The Last Apothecary

Chapter 16.

"Hey! I heard someone needed a ride?" Dustin leaned his head out of the purple car's window.

"Yeah, sorry. I got held up, and then I held up my classmate Blyke here too. You don't mind driving us home, do you?" I knew he had already said yes over text, but I still felt like I was being a bother, asking him for a favor out of the blue when I had only known him for a few days... and I was about to do it again.

He smiled before shaking his head gently. "It's no problem. I was only at the gaming cafe anyways, so it's not too far of a trip." Dustin waved his hand as the doors pulled up over the top of the car to let us in before sliding them down behind us.

"Oh wait, were you at Nexus Games?" Blyke slid himself into shotgun, squinting at Dustin for a second. "I think I might've seen you there once or twice actually. Name's Blyke!"

"I'm Dustin. Now that you mention it, I think I might have seen you too. I'm usually in the corner seat playing SpellSlay."

"No way! That's one of my favorites! Have you ever-" Before I could even mention what Blyke and I had talked about, the two of them were off in conversation, exchanging gamer tags over car seats. I really didn't want to interrupt, but as the car turned closer and closer to my house, I was getting impatient, my foot tapping against the car floor.

"Oh hey, is something the matter, Crow?" Dustin asked, turning his head over the seat to look at me. "You look upset. Is it about whatever made you miss the bus earlier."

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. You know Eileen, my boss?"

"Of couse. They kicked you out the other day. Oh no... did they fire you from working there?" He stopped for a second, something seeming to click in his head. "I'm sorry. Talking about the cafe with you right there was pretty insensitive, wasn't it?"

"No, you're fine. I wasn't even fired, surprisingly," I explained, a little taken aback at the instant apology he gave. "They actually called me yesterday, and explained why they hadn't taken too kindly to me being a Witch." I stopped for a second, not sure how much information to give. I decided on the least amount as possible. "...It turns out they were cursed as a kid, and some of that anger came out at me. So long story short, I got my job back, but I still feel bad for lying. I thought I could make some kind of potion to remove the curse, but Dekoran won't let me have it. So now it's locked up in the school, and I have no way of getting it."

"How could he do that? That's so unfair! They at least deserve a shot at getting healed." His silver eyes shone with sympathy as he nodded along.

"Wait! The person who runs the game store was the one that was cursed? Now you have to let me help out!" Blyke cut in, before glancing away, a small, embarrassed look on his face. "I... kinda owe them, because I've come in there before without having had much to eat, and they've let me take extra snacks whenever I didn't have enough cash on me. I never expect it, and I've offered several times to pay back later, but they'd tell me not to worry about it. This is the least I can do for them."

"I'd love to help too, but how would we get access to a potion Mr. Dekoran has?" Dustin asked, glancing at me through the rear view mirror. "I don't take magik classes, but isn't he notorious for being one of the most powerful Witches out there?"

"Yeah..." I sighed. "Right now, it's locked up in a chest in the Basics to Magik classroom. Dekoran comes in early in the morning to run detention, and doesn't leave until after the busses have gone home, possibly even later. So... Blyke was saying, I... well, we, might have to break into the school at night."

It sounded so stupid and crazy out loud. It was an actual plot against Dekoran, that involved actually breaking into the school. It was insane. "Obviously you guys don't have to. This is my mistake that I want to fix, after all," I reminded them, nervous sweat starting on my forehead as the car pulled into my driveway.