It’s another one of those weekends where so many things happened in so many different directions that trying to explain it all feels unwieldy and overwhelming, so I’m sorry and just bear with me.

To begin with, I think it’s probably important to briefly remind you that the last we spoke it was Friday morning, and I was feeling shell-shocked, bewildered by the enormity of history and our place within it. I did not care about key week.

But just because I was coming to a new understanding about the basic tenets of the universe, doesn’t mean that the rest of the school stopped caring about winning the key, or that my classmates would stop volunteering themselves as cannon fodder for whichever college they hoped to eventually join.

I should not have been surprised when, on Saturday morning, I woke up to find Andie looking like they’d lost a fight with a cutlery drawer, but I am self absorbed, and didn’t spare even the barest thought that Andie might try to get the key from Polecat on their own.

I was laying in bed, feeling sorry for myself, wondering what kind of havoc the world would wreak on itself as magic became stronger, and noticed, but did not register that Andie got out of bed and fled down the hall to the bathroom without saying a word to me.

This isn’t like… that unusual, Andie’s very quiet, and because I was hyper aware of the fact that I backed out of our plan I figured they were just mad at me and I though I really did hate that — obviously I hate it when people are mad at me for any reason ever — I was feeling way too sorry for myself to do anything about it.

They kept their back towards me the entire time they were getting ready for breakfast, and the general bad feeling tightened and twisted in my gut, as I realized that maybe they were really hurt, that I may have done some irredeemable damage to our budding friendship.

I’m literally the most self centered person on this earth hahaha.

“Um,” I began, when I could no longer stand the silence. “I’m really sorry —”

“No that’s okay,” Andie said in a rush. “It was smart of you not to get involved, actually, I mean we’re really not supposed to —” but they stopped because I’d gotten out of bed to get a closer look at them. They flinched, but not enough to escape. It was too late, I’d seen what they were hiding from me.

Their whole throat and chin looked like it had been thoroughly scrubbed down with a blackberry bramble. The scratches were all swollen, angry and bright red. A particularly bad scratch along their jawline was oozing.

“What happened to you?” I gasped.

“Nothing,” they said.

But it was clearly not nothing.

“You need to go to nurse,” I said. “Some of these look infected. Did you get attacked?”

Andie wrenched away. “I’m fine,” they insisted, which I obviously didn’t believe. They rolled their eyes. “I can’t go to the infirmary because —”

They didn’t even have to finish. I’d figured it out.

“You went to get the key from Polecat, didn’t you,” I said.

“Yeah, alright?” they snapped back. “Glad you decided not to join us?”

I scowled at them. “These look really bad.”

“Yeah, well, they don’t feel awesome either,” Andie sulked and rolled my eyes and got my phone out.

“Come on,” I said as it rang.

“No we can’t go to the infirmary, they’ll suspend me and then I’ll never get into Saint Niveus!”

I rolled my eyes, but was spared answering because Neal had picked up the phone.

“Hey,” he said, sounding somewhat breathless.

“You busy?” I asked, practically dragging Andie down the hall after me.

“We just got back to the Crossroads,” Neal replied. “Say hi to everyone, you’re on speaker.” And then in the background, there was a chorus of “hi Shiloh” from the background, and listen, the cacophony really did hearten me.

“Hi everyone,” I said, smiling as I banged on Bass and Rook’s door. “I’ve got a question.”

“Ooo, homework help?” Beverly’s voice said.

“Not exactly,” I sighed. “My roommate got attacked by a poison mink last night and I’m hoping one of you will know how to treat it.”

As I said this, Rook opened the door, already dressed, hair clean, dry, and brushed. His brow furrowed when he saw me standing there, phone to my ear, and then his eyes widened comically when he saw the state of Andie.

“Who —?” he asked, standing aside to let us in.

“Neal,” I mouthed to hush him because on the phone Neal had said, “Attacked by a poison mink? How on earth did they manage that?”

In the background, Julian said, “a poison mink? Is she sure it’s a poison mink?”

“Yeah, it’s name is Polecat?” I said and went on to try and explain about key week, but lots of people were laughing on the other side and Neal cut me off: “Ah, yeah, say no more.”

“You know the mink in question?” I asked.

“Yeah, we brought him in a few years ago.” Of course they did. “He was supposed to go to the Emporium, but I think Jimenez is fond of him. Nasty little booger.” But his voice was full of affection as he said it.

“Well, Andie tried to take — uh… something from Polecat, and now they’re all scratched up.”

I had to wait for everyone to stop laughing before they could answer, so I put a hand over the receiver and mouthed to Bass, who was still in bed, to take a look at Andie’s poor face.

“Listen,” Neal said. “Your best bet is to take them to the infirmary, poison minks tend to harbor very strange bacteria in their mouths. Polecats been on earth for a few years, so hopefully the bacteria’s all from earth, but there’s no way to be absolutely certain. Better to have someone look at it.”

“Okay, but what if going to the infirmary isn’t an option?” I asked and Neal hesitated.

“You getting into trouble already?” he said and I rolled my eyes.

“It’s a really long story,” I sighed and he cackled, delighted.

“Give ‘em hell, Shiloh!” I heard Jasper call from the background and I couldn’t help but crack a smile, even though Bass was making a very uncertain face as he examined Andie’s scratches.

“Alright,” Julian said, suddenly much louder, like he’d taken the phone from Neal. “In any of the Arcana labs they’re going to have a serum called evitotum. Among other things, it’s a powerful antibiotic. If they use it topically once a day until their wounds close up, they should be absolutely fine, but listen — you have to be careful with that stuff, alright? It’s powerful. Don’t touch it with any uninjured skin, and for goodness sake don’t drink it.”

“We can’t get into the Arcana labs,” I said. “How do we get it.”

“Ask Lily,” Neal said, like this was totally obvious. “She’ll get you whatever you need.”

I scoffed.

“Oh c’mon you know Lily,” Neal chided.

“I can’t —” I began, about to explain that Lily isn’t my ol’ pal, she’s literally my professor, but gave up before even starting. Not worth it. Andie was sweating now, their whole face had a sheen across it. So instead I said, “Okay, yeah sure.”

“Okay, keep us posted, alright?”

“Uh huh,” I said and hung up.

“Who was that?” Andie asked, but now wasn’t the time to tell them that I’d been on the phone with dog saints. That just seemed like it would open more cans of worms than necessary.

“We have to get a serum called Evitotum from Willowa’s arcana labs,” I said.

“What happened?” Bass asked.

I hesitated, glancing at Andie, and they just came out with it: “I tried to get the key from Polecat.”

There was a beat of quiet.

“Did it work?” Rook asked.

“Not even close,” Andie said miserably, sitting down on the end of Bass’ bed. “I’m sorry,” they said, voice hitching up several octaves as they strained to keep it together. “I don’t know why I thought I’d be able to do it, I just…”

Rook knelt and reached to put a hand on their forehead, but then hesitated. “I think you have a fever, can I —?” Andie looked a little dazed to have him all close to them all of a sudden — idk if Andie likes boys, Rook just sorta has that effect on people — but eventually nodded and Rook put the back of his hand on their face. He looked up at me and I could tell by his expression that they were definitely warm.

“Can you do anything?” I asked Bass and he shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m not really a healer,” he said. “That stuff’s really complicated.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to see the nurse?” I said. “We can just lie. Tell her something else happened.”

But Andie’s eyes were swimming with tears. “I can’t get kicked out,” they said, and god they looked so desperate that I gave up on the rational.

“Okay,” I said. “Evitotum it is.”

“We can’t get into the arcana labs though, can we?” Bass asked.

And that was sure the question, wasn’t it.

“Maybe they’ll be empty,” I said, ten minutes later as the four of us rushed across fountain square towards the grove. “It’s a Saturday morning. Maybe everyone’ll be at breakfast.”

And listen, it was an optimistic hope, but it wasn’t totally off-base. The labs were big, stone buildings, and when we pressed our noses to the windows, there weren’t people in there. It was a little bit eerie to open the heavy door and find ourselves in an unfamiliar, creaky corridor, lined with doors only marked with a letter and a number.

“Guys, I’m fine,” Andie said, as we hesitated, unsure where to go, but when I looked at them the lower half of their face had swollen even further.

I chose a door at random and pushed it open.

It resembled any science classroom honestly — rows of thick counters atop which sat a set of vials and a Bunsen burner per every couple of stools. Across the back of the classroom the whole wall was an apothecary, bits of herbs and who knows what else poking out of the little drawers.

“Julian said all the labs would have it,” I whispered, but it still took a moment for any of us to summon the courage to start rummaging through cabinets.

“Euch,” Bass said, pulling a huge jug labeled, simply essence from the storage under one of the tables. Inside, what looked like a black eel was suspended in murky liquid.

“Remind me not to take potions,” I said, pulling out an apothecary drawer labeled beaks. Inside was exactly what was on the label, some wide, duck-like bills, others hooked and sharp like a bird of pray, and still others totally unrecognizable. I shut it quickly. I mean it literally said what it was on the drawer, idk what else I expected lol.

“Wait, evitotum, right?” Rook called from the front of the room, where he was searching through the cabinet behind the professor’s desk. We all turned in time to see him drag a large, clear bottle with a cork stopper, half filled with a somewhat viscous silvery liquid.

“Is that it?” Bass asked.

“That’s what’s on the bottle,” Rook said, offering it towards us as we came to look more cloesly.

And that was when the door opened.

All four of us froze.

“What are you doing in here?” And then, when we turned to see who had joined us: “You four!”

It was Adrian Prescott.

“Do you — you’re not supposed — these labs are restricted!” he spluttered. I glanced at Rook, but by his expression he didn’t know how finesse this one either. Adrian said, “Are you following me?”

“No,” I said, quickly, relieved to have an easy answer. “No we just came because…” I trailed off, and Adrian’s eyes found Andie.

“What the hell happened to —” but he stopped. “Oh.” Smug amusement crossed his face. “Went head to head with Polecat, did you?” He came to get a better look at what we’d pulled out of the cabinet, then smirked. “Yeah, that’ll do the job. Not looking to go to the infirmary, are you? That’s probably wise. There’s another minnow up there this morning. Apparently she was trying to steal the key for Saint Niveus. Sorely’s threatening to do a whole investigation.”

Andie winced and Adrian laughed.

“You were stealing for Saint Niveus, too, were you?” he said, and I saw a glimmer of greed pass over his face and realized we were in trouble.

“They weren’t together,” I said quickly and started trying for the door, which I think actually hurt us more than it helped.

“How about this,” he said, before we could escape. “How about I don’t tell anyone you were in here, and in exchange, you go get that key for Willowa instead.”

“Are you crazy?” Bass said. “Did you not see their face?”

“Yeah but you’re a witch, aren’t you?” Adrian said. “You’ll think of something.”

We all stood there, stricken, not sure what to say, and half certain he was joking.

“I thought you didn’t care about key week,” I said, and Adrian shrugged.

“I care about Saint Niveus not winning it,” he said, shrugging. “I would very much like to see them lose in fact.” And then after a beat, he added, “You know I actually sort of like this idea.” He leaned against the edge of one of the lab tables. “I wouldn’t mind sweetening the pot a little bit. I can get you some leverage in Willowa if you want to join us.”

“Not interested,” I snapped and made to leave but Rook caught my arm.

“Deal,” he said. “We’ll get the key for Willowa.” I shot him a furious look, but he only squeezed my arm gently and added to Adrian, “Under one condition.”

Adrian paused. “Okay, what’s that?”

“You tell us what Robert Pennington and his friends were studying.”

Rook. My Rook. A genius. A beauty. A joy to know.

In the moment of silence that followed, Bass, Andie and I turned towards Adrian in wordless solidarity. He hesitated. Chewed the inside of his lip for a moment. Managed a smile.

“Alright,” he said. “Alright. You bring me that key, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“And we have your word on that?” Rook asked.

“Sure,” Adrian said, and Rook extended a hand towards him.

Adrian hesitated. Then, slowly, he reached out and shook.

As we turned to go Adrian added, “You’re not going to get that key. And if you get caught you’re on your own.”

We didn’t answer, but we did break into a run when we got out of the lab, skipping up the hill towards fountain square. Well, we were skipping, poor Andie sorta stumbled after us until Bass stopped and offered to carry them piggy back.

“We’ll never get that key,” Andie said as Bass hitched them higher onto his back.

“Yeah we will,” I replied.

Andie shook their head. “You didn’t meet Polecat.”

“No,” I agreed, already pulling out my phone. “But I know someone who did.”

Neal and Jasper thought it was absolutely hilarious that I’d decided to try to get my hands on the key.

Julian was just concerned. “Whatever college you want to get into, you know Lana will help you,” he said.

I hesitated. I really didn’t want to explain that I was trying to get information about my brutally and mysteriously killed classmates, but it’s not like I could lie to them. Damn you Neal.

“She’s just showing off,” Neal said, proudly, and then he explained the trick to Polecat’s heart.

And I’m sorry but that’s all you get for today, I’ll finish the story tomorrow but it’s late and I have to run tomorrow morning I’m sorry