Love Potion

The Pilfer

The invisibility cloak was clear, but distorted what you could see through it in fold-like ripples. Never mind my dress, this was exactly like fabric water. I couldn't quite comprehend it, as I goggled at my hand (or rather its lack thereof), which was completely vanished through the cloak, though I could still feel it. 

Kenzie made me come close behind him as he shouldered his bag and thrust the wraithlike cloak over us. With my head beneath the cloak, I saw myself, but when I turned to the mirror, with some fantastic horror I saw that neither of us were there.

"Wow," I said.

Kenzie's smile tinkled from his shoulder. "Pretty epic, right?"

I grinned back. Then, "Oh!" I suddenly remembered. I rubbed the fabric of the dress between my finger and thumb. "Oh, yeah, Kenzie... um... On a... very... different note... do you know how powerful is Viper's specialty?"

Kenzie reacted somewhat. His hands wriggled, his throat glupped. "Uhm! How... how do you know about his specialty?"

Oh! I had not thought it was a secret. "Sorry..." I said, "I overheard it in sorcery... it's just got me a little worried..."

Kenzie swallowed. "Killian doesn't talk about his power much... well, at all. But only the most powerful mind-readers can reach the deepest parts of a person's mind, and moderate ones can only decipher current, un-absent-minded thoughts, and very special memories, yaknow? I wouldn't say Kenzie can read your deep, dark secrets, I wouldn't worry about that..." He chuckled awkwardly. "The power is... a blessing and a curse. You see... he doesn't learn to expand his powers - no one sane does. He learns to stifle them."

I didn't add anything else after that. I was only somewhat comforted - more concerned for him than for myself. Of course, no one would want to live a life of constantly hearing everyone's thoughts. Of course, he wished to stifle it. Wouldn't I? And did this mean he would not read mine?

Kenzie shifted the cloak a bit, then glanced back at me. "Ready?"

I was ready as I would ever be.

Through the cloak's ripply warp, he pushed back the dressing room curtain, and we stepped silently through it; oh yes, and my legs were no less than jelly. How strange it must be to people outside the cloak, seeing a dressing room curtain push back without a hand... I suppose in this world, stranger things have happened.

We had to manoeuvre very close together in order to stay under the cloak, and equally could I smell his boyish body odour than I did step on his heels. All very embarrassing, but in the moment I was rather preoccupied with terror.

The dress shop was bustling. Where there wasn't racks and mannequins, there were palavering Greamelts students.

"Damn," Kenzie muttered.

Oh no. My head felt astoundingly light, as if a great big bubble had blown up there. "What... are we going to do?"

"Well, too late to back out now," he went grinly. "It's almost time to be back at the carriages. We'll just make a mad run for it."

"Uh... what?"

But before I could panic about it, Kenzie had broken into a run, and my rattletrap legs were forced to bumble-side from behind him. We whooshed right past the tart shop assistant, leaving her hair tendrils lightly flying, and we scraped through clothes racks, and where we couldn't slicker past the shopping students we shoved right through them. When we were just to whizz past Viper (who, now piled with shopping bags and with Tamsin and Tatiana at his side, looked quite pleased), I snatched at a fleeting chance to hiss boo! loudly in his ear. Unfortunately I didn't get to see his reaction, but I was sure it was good.