Mutante: Chapter 31
Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Frerichs
Thanks to the added seahorses and the current, it was just after lunchtime before they reached Robert’s house—three hours less than it usually took him and Waterdancer alone. Rosie made a mental note to ensure she used that trick again. They thanked the wild seahorses and sent them back along the path. Robert tied Waterdancer up to a post out front of the house.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I, er, my mother isn’t too fond of magic. Thomas, would you mind waiting here for a bit?”
“Of course not. Waterdancer and I shall be just fine here.”
“Thanks.”
Robert’s family home was spacious, though not ornate. More substantial than what she had expected from kelp harvesters though. Perhaps they had inherited it from a relative.
“Mother, I’m back and I brought guests,” Robert called. He grimaced at them. “I told her I would return soon, but I didn’t give her specifics.”
A tall, thin merwoman bustled into the entryway, her face hidden in shadow. “Oh, Robert! I’m so glad you’re alive. You are uninjured, aren’t you? I mean, you didn’t say that you were injured, so—oh, I’m so glad to see you.”
Rosie suppressed a smile at the look of embarrassment on Robert’s face. Clearly he was used to the behavior, but just as clearly, he didn’t want her and Grandma to see it.
After a moment, he artfully avoided another round of anxious questions, pulling his mother into a side hug and turning her to face their visitors.
“Lynette?” Grandma Essie said with surprise.
Robert’s mother blinked. “Madam Essie, I hadn’t heard that you were—returned.”
Grandma Essie chuckled. “Well, that’s one way to put it. My granddaughter, Rosie, and—” She glanced at Robert, who quickly signed for her to stay mum.
“Well, she wasn’t trying to, but she broke the curse,” Grandma Essie continued. “I haven’t yet informed anyone else of the fact, as it happened only a week ago.”
“I see,” Robert’s mother said, her mouth tight.
“You know each other?” Robert asked incredulously, looking back and forth between his mother and Rosie’s grandmother.
Grandma Essie smiled at him. “Of course we do. Lynette was Mrs. Amelia Stormbane’s daughter, and Amelia was one of my dearest friends. She and Rina were especially close before—”
“We drifted apart,” Lynette said stoutly. She pulled Robert into a tighter hug and ran her fingers through his hair. “Are you sure everything is all right? You would tell me if you were in trouble, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course, Mother. I’m fine. More than fine. This is my friend Rosie.”
Rosie politely nodded and held out a hand.
Robert’s mother’s handshake was limper than week-old kelp, but Rosie kept her smile from slipping. “Nice to meet you, Mrs.—” She glanced at Robert.
He blushed. “This is my mother, Mrs. Nadir.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Nadir.”
“Charmed, I’m sure,” Mrs. Nadir said with a faint grimace.
“Anyway, I was talking to Rosie,” Robert hurried to put in, “and she’s got some unusual skills that might make it possible to diagnose father’s illness.”
Mrs. Nadir studied Rosie severely. “I see. You think that you will succeed where the best healers in the land have failed.”
Rosie’s chin came up. “No, ma’am. But I promised Robert I would try all the same.”
“She might as well look at him,” Grandma Essie said. “Sometimes a pair of fresh young eyes is all it takes.” She swam forward and drew Mrs. Nadir’s arm through her own. “Now, tell me all about what you’ve been up to the past few years.”
Robert beckoned to Rosie and as quietly as they could, they slipped out of the room and down a little hallway. “We put him in here to make it easier to care for him throughout the day,” Robert said softly, pointing to a closed door on the first floor. “Mother rubs him with kelp salve twice a day.”
Rosie took his hand. “I’m sorry things are so hard.”
“I think it’s why Mother is so—cautious. After Grandfather and then this, well, she has a lot of experience with things going wrong.”
“I can imagine.”
Robert took a deep breath and then opened the door, leading Rosie into the makeshift bedroom. Several chests had been labeled and stacked to one side. In the center, a man lay on a low hanging hammock.
“Mother’s perch is over there, or—I don’t know what you need in order to tell what’s happened.”
Rosie put a hand on his arm. “Nothing.” She studied the man in front of her. He looked like Robert, she decided. Or rather, Robert looked like him. A strong jaw, blond hair. His skin was white as alabaster. Tiny lines around his eyes hinted that he might be the sort of man who laughed a lot when he was awake. A faint magenta glow surrounded him, but as she scanned the man’s body, she found a faint yellow glow about the size of his hand above his stomach region. Would eating something like, say, a fish that had eaten one of the seed pods from the siren-plant, cause a coma? Hopefully, Grandma had a better idea.
“Is it—is there anything you can do?” Robert asked in a whisper.
Rosie held his gaze. “I don’t know. He’s definitely been affected by magic, but I can’t tell if it’s just the magical kelp or something else. I need to ask my grandmother.”
“Ok. Well, I—thanks again for coming, Rosie.”
“Of course. What are friends for?”
He nodded. “I—I really appreciate it. I miss him a lot.”
“I bet. It’s been—nice having Grandma Essie back. Weird, but nice. I feel like she’s the same as she was before the curse and yet not really.” She gave a little laugh. “Or maybe I’m just the one who changed. Either way, I doubt things will go back to the way they were before, and maybe they won’t with your father either, but we can do our best.”
Robert smiled. “Thanks.”
She shook her head. “Let’s go find Grandma Essie.”
“And my mother.” Robert frowned. “It’s so strange that they know each other. Mother’s never mentioned it.”
Rosie shrugged. “Grandma knew a lot of people, and if your mother was friends with Rina . . . . “
“I suppose.”
“Ah, there they are,” Grandma Essie said warmly as they found the two ladies sitting in the living room, chatting over some reef-apple cakes. “Did you see anything unusual?”
Rosie frowned. “I did, but I can’t interpret what I’m seeing.”
“Well, why don’t we look at it together and you can tell me what you see,” Grandma suggested. “Do you mind, Lynette?”
Mrs. Nadir rose and shook her head. “I still don’t know what else you’ll be able to find, given that the best healers in the land have looked at my husband.”
Rosie bit her lip. “And I’m not trying to disparage their work. But what I do is different. Instead of trying to diagnose a physical problem, I’m trying to see if something is amiss magically with your husband.”
“I see.” Mrs. Nadir’s lips pursed. “They haven’t been able to find anything physically wrong. It’s just—I don’t know how he would have encountered anything magical in nature. He’s far too careful to have willingly encountered something magical. Magic is just too—” She made a face. “Unpredictable.”
Rosie nodded, unsure how to reply. Given the woman’s experiences with Rina and Grandma Essie, her attitude was thoroughly understandable.
“I suppose just looking at him won’t hurt anything,” Mrs. Nadir said with a sigh.
As the group swam back to Robert’s father’s room, Rosie couldn’t help but wish his mother had stayed in the sitting area. Mostly so she could ask her grandmother about the connection with Robert’s family. And because she hated to appear so uncertain in front of one who had so much at stake and so little reason to trust her.
She suppressed a sigh. All she could do was try her best.
“What do you see, Rosie?” her grandmother asked kindly when they reached Robert’s father.
Rosie cleared her throat and began describing the various swirls of energy that surrounded Mr. Nadir: the steady glow that matched the magical seaweed and the smaller glow concentrated in his torso.
Grandma Essie tapped a finger on her chin. “Hmm. Well, that definitely qualifies as something magical. I just don’t know what would still be in his system . . . . Then again, if whatever it was caused a magical paralysis . . . .” She clapped her hands together. “Well, the restorative potion will not make him any worse and it may resolve whatever it is.” She turned to Mrs. Nadir and put a hand on her shoulder. “Lynette, we cannot make any promises, but I believe a restorative potion might be efficacious in this situation. May I have your consent to try?”
Mrs. Nadir’s eyes flicked back and forth between her husband, Rosie, and Grandma Essie.
“Please, mother,” Robert said. “I trust them.”
Mrs. Nadir deflated. “All right. As long as you remember that it probably won’t work,” she told her son. “I don’t want you getting your hopes up—and not a word of this to your brother and sister. Lord knows they miss your father enough without having people build up false hopes.”
“Thank you, Lynette,” Grandma Essie said, her smile a bit tight. “We shall do our best. Where would you like us to prepare the potion? I brought my kit with me.”
“Oh, heavens! You want to do magic here? Now? What if something goes wrong, or—”
“What about in the shed?” Robert asked, a hint of a smile playing about his lips. “That way, if something does go wrong, it won’t be in the main house.” He leaned close to Rosie and murmured, “Besides, sheds seem like the appropriate place to brew this potion, eh?”
Rosie quirked an eyebrow. “So you want a repeat of the last time?” she whispered playfully.
“No! Not at all,” he exclaimed with a shudder.
Mrs. Nadir turned to him. “You don’t want to use the table in the shed?”
Robert’s ears turned red. “No, I just, um, I think the table would be fine. And the shed would be perfect.”
“All right,” she said, eyeing him skeptically.
Rosie nearly choked holding her laughter.
After Robert’s mother had completed all of her vacillating and second-guessing and trying to decide how best to hide their presence from both the children and the neighbors, she finally decided they ought to try the potion at once before her other children returned home from lessons.
Fortunately, she was militantly opposed to actually watching them brew the potion, so she tasked Robert with taking them outside and promised to be in here waiting with her husband when they returned. After collecting Thomas, they slipped around the back of the house.
“Sorry about that,” Robert said sheepishly as he led them to the shed. “Mother’s a bit—frazzled.”
Grandma Essie smiled at him. “I would be too if I were in her situation. It’s fine.”
“Thanks.”
Rosie gave him a commiserating smile. “You should meet my mother.”
He smiled back. “Someday, I hope I do.”
The shed door opened smoothly, but once inside, they discovered such a jumble of things that they could hardly cram into the small room together. Robert rubbed the back of his neck. “My mother keeps putting father’s things out here and then changing her mind. Plus, my brother and sister like to root through it. I—well, there’s enough space, isn’t there?” He excavated a small table and put it in the one corner that was relatively empty.
Rosie smiled. “I’m sure it will be fine. Right, Grandma? You don’t need all that much space to make the potion, do you?”
“Oh, I’m not making the potion. You are,” Grandma Essie said firmly.
Rosie whipped around to face her. “What?”
“I want to see you make it.” She made a face. “Provided, of course, that you feel strong enough to do so.”
Rosie nodded dumbly.
“Well, then, consider this part of your training. Now then, what do you remember about the recipe?”
Rosie glanced over at the magic mirror. “Thomas showed it to me last time.”
He chuckled. “You will not always have me nearby though. I am certain you remember more than you realize.”
Rosie frowned. “You start with the black sand?”
“And you do what with it?”
Step by step, Grandma continued quizzing her on the potion and correcting her when she made mistakes.
“Oh, and I suppose I need to draw more blood, but whose blood do we use?” Rosie asked.
Grandma opened her mouth and then closed it. “Well, if the point of the blood is to help bind the potion to the person you want to use it on, whose blood would be best?”
“Mr. Nadir’s?”
“Most of the time, yes. However, right now, his body is riddled with magic, including whatever put him into the coma in the first place. You need a blood relation.”
“Robert?”
Grandma nodded.
Rosie gulped, and Robert gave her a reassuring smile. “There has to be an easier way to get my blood, Rosie, and I’ll be right here.” Robert glanced over at Rosie’s grandmother. “She doesn’t like blood.”
Grandma nodded. “Neither did I when I started practicing magic. I’m sure she’ll get over it.” She then explained exactly how to get Robert’s blood (without having to return to Fairy Island) and quizzed Rosie about the method.
Rosie answered, despite the roiling in her stomach. Robert had laid his hand on her shoulder and was rubbing small circles into her back. It was distracting enough that she was only half aware of how disgusted she was.
Getting the blood was relatively easy with Grandma Essie right there to coach them through it, and then Rosie mixed up the potion. When it came time for the spell, her stomach twisted, but she reminded herself what was at stake. She cared deeply for Robert, and if she could ensure he wasn’t fatherless, she would. Not to mention that she felt much better this time around. The likelihood of having to call on Mr. Ocean was nearly non-existent. Even if, for some reason, a problem arose, they had time to collect new ingredients and try again.
Fear would only make things worse, she reminded herself. With that admonition, she spoke the spell in a clear, unwavering voice. She didn’t know Robert’s father well enough to let love for him fill her up, but she did care deeply for Robert and filled the spell with that care.
This time, the potion glowed with a gentle rainbow aura before settling into its normal purple-blue. It wasn’t more than a moment before it appeared fully complete and Rosie smiled up at Robert. “Looks good to me,” she told him.
“I’m just glad you’re all right. No lasting side-effects? No dizziness or wooziness?”
Rosie shook her head. “I feel fine. Perhaps a bit tired after the day we’ve had, but nothing major.”
Grandma tutted. “I can’t believe you just completed that potion like it was nothing. I mean, I knew you could do it—obviously. However, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if you were exhausted afterwards. It’s one of the dangers of being a newly awakened witch; your stamina for magic takes time to build up.” She pulled her granddaughter into a hug. “I’m proud of you. And also, we will be starting your training immediately. I don’t care what Mariya has scheduled—even a week is too long to wait.”
Rosie smiled at her grandmother, noting that she was now level with the older woman. “I thought we’d already begun, and that’s why I had to brew the potion,” she said with a mock-innocent look.
Grandma Essie squeezed her and shook her head. “You’re going to be a handful; I can see it already.”
Robert laughed. “She’s stubborn, that’s for sure. If she thinks she knows better than you, watch out.”
Rosie rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Do you two really want to spend all day talking about what a handful I am, or shall we go give this potion to Mr. Nadir?”
Robert sobered immediately. “Let’s try it.”
Rosie pulled away from her grandmother and put her arms around Robert. “Even if this doesn’t work, we’ll keep looking. There has to be something we can do. There are those new kelp colors—maybe one of them will be useful.”
“Right,” Robert said, as though trying to convince himself. He took a deep breath. “Well, I guess then you can just bottle this up and then—then we’ll take it to father.”
“Yes.”
Thomas cleared his throat. “May I accompany you? I would like to see the results of the potion.”
Robert hesitated.
“I imagine one of us could carry you. Lynette will be distracted—and if she complains, I shall take responsibility,” Grandma Essie said.
Robert nodded once.
Grandma Essie gestured for Rosie to do the bottling, and then she and Robert determined the least conspicuous way to carry Thomas. After sealing up the potion, Rosie tidied up the rest of their potion-making ingredients. It was tempting to remain here in the shed, and she could understand why Robert had allowed the subject to shift to her magic studies. Here, in this moment, there was hope. Once the potion was administered, there wouldn’t be any more hope. At least for this method.
“I’ve never spelled potion into someone,” Rosie murmured to Grandma Essie as they swam into the house. “Can you do that part?”
“It is something you ought to learn, but, as Lynette is so concerned about your youth, yes, I will do it.”
A/N: I feel like being able to see magic would be a pretty useful skill! Thanks for reading 🙂
See you on Thursday!
