The Crescent Hour ✓

Chapter 33. A Little Secret

Clara squeezed a slice of lemon into a clay bowl. The mixture turned black. It was almost ready. The table she was working on was spilling with herbs and flowers, spoons and knives, and bottles and crucibles. There was a bunch of plants on the left side. She chose a single nightray—a flower with midnight blue petals and a black stem.  

“Crush the nightray in the mortar,” she said, rehearsing the notes Eryx had given her.

She cut the flower into small pieces and pounded it with a pestle, releasing the sap from the stem. She added the crushed nightray to the bowl. The mixture changed from black to muddy brown. She was making an antidote. Brushing her hair from her face, Clara made a mental check on all the symptoms the antidote would cure: rashes, food poisoning, numbness, itchiness, muscle aches, difficulty in breathing and dehydration.

Eight days ago, they had gathered all the information they could find on Ashura Deadlands. They had visited the local library, questioned the Nazim elders and spoke with Lady Alora after Amarant had been freed from the barrier. Ashura Deadlands wasn’t just dangerous. It was poisonous, the result of a rare breed of plants emitting toxic fumes in the air.

They had visited an alchemist to request for protective suits. The alchemist had named a ridiculously high price for her services, claiming it would take a week to gather all the needed parts and eight days to create the suits. Eryx had suggested a trade: potions in exchange for the suits.

Wiping her palms on her shirt, Clara sought the next ingredient. There were three packets from across the plants. Two of them were white and the other one was yellow. Eryx had removed all the labels from the bottles and packets. She had to perform different tests to determine which ingredients she needed. Pushing the yellow packet aside, she chose one of the white packets, tore it open and poured a pint onto her palm.  

“Right,” she said. “One teaspoon of moondust to strengthen the effect of the antidote.”

There was only one way to know whether the powder was moondust or not. She closed her palm. Moondust glowed white in the dark. The powder in her hand did not glow. Smiling, she dusted her palm on the waste bin, scooped a teaspoon of powder from the other packet, and added it to the bowl.

Clara heard the creaking of the door before Eryx entered the room. He held one finger in the air then sat down on the bed. One minute left. She needed rosewater next. It was the last ingredient. Tapping her foot, she quickly picked up two bottles of a colorless liquid. She sniffed them. Both smelled like roses.

To identify rosewater, use the Nilfeim indicator. Place a drop of the indicator on an IlKar paper doused in the solution. It will turn orange in the presence of rosewater.

She studied the contents on the table, biting the edge of her lip. All indicators were stored in dark vials because sunlight vaporized them. She had ten vials to choose from. She couldn’t remember what color a Nilfeim indicator was. Taking a dropper, she dipped it into the first vial. Red droplets clung to it.

Eryx cleared his throat.

Blast it! I’m running out of time!

Leaving the dropper, she selected one of the bottles, hoping she’d guessed right, and emptied the liquid into the bowl. She stirred the mixture with a spatula. The color shifted to cobalt green.

“Time’s up,” Eryx said.

She’d done it! She’d completed her first potion test on time! Eryx walked to her table. Clara grinned at him. A single bubble formed on the mixture. She slapped it with the spatula. More bubbles swelled up and popped. She mixed the antidote vigorously. The liquid rose up the bowl, spilling on the table and drenching the ingredients in one fell swoop.