Brewing Love and Casting Lies

Chapter 10

TW: Smoke, Fire.

"Virgil?" Janus called urgently from his office, "Virgil! Virgil, I need your help now!" 

Virgil looked up at all the customers in the store who were now staring at him expectantly, "Virgil! Hurry please!" Janus called again, his voice beginning to sound desperate. Virgil put down the books he had been restocking on the shelves and hurried behind the curtain only to nearly jump out of his skin at the sight of the smoke pooling out of Janus's office and into the hallway. 

"Uhhh..." Virgil muttered as he somehow found his way into the office. Janus could be heard, and only partially seen, coughing his lungs out and throwing spell after spell at his cauldron which sat on his desk. It had somehow erupted into flames and was the source of the smoke.

"Don't just stand there!" Janus yelled, Virgil flinched away but Janus had been too busy trying to keep everything he's ever worked for from burning to the ground, "There's a fire extinguisher under the kitchen sink, hurry!" Virgil nodded and rushed to do as he had been told as soon as he returned to the room Janus had spelled the extinguisher to start spraying the cauldron and put out the fire.

"W-what happened?" Virgil asked after the fire was out.

Janus waved him off, "Never mind that, can you get the customers out of the store? Looks like we're closing early today." Virgil glanced around the office before nodding and disappearing down the hall to close the store. He sighed tiredly and slid into the seat in front of his now burnt desk. He needed a break before he started cleaning up the rest of this mess.

Virgil returned a few minutes later, "Everyone gone," he reported. It was upsetting that they had to close a bit early, luckily though there was only about an hour left till the shop closed anyway.

Janus nodded again, "Good," and then he waved his hand again, causing a gust of wind to send all the smoke out of the windows and through the doors. Virgil jumped and pressed himself to the wall as if to make room for the smoke to get out. Janus glanced at him as he got up from his seat and started cleaning up, "Are you alright?"

"Uhm, yeah. What was that?"

Janus shook his head, "Chimera ashes and salamander scales tend to ignite when mixed together." He grumbled as he dropped a pile of papers into the bin.

"O-oh," Virgil replied, "Then why did you mix them? if you knew they would catch fire?"

"Well I didn't do it on purpose," Janus said as he scoffed and laughed, "I labeled them wrong, I meant to use dragon scales but I didn't." The dragon witch sighed again, "This just destroyed my schedule for the day."

"Do you need help?" Virgil asked as he slowly came deeper into the room.

"Not unless you know how to get burn marks out of wood."

Virgil shrugged and ran his hand across the charred desk, hands coming away black with ash, "Sometimes toothpaste and baking soda works, but it's a pain. And it tends to take a while. Not to mention sometimes it takes the paint off and-"

Janus laughed slightly and shook his head a little, "I was joking, it's fine. I've been in need of a new desk for a while. This one is wobbly and the drawers get stuck easily, and part of it is still sticky from the time my friend spilled soda on it."

Virgil smiled and tentatively sat down, "So, sometimes potion things can catch fire?" he asked

"Well, anything can catch fire if you go about it right," Janus replied with a shrug, "But yes, some things, when mixed, will catch fire. Or, maybe it won't depending on who you are. Magic is strange that way."