Harley Merlin 11: Finch Merlin and the Lost Map by Bella Forrest

Author:Bella Forrest [Forrest, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nightlight Press
Published: 2019-08-27T18:30:00+00:00

Twenty-Three

Finch

Where the hell was I meant to start? I’d spent ten minutes staring at the labels on the bottles. Nobody else had made progress, either. Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to make the first move.

“The trial has begun,” Etienne prompted. He’d left his gas mask at home today, which gave me a sliver of comfort.

Come on, get your logic hat on. I looked over the vials and tried to come up with a plan. Blue… I should go for blue. The liquid in Etienne’s cauldron had been a vivid azure shade, so it seemed like a good place to start. I reached for a bottle of dark blue liquid labeled “sea serpent excretion” and tipped it into a clean beaker.

Everyone’s eyes darted toward me. I’d broken the tension, firing off the proverbial starter gun. I felt them watching and tried to ignore it. I needed to focus on what I was doing. And yet I had no idea what I was doing.

I picked up another bottle, a paler shade of blue, labeled “box jellyfish nematocysts.” I poured that in, moderating the amount. Leviathan blood followed it into the beaker, then a couple of clear substances to lighten up the mixture. Soon enough, I had a liquid that didn’t look too far off from the one Etienne had used, at least going by color.

With a deep breath, I put a pipette into the mixture and drew some out. I carried the pipette to the shrub. My shaking hand hovered over it, unable to make that oh-so-important squeeze.

“Nothing’s going to blow up, is it?” I glanced at Etienne.

He smiled oddly. “No… at least, it shouldn’t.”

“Okay, comforting.” I closed my eyes and prepared to squeeze the bulb of the pipette.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Luke’s voice stayed my fingertips.

My eyes opened to find Luke standing in front of me, arms crossed. “Huh?”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” he repeated.

“How else will I see if it works?” I replied curtly.

He shrugged. “It just doesn’t look like you’ve given it much thought.”

“I’m not a chemist, Luke. It’s trial and error.” Why was he riding me? Was I on the right track, and he wanted to stop me? I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I just don’t think you should be so blasé,” he shot back.

I held on to my temper. “Who’s being blasé? My hand’s friggin’ shaking!”

“Perhaps it would be best if everyone concentrated on their own plant,” Etienne cut in. “You must all find your own means of creating the right formula. In such small proportions, nobody will come to harm, as long as you don’t try to ingest the chemicals.”

Yeah, so butt out. I returned my attention to the pipette and gave it a defiant squeeze. A few drops tumbled into the reddish soil. The air stilled with anticipation, and everyone gaped at me. I waited, begging the sapling to shoot up and give me some plump fruit. Seconds passed, but the sapling stayed the same. Come on, little shrub… Etienne’s tree had grown instantly, but mine didn’t do anything.

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