Witchy Sour(67)

“Harpin, Harpin, Harpin...he’ll appreciate what I’m doing. Gus, not so much. He never liked me, that old man, but he had no choice except to work with me.”

“Why not?”

“Have you heard of The Core?”

I blinked at the change of subject. “No.”

“Hmm, I’m not surprised Gus didn’t share his little secret with you.”

“What is The Core?”

“A small group of wizards only. Cretan graduates mostly. At the moment, only five of us know of The Core’s existence.”

“Let me guess, you, Gus, and Harpin.” I counted aloud. “I heard the three of you talking about some project on the path last night in front of that old ice cream hut.”

“Ah, yes. Well, Gus was the second member to join the group. The three of us and Turin. Then, there’s the leader, but he is unnamed. Nobody knows who he is, or what he’s called, or where he’s located. This leader handpicked a few members to join. Think of The Core as a resistance sort of group. A small cell that is flexible and able to pivot quickly in order to fight against The Faction.”

“Gus’s entry makes sense,” I said. “But Harpin? Who let you and Harpin into the group?”

“I got in because of my background. Anyone entering The Core must ingest the Truth Seeker potion and answer a series of questions under its influence.”

“How did you pass the Truth Seeker test?”

“They asked me if I used to work for The Faction, and I said yes. They asked if I continued to work for The Faction, and I said no. Therefore, the leader of The Core deemed me invaluable. You see, I have contacts inside The Faction. I know things, and I have information that nobody on the outside could ever hope to learn.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“They forgot to touch on one crucial point. Although I don’t work for The Faction, that doesn’t mean I don’t sympathize with their cause. I work for myself now. When they asked if I was joining The Core to fight The Faction, I said yes. It wasn’t a lie. I am fighting them, but not in the way The Core had hoped.”

I tried to recall the scene from last night, but my memory was choppy at best. “Why was Gus supposed to have information on me? Why did he need to prove himself?”

“Gus stole your little book,” he said. “The leader gave him a test to see if he could keep a secret from you. As you weren’t invited to be a part of the group, you weren’t allowed to know any of the information. It was a test of his loyalty.”

“He stole The Magic of Mixology to prove something,” I said, more to myself than anyone else. It made sense. Gus had always had the means to do it. All I’d been missing was the motive. “He would’ve given it back.”

“Maybe.” Thomas shrugged. “Until I knocked him out early this morning. I needed that spellbook, and it was just my luck that Gus had lifted it from your safe.”

“What did you do to him?”

“Unfortunately, Gus returned home too quickly after our meeting, and so he left me no choice but to immobilize him.”

“Where is he? Why are you carrying out this plan? The Faction will never take you back.”

“This isn’t about The Faction anymore,” he said. “Consider it a labor of love. The Faction doesn’t realize the significance of what I’m doing yet, but someday they’ll understand. Someday, they’ll remember my name in stories.”

He was crazy. Insane. My eyes flicked over toward the potion, and I struggled to find a way to keep him talking. “I thought you’d have selected a more dangerous potion if you wanted to make a splash in history.”

“Oh, this potion is plenty dangerous when one swaps out a pinch of Dust of the Devil with a pinch of Hog’s Vein.”

My limbs froze. I hadn’t put it together in the heat of the moment, but suddenly it all made sense. The ingredients used in Vamp Vites crossed over to make another potion—a deadly poison.

“Maybe Gus mentioned it?” Thomas peered down at me. “Hog’s Vein can be a brutal killer.”

“I don’t focus on ingredients that hurt people.”

“That’s a shame. You might’ve recognized what was going on here if you’d paid more attention. Let me educate you.” He paced in a slow circle around the bubbling cauldron before clasping his hands behind his back. “Hog’s Vein changes the polarity of a spell. When swapped for half of the most difficult ingredient in any potion, it takes the healing natures of that spell and funnels them into one of destruction.”

“Still, you can’t possibly get everyone on The Isle to drink a mysterious potion. Even if you somehow managed to test it on one person—nobody would pick up the goblet after the first person died.”