The Slick Cold Slide
The walk back to campus seemed much longer than usual, Hazel's mind lost in an avalanche of thoughts.
Going to the Spawning Lake had not been anything she consciously or unconsciously thought about. It was an interesting place, but had lost its appeal when she was four. Now, such an ominous message demanded attention.
She made it all the way to the main library and then to her and her friends' study alcove. She even sat down without a thought or a word.
Both Evervine and Marcel frowned at her, then exchanged a look before turning back. Hazel sensed none of it.
It was all in one fluid, seemingly orchestrated movement.
"Is everything okay, Hazel?"
Her head slowly lifted, and both Evervine and Marcel tensed, assuming the worst. She looked to Evervine and shook her head.
"No. It seems I had a bit of a vision in the Crystal Caves, after Mom and Dad left. I need to go to Spawning Lake."
They both breathed sighs of relief, but frowns remained on their faces. Hazel shook herself out of her daze.
"But I will think about that later."
Evervine shook her head. "We will think about it later."
Hazel looked to her, her face stern as if to say she was not changing her mind, then to Marcel, who simply nodded.
Hazel nodded in return but said nothing else about it.
"Have you found any viable potions that the ingredients could be used for?"
Evervine gave Marcel a knowing look, and he slumped in his seat.
"Well, yes and no."
Evervine rolled her eyes and looked to Hazel. "We need to go to the dreamscape and access your books there. They cross dimensions without us having to ask permission here."
Hazel frowned as she looked out from their secluded cubby at the end of one of the pentagram-shaped library's points.
"The librarians always give us what we want."
Evervine shook her head and leaned in close, as if there was a possibility they could be heard.
"Think about it. Odd things are going on, we ask about ingredients that spell something, but we don't know what. We could alert someone before we understand what is happening."
Hazel just continued to frown.
Evervine rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "Hazel, we do not want to warn Rosa or those other two. Stumbling around in the dark could give them a clue."
Hazel thought a moment longer and nodded.
"Okay. But we are bringing in Professor Sing if we find out anything anyway."
"Of course, we are. We do not need to alert the world before we do."
Even as Evervine spoke, she felt her body becoming light. It was one thing to go onto the dreamscape in a meditative state and something completely different to be taken there by the Fatetress herself.
She felt a separation, then she felt the layers move around and past her as she drifted up. Finally, there was an odd solidification and a closing, as if she had been sealed into a space.
When she opened her eyes, the familiar dreamscape waved around her like heat over desert sand. She smiled at Hazel as she spoke.
"You are getting a lot better at that. It took less than half a breath this time, and the layers between felt like almost nothing."
Hazel nodded in consideration as she called forth all the potion ingredient books she had ever seen or come into contact with. All of them were recorded here on her dreamscape, and she could give her friends access to them.
Marcel looked at the pile in awe. He had been through her collection, actually, he was going through her collection with no hope of ever finishing; she just had way too many books.
"Where should we start?"
Hazel asked even as she took one of the books. Marcel looked at the title and nodded in agreement when he read it: [The Important Potion Ingredients of Sala Dimension: The Potions of Control].
"I think we should look at what Midnight Lotus is compatible with."
"Agreed. It is not compatible with much."
"Don't get lost down your Potion rabbit holes. Give me some books and tell me what to look for."
Hazel thought a moment, and like a dream, three books appeared before Evervine, wavering into existence like images on a settling lake.
[Safely Handling a Lotus: Using every type of Lotus Successfully in Your Potions]
[Midnight Lotus and Death's Breath Lotus: How to properly synthesize the two most difficult Lotus]
[Mindcraft: The Most Important Potions In Mind Control]
Evervine picked up a book and dove in.
It only took them thirty minutes of dream time to understand that they were looking in the wrong direction. Evervine had even started with [Mindcraft: The Most Important Potions in Mind Control], but when she looked through [Safely Handling a Lotus: Using Every Type of Lotus Successfully in Your Potions], she began smiling.
"Listen to this." She had both her friends' attention instantly.
"... Midnight Lotus can actually be used to increase vitality in some cases if it is cleansed in cool spring water with the deadly Shadowvine. These two highly volatile ingredients actually produce a powerful and safe solution when you use silver moss, properly, as a filter. You will still need to properly dispose of the Midnight Lotus and Shadowvine after due to the process actually increasing their toxicity and instability."
Hazel and Marcel blinked several times, then looked to each other.
"Vitality?" They spoke in unison. Evervine closed her book and immediately began looking for books on vitality Potions. She looked at them with a frown.
"Come now. Have you two actually forgotten that Rosa's enthralled were now cured and healthy?" Evervine rolled her eyes and shook her head at their shocked faces.
"Hazel. Vitality potions, please."
Hazel snapped out of it, and two books appeared. "You two look, and I will look in on Rosa. My tracking incantation is still active; it should take me right to her."
Evervine had [Restoring Vitality and the Dangers], Marcel had [Vitality potions across the 7 Known Dimensions]. They nodded simultaneously as Hazel disappeared.
Hazel reappeared in a distant area of her dreamscape. It was a deep indigo plane, and it smelled of honey and sandalwood. She rose into the air, and a dense black crystalline bubble surrounded her. Sparks lit off the inner surface in varying colors.
She chose a purple spark that continued to ping rapidly. A window opened, and a scene unfurled before her.
Rosa sat on a large chair, reminiscent of a throne. The Greenstream twins were in a different area of the room, and there were many boys milling about. Hazel frowned, but she waited patiently.
"Why is the potion going to take so long this time?"
Temperance Greenstream looked up from her conversation. Hazel could clearly see the contempt on the girl's face.
"I explained to you, Rosa, I completely ran out of the Midnight Lotus – Shadowvine solution. We have to wait 48 hours, unless you don't mind one of them dying."
The plain girl jutted out her chin toward one of the boys standing still, waiting for Rosa to address him. Hazel looked at him, a frown slowly forming on her face.
He looked good, healthy, but when she looked into his aura, she saw death. And it was not a possibility, or something natural, or even denoting a great length of time away. It was inevitable and soon.
She took out her ebon wand and quickly cast the tracker incantation on him and two others with similar auras. She and the others would find one each and look into their condition.
She refocused on the conversation.
"…And Timothy, please remind your arrogant, plain Jane sister that you two came to me." Rosa motioned a random boy over to her and spoke nonchalantly, her hand almost lazily waving toward something to her left. "Figure out how to activate that."
Hazel did not have time to see what it was when she felt a slick, wet, cold slide through her being. Her mind froze, and all her defensive wards flared.
She watched the boy reach for something, and stitched eyes and a mouth flashed in her mind's eye. The boy was thrown back, and there was a soft, dark laugh, just as the window shattered and the ebon ball vibrated.
[The Emotion Doll]
The stakes were getting higher—they were stacking exponentially.