Rooming with the Wicked

9 | a little research

Infernis, huh?

Haze's much too happy expression at revealing that little tidbit of information was still fresh in my mind. His words had definitely had the desired effect. Not that I'd ever give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

"...most commonly used in Darken Draught," Professor Esula droned on, "and Potion of Focused Atonia."

Suppressing a shudder, I shifted my attention to the beautifully detailed drawing of the heart-shaped leaf on the board. Funny how such an inconspicuous little thing could induce sleep paralysis.

Then again, these pitch-black leaves crowned the most impressive trees in all of the realms. After seeing a picture of the ancient Ardu trees when I'd barely been old enough to understand that Earth was but one realm, it had been a dream of mine to take a walk amongst the red-barked giants.

Of course, a dream it had stayed with Dad monitoring my portal uses carefully. Maybe one day.

Professor Esula raised a single leaf and pointed at the tip, her fire engine red nail polish contrasting the deep black of the foliage. "Don't forget to include the vein running through the middle. It's nearly invisible, but it's there."

Frowning, I turned back to my paper. Art had never been my strong suit, but this sad excuse of a drawing was terrible even for my standards. In my defense, focusing on herbology was next to impossible with the unsettling prospect that my lovely roomies had sent their last roommate to the demon realm in mind.

Well, that and that I was stuck living with them.

Student services had proved once again that they were even less helpful than an umbrella in a hurricane. Not only was there no other available dorm according to them, but they couldn't even tell me what had happened to the previous inhabitant of Room 337.

When I'd asked for a name, the fae manning the desk had frowned at her screen and muttered something about confidential information. Very reassuring that was.

Maybe Ri wasn't responsible after all. Sure, she'd wanted me out, but she didn't want me dead, did she? Besides, she didn't have that kind of influence, not in the supernatural division.

That meant someone else, someone much more powerful, had not only separated me from my kind but put me in a room with a supernatural who wanted me gone. Permanently.

Or maybe said supernatural had just bribed the right person and I was overthinking this whole thing.

At this point, anything was possible, because—yay me—I was still at square one. Until I figured out a way to access the filing system that wouldn't get me kicked out, I had two other direct leads to follow. Soporis and the manipulated portal.

Since the only students authorized to enter the portal room during the semester were those who were related to an ambassador like me, royalty, or had some sort of special permission, it should be fairly easy to determine which one of my roomies that applied to.

Following the soporis trail would be harder. Apart from a few select teachers, nobody was supposed to have access to the school's supply, and there was no way to track whether someone had smuggled any in. But maybe I didn't need to know that.

Soporis had to be handled with care, which meant that whoever had put it on my jacket knew how to avoid being poisoned themselves. They'd done their research. And research happened to be my specialty.

Was there a more perfect place to start my investigation than the library?

***

Apparently, not as the library seemed to suffer from a sudden shortage of literature on soporis. All I could get my hands on was a worn copy of Advanced Poisons and an even shabbier-looking textbook on black risolis flowers. I didn't have high hopes for the latter, but since soporis was obtained from the flower's pollen, it couldn't hurt to check it out.