by Gina LaManna
Gus’s eyes watered. I swallowed, unsure what words might ease his pain. For fear of saying the wrong thing, I remained silent.
“She passed away an hour before I was born, my mother tells me.”
I gasped. “The Elixir preserved her...”
Gus bowed his head. “It kept her spirit alive long enough to meet her first grandson.”
I waited a beat. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. I’d never...I’d never thought of it like that before.”
“That’s why it’s not your job to judge anyone,” Gus said, his words surprisingly gentle. “It’s impossible to know what they are going through when you have not walked in their shoes.”
“I think we have a vial of Truth Seeker left,” I said, striding to the cupboard where I kept a few pre-made, oft-used potions. I selected the correct container and returned to the doorway. I hesitated before stepping through. “Your grandmother sounds like quite a woman. I’m glad she got the chance to meet you.”
“Lily, there’s one more thing.” Gus’s eyes were hazy, as if he’d just woken from a dream. “It is not your job to be judge and jury, but always listen to your gut.”
I squinted at him. “That sounds contradictory. I thought you just said I have to do this by law.”
“You do. It is the rules, and the rules are in place for a good reason.” Turning back to the table, Gus began delicately slicing a flower. “Someday, you’ll understand. Sometimes, the rules are meant to be broken.”
“How do I know when to follow them and when to break them?”
“Don’t you have a customer waiting?” Gus growled in his normal gnarly tone. “Get to it.”
“Sometimes I think you have multiple personalities.”
Gus sighed and looked up. “You’ll just know, Lily. There are some aspects of your job that I can’t explain. You will have to decide for yourself when the time comes.”
“What if I make the wrong decision?”
Gus raised his eyebrows. “That’s a hazard you’ll have to accept when the time is right.”
Somehow, Gus left me more confused after his explanation than before. Holding the vial of the Truth Seeker in my palm, I glanced down at it, steeling myself for the task ahead.
Chapter 3
When I returned to the bar, the first thing I noticed was the absence of Liam. His plate sat empty on the counter, his coffee cup drained. In place of the food, he’d left a napkin with a note scrawled on it. Despite the hooded stranger waiting at the far end of the bar, I quickly scanned the note under the guise of putting the dirty dishes in the sink.
“I’ll be right with you,” I mumbled, stalling for time as I picked up the paper.
Lily,
It was a pleasure getting to know you. I had to run, but I’d love to come by sometime. Maybe when you’re less busy? I have a few days on the island and if you’re up to it, I’d love to buy you lunch. Or get a tour of The Isle from a local. I’ll be staying at the B&B.
Liam
I sucked in a breath, playing the note over again in my mind as I counted the money he’d left on the counter. US dollars meant nothing to the wizards and witches on The Isle. Gold coins and trading were the most common currency, and Liam had left me at least three times the amount needed for his meal. I pocketed it, fully intending to give all of it back the next time I saw him.
As for the lunch date...well, I didn’t want it to be a date. But the conversation had been fun, and he was a nice person. It might be enjoyable to have a chat with someone who understood the mainland. All the islanders pretended to understand my human customs and traditions, but it just wasn’t the same. Reminiscing about McDonalds and movies and books from back home sounded like a nice distraction from the day’s stress.
A small twitch of guilt tugged at my stomach. I fought it back, knowing the root cause of my discomfort was the man who went by the pseudonym Ranger X.
We’d kissed once; it had sizzled like a flash in the pan, and then his soul-searching eyes had taken me to a place I couldn’t seem to forget.
However, we had a problem. A big problem.
Rangers were not allowed to marry or have children, and even serious relationships were frowned upon. Loved ones were viewed as a liability. Rangers worked hard jobs, long hours, and dangerous assignments. Their lifespan was half that of a normal witch or wizard, if they were lucky, and it was unfair to the ones they left behind when their time on earth was done. Therefore, they tried not to leave anyone behind. At least, not anyone who’d miss them.
Maybe making lunch plans with Liam wasn’t a bad idea. It could help get my mind off of Ranger X. Jangling the coins in my pocket, I decided to swing by later and offer Liam a tour around The Isle.
The tap of a fingernail against wood drew me from the depths of my thoughts, startling me. I looked to the hooded figure hunched over the counter. “I’m so sorry, I was lost in thought.”
I opened my fist, which had inadvertently closed tight around the vial, and strode to the end of the bar. I tried to get a peek under the hood, but it hung too deeply over the figure’s face and shielded everything down to the person’s chin. Judging by the very light stubble there, the figure was a man.
Clearing my throat, I held the vial out in front of me. “Do you understand the process?”
He gave no indication that he’d heard me, so I went on to explain.
“According to the regulations, I need to issue you the Truth Serum first. Then I will ask you a question, and you will have to answer it under the influence of the serum. Do you understand the procedure?”
I was just about to give up when finally, the man gave the slightest of nods. He extended a hand, and I slowly dropped the vial into his outstretched palm.
“You’ll need to swallow all of it,” I said. “The side effects of the potion itself will fade shortly. However, if the answer you provide to the question isn’t sufficient, you may experience permanent memory loss.”
“I understand.” The voice was gravelly, as if formed from years of smoking. Or quite possibly, the raspiness could be a sign of illness. “May I?”
My pulse increased. “Yes.”
He held the vial under the sunlight streaming across the countertop. Inside the glass, black and white liquid swirled together, never mixing. The two were repelled from one another, symbolizing the delicate balance of truth and lies. No matter how hard a person shook the bottle, whether they boiled it or froze it, burned it or dumped it, the dichotomy would never bond.
Suddenly, the stranger uncapped the bottle and drew it under his hood, swallowing the Serum in one motion. He set the empty vial back on the counter before I had time to blink.
“Do you understand the consequences of The Elixir?” I asked in a rattling voice. Then I took Gus’s advice and listened to my gut instinct, adding a question of my own. “And do you intend to use it for good?”
Without a second’s pause, the gravelly voice answered in a slightly sing-songish tone typically present when the truth serum was active. “I both understand the consequences of requesting The Elixir, and I have only the purest of intentions for its use.”
“I need to prepare it,” I said, after waiting to see if the man’s memory aborted. When it didn’t, I cleared my throat. “It might take some time.”
“I’ll wait,” he said. “I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
** **
“That should just about do it,” Gus said as I sprinkled the most finely ground Baby’s Breath into a miniature cauldron perched in the center of the table. It sat over a green flame, a special flame that we’d had to build from the twigs of the oldest weeping willow on The Isle. “Stir this while I grab the last ingredient.”
I stirred the potion, more grateful than ever to have Gus by my side. Without The Magic of Mixology spellbook, I would never have figured out the concoction on my own. Mixology ran in my blood, but it didn’t all come naturally. There was an element of experience and knowledge that I hadn’t yet built up in my shor
t time on The Isle. Gus had memorized the book front to back, however, and remembered even the smallest nuances of the intricate potion.
I wiped sweat from my brow as Gus returned with a tiny eyedropper filled with red liquid.
“What is that?” I asked warily. “I don’t think I want to know.”
“Then why’d ya ask?”
“Do I want to know?”
“No,” Gus said firmly. “Take this and release exactly three drops into the cauldron. We wait one minute after that. If you’ve done everything correctly, the smoke will turn black.”
My hand shook as I took the dropper from Gus’s hand. My concentration was disappearing rapidly after having focused hard for the past hour, but I took everything I had left and squeezed exactly three drops of the solution into the pot. The seconds ticked by, turning into the longest minute of my life.
Even Gus tapped his foot against the wooden floor in impatience. He wasn’t a particularly patient man, but he rarely let his nerves show.
“It worked!” I gasped. “The smoke—it’s black!”
Gus reached forward and doused the green flame with a special white powder. The fire vanished, smoke coughing black puffs toward the ceiling.
“Quickly, pour this into a goblet,” Gus said. “It doesn’t last.”
“This potion is time sensitive?”
“It expires one hour from creation.”
“Is that another regulation?” I asked as I grabbed a large goblet from the shelf. It was gold and encrusted with gemstones. Such a pivotal moment in a person’s life felt as if it deserved our finest glassware.
“Intentions can change in a second,” Gus said. “The expiration date is for the protection of everyone. Should the person asking for The Elixir change their mind in a day, we’d need to re-test them with the Truth Serum.”
My back straightened. “What if he changed his mind in an hour?”
Gus licked his lips as he shook his head. “That’s a risk that we can’t possibly prevent.”
My chest tightened as I took the goblet. “He drinks this...all of it. Then what?”
“Then he’ll likely carry on with his business until...” Gus cleared his throat. “It’s best if you close up shop for the night and spend some time with your cousins.”
“But the shop doesn’t close for another two hours,” I said, glancing at the clock. “You’ve always taught me that we never close early.”
“Sometimes rules are meant to be broken,” Gus said. “I have the feeling that you won’t be doing much good here tonight after you’ve served The Elixir. You’ve concentrated hard, and frankly, I don’t trust you to make a cup of coffee, let alone a potion. Magic & Mixology will close tonight.”
He was right. Already I couldn’t concentrate on anything except the bubbling potion in my hand. It felt weighty. Like the decision itself, the potion was a heavy one. “I’ll spend some time with Poppy and Zin, then.”
“You’ve done good,” Gus called as I took a few steps toward the bar. “The Elixir is a taxing potion on both the consumer and the Mixologist. It’s natural if you don’t get much sleep tonight.”
I savored Gus’s compliment for a moment; they came few and far between. However, his words also gave me pause. “Why would I not sleep tonight?”
Gus gave me a crooked smile, the slightest hint of pity in his gaze. “Maybe you won’t have trouble sleeping. Who knows.”
As I proceeded back outside to give the hooded figure his potion, the sinking feeling in my stomach grew stronger, and Gus’s warning returned. I suddenly understood.
How could I sleep after administering a potion that meant certain death to the recipient?
Chapter 4
“You’re completely aware what drinking this entails?” I asked again, clutching the potion near to my chest. “There is no going back once you drink this.”
“I understood the risks long before I came here,” he said, a raspy lilt to his words. “It’s time.”
The minutes were indeed ticking down. Another fifty minutes and the potion would cease to function. “There’s no way to come back after you drink this—”
“I told you, I knew the risks coming in here.”
Taking the final few steps toward the man in the hood, I wished I could convince him not to drink The Elixir. For both his sake and mine. “This is the first time I’ve made it; I can’t guarantee its quality.”
“I know who you are. The smoke is black, and the old man in the back helped you. Doesn’t matter if it’s the first or the last time you make it as long as it works. That’s all I care about.”
“I’ve never seen anyone drink it before. I don’t know what’s supposed to happen.”
“Well, like your old man said, you aren’t the judge nor are you the jury. Whatever happens after I drink this is my business.”
“Mine too,” I said in a hushed tone. “I have to live with whatever happens to you.”
“I am doing this as much for you as I am for myself.”
“What?” My mouth fell open. “I don’t know you, and I don’t want you to drink this! Why would you think that?”
“Give me the glass.”
I hesitated.
“Give it to him.” Gus stood in the doorway, his face creased in a contemplative stare. “You’ve given him your advice and provided him counsel. If he doesn’t want to listen to it, that’s his choice.”
“But—”
“Listen to him,” growled the stranger. “You must give me the potion. Those are the rules.”
My gaze flipped between Gus and the stranger, my heart gaining momentum with each beat. Extending a shaky hand, I set the potion on the bar, just far enough away so the hooded man had to lean forward.
From underneath his flowing robes, he snatched the goblet and brought it to his lips. There, he hesitated for one brief second. He looked into the mixture, the black smoke swirling up and distorting his features. Suddenly, he tipped his head back and poured the liquid straight down his throat. As he did so, I caught the briefest glimpse into his eyes. A murky gray.
He set the glass down, his eyes burning holes in my skin from under his hood. As quickly as the hood slid back, he pulled it forward once more.
“Are you okay?” I asked, expecting more of a reaction. Some gagging maybe, or a vile expression. Instead, the whole thing was relatively anti-climactic until the man’s lips curled into a smile brimming with disdain. I raised my shoulders. “Can I get you water or something?”
“Good night, Lily Locke.” He stood and withdrew gold coins from within the depths of his robes. Throwing all of them on the table, he turned and strode toward the door.
“Wait!” I called after him. “This is too much! Ten times the amount due!”
The figure paused at the doorway, his chest rising and falling beneath his robes. “Where I’m going, gold is useless.”
I wanted to call after him that I could help, that maybe there was some antidote. I wanted to shout advice, take back the entire potion, and throw it away for good. But I found myself unable to do any of it. Instead, I stood frozen in place and watched as he left. Gus’s eyes never left my face, his stare pinning me to the wall with its intensity.
“Let it go, Lily,” Gus said quietly. “Let him go, and close up shop for today. Your work here is done.”
Chapter 5
I closed up shop just as Gus had ordered, taking my time as I wiped down the glassware and washed leftover dishes. Though the sun was high in the sky and the day was only half gone, my shoulders slumped in exhaustion, my mind as fried as if I’d been memorizing herbs for ten hours straight.
The light jangling sound of coins reminded me of the two visitors from today. Both had overpaid their bills significantly, and as I scrubbed the top of the wooden bar clean, guilt tugged at my insides.
Exhaling a sigh, I finished cleaning the bar, locked up, and disappeared back into the storeroom.
“What now?” I asked Gus. He sat at the table with a pair of g
lasses perched on his nose, studying what looked like a tiny twig on the table. “I’ve never had a day off before.”
“You talk as if I’m a slave driver,” he said without looking up.
I made an “if the shoe fits” sort of shrug, but luckily, he was too busy slicing the twig in half with a very sharp knife to notice.
“I saw that,” he said. “I can tell if you roll your eyes at me from a mile away.”
“I didn’t roll my eyes!”
“Did you make a face?” Gus looked up, his eyes magnified at least ten times behind his glasses. “You made a face.”
“Well, it’s true. I don’t usually have days off. Can I please help with whatever you’re working on? It’ll make me feel better.”
“No.”
I crossed the room and sat down on the bench opposite him. “Please?”
“It’s not my job to make you feel better,” he said. He remained tense for a moment, hiding his thoughts until finally his hands relaxed and he spoke softly. “Don’t you want to rest?”
“Don’t you want to relax?” I shot back. “The shop is closed. Why don’t you go enjoy the day?”
“I like spending my time here.” Gus didn’t look up, but he paused ever so slightly as he said the words. “I don’t have a life outside of this place.”
“I like it here too,” I said softly. “I’d be happy to help you.”
Gus let out a slow breath. At first it looked like he wanted to argue. Then he pushed the glasses up on his head and gave me a curious stare. “You want to help?”
“I need the distraction.”
“Five minutes,” Gus said. “That’s all I have left here. Believe it or not, I do have plans tonight.”
“Are you going on a date with Mimsey?” I asked in a sing-song voice. “Dinner plans?”
