I put my socks and shoes back on. “Thank you for everything.”

“De nada, mijita. If Luciana gives you trouble again, you come back. Don’t try to fight what you don’t yet understand.”

I nodded. “I think I’ll do that.”

She opened up her arms, and I hugged her. “Follow your heart. It’s good.” She pulled back. “And keep that one around.” She winked at Dastien. “He’s nice to look at, no?”

I laughed at the uncomfortable look on Dastien’s face. “He sure is.”

Axel hugged Rosa. “Thank you.”

“Come back this weekend, mijito. I’ve something to show you. And you can tell me how your sister does.”

“Sure thing, Tía.” He kissed her cheek.

Chapter Eleven

We dropped Axel back at his dorm, and sped back to campus. I felt lighter. Like I knew what I was doing, and everything seemed a little more in control. That lightness that Rosa talked about was nearly tangible.

Traffic was thick, so it took us forever to get back. Dastien tried to keep my mind off of everything, switching music, talking about DJs coming to town, but with each passing moment, the bag of ingredients weighed heavier in my lap. I needed to focus on what I was going to do tonight.

By the time we finally pulled through St. Ailbe’s gates, I’d convinced myself that I could do this. The ingredients were all here. Everything was lining up, and even if it wasn’t easy, I hadn’t hit that many road bumps.

Okay, so the curse was not cool at all, but I was going to let that one go. Focusing on Meredith was key, and I’d gotten everything I needed for the spell.

Even counting the curse, everything still seemed a little easy. I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. Usually, it meant that the proverbial shit was about to hit the fan, but maybe I was finally on the right path and this was how things were meant to go.

Dastien left to go check on something, but I wasn’t paying much attention. I waved him off and jogged to the metaphysics classroom. As soon as I stepped into the stairwell, I could smell the stench coming from the labs. It was horrendous. I shoved my nose under my T-shirt, but it didn’t help. The closer I got, the worse it smelled.

I plugged my nose and opened the door. “What are you two yahoos up to?”

They were huddled over some beakers on a table by the window. When they turned to look at me, I laughed. They had clothespins on their noses.

“Do a girl a favor and toss one my way. This stuff is rank.” I caught the pin that Chris tossed, and quickly clamped my nose. It hurt like a bitch, but it was better than the stench. Now I could actually walk into the classroom.

Two cookie sheets rested on a lab table covered in what looked like a solid layer of hard candy on them. A mixture was boiling in a beaker over a Bunsen burner.

I started to say something but Adrian held up a finger.

As I watched, the mixture in the beaker turned from a bubbling brownish-yellow sludge to bright blue. Chris grabbed it off of the fire with a pair of tongs and placed it in an ice bath. I leaned down to look at the little balls of black floating in the blue. The urge to touch it was strong, but I ignored it.

“What is that?” My voice sounded funny with the clothespin on my nose.

“That’s the part of the second potion.” Adrian pointed to one of the cookie trays. “We’ve got to pulverize that into a fine powder for the first component, and it’s got a couple more steps.” He pointed to the other cookie sheet with white and gray speckled stuff on it. “That’s the third. We still have one more step for that one.”

“Okay. What can I do to help?”

“You got the rest?” Chris said.

I held out my booty. “I sure do.”

“Nice work. Let’s see it.”

I emptied the contents of the bag onto the lab table.

One small jar of ashes.

Two black feathers.

A small bottle of brownish congealed liquid. Blood. Yuck.

A thimble-sized bottle with a cotton ball soaked in a light yellow oil.

Adrian picked up the last bottle. “Whoa. I can’t believe you found all this stuff.”

“Honestly, me neither. But apparently I have a great aunt Rosa who has everything.”

“Sweet. I need this for the blue potion,” Chris said, picking up the tiny bottle of oily cotton balls. “Where’s Dastien?”

“Checking on stuff.” I motioned to the potions. “So, what now?”

“We saved some steps for you to do. Since you’re the one who has to cast the spell, your energy has to go into it.” Adrian handed me some papers and a hammer.