The Potion Diaries

by Amy Alward

  ‘I’ve also swapped out the memory card for the biggest one I have – it should be enough.’

  ‘We’re planning on being up and down within twelve hours,’ says Arjun. ‘The plan is not to camp on the volcano or stay a moment longer than we have to.’

  ‘Take these too,’ says Trina. She hands us both small black objects that look like buttons. ‘They will work as tracking devices, but only switch them on in an emergency – the signal might get picked up outside of our channels.’

  ‘Got it,’ I say. I guess we’re ready then.

  The next morning, I’m up early to dress in my jumpsuit and boots.

  Already the first of the sun’s rays are starting to creep across the dark sky, purple and blue rising like a bruise. We need to start our hike soon. There won’t be any shortcuts for what we’re about to do.

  Arjun checks his Finding device for the hundredth time, even though we know we’re the only Finders on the volcano in ages. No one else is going to have seen a phoenix around here. We’re going in basically blind. It makes sense that the phoenix would nest near the place where the Talent potion was first created, though. Nature has a way of providing a cure nearby. Just as dock leaves grow near stinging nettles or jewelweed blooms by poison ivy, often a poison and its antidote live side by side. It’s just a matter of knowing where to look.

  My first step is to pull on long underwear. Even though we’re headed into the depths of a volcano, the likelihood is that it will be cold – not warm. And my skin needs to be protected as much as possible. Who knows what kind of toxins will be in the air.

  The jumpsuit is trickier to put on than I imagined, partially because it is so stiff and thick around the knees and elbows. I can’t imagine hiking in this is going to be easy. I manage to get it most of the way on, when there’s a knock on the door. ‘Can I come in?’ asks Anita from the other side of the bedroom door.

  ‘Sure thing,’ I say.

  ‘Oh, let me help you with that,’ she says. She rushes over to my side and helps me pull the suit up and over my shoulders, then zips it up in the back. When it’s done up, it feels lighter, the weight redistributing around my body. ‘You doing okay?’ she asks, when I turn around.

  ‘Scared. Nervous. Anxious. I want to get the ingredient and get back here ASAP.’

  ‘Us too,’ Anita says with a laugh. ‘But you’ve got this, Sam. Think of everything you’ve come through this year. What’s a little volcano?’

  I chuckle even as I shudder.

  ‘You might get to see a phoenix,’ she says, the wonder evident in her voice. Her eyes widen as they connect with mine, and I let the awe of it settle in my bones. She understands. She’s the one who drew me my first picture of a phoenix. I suck at anything artistic, but she captured it perfectly: the flicker of bright orange feather into red and yellow flame, the marble-black eyes. I still have that drawing framed above my bed.

  ‘You’ll have everything ready for when I get back, right? This can be a potion that we make together.’

  ‘I’ll be the apprentice to your Grand Master,’ says Anita with a wink.

  ‘Don’t say that.’

  ‘But I mean it. You’re amazing, Sam. And you’re the only one on this planet who can help. Now, how about those boots?’

  I nod, then perch on the end of the bed to put my boots on. As I do so, I let Anita’s words sink in and form a casing around my heart; protection against the self-doubt that threatens to gnaw its way to my soul at every moment. This is what best friends do. They not only lift you up but they give you the tools to keep going even in the darkest moment. Her friendship, her love, becomes the armour that I wear against every kind of battle: external and internal.

  Her belief in me means more than I can ever say.

  Boots fully laced up, I stand with renewed energy. ‘I’m ready,’ I say.

  ‘And we’ll be ready for you when you get back.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Samantha

  ‘I’VE JUST BEEN UP TO MY EYEBALLS MAKING more sleeping draughts,’ says Zain, his voice crackling down the line. I’ve managed to get him on the phone before we leave for the volcano trek, but the connection is weak. It’s late in the evening his time – and very early in the morning for me.

  ‘Any news?’

  ‘The Prince is still trying to keep it quiet that the virus – sorry, the drain – is affecting the floating Palace. How long until you can get a cure ready? I’ll prepare some kind of excuse to go see her so I can wake up the Princess to give her the cure.’

  ‘We’re just about to set off to see if we can find the phoenix now.’

  ‘And if you can’t?’ Zain asks the question I have been blocking out of my mind.

  ‘Then we search for another volcano. Research other sightings. Anita is on it,’ I say, with more confidence than I feel. ‘Are you being careful?’

  ‘Trying to be. They’re making us wear these full coverage suits when we go in to see the affected, so we don’t touch their skin. Still, some people are scared of being put to sleep and are trying to leave the Palace. The Prince caught a couple of Talented servants attempting to sneak out.’

  ‘Oh my god.’ Just because some servants were caught, doesn’t mean that others didn’t slip through the net. ‘Keep on being vigilant. I’d better go. We’re almost at the monastery.’

  ‘Good luck,’ he says. ‘I love you.’

  ‘I love you too.’ We hang up the phone.

  I can tell Arjun is getting antsy. His leg jiggles up and down next to mine in the back of the car, his fingers playing some imaginary piece of music on the keys of his knees. I want to grip his hand and tell him to stop, but he needs to let this nervous energy out. If he had his way, we’d have at least another week to properly prepare for this hike. There was an earthquake as we left – just a small one, enough to rattle the teacups on our saucers but not to knock the books of the shelves. It’s a reminder not to take this trek to the volcano lightly. By contrast, I feel as still as a millpond, my breathing calm and even. I might have slipped a tiny bit of a calming potion into my morning tea. Anything to stay sane.

  The Waidan drops us off at the monastery, but from there we have to go on foot. There are no roads up to the summit and no way for cars to cross the craggy ground. ‘Do not anger the gods,’ he says ominously as we leave.

  ‘Um, I’m pretty sure we have no control over what happens to this volcano . . . nature is going to get angry whether I have anything to do with it or not.’ Now is probably not the time to be flippant with the person who has been helping me so much, but I can’t stop myself: his warnings are fraying my already frayed nerves.

  I get out of the car before I can say anything else and stare up at the volcano. It’s like a child’s drawing: a triangle straight up into the sky, topped with white fluff. No, Sam, not white fluff. Glaciers and ice. Dangerous stuff.

  Arjun is already getting his bearings with the compass. ‘In the past, Finders took a slightly western direction – we’ll follow that as we’re not going to be able to walk straight up, obviously, so we’ll have to take a kind of zigzag pattern.’

  ‘Let’s start walking or else I might chicken out.’

  Arjun turns back to me and laughs, his face barely visible under his beanie hat and with his jumpsuit zipped up under his chin. ‘Come on, then.’

  The first hour of the walk is not too bad: although we’re travelling upwards all the time, the ground is solid beneath my heavy boots: mud and topsoil and even a few low-growing shrubs. To pass the time, Arjun and I sing songs that we learned at summer camps when we were little. Even though Anita is my best friend, Arjun has always been there – a big brother to me when I’ve always felt like I had to take on the responsible ‘older sibling’ role at home. I’ve always been the one to look out for Molly, the one to pick up the slack when my parents are busy, the one who runs the store and who has taken on more responsibility than I needed.

  But Arjun was always the one to take responsibil
ity for me – for Anita and me both. I appreciate having a friend like that.

  We take a break after that first hour, pausing to sip some water. ‘Wow,’ says Arjun, as he stares over my shoulder.

  I turn around – and I have to agree. We’re quite high up now – almost halfway up the side of the volcano, and all around us the sky is lightening, the previous streaks of purple and blue now turned vibrant shades of violet and crimson that are plastered across the sky as if by a kid with a paintbrush. The volcanic ash that’s been thrown up into the sky seems to have intensified the colours of a normal sunrise.

  ‘Come on,’ Arjun says. ‘I want to get higher so we can use the light to look for the clearest path up.’

  I nod, taking a final swig of water.

  The next hour is much, much harder. The ground beneath our feet has changed from hard-packed mud to thousands of shards of tumbling, slippery scree. Suddenly I’m being forced to use muscles on the insides of my thighs that I haven’t used maybe ever in my life, just to stay upright. Arjun has shortened our zigzags, so the way up is steeper, and occasionally he has to stop to help pull me up when I lose my footing. I realise now why the gear is so necessary: the weirdly padded jumpsuit and the gloves. I end up falling onto my knees more often than is dignified and if I wasn’t wearing protection, I would be ripping my skin into shreds.

  ‘There’s got to be an end to this,’ I shout up to Arjun, who’s gone on ahead of me to help clear a path. My pride’s not too dented because I can see that he is out of breath as well, leaning on his thighs when he thinks I’m not looking. I’m using the pick-axe now like a walking stick, keeping it constantly on the upward side of the mountain, changing sides every time we zig or zag.

  ‘There is, but I don’t think you’re going to like it,’ he says.

  He’s stopped a few metres higher than me, and with a burst of energy that comes from a place deep down inside of me – I don’t know where – I run up the scree mountainside to meet him. Then I see what he means. Ahead of us the gravel merges with ice covered in a layer of ash. It’s dirty and grimy, and even though it crunches underfoot, it’s also much more slippery.

  ‘I think we’re going to have to put on those crampons,’ Arjun says.

  I nod, reluctantly, and we slip on the sharp spikes over our boots to give us extra grip. There are even spikes that stick out horizontally, to help us when we’re walking at an angle. ‘Just take extra wide steps,’ he reminds me the second time I catch myself on the spikes, the metallic claws grinding against each other and almost making me stumble.

  Easier said than done.

  It hardly looked like it from the bottom, but every step on the glacier is twice as hard as the scree. It’s not just the icy surface: the path has become a lot steeper, until sometimes I feel like I’m walking at an angle, leaning in towards the summit. To try and take my mind off the hard labour, I go over everything I know about the phoenix with Arjun.

  ‘It’s a creature that doesn’t have a normal life and death cycle, that’s what makes it so interesting.’

  ‘What, more interesting than the abominable?’ he replies. ‘Abominables never die. Isn’t immortality better than rebirth?’

  ‘How can it be? Phoenixes live entire lives, start young, grow old and die – one phoenix might live a thousand lives and each time it’s evolving. And no one has any idea how they come into existence. All that’s known is that they’re linked with volcanoes.’

  ‘So they’re sort of like merpearls then.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, every pearl is grown in a mermaid shell but not every mermaid shell contains a pearl. That’s why so many Finders don’t bother with phoenixes. Imagine having to search every volcano in the world to see if there was one around . . . impossible. Now, Garuda on the other hand . . .’

  ‘Come on. Their rarity makes them even more exciting. Garuda, hmmph. They’re practically like sparrows.’

  ‘Hey now, Garuda are pretty cool.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll give you that. But phoenixes are still number one.’

  ‘You might change your tune after today,’ he says, and even though I screw my nose up at him, I have to agree. With every continued step that we take, talking gets even harder. It becomes an effort just to remember how to use my muscles, let alone think of a witty comeback or join in some banter.

  I look down at my watch: already three hours have passed. The sun is now high in the sky, beating down on us with such ferocity that I have to admire the glacier for its tenacity. How is it sticking around? In all the layers, with all the exertion and the heat, I’m sweating like a pig. ‘Almost . . . there . . .’ says Arjun ahead of me, and I can’t help but be glad to hear the strain in his voice. It makes me feel less terrible about being so out of shape.

  I knew I should’ve tried harder in gym class. But what can I say? I was always more of a chemistry lab rat – and no one bought me one of those cute wheels to run around in.

  There’s a big boulder in our path that looks like it’s been shot out from the centre of the earth. Arjun gives me a boost up, so I’m the first one over it.

  And the first breath I take on the other side fills my lungs with searing fire. Without even thinking, I push back off the boulder and scramble down to the previous level, almost squashing Arjun in the process. ‘Sam? What is it? What’s going on?’

  I cough and splutter until I feel like my lungs are going to explode. My hands grip my throat, trying to massage the pain away. My eyes are watering and I can barely speak. ‘Rotten eggs,’ I say eventually. ‘And vinegar. Or acid.’

  ‘Oh, dragons . . . we need our gas masks. There must be a vent over that way. But hey, think of it like this . . . it means we’re so close to the summit now, Sam!’

  I gulp down air, but I can’t seem to get a proper breath. Arjun looks down at me, his eyebrows drawn together in a frown. ‘Are you okay? We’re up pretty high up here . . . you’re not getting altitude sick are you?’

  I take a big swig of water and – now that the pain has subsided – try a few deep breaths. ‘I’m okay.’

  Arjun kneels in front of me and stares into my eyes. ‘No headaches? Dizziness? Any of those symptoms and we turn round straight away.’

  I shake my head. I hadn’t even thought about the altitude – stupid, considering my last experience on a mountain. Zain would not be happy with me. But it’s all been too much of a whirlwind. ‘Wait,’ I say. ‘Do you have any more of that tea the Waidan prepared for us? I’m sure that I smelled coca leaves in there – it might help with the height.’

  Arjun reaches around to the flask in his backpack’s side pocket. ‘I might have a drop or two left.’

  ‘We should drink up before the gas masks go on.’

  ‘You got it.’ He unscrews the lid and passes it over for me to drink. Instantly I can think more clearly, and I silently thank the Waidan for whatever magic he mixed in for us. Even my throat feels better. I have a feeling we’re going to need gallons of the tea once we get back to Long-shi.

  ‘Once we get to the summit, what’s the plan again?’ I ask. I think I know, but I need the extra few moments to sit and breathe.

  ‘We find a safe place to anchor the rope and begin what looks like a clear descent into the crater at the top of the volcano. Then we look for signs of a phoenix nest on the crater walls: fallen feathers, boulders of sparkling quartz that look out of place, that sort of thing. I’ll be setting my watch timer for seven minutes. Even with these gas masks and all the heat protection we have on, we shouldn’t spend any longer than that inside the crater. You got it? Not a minute more – if we don’t find the phoenix by then, we come back another time with better equipment and more people.’

  ‘You got it,’ I say. I pull the gas mask over my face and clench the rubber bit between my teeth. It takes me a second to regulate my breathing: it’s almost like when we went scuba diving together – that same stale air and slight sense of claustrophobia, knowing that I can’t properly
breathe without it. But within a few seconds, the feeling passes.

  Arjun signals to me that he’s going to go first over the boulder this time. I curl my fingers together into a step and help him up. Once he’s there, he reaches back down and pulls me up. I brace myself for the searing breath, but thanks to the gas mask, the air entering my lungs is neutralised. It doesn’t completely take away the gross, eggy smell though. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to survive one whole minute, let alone seven.

  I don’t have any time to think about it. Because Arjun takes a step towards the crater and a hole opens up beneath his feet.

  And in that instant, he is gone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Samantha

  ‘ARJUN!’ I SCREAM, BUT ALL I SUCCEED in doing is making a noise that sounds like a cat being strangled, and fogging up my eye mask. I scramble to where I last saw Arjun, and see the hole created in the ground where it gave way underneath his weight. The edge starts to shake under my feet too, and I throw myself back against the boulder. ‘Arjun!’ I shout, but the wind on this side buffets my face, stealing away any sounds he might be making in return.

  Think, Sam, think!

  I unravel the coil of rope from around my waist. So far this boulder has been the most secure object I’ve seen, so it will have to do. Hugging the boulder tight, I slowly edge my way around it, bringing the rope with me. Once it’s hugging the boulder’s circumference, I tie one of the knots I was taught at summer camp. My fingers shake, but I order them to behave. Every second I spend faffing around with the rope is a second that Arjun is alone – injured, or possibly worse (although I don’t let my mind dwell on that thought for even a second. It skips it like a stone skimming the water – if it drops in, I might never resurface).

  Once I’m satisfied the rope is somewhat secure, I give it a few sharp tugs. It doesn’t budge. It’s good enough for me. I wrap the other end around my waist, securing it through one of the carabiners.