Mutante: Chapter 32
Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Frerichs
It didn’t take long for them to be back in Mr. Nadir’s sick room. Mrs. Nadir immediately rose from where she’d been resting. She eyed the vial in Grandma Essie’s hand.
While his mother was distracted, Robert discretely set Thomas on one of the boxes so he could see clearly.
“Is that it?” Mrs. Nadir asked.
“Yes. Brewing it went perfectly,” Grandma Essie said soothingly.
Mrs. Nadir nodded, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. “Well, then—how do you propose getting it into him? He’s not exactly able to swallow much. I’ve been using the kelp in an ointment rather than as a potion.”
Grandma Essie smiled at the woman. “Well, that is up to you. I can either spell it directly into his stomach or I can massage his throat in such a way that he’ll be forced to swallow.”
Mrs. Nadir’s tail twitched, and she wrung her hands. “Oh, I—I hate the idea of using magic on my Edmund, but at the same time. Well, is one more likely to succeed than the other?”
Grandma Essie tilted her head to one side as though giving the question due consideration. “I cannot make any guarantees. The magic will undoubtedly ensure that all the potion enters his system. Doing it the manual way, he should still get a sufficient amount of potion, but it’s possible that it will be less than all of it.”
Mrs Nadir’s face took on a determined cast, though her grip did not loosen. “Spell it. I want to make sure he’s gotten the best possible results.” She sighed. “At least then we can rule out this option entirely.”
Grandma Essie gave her a sympathetic smile. “It is difficult when there are so many channels to explore. Well, with your permission, I’ll spell it in right now, and then we won’t have to wait any longer to know.”
Mrs. Nadir gave a jerky nod.
Rosie took Robert’s hand as Grandma began her spell.
“To the stomach, let this go.
To the stomach, and don’t be slow.”
They waited in absolute silence as the potion disappeared from the vial.
“It may take some time before it begins to work,” Grandma Essie cautioned.
Rosie studied Mr. Nadir in fascination. The potion, which had been bright purple-blue, appeared as a purple-blue glow in Mr. Nadir’s stomach. After a short while, the purple-blue glow began spreading outward. Every place where the yellow glow had resided initially turned green before the blue glow won out and moved forward. Even the magenta glow was slowly being overtaken. It was like watching tiny battles waged one finger’s breadth at a time.
Had it just been Grandma and Robert, she would have narrated the whole thing out loud for them, but she hesitated to do so in front of Robert’s mother since the merwoman was so skeptical about the whole thing.
“Well, thank you for trying anyway,” Mrs. Nadir said after some twenty minutes.
Rosie hesitated. “The potion isn’t done working,” she said in a rush. “I can see the magic shifting, but the potion is still spreading. It’s not done yet.”
“Not done—what do you mean?” Mrs. Nadir asked in bewilderment.
“Rosie, does that mean it’s working?” Robert asked, his voice brimming with suppressed hope.
Rosie’s tail twitched, and she squeezed Robert’s hand. “Well, I don’t know if it’s going to heal his coma, but I do know that the potion hasn’t finished yet. It’s still spreading. Almost all the foreign magic is gone, but I don’t know if it has to fill his entire body or . . . well, I just don’t know. We don’t even know if the potion will work for sure or not. Regardless, he still has some time left before the potion has finished working. It’s about three quarters of the way spread throughout his torso and then—” She shrugged helplessly. “Does it have to reach his entire body to work, Grandma?”
Grandma Essie frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen a potion work the way you’re doing. I just know that the amount of time it takes varies, depending on how long the patient has been unconscious or injured and what caused the ailment.”
“But it took hardly five minutes for it to work on you!” Robert protested.
Grandma Essie nodded. “Because I had taken a potion for which this is the exact antidote. They are designed to work together.” She pursed her lips. “It may be that all the foreign magic needs to be dissipated, or it may be that the potion has to spread all the way. Rosie-girl, just let us know when the foreign magic is dissipated.”
“All right.”
“Where is it now?” Robert whispered ten seconds later.
Had it not been for the seriousness of the situation, Rosie would have laughed. She pointed to the small areas that still retained foreign magic and began describing which ones the potion had overtaken, keeping up a running commentary just as though Mrs. Nadir wasn’t present.
Eventually, some ten minutes later, the foreign magic was gone and only the leftover magical kelp residue remained.
At that point, Mr. Nadir’s skin took on a healthier hue.
“Maybe it really is doing something!” Mrs. Nadir exclaimed with wonderment.
Clearly, she didn’t believe Rosie’s account of being able to see magic.
Rosie continued her monologue as to the potion’s progress, and the moment it had filled Mr. Nadir’s entire body, they all leaned in.
Mr. Nadir shifted, as though waking from a deep sleep.
“Edmund?” Mrs. Nadir called. She took his hand and squeezed it tightly, her knuckles turning white. “Edmund?”
Her husband’s brow furrowed, but his eyes didn’t open.
Robert’s grip grew tighter as well, but Rosie just squeezed back.
“Edmund?”
Mr. Nadir’s eyes fluttered. “Lyn?” he slurred out.
“Edmund!” she said excitedly, pulling his hand to her chest. “Come back to me.”
The man opened his eyes. “Come back from where?” he asked irritably.
Mrs. Nadir threw herself on her husband, sobbing.
Grandma Essie motioned for Rosie to come with her. Rosie hesitated, her fingers still twined with Robert’s. Her friend had turned paler than she’d ever seen him.
“Father?” he murmured.
Rosie glanced towards Mrs. Nadir’s sobbing form. “I’m sure you can see him in a minute,” she said soothingly. “Maybe we should give your mother a moment alone.”
Robert nodded numbly. “I—you did it!” he said, sweeping her into a hug. “Rosie, I—I owe you more than I can say.”
Mr. Nadir sat up, trying to hold his weeping wife. “Robert?” he said with confusion. “Who are these people? And why are you so—you look like you’ve grown! What’s going on?”
Robert smiled at his father. “That’s a long story.”
A/N: Only one more chapter left. I’ve really loved this story and I hope you guys have enjoyed it 🙂 Thanks for reading!
See you on Saturday!
