Dropping the bowl into the water, I clutched at the edge of the sink to remain upright. Something thudded to my left. I turned my head in the direction of the sound to find a dense cloud of grey cutting off the rest of the room. Sucking in a breath, I tried to back up as the cloud advanced. My feet stumbled. The cloud brushed over my skin. It passed through my body. For a moment, I felt the sensation of a thousand cold hands grazing against my skin. I could feel whatever it was attempting to take hold of me. Like it was trying to burrow into my soul. Pinpricks dotted along my spine.
In the midst of the darkness, the scent of candied oranges and cinnamon filled my nose. The magic circle appeared around me automatically. It expanded until the circle fought with the cloud for space. Where the rose pink of my magic touched the cloud, my magic dissolved it like salt against ice. Grammy had always said that my magic had salty overtones. She thought she was a comedian. Loving memories of her chased away the last of the oppressive cloud.
When I blinked again, everyone was huddled around the Fae girl. She was lying unconscious on the floor. The mage boy leaned against a rustic brown bag filled with potatoes. He mopped at his brow. His skin had been dusky before but now it was grey. The room was bathed in a warm, orange glow.
My body felt exhausted right to my bones. Sweated dripped down my sideburns. Bruno pressed a damp towel to the Fae’s forehead. Her eyes fluttered open. They blinked for a beat before her gaze landed squarely on me. All of their heads turned in unison. “What?” I asked.
Bruno pointed to the fireplace in the side of the kitchen. The black cavernous space took up almost a quarter of the wall. When I’d come in, there was a huge potbellied cauldron in the hearth but only burned logs and ash sat beneath it. Now the fire was raging to the point where it would be out of control if someone didn’t temper it. The orange and red flames were tinged rose pink at the edges.
A concoction bubbled in the cauldron. Bruno pushed to his feet. He sniffed at the air. There was an overwhelming scent of sweet, stewed fruit, cinnamon and other spices. It smelled like Christmas. I bit the seam of my lips. Grammy used to make a mulled wine that smelled just like this.
“What the hell?” Tony said as he joined his boss. “We were making a Moroccan lamb stew.” It didn’t help that the soap bubbles had also turned a rose colour. I bit the inside of my cheek. Mama would kill me if she knew I’d just performed kitchen alchemy on a grand scale. I wracked my brain for a reason but couldn’t figure out why I’d thought it was a good idea. Was it because I wanted to impress Bruno with my magic? The Fae girl seemed similarly disoriented. Why was she on the ground? She got up and brushed dirt off her jeans.
“It smells good,” one of the other staff, a plump dwarf, noted.
Bruno eyed me sideways. “We’re not feeding it to the masses. Who knows what’s in here. It could make people sick. Toss it down the sink.”
“No!” I said. My voice croaked. The words had come out before I could stop them. “Can I please have a look?” The thought of Grammy’s brew going down the sink had me turning green. I blinked back tears.
Without waiting for permission, I sidled over. Tony and the dwarf had lifted the cauldron off the hob and set it down onto the cleared stone floor around the fire. Grabbing a ladle from the hooks on the wall, I dipped it into the wine-red brew and stirred. My senses filled with the warmth of Christmas at home. I thought of Grammy and Mama rushing around decorating the communal hall with sprigs of green wrapped in red ribbon. Dad would be working with one of the high mages to ensure the air conditioning wasn’t going to give out. It would be hotter than sin outside but we would be comfortable even if it killed him.
All the while, this brew would be bubbling in the cauldron. When it was ready, there would be a line of shifters out the door with their mugs in hand. I continued to stir but all I could see in the water was sticks of cinnamon, cloves and pieces of candied grapefruit and orange. Stewed apples and cherries bubbled up to the surface when I stopped stirring. Brushing my magic against the bubbles, I tried to detect any hint of poison. I might not have shifter senses, but when it came to food, my magic could sense particles even they couldn’t.
“There’s nothing wrong with the brew.” I held up a ladleful to Tony. He flinched like I was offering him a taste of toddler blood. That was exactly what they were all thinking. Biting my quivering bottom lip, I emptied the ladle into a to-go coffee tumbler drying on the dish rack. Bruno crooked his finger at me. I tried not to let my deflating hope show through. Both the Fae and the mage watched me being led out of the kitchen with my notorious brew in hand. I walked into the office next to the kitchen and closed the door to drown out the sound of Grammy’s mulled wine being sloshed down the sink.
Bruno waved me over to the chair in front of his desk. The way he ignored the mess in the room told me this wasn’t ransacked like the kitchen. It was just
