Witchy Sour (The Magic & Mixology Mystery Series Book 2) (22 page)

I stumbled once. I was nearing the entrance, my body could feel it. However, as I turned to look at what I’d tripped over, all movement ceased and any thought of an end goal vanished. There, in the middle of the walkway, lay a cane. Gus’s cane.

“There you are, pretty girl,” a man’s voice spoke in front of me. “You just about made it out of here.
Brava
, darling,
brava
.”

“What do you want from me?” I asked, clutching the spellbook to my chest and willing my voice not to crack. “What’d you do to Gus?”

“Turn your pretty head around and follow me,” he said, gesturing at my hands. Ribbons shot from his fingers, binding my wrists together as the book fell to the ground. He picked it up, stroking the cover with mild affection. “Come along now, come along. We have some fun waiting for you.”

Chapter 23

Though it felt like I’d been walking for ages, I must not have gone very far at all. In a matter of minutes, we arrived back at the cauldron.

“What do you want from me?” I held my wrists out, the thin bindings straining against my skin. “These really aren’t necessary.”

“It won’t be much longer.” Thomas hummed a little ditty as he peeked into the cauldron, balancing the spellbook in his other hand. “It’s almost ready.”

“That looks like a potion invented to treat my cousin’s blood-intolerance issues. It’s not dangerous.”

“Not yet.” Thomas reached a long, thin stick into the potion and gave it a few swirls. He tapped the side of the cauldron to shake off the excess drops before facing me. “While we’re waiting, entertain me. Tell me how you found out about everything.”

I hesitated, but Thomas was looking over with an expression in his eye that told me he wasn’t feeling generous. I cleared my throat, figuring it best to keep talking before his patience waned. “I overheard you talking with Gus and Harpin, but it didn’t sound like the three of you were getting along.”

At this, Thomas threw his head back and laughed, a clipped, calculated sound. His black cloak danced in the wind, the orange ribbon around his hood signifying his status not as a beginner, but also not as a master. “Many people work together without being friends.”

“What were you working on?”

“Some people think they can change the world for the better.” He shook his head, his eyes holding amusement that made my nerves rattle from my head to my toes. “It’s funny. Naive, rather, especially when it’s coming from a man of your grandfather’s age.”

“It’s never too late to change the world.”

“Even if your mentor, or whatever you call him, managed to bring about change for the better, what would that get him?”

I waited in silence.

“It’d get him nothing,” Thomas finished. “Because he wouldn’t be here to enjoy it. What’s the point? Why not let someone else worry about it?”

My teeth ground against one another, and I wished my eyes could burn holes in this man’s skull.

He sighed. “Then again, I suppose that’s exactly why I’m here. Leaving the job for others to finish is
never
a good idea. I might as well do everything myself.”

“What job?” My heart started thumping. “Are you with The Faction?”

“That’s the whole problem with The Faction,” he said, a flare of anger passing quickly across his face. “We started out small. Tight. Adaptable. Now, they’ve turned into a corporation. Meetings and budgets and rules and yada, yada, yada. I wouldn’t be surprised if they started handing out medical benefits and a 401k.”

“So you don’t belong to The Faction anymore?”

“It’s complicated.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the next, his robes curling with the effort. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

He hesitated, his forehead wrinkled in thought. “I brought a solution to the leaders, a solution that would end all of their problems, and do you know what they told me?”

I shook my head.

“They said they’d think about it.
Think
about it! I was their most loyal member, and after giving years of my life to them, they come back with…they’ll
think
about it?”

“Maybe there were better options,” I suggested reasonably. “That doesn’t mean
no
.”

“My plan would have worked,” he said shortly. “You know nothing about the way we work. They forced me to go out on my own.”

“What was the plan?” I had a second thought that caused my stomach to flip flop. “Is Harpin working with you? Does he have Gus?”

“Harpin, Harpin, Harpin...he’ll appreciate what I’m doing. Gus, not so much. He never liked me, that old man, but he had no choice except to work with me.”

“Why not?”

“Have you heard of The Core?”

I blinked at the change of subject. “No.”

“
Hmm
, I’m not surprised Gus didn’t share his little secret with you.”

“What is The Core?”

“A small group of wizards only. Cretan graduates mostly. At the moment, only five of us know of The Core’s existence.”

“Let me guess, you, Gus, and Harpin.” I counted aloud. “I heard the three of you talking about some project on the path last night in front of that old ice cream hut.”

“Ah, yes. Well, Gus was the second member to join the group. The three of us and Turin. Then, there’s the leader, but he is unnamed. Nobody knows who he is, or what he’s called, or where he’s located. This leader handpicked a few members to join. Think of The Core as a resistance sort of group. A small cell that is flexible and able to pivot quickly in order to fight against The Faction.”

“Gus’s entry makes sense,” I said. “But Harpin? Who let you and Harpin into the group?”

“I got in because of my background. Anyone entering The Core must ingest the Truth Seeker potion and answer a series of questions under its influence.”

“How did you pass the Truth Seeker test?”

“They asked me if I used to work for The Faction, and I said yes. They asked if I continued to work for The Faction, and I said no. Therefore, the leader of The Core deemed me invaluable. You see, I have contacts inside The Faction. I know things, and I have information that nobody on the outside could ever hope to learn.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“They forgot to touch on one crucial point. Although I don’t work for The Faction, that doesn’t mean I don’t sympathize with their cause. I work for myself now. When they asked if I was joining The Core to fight The Faction, I said yes. It wasn’t a lie. I
am
fighting them, but not in the way The Core had hoped.”

I tried to recall the scene from last night, but my memory was choppy at best. “Why was Gus supposed to have information on me? Why did he need to prove himself?”

“Gus stole your little book,” he said. “The leader gave him a test to see if he could keep a secret from you. As you weren’t invited to be a part of the group, you weren’t allowed to know any of the information. It was a test of his loyalty.”

“He stole
The Magic of Mixology
to prove something,” I said, more to myself than anyone else. It made sense. Gus had always had the means to do it. All I’d been missing was the motive. “He would’ve given it back.”

“Maybe.” Thomas shrugged. “Until I knocked him out early this morning. I needed that spellbook, and it was just my luck that Gus had lifted it from your safe.”

“What did you do to him?”

“Unfortunately, Gus returned home too quickly after our meeting, and so he left me no choice but to immobilize him.”

“Where is he? Why are you carrying out this plan? The Faction will never take you back.”

“This isn’t about The Faction anymore,” he said. “Consider it a labor of love. The Faction doesn’t realize the significance of what I’m doing yet, but someday they’ll understand. Someday, they’ll remember my name in stories.”

He was crazy. Insane. My eyes flicked over toward the potion, and I struggled to find a way to keep him talking. “I thought you’d have selected a more dangerous potion if you wanted to make a splash in history.”

“Oh, this potion is plenty dangerous when one swaps out a pinch of Dust of the Devil with a pinch of Hog’s Vein.”

My limbs froze. I hadn’t put it together in the heat of the moment, but suddenly it all made sense. The ingredients used in Vamp Vites crossed over to make another potion—a deadly poison.

“Maybe Gus mentioned it?” Thomas peered down at me. “Hog’s Vein can be a brutal killer.”

“I don’t focus on ingredients that hurt people.”

“That’s a shame. You might’ve recognized what was going on here if you’d paid more attention. Let me educate you.” He paced in a slow circle around the bubbling cauldron before clasping his hands behind his back. “Hog’s Vein changes the polarity of a spell. When swapped for half of the most difficult ingredient in any potion, it takes the healing natures of that spell and funnels them into one of destruction.”

“Still, you can’t possibly get everyone on The Isle to drink a mysterious potion. Even if you somehow managed to test it on one person—nobody would pick up the goblet after the first person died.”

“It doesn’t need to be ingested.” He moved to the mini cauldron and sat down next to it. Wafting a hand over the steaming curl of smoke on the top, he inhaled deeply. “The danger is airborne. This potion is not yet ready, but I’ve brewed a trial run, and I’m confident it will work.”

“How could you do that if you don’t have Dust of the Devil?”

“I used a substitute ingredient that is not nearly as potent, but far easier to obtain. That batch was my practice run, and it worked. In fact, if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that a certain friend of yours has been suffering from bouts of nausea.”

“Poppy? That’s her withdrawal from the vitamins.”

“Hmm. Vampires have highly increased senses, particularly hearing and smell. Therefore, your cousin would be impacted by even a pale imitation of the real thing…” he trailed off, glancing lovingly at the potion.

A chill ran down my spine. I had no antidote in the bungalow for an attack like this one. The simmering, purple color of the potion told me he hadn’t yet added Hog’s Vein, but a pinch of the final ingredient would give off a poisonous scent so strong Poppy wouldn’t be the only one looking for help.

I frowned as he sniffed the mixture eagerly. “What’s the point of it all?”

His eyes were still focused on the curling steam. “The point? I started out by pledging my life to The Faction. I swore to help them, dedicated my life’s work to the cause.” He stood up, eyes sharply pointed in my direction. “Even after I’d given them my soul, they let me down.”

“I’m sure you’re hurt, but there has to be a different way.”

He glanced forlornly back at the bubbling potion. “This should get their attention.”

“There are other ways to get their attention! We can come up with something together. I will help you if it means protecting the islanders. You have my word.”

“I’ll ask for your opinion if I want it,” he snarled. “The only reason you’re still alive is that Hog’s Vein is hard to come by. So is Dust of the Devil, but you managed to secure plenty of that, so my needs shouldn’t be an issue.”

“I’m not helping you poison people. You heard my offer.”

“You will help.”

“Or what, you’ll kill me?”

He slid a sideways glance in my direction before crossing his arms. “You don’t believe I would?”

Something hitched in his voice, and I couldn’t tell if it was excitement or fear. That something took a second to sink in, but when it did, I knew with certainty that the man had killed before. “You murdered the Black Ribbon wizard.”

“Turin Jalop,” he said. “Good wizard, from what I hear. I didn’t have much personal experience with him until it was too late. As I said before, he was the fourth member of The Core. Ironically, out of five of us, two were double agents. While he’d infiltrated The Faction, I’d come from The Faction and infiltrated The Core. Fair is fair, I suppose.”

“Why would you kill him? Don’t you want the strongest wizards working with you? They can’t be helpful if they’re dead.”

“But they’re even less helpful if they’re traitors,” he snarled. “Turin was a long-time member of The Faction. Imagine my surprise when I found him sending messages back and forth with your mentor.”

“Gus and Turin worked together before The Core?”

“Apparently their Black Ribbon bond was stronger than Turin’s loyalty to The Faction, though I’m not convinced he was ever loyal.”

I sat back in stunned silence, gathering my thoughts.

“You don’t believe Gus was in on anything?” Thomas sneered. “You think your old man just puttered around the shop all day?”

“I’m not surprised,” I said, realizing that was the truth. “Gus is many things, but a coward is not one of them. If he was working with Turin or against The Faction, it was because he believed in the cause. My loyalties are with him.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Thomas said slowly. “Which is why Gus is currently out of commission. I figured your death might not be enough of a bargaining chip. Unfortunately, I need you to work with me, so I created a backup plan. His name is Gus, and if you don’t find me that Hog’s Vein before tomorrow, then his death will be on your hands.”

“I’ll need to talk to a few people,” I said, clearing my throat. There was no good way out of the situation, and my only option was to go along with the plan and stall as long as possible. “I didn’t find Dust of the Devil on my own.”

“I’m sorry, that’s not allowed either.” Thomas twisted his lips into a mock-apologetic grimace. “You and I are searching right here in The Forest. I have a timer set on Gus’s location, and if I don’t check in with a friend in time, it will open up a Suffocating Spell. The air will flow, leaving Gus thirty minutes to breathe before…”

He trailed off, the implication enough.

I opened my mouth to argue, but Thomas held up a hand.

“I wouldn’t do that,” he said carefully as he waved a hand in front of my body. The ribbons vanished from around my wrists. “You want to argue? I’ll sit here and talk to you all day long, but that doesn’t help either of us. Do you want your friend alive? Give me what I need.”