Oh, Ophelia | C. De Vil

Thirteen; Getting the ingredients

OPHELIA looked at the core-four. "So," She said. "Can one of you help me get the ingredients for the potion?"

"Will you find the ingredients here?" Jay asked, sceptical.

"Mother said we could always find ingredients in forest-y, nature filled places, so yeah." Ophelia shrugged.

"I'll go with you," Carlos said. "There's nothing better for me to do anyway."

Ophelia beamed. "Thank you, Carl."

The two set out deep into the forest, not noticing the three others staring after them.

"Aww, it's love. Gross." Mal said.

Evie tried to suppress her smile, but failed. "Oh don't be like that, dragon."

Mal stared at her with an unreadable expression. "You stopped calling me that almost a year ago."

Evie blushed. "Oh um," she cleared her throat. "Do you not want to be called that anymore?"

Mal shook her head almost immediately. "No, no, I was just surprised, that's all."

Jay looked the other way, whistling. Why was he always the third wheel?

Meanwhile, Carlos and Ophelia were walking together, with Ophelia holding the list of ingredients in her hand.

"So, we have almost all of the ingredients. We only need..." She squinted at the list. "Hmm, I can't read it. I ripped it out of the potions book, and it's written all fancy-ish. I managed to read it at first, but it's too dark for me to properly read it now."

Carlos chuckled. "Give it to me. I'll read it." She gave the list to him. "Hmm, we still need, moonbeam essence and a lake's pearl. Do those things actually exist?"

Ophelia shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. It's supposed to be easy to find."

"Where will we find moonbeam essence?" Carlos asked.

"We go to a place where we can clearly see the moonlight and pick a flower from that area. Then, we crush it to make it powder-y." Ophelia recited, remembering how her mother used to lecture her and her siblings about how to find the ingredients.

"That's it?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah. Simple isn't it?" Ophelia laughed slightly. "It's just called moonbeam essence to make it sound fancy."

"And the lake's pearl." Carlos asked.

"We go to a lake and take a pearl from there," Ophelia said.

"There are pearls in a lake?" Carlos asked, confused.

"Yeah. Most people don't known 'cause they don't bother to check." Ophelia nodded. "We can find them deep underwater."

"One of is will be going swimming then huh?" Carlos joked.

"Oh, please. We both will be swimming," Ophelia smirked.

Carlos followed Ophelia, who was looking at the moon and was walking towards a clearing in the middle of the forest.

"There," She breathed once they stopped. "It's lovely isn't it?"

Carlos nodded and turned to her. He felt his heart beat a little faster and his palms start to get sweaty. Ophelia looked beautiful standing there. The moon light hit her face in just the right way and her face glowed under the nature-given spotlight. Her eyes looked like they were made of dark gems and seemed to hold galaxies in them.

"Carlos," Ophelia turned to look at him. "Are you okay?"

Carlos snapped out of it and cleared his throat. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Sure. I'm completely fine."

Ophelia still looked concerned, but let it drop. She walked over to a bluebell flower that sparkled under the moonlight and picked it up.

"Bluebells make the potion take effect much more faster." She said, seemingly to nowhere, her voice vague.

"Is one enough?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah,  one bluebell is perfect."

She put it in the little bag they had, along with the rest of the ingredients. "Now just the pearl left," she beamed.

"Is there a lake around here?" He asked.

"I think there is. Yzla told me about a sapphire lake as a bedtime story once. She also told me about a sapphire valley and the sapphire meadow and they're all real. So I guess the lake's real as well. She said it was a vit away from the lake so," She paused, looking around before her face lit up. "It must be that way."

Carlos followed her as Ophelia seemed to know exactly where to go. A few minutes later, they reached a lake, just as she had predicted.

"Well, we have to dive in now." Ophelia said, placing the bag of ingredients under a tree. She unbuttoned her shirt and took off her pants.

"Well, come on. We won't get the pearls by just standing here."

Carlos shook his head and bent down while taking off his shirt and pants, hoping Ophelia wouldn't see his red face. Had she always been so attractive? Or had he only noticed now?

She dived in and he followed, letting the water wash over him.

She swam deeper and deeper, motioning for him to follow.

She pointed to a shiny, white, small pearl that seemed to be glimmering. It must have been the pearl, because Ophelia took it in her hands and swam back. The pearl must have been heavy for her, as she was slowing down.

Carlos took her hand and swam to the shore, dragging her along. When they resurfaced, Ophelia ran to the bag and put the pearl in there, before breathing out in relief.

"Pearls loose their magic if you keep them outside for too long. It's better to put it in a bag filled with magical ingredients, as it would feel more at home that way," She answered his unasked question.

"I see," He said.

They walked back to the others and reached them fairly quickly.

"Do you have it?" Mal asked.

"Yep. All the ingredients in here. Now, let's get brewing!" Ophelia said.