yes," she said, "that helps. I think. So, just to clarify, what he's telling me is that you are intentionally making me assume that after we solve this case... or after we figure out the formula for the philosopher's stone, you intend to stick around?"
Merlin shrugged. "Something like that."
"Speaking of which," Cassandra began, "Why is it we're so glued to figuring out this stone deal, anyway? Aren't we concerned about who killed Rasputin? Doesn't their motive matter?"
Merlin's smile faltered just enough at her question to make her confident she'd been right to ask it. Nick and Isaac exchanged glances, and Isaac was biting his lip in a way that looked downright sexy under his messy hair when he looked back at her.
"Rasputin has many people angry with him at all times," Isaac said, finally. "The best chance we have at keeping him safe is to prevent him from being killable. He's angered enough people that removing the one who attacked him this time will not keep him any safer."
Cassandra blinked. "I suppose I shouldn't ask you why we're going to this much effort for someone who has such a large backlog of people he's pissed off?"
At this, Merlin's demeanor dropped a little. She'd hit a nerve, but she didn't have it in her to be terribly bothered by this, given, well, everything.
The silence, however, was oppressive as everyone stared at each other.
Isaac was the one who finally spoke. "It's a fair question," he said.
Merlin's face hardened further at this.
Nick was the one who spoke up next. "There are things I wish I knew how to explain," he said.
Cassandra crossed her arms. He wasn't getting off that easily. "And?"
"Rasputin is necessary for the things that lie ahead," he said cryptically. "That's why he's survived as long as he has. He's powerful, sure, and that's part of it, but he's skilled enough at getting himself tangled into situations in ways that make him essential."
Cassandra raised an eyebrow at this. "Spoken like you're not fond of the guy."
"I hate him," Nick said.
"He's not all bad," Merlin defended him. He'd completely lost his cool, and it was startling given how charismatic he'd been until now.
Nick scoffed. "Says the one who got most of his lessons from him directly."
"Of course I did! He knew the original Merlin, and it was only natural-"
"Need I remind you," Isaac cut in, "that we have a particular thing we are trying to accomplish and it is not actually helped by your bickering?" He sighed, then turned to Cassandra, measuring his words as he spoke to her. "My apologies for the way my friends are acting. Rasputin's character is a... controversial subject with them."
"Because Merlin is too similar to Rasputin and takes my criticism personally-"
"Quiet, Nick," Isaac said, lifting a hand. "There will be plenty of time for you to continue this argument later, especially after we've successfully made the philosopher's stone. Which we will," he said, "after Cassandra here helps us and shares what she knows from the visions she had as she slept."
At this, both Merlin and Nick pulled themselves together. Merlin's face transformed from irritated and defensive to a calm, expectant one with his eyes shining in the way they usually did, and Nick crossed and uncrossed his arms a couple of times before letting them fall to his sides in attention.
"I don't know what to make of them," Cassandra started, trying not to blush as all the men stared at her.
"That's okay," Merlin said, his voice back to its normal gentle tone. "Tell me whatever you can remember."
She shook her head. "I can remember all of them, I just-"
"Great!" Merlin said, nearly twirling on his foot in his exclamation. "Please, start from the beginning."
"Of course. Can we, perhaps, move though? I would rather be... not in my bedroom for this conversation."
"Of course, of course!" Merlin shouted, giving her a hand to help her stand out of bed. Another needless gesture, but another one she was more than happy to accept from one of the attractive men she found in her home.
It didn't escape her notice, though, that the other two men were staring at her with something that almost looked like lust in their eyes. Yeah, she definitely could not focus on remembering her dreams with them in her bedroom.
So, they made their way back to the living room, and Nick went to make another round of tea as they settled in.
Isaac pulled out a couple pieces of paper, all of which had various formulas on them. Someone—presumably him—had taken extra effort to print them neatly onto the pages. He went over each, using a bunch of phrases Cassandra didn't completely understand and explaining reasoning for the different theories as impartially as it seemed like it was possible for him to given how passionately they'd been discussing them earlier.
Unfortunately, the more he tried to explain things, the more confused Cassandra became.
"I'm sorry," Cassandra said, "thank you, but it seems my skill is a little more... abstract than all of that."
Isaac nodded, smiling in understanding.
"That's alright," Merlin said, taking over as was his norm. "How about instead you close your eyes, try to recall what the formula looked like, and point to the paper you remember being the correct one?"
"Simple. I like it," Cassandra nodded, closing her eyes. She tried remember her dreams. In the past she'd attempted at dream interpretation, and she was used to it being a slippery experience, where it took effort for her to piece together what had happened in her dreams and once it finally came together, it was nonsensical. Now? As soon as she closed her eyes, what had happened while she was asleep was clear immediately; no struggling to remember, no moving symbols and phrases, just an image of a future that would come to pass. She saw herself pointing to a piece of paper, played the memory back a time or two extra just to be sure, and when she opened her eyes, she was living the vision.
She pointed to the same paper—the one second from the end of the lineup.
"Aha! Why, of course," Merlin said, absolutely mirthful. "It seems Isaac is the one who has it correct. He's quite clever, very good with the numbers and probabilities, no wonder his was right."
"What did I miss?" Nick said, entering with a refreshed tray of tea and refreshments. "You said Isaac's was correct?"
"Yes, that seems to be the truth!" Merlin clapped his hands together, entirely more excited about being wrong than Cassandra understood. He looked at her, tilting his head, then, as if he knew the question in her mind, said, "I am not upset when I am wrong. It is in fact a marvelous discovery, and I am entirely glad we're this much closer to solving the question."
Cassandra nodded. "Alright, so what more do you need from me?"
Isaac handed her the piece of paper, flipping it over as he did so. "Here's the list of things we need," he said, gesturing to a list of items he'd written in the same meticulous handwriting.
Merlin twirled his hand over the
top of it, making some letters sparkle and change color. "The ones in purple are the ones we already have," he said. "And the ones in black are the ones we still need. Do you have these in your shop?"
Cassandra considered the list before it. "It looks like you already collected the rarer ones," she said, lifting an eyebrow.
"To the shop, then?"
"To the shop!" Merlin exclaimed, turning on his heel to lead the way outside. Isaac looked from her to the door a couple of times, but didn't seem like he was going to follow Merlin without Cassandra moving. Nick, somehow being the most level-headed of them, helped Cassandra stand once again, taking her hand as she rose to her feet. She was still feeling a little lightheaded from the spell tea, though eating some crackers had helped some, and she stumbled into him when she stood.
"Sorry," she mumbled.
"Not at all," he said, a perfect gentleman. "Perhaps you'd like to hold on to my hand on the walk to your shop? I wouldn't want you to fall on the way."
He asked in a way that felt like there were undertones, but she wasn't sure whether she was reading into them. He wasn't Merlin, and she wasn't sure if the things she could read into his words were intentional in the same ways.
"I'd love that," she said, grasping his hand. "You coming, Isaac?"
Isaac looked... sad, almost. She couldn't put her finger on why.
"Perhaps Isaac should hold your other hand?" Nick suggested, also glancing at Isaac long enough to assess his mood. At this, his expression brightened, so Nick continued, "I'm sure it would be helpful to keep her upright, don't you, Cassandra?"
Cassandra could take a hint. "I'd love that," she said. "Shall we?" She held out a hand, and Isaac outright smiled as he took it.
"Wonderful," Isaac said, leading the trio to the shop.
Chapter Six
Lindsey was closing up Roots and Gerunds when Cassandra and the three men made it there from her home.
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