Taz and Legacy blasted out of the closet and lifted me up. “I can’t believe he didn’t catch you,” Legacy said with way too much excitement. “I almost had heart failure when he went straight for you.”
“You almost did? I almost did,” I said, grabbing the now freed potions.
Taz pulled the door open. “I put that thought about his bag into his head. It’s over by the desk.”
“I didn’t know you could do that,” I said as I stuffed the potions in my pocket. We ran out of there like a wild beast chased us.
The three of us crashed into my room and I slammed the door, locking it behind me. “Alright let’s hurry so it doesn’t get dark on us.”
I grabbed a bag and tossed a set of clothes in. I didn’t have anything that would make me look poor so that disguise was out but I had plain brown leather pants and a black top that would disguise me well enough. I also stuffed in a dress since that was the fashion in Hesstia.
“Cloak,” Legacy said, tossing it my way. I shoved the dark gray material in the bag.
Taz brought a spell book over and set it down on the bed in front of me. He pointed at a line of words. “All you need to do is add a couple drops of blood to the potion.”
“Ew, I have to drink your blood?” Legacy’s face scrunched up.
“It’s a couple drops and you won’t even taste it. I’ll have to drink yours.” I then grabbed Legacy by the shoulders. “If you happen to get caught, do not tell them where I am. Lie.”
Her big hazel eyes widened. “Lie to the King and Queen? And say what exactly? My father, your uncle, would murder me if he found out I lied to his brother.”
My eyes flicked to Taz. He shook his head. “I wouldn’t lie either. She gets caught, we all get caught.”
“Best just not to get caught,” I said with a smile.
With a huffy breath, Legacy said, “You owe me. Like a lot.”
I wrapped my arms around her and crushed her into me. “I know. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
I took the dagger from my boot and pricked my finger. Taz pulled the stopper and I squeezed in four drops of blood. “Better do two just in case. We have three potions.”
I squeezed more blood into a second vial. Taz placed them in Legacy’s hand. “Take these so we don’t mix them up.” She promptly dropped them in her pant pocket, then Legacy made a tiny slice to her palm and clenched her fist over the third potion bottle. I swirled it and watched the liquid change from yellow to burnt orange.
“What do you think it tastes like?” I asked, putting the lip of the bottle under my nose. It smelled sweet and slightly minty.
“Bitter,” Taz said, grabbing the book. “It should taste bitter but smell sweet. That’s what the spell states.”
I licked my lips and moved in front of my body length mirror. “This is going to be strange.” Legacy and I met each other’s eyes in our reflections. “Ready for me to be you?”
“Go for it.”
I downed the bottle. The bitter liquid tasted like a shot of ancient liquor and burned all the way down. “Yuck,” I said, wiping my lips with my sleeve.
I stared into the mirror and watched my hair color change first. The dark honey-colored tresses morphed into a warm brown. My eye color went from blue-green to hazel then my face and body slowly shifted. Slightly shorter, smaller hips, bigger breasts, and in a matter of moments, I became my cousin.
Openmouthed, Legacy’s eyes flicked back and forth. “Holy phoenix, you’re me.”
“I am,” I murmured, touching the full brown hair that hung to my waist. “You seriously have the best hair.”
“Woah,” Taz said, poking me in the shoulder with his finger. “I knew it would work but it’s so… uncanny. You even sound like her.”
“We have to hurry.” I grabbed my bag off the bed. “Let’s go Taz.” I turned to Legacy before opening my door. “Oh, you know you can call up a pixie to bring you something to eat. Or send Sir Gideon for you. I’m sure he’ll laugh about this. Just make sure he keeps his blathering mouth shut.”
“I got it, Vis. Go, you don’t have time to linger.”
Only a few paces into the hallway and Bindy came out of her bedroom. Play it cool, I thought.
“Hello, Taz, Legacy. What are you two up to?” she asked, tucking a stray piece of her dark hair into her bun.
“Not too much,” Taz said, shrugging.
“We were just visiting Visteal.” It felt strange to say I was visiting myself.
“Isn’t that her bag?” Bindy asked, pointing to the black leather hanging at my hip. “And her sword?”
I gritted my teeth together. Ever the watchful eye.“She’s letting me borrow some clothes and—uh, I took the sword—”
“We’re playing a game,” Taz said quickly. “We take something of each other’s and have to figure out what it is. If we don’t figure it out by morning the next day, then we have to do something like—eat a spicy pepper.”
“Huh, interesting game,” Bindy said then glanced down the hall. “Is she still pouting?”
Pouting?! I’m not pouting.
Bindy chuckled. “Oh the poor girl and that prince. I feel sorry for them.”
I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Yep, still pouting,” Taz said and grinned at me. “She said she wasn’t feeling well and going to sleep early.”
“What she needs to do is go outside. Keep busy so she stops obsessing over Zyacus.” Bindy placed a hand on her hip. “I’ll get her up and you two should go riding with her or something. The sun won’t set for hours.”
Ugh, of course she’d pick today to want to get me out and busy. She hadn’t cared about keeping me busy yesterday. I
