SpellShocked (SpellShocked Saga: Book 1)

Chapter 36 - Immortuos

"Right, you've added the crushed Erzite to the consecrated graveyard dirt, the viper blood and the tree sap," Az said, "So now you need to form the mixture into the shape of the chalk around a hair from a Kelpie." We were spending our night in the common area of the dorms and had borrowed some apothecary equipment for me to practise with. I scooped up a brown gloopy mixture we had created from the inside of a beaker and began to shape it into a long cylinder.

"This is disgusting," I laughed as the paste squelched in my hands.

"Why are you even making this stuff?" Olivia asked, screwing up her nose, "There's plenty in the store cupboards."

"Oh, um, I j-just thought I should know h-how to make it...you know, just i-in case I need to in the future," I lied; I had told Hunter about Merlin's tower but I still hadn't told Az and Olivia about Merlin or the Seed or anything like that. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to tell them everything, but I promised Merlin I wouldn't, and I had broken that promise too many times already to warrant telling them just yet.

"I guess so," she shrugged, "I just wish you'd picked a less gross option."

"I forgot how squeamish you are," Hunter joked, putting his hands over her eyes, "Don't look!" She pushed him away, chuckling. I smiled to myself, looking at my friends, because that's honestly what they were now. I had been here at MerPrep for almost five months and in that time, I had gotten closer and closer with them all. I never thought I would be able to just sit and joke around with a group of people, not feeling self-conscious and anxious the whole time, but here I was and in moments like these I felt sincerely happy. I genuinely felt like I belonged here with them.

"Okay, now what?" I asked, holding out the cylindrical blob towards Az.

"Now you put it in fresh spring water and heat it to 80 Celsius then plunge it into ice water." I stood up, wincing from the bruises lining my body. Despite the protests of Hunter, Olivia and Az, Ryo and I had continued to train with Maya a couple of times a week, and my body was suffering because of it. However, my skills were improving massively – Maya's brutal teaching method was definitely effective – and I was feeling quietly confident about competing in round two of The Clash nine days from now on the last day of term before winter vacation.

I put the blob into a beaker set up over a Bunsen burner, and lit the gas. There was thermometer in the beaker, and it didn't take long to rise to 80 degrees, at which point I removed the blob with a metal pair of tongs and plunged it into a bucket full of ice water, steam erupting from the rapid change in temperature. When I removed the chalk from the ice water, it was a shiny purple colour and had solidified so it felt rubbery.

"Now you just need to wait a half hour until it dries out completely and you're good to go," Az commented, lying back on the couch.

"That was pretty easy," I admitted, pocketing the vinculum.

"Apothecary really is simple," Az said, "It's just reading instructions and following them."

"Now that your gross little experiment is over, what are we gonna do with the rest of our night?" Olivia asked.

I sat down beside Hunter, snuggling into his side as much as I could without it looking like we we're actually snuggling, which meant we were barely touching. His quick squeeze of my hand at his side was appreciated, as was his sweet smile. "We could watch a film or something?" he suggested.

And that was the exact moment when all freakin' hell decided to break loose.

A bright orange light radiated through the windows of the dorm, illuminating the entire room. Naturally, everyone in the room ran to the window to look outside, but the light was so strong it was impossible to tell what was causing it.