Dragon Witch ✔️

20 - Potion Lab

I tossed the blood-drawing supplies in a nearby trash can. When I straightened, Piper was still working. She'd done about half the tray. I swirled my vial of blood around. Silver specks floated through the red mire. The last time I'd drawn my blood, it'd looked completely normal. What would it look like next month? Or the month after that?

I was so weird. For crying out loud, I was planning on drinking my kinda-friend's blood out of a test tube as soon as the nurse turned her back. "Freak" didn't even begin to describe what I felt like.

Finally, Piper finished and moved on to another device. With a twinge of guilt, I downed the vial of Kyton's blood. Then I tested my vial as quickly as I could, trying my best not to let the machine's keyboard clack too loud. Piper was humming to herself, and she didn't seem to notice.

"Ooh, I've been looking for you." She bent over to pick something off the floor.

When the machine finished inspecting my blood, it spit out exactly the results I'd been expecting--and dreading.

"Sex: F

Age: 18

Species: Fairy Dragon -- Changeling Stage 2

Bloodtype: BP+"

Any doubts I'd had vanished with the blinking alert that appeared on the screen.

"ALERT: CLASS 5 DANGEROUS SPECIES; BLOOD TRADE HIGHLY REGULATED"

Well, at least there was a silver lining. If my blood was changeling enough to trigger the machine's warning, it was changeling enough to help Kyton's dad.

"What-" Piper squeaked, drawing my attention back to her. She stared my way through what looked like a blue-tinted monocle on a chain. No, not a monocle. A glamour glass. She could see me.

I jammed the lid on my vial and sprinted out the door. It didn't sound like she'd followed me. The blood I'd drunk gave me enough magic so that it was easy to stay invisible, even in the middle of a brightly-lit hallway.

Alarm bells went off, and red lights flashed along the ceiling. I froze just outside the elevator. The alarms quieted just enough for an automated voice to be heard.

"ALERT: CLASS FIVE DANGEROUS SPECIES LOOSE ON FLOOR THREE; ALL MAGICAL SECURITY PERSONNEL TO FLOOR THREE. ALERT: CLASS FIVE DANGEROUS..."

Oh prip, oh prip, oh prip. I jabbed at the elevator button, but it didn't light up. They'd disabled the elevators. I was so dead.

I sprinted to the stairs. The door was unlocked, luckily. Apparently they didn't expect that a "class five dangerous species" would figure out how to use a push-door. Either that, or locking it was just a fire hazard.

I hesitated on the landing. Should I go down and try to get out of the hospital? I had the blood, and I was sure it was pure enough. If I stayed, I could make the potion here and give it directly to Kyton's dad. But what if I didn't have enough potion ingredients in my backpack? I definitely didn't have any bowls or heating devices in there. Though, I'd read on the registry that the potion lab was upstairs. They would have the supplies I needed.

If it was any other potion, I could wait. A day or two to administer it wouldn't make a difference. But this wasn't just any potion. From the sound of the medical report, death followed soon after paralyzation. Kyton's dad might not have another day or two. Up it was.

On the fourth floor, I nearly ran into a passing doctor, who was obviously not wearing a glamour glass. He didn't even glance my way. Heart pounding in my throat, I stumbled back. The alarms were going off on this floor, too, but no one seemed to be giving it much mind. All the magical security personnel had to be on the floor I'd just left.