Seventeen Stones (21 page)

Mia
bolted the green brew from Mrs. Bennett and drank a long gulp of cold water to
get the taste out of her mouth.  “Ugg.”  It burned and felt cold going down all
at the same time.  She wondered if they’d used dirty socks as the key
ingredient.  Surely it didn’t have to taste that bad to be effective.

Vivian
snagged a cinnamon bun and a cup of hot tea.  “What subjects do we have
tomorrow?”  She directed the question to the room in general.  Lizzy rolled her
eyes and said “You’ve been studying too hard if you can’t remember your own
schedule.”  Ella giggled.  “I’m lucky I still know my own name.” The comment
drew a weak sort of laughter from the group; it was a little too true to be
funny.  Vivian let out an enormous sigh.  “I just keep telling myself that we
only have roughly 336 hours before we’re free!” 

Sarah
grinned.  “Only if you pass your Alchemy mid-term.  If you don’t Professor
Ambrose might just turn you into a duck-billed platypus like she threatened to
yesterday.  Your dress would look sort of odd on you…” 

Vivian
pulled a face but didn’t look worried.  “Don’t worry about me.  I only took Alchemy
because it looked interesting.  If I flunk out of the class it won’t really
matter.  I’ll just take a course that I have some talent for next semester.” 
Beth rolled her eyes.  “You don’t want that on your transcript.”  Sarah
nodded.  “Let’s all study for Alchemy.”  Vivian sighed and passed her book to
Mia.  “You’d better ask the questions.” 

Mia
picked up the book with good grace, grateful that Vivian would study if all of
her friends were doing it.  Besides, it took her mind off her stuffy head.  “OK,
what are three uses for hops in sleeping potions?”  Vivian groaned and covered
her face with her hands.  “Ask an easy question first!”  Mia looked up in
surprise.  “That is easy.  You used hops in the simple sleeping draft, the
sleepy time tisane, and the colic cure.  You made the colic cure last week;
surely you remember what was in it?”  Vivian gave a humorless laugh.  “Nope.  I
just read the book and dump in whatever it tells me to.” 

Sarah
sighed.  “I was afraid that was what was going on.  You never brewed a potion
before you came here?”  Vivian shook her head.  “My mother bought everything we
needed from the local herbalist.”  Sarah nodded.  “That’s the problem then. 
You don’t just need to learn how to brew the potions; you need to learn the
basic properties of each of the ingredients.”  Mia nodded.  “Make a list of all
the herbs you use, like the chamomile tea you like, and we’ll get a basic list
of major potion ingredients together.  Once you understand how some of the most
common ones are used and react, we can start talking about how they interact
with each other.”  Vivian gave a wan smile and started her list. 

Sarah’s
gaze darted to her own pile of homework.  “The rest of us should finish our work
and we’ll take turns helping Vivian study once you figure out what she’s
missing.”  With that, Sarah practically skipped back to her own stack of
parchment.  The others followed suit.

Mia
quickly realized that the easiest way to help Vivian would be to go over the
potions they had made and tell her why each ingredient worked the way it did.  They
only had to go over eighteen potions. 

“Wait, Mia!  You’re going too
fast.  If I add yarrow to a cramp cure…” 

Mia
sighed.  “You
have
to add yarrow to the cramp cure or you can just throw
the entire cauldron out the window.  Yarrow, willow bark, and dandelion root
are the main ingredients.  Then, depending on the type of cramps you add the
other herbs:  marshmallow, peppermint, chamomile, wild yam, or black cohosh. 
You add the herbs to the purified water and keep the temperature a steady one
hundred and fifteen degrees for twenty minutes.  Then add the powdered hen’s
teeth, ground salmon bones, and locust wings.  In simple potions like the cramp
cure, you nearly always add the herbs first, and then add the animal or mineral
products.” 

Beth
exclaimed “I didn’t realize that!  I should have…”  Mia turned to the twin “It
only works for simple potions.  I wouldn’t have mentioned it at all except Vivian
needs to pass this test, and all of the potions you’ll be covering follow this
pattern.  After the break all of you will start making more difficult brews.” 
Mia couldn’t help smiling when she heard Vivian mutter “Oh goody…” under her
breath.  

She
was scribbling notes.  “OK, we’ve covered the sleeping potions, runny nose
remedy, cramp cure, fever reducer, and the touchy tooth tonic.”  Mia grinned. 
“And you know that cloves are instrumental in the tooth turner recipe.”  It
turned out that Vivian was actually a pretty good cook.  She was more excited
about a potion if it included something from the kitchen.  Mia, who had grown
up cooking as well, had been sidetracked long enough to discuss a way to add chamomile
into muffins to ease a person into a restful slumber. 

“We
just have to cover the burn remedy and the skin saver solution tomorrow and
you’ll have a grasp of what we’ve been doing all year.”  Mia said proudly. 
She’d been working with Vivian for three days and she was amazed at her
progress. 

Mia
wasn’t worried about most of her tests, though Theory was guaranteed to be
difficult (just because Professor Patrick enjoyed being cantankerous).  Professor
Ronan had asked them to complete a chart of early childhood diseases, their
causes (if known), treatments, and cures.  It was painstaking, intricate research,
just because of the subject.  Children were prone to all sorts of ailments and
the symptoms were varied, as were the cures.  She had three hundred and
thirty-seven documented on her chart, and she hoped it would be enough.  She
knew there were more, but she couldn’t spare more time to research it.  The
project deadline was approaching. 

The
terrible truth was this:  her biggest dread was the Mid-Winter concert.  Mia
was playing a soft, simple tune for the performance.  She didn’t even have to
sing, which was good because she was becoming steadily more terrified as the
days passed.  Beth was working with her an hour a day on her music.  “Mia,
loosen up.  Your fingers know this song.  All you have to do is let them go and
enjoy the music.  Relax and breathe, just forget about anyone else in the
audience and remember, we’re all going to be there rooting for you.”  The word
“all” was less than reassuring.  All implied an audience, which was of course
the source of her reluctance.

They
returned to the dorm to find Sarah drilling Vivian on her Alchemy exam.  “Major
ingredients in a simple burn remedy?”  Vivian replied with the air of someone
who has answered the question fifteen times in the past hour.  “Zinc, aloe vera
juice, and honey.”  Mia grinned.  “Excellent, Vivian!” 

She
blushed.  “Well, it’s about time Sarah went back to her own work, we’ve been at
this for an hour.  I have the drawing of Jupiter finished, anyone want to use
my artwork as a base to label Jupiter’s moons for Astronomy?”  Everyone quickly
agreed.  It wasn’t cheating to use an existing picture of a planet as a base of
the project, but the girls hadn’t been able to find one without the moons. 
That
was
cheating.  But using the art work would be so much easier,
especially for Mia and Ella.  Neither of them knew the first thing about
drawing, color or proportion.  Mia gratefully took out her wand.  “I’ll make
the copies.  Vivian, you know you’re a genius, right?”  Vivian giggled and
brought out the brightly colored painting of the planet.  “I’m going to paint
the moons in tonight after all of you get a copy.  I’m using oils, so the fact
that this is dry won’t matter.” 

Mia used a multiplying charm and quickly had a perfect
copy of the painting.  She took the scissors and cut the edges off, making a
neat parchment sized picture.  Then she used the multiplying charm again and
made five copies.  “You’re a lifesaver Vivian.  I tried to draw this myself and
it was pathetic.” She grabbed a cookie off the nearby plate and one of Vivian’s
templates to draw the moons with.  Vivian was looking at her planet with a
critical eye.  She took the original painting and walked off, muttering
something about burnt sienna.

Astronomy
was finished and the snacks were consumed.  Mia settled down to read her notes
for Creation and Charms until her eyes started crossing around midnight.

The
next day Mia sat and studied during Botany while the others took their exams. 
“It would be poor payment to give you an exam after all the work you’ve done.”
said the Professor.  “You just run out to Greenhouse four and sit in my study
and look over your notes for one of your other classes.”  He put his finger to
his lips and winked.

Professor
Ambrose wasn’t as lenient.  “Class, if you’ll begin by getting out the ingredients
I have listed on the board…”  She walked over to Mia’s cauldron.  “I have a
special task for you Mia.”  She handed her a piece of parchment.  “That’s a
list of problems.  I want you to identify an Alchemical solution to each of
them.  Just list the potion or potions you would use, and make sure that your
solution works for the time constraints I have listed.”  The task was
difficult, and Mia finished scribbling just as the chimes rang.  Professor
Ambrose smiled at her on her way out and then went back to suspiciously
prodding the contents of one of the flasks.  Mia hoped that it wasn’t Vivian’s.

Mia automatically
ate her lamb with rice and wilted greens, and barely noticed the poundcake that
was served as dessert.  Then she and Ella left the others to go to Creation.

Professor
Fain was waiting for them to arrive.  The chimes sounded and the test began. 
First they completed a written exam, and then he took each of them aside and
tested their practical applications.  Mia was last student called for the
practical exam and she completed every task he set.  He grinned up at her as
the chimes rang and the class was filing out.  “Bonus point!  Create ice!”  Mia
took a deep breath and used a tiny extra flick at the end of the spell that
created water.  She looked up and saw a dumbfounded Professor resembling a
snowman and a room that was knee deep in snow, not ice.  “Oh Professor!  I’m
sorry.”  She giggled as she started dusting him off and Ella laughed along. 
She was trying to shake the light white flakes out of her curls.  Professor
Fain cleaned the room up with a swish of his wand. 

“Mia,
can you try that again?” he asked.  Mia tried the spell once more and produced
a nice block of ice the second time.  Professor Fain looked disturbed and
quickly banished the ice.  “Don’t tell anyone about this.”  His brow wrinkled. 
“Both of you, I need you to swear you won’t say a word until I think of
something.”  Mia asked “What’s wrong?  I know I didn’t get it right the first
time…?”  

Professor
Fain looked troubled “No one does.  I’ve never heard of anyone being able to do
it in first year.  It’s a teaching technique; you let your brightest students
know that they don’t know everything before they head off on break.  It makes
them less likely to accidentally create a giant man-eating mushroom while
they’re away.  But nobody actually does it.  I was considered quick because I
could do it before I left for my apprenticeship.”  He ran a hand through his
hair with obvious agitation.  “Don’t mention it to anyone and come to my office
tonight at eight.  I should be able to figure something out by then.  Ella, you
have to swear not to tell anyone.”  Ella nodded.

He looked around.  “Come on. 
If we don’t get to Charms we’ll all be in trouble.”

The
charms test consisted of making the cupcakes dance around the room and causing
paper airplanes to land on a target.  Professor Fain provided tea and cakes at
the end of class and laughingly told them all that they had passed.  Only Mia
noted the tightness around his eyes.  She nodded to him as she left and walked
back to the dorm.

Mia
did try to study for Animal Husbandry but she couldn’t manage to keep up the
proper concentration.  The clock on the mantel neared eight o’clock and she
gathered her cloak, made an excuse, and slipped out of the dorm.  She hoped no
one else noted the worried glance that Ella had sent her way.

When
she arrived at his office, Professor Fain met her at the door.  “Come in Mia.” 
She didn’t really have time to take in the floor to ceiling bookcases or the
neat rolls of post on his desk.  She was mostly alarmed by the dark figure
sitting by the fire.

Professor
Fain ushered her into the room with a finger to his lips.  Once the door was
closed Headmistress Villanova moved into the firelight.  Mia breathed a small
sigh of relief.  The headmistress’ stone-like expression moved slightly into
something that might be called a smile.

“Ah,
Miss Rusticov.  Professor Fain has informed me that you seem to have developed
an unusually strong gift in Creation.  Congratulations.”   Like most of her
conversations with the headmistress, Mia felt off-balance.  Congratulations did
not fit the stress in the Professor’s face.