The Last Apothecary

Chapter 33.

It was the only time in my life I was glad to live in New Jersey. If the capital was any further away, there was no way we'd have made it before things went completely to hell. Not that it wasn't bad already. Every couple minutes, a cop would whizz past us, but that wasn't much compared to how many cars were in the opposite lane of traffic trying to evacuate. As if on cue, we drove past another pileup, though I could only make out ambulances and crushed metal before we were already too far to see.

Grimacing, I turned to Dustin in the front seat for the millionth time. "Any updates?"

The lollipop in his mouth shifted, Dustin biting it to answer around it. "Not much. The cult is still inside the White House, and the politicians have been pushed into the back of the building for now, which is bomb-sheltered. They're saying there's several guards out front ready with mustard gas to attack, but they don't want to have to use it because a lot of the members seem really young."

"Great, so we'll be attacked by both sides," I muttered bitterly. Whatever. It wasn't like I cared to save the politicians specifically. I just didn't want anyone getting hurt in general.

"At least we should get there soon," Liesel piped up. "...Before it gets any worse."

"That's true." I shrugged. The only reason we were making record time is because not a single other person was on the road headed there. It was a shame it wasn't that way for parking, though. As the buildings of the city rose up around us, it was hard to tell if there were more brooms or cars taking up every available spot, and it only got worse further in. My hand jumped up to grab the ceiling handle as Gwen veered the car to narrowly dodge another besom left lying on the street.

"You know what? Screw it!" she shouted, the car jostling wildly again as she pulled to a stop in front of a building's driveway, throwing the car into park.

"Gwen, that's illegal," Dustin muttered, almost to himself. "And for the amount of times you want to reprimand my driving, you're the one parked on the wrong side of the road."

"Well what do you want me to do?" She turned around to yell at him. "There's no parking, and if everyone's listening to the government's instructions, they'll be inside anyway."

"We're not following the instructions," Liesel pointed out.

"Do you want to have to walk more than five minutes, or not?"

"Liesel, just let me get out of the damn car." I sighed, pulling myself out the door. I don't care if it's a five-seater. With Blyke taking up the whole left side, and Liesel's flouncy skirts piling over into my own spot, I was going to lose it at the rate I was going if my nerves didn't kill me first. We are never squeezing everyone in here again.

"Oh sorry. I didn't mean it like that..." Liesel's eyes darted to the floor as she fumbled with the wand in her hand.

Gwen stopped getting out for a second, the sleeve of her green blouse draping over Liesel's shoulder as she wrapped an arm around her. "Hey, are you all right?"

"Yeah, it's just..." Liesel swallowed hard, black shoes tapping quickly on the cobblestone with anxiety. "I'm just worried. What if it's too late... or someone gets hurt?"

"Then you'll be there to heal us. Duh!" Blyke clapped a hand on her back. "Didn't you tell me one time you skipped a grade or two because of how powerful your healing specialty was?"

A watery smile spread across Liesel's face. "I did."

I took a deep breath to try and alleviate my own anxiety. "Then we'll run this the same way you would for SpellSlay. Liesel, you and me are Support. I'll try to throw potions at Dustin the same way we did at the riot so the twins can hold people off, and Blyke, you can-" I cut myself off to look at him.