Trouble's Brewing (Stirring Up Trouble) (20 page)

“Dad, I’m sure John has already done the whole ‘scare the boyfriend’ thing,” Milo said.

“I’m just being friendly,” Bill said. “Plus, John may be biased in this situation.”

Next to me, Jake squirmed. “I’m pretty sure he’s got it covered, sir.”

“Dad…” Milo coaxed.

“Okay then. I’ll leave the boy alone,” Bill said.

Jake relaxed.

“Thank you, Bill,” I said. “And Milo.”

“We should have gotten you a ticket too,” Milo said. “The movie looks good.”

“I’ll be fine,” Bill said. “I need to work on the social media outreach for the youth program.”

“Mom isn’t going to like you working,” Milo said.

“I think she’ll be busy enough with Annie.”

Guilt crept back into my chest. I reached for Jake’s hand.

He squeezed my hand, but he didn’t ask what was going on with my mother. I’d tell him when we got to the theater.

“Did your Dad tell you about Christmas?”

This didn’t sound good. “Uh, no.”

“Mom decided we’re going to my grandmother’s the Sunday before Christmas. We won’t be back until the day after Christmas.”

The knowledge that he was going to be missing from my life for less than a week sucked the happiness out of my day. The boy had too much power over me. I had thought we could hang out every day of Christmas break. I’d been counting on it. Five days with no Jake?

“I know,” Jake said, pulling me close and nuzzling my nose. “I wanted to be with you too. I had plans for all that free time.”

“Like baking cookies?” I teased.

“Yes. And other things. A couple of video game marathons and some serious,” he said as he tightened his arm around my waist, “cuddle time.”

“We can cuddle in the movie,” I suggested.

He grinned and then kissed me on the cheek. “Mom and John want to exchange presents on the Saturday night before we leave. If that’s okay with you.”

I nodded. “We’ll have an early Christmas.”

After my epic fail with the dating site, I resolved to stay out of my mother’s personal life.

“I wonder if we made a mistake by restricting her from potions for the week,” Mom said to Finn. “It might have kept her away from other activities, like signing me up for online dating.”

So my mother had filled him in on the drama.

He frowned. “I suppose idle time may have been a factor. However, I am confident that challenging her to refrain from potion experiments for the week was both necessary and productive.”

“I’m not so sure,” my mother admitted.

“Trust me, Annie,” Finn said.

“Of course, Martin. You are the master. I don’t doubt your methods.”

On Sunday, I hugged Milo, Bill, and Marjorie and then waved as they drove away.

“I’m so glad they came up,” Mom said.

“Me too.”

She turned to go back inside.

“What’s the plan for the rest of the day?” I asked, following her in.

“I’m taking a long nap,” Mom said. “I love having company, but it is a lot of work.”

“Good,” I said. “I guess I’ll umm… find something on television.”

“You could read a book.” My mother smiled at me.

“I could.”

“Or…” she said. “You could work on the unicorn horn substitution.”

I threw my arms around her. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!”

“You’ve earned it, Zoe. The key is in the freezer in the banana Popsicle box. I’ll be upstairs if you need me.”

“Thanks!” I called over my shoulder as I dashed for the kitchen. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the limestone.

At ten, my mother ordered me to stop and clean up. “It’s a school night.” She took in my damp hair streaked with limestone powder and the uneaten sandwich on the counter. “You never ate your dinner. Zoe, I think Martin had a point. You may be getting overly, er, involved in your experiments.”

“But I was making progress! Mom, the limestone is making a huge difference. I think I’m really close. I’m already close, and I just started.” I jumped up and down. “Do you know how great this is going to be?”

Mom’s eyes held concern. “Of course I know how wonderful it is, Zoe. I’m sure the unicorns are appreciative, but I’m not their mother. I’m your mother, and I’m starting to wonder whether encouraging your wondrous gifts and your superhuman drive has been the best course of action.”

Uh oh. “Mom, I promise I’m in control. I managed over Thanksgiving, didn’t I?”

She nodded.

“And while you were sick.”

“Yes.” She sighed.

“Scientists are driven, focused people. That’s how so many wonderful discoveries have been made. I don’t understand why you’re so worried.”

“Scientists aren’t supervised by an overly powerful Council of conservatives who watch their every step. Scientists aren’t teenagers with magical powers whose slightest mistakes could impact billions of people.”

Images of frogs and toads leaped through my mind. I couldn’t deny her assertion. “That’s why Finn is here. He’ll keep me out of trouble.”

My mother picked up a sponge and began wiping down the counter. “He’ll try, but he can’t protect you from everything.”

I opened the back door to get some fresh soil to deactivate the potion, and Jasmine ran in.

Mom’s exasperated cry made me turn back to the stove where my cat was urinating on the cauldron.

“Jasmine!” I screamed, and the cat ran across the counter and out of the room.

Mom and I stared in disbelief at the cauldron and the cat urine steam that rose from it. The stench, like a cat litter pan that had never been changed, made me cough.

“Zoe! Was the cauldron empty? Or do we have to worry about a potion?”

“It was clean, Mom,” I assured her, holding up the aluminum foil. “It’s not a potion. It’s just cat pee.”

“In the cauldron, and on the stove where we cook our food.”

“What should we do with it?”

“Let’s set the cauldron out on the back patio for now.”

I got a set of potholders and carried the heavy black pot out the back door. I sidestepped two frogs and set it down on the patio. When I came back in, I set the potholders on the counter. “We need to wash these.”

My mother was scrubbing the stove top. “I’ll have to wait for the burner to cool thoroughly before I can finish.” She went to the sink and washed her hands. “What on earth got into that cat?”

“I don’t know.” Jasmine never bothered me when I was brewing potions, and yet this was the second time she’d interfered with the unicorn horn experiments. I was starting to wonder if the cat knew something I didn’t.

“Maybe she has a urinary tract infection,” Mom said. “Or she may be upset about all the company. I’ll take her to the vet tomorrow for a checkup.”

I didn’t share my concerns with my mother. I mean, she wouldn’t know any more than I did, and I didn’t want her to worry more than she already was. I finished cleaning up the kitchen, but one thought echoed through my mind as I returned the potion ingredients to the cabinet and stored the limestone in the island. Was the interference of my black cat foreshadowing of bad luck to come?

I practically ran to homeroom on Monday morning. I hadn’t seen Jake since Friday, and I couldn’t wait to see his beautiful blue eyes and his warm smile.

I rushed into the room and searched for Jake’s blond curls. He wasn’t there.

Spinning around, I barely avoided crashing into a classmate. “Sorry,” I mumbled. I navigated through the crowded hallway and arrived at my locker to find no one. Maybe his locker, I thought, and I dashed off in the other direction. Dejected after failing to find him, I walked back into homeroom just as the bell rang. Jake’s smile greeted me, and for a moment, all was right with the world.

I slid into my seat and hoped for a few extra minutes before Mrs. Hale called for silence. Unfortunately, she called us to order right away, and went over the school schedules for our final examinations.

Jake tore a page from his notebook, and for a moment, I thought he was taking notes on the schedule. We had it all online anyway. Then she looked away and Jake tossed the folded paper onto my desk.

Unable to fathom what he would feel the need to tell me, I held the paper so that the stack of books on my desk would block Mrs. Hale’s view and unfolded it.

I missed you
.

Awww. I sent Jake a quick smile.

He was the best boyfriend ever.

On Tuesday, Finn and I worked for hours, but I didn’t mention my progress on the substitution.

“I’m relieved to hear that you managed a week without conducting any experiments.”

Yeah. Everybody was thrilled.

“I’ll be giving you another test on the basics on Thursday. We need to confirm that you haven’t missed any of the key building blocks of potions science. You can do the test on the computer.”

Yay. Super fun.

After Finn left, I hit the unicorn horn substitution hard.

It went well. I’d upped it to four cat’s meows, and the mix was feeling better and better.

“Time’s up,” Mom called from the living room at nine.

“I’m cleaning up now,” I assured her. I had at least another hour of homework anyway.

“We’re behind on Christmas shopping,” Mom announced on Wednesday afternoon. “How much homework do you have? Can you spare some time for the mall?”

“It depends. How long is your list this year?”

Mom smiled. “I need twenty-four gifts for people at the network and who work on the show. And I’ll confess I don’t have any good ideas this year at all. Then I have the usual family and friends. I also need ornaments for exchanges at three different holiday parties plus a couple of white elephant gifts. Then I’ll want to do my usual gift bags for Meals on Wheels. I think last year there were four-hundred people in the county. We’ll do lotion, some non-skid booties, and gloves. Maybe some scarves if we get a good deal.”

“I can go for two hours. Maybe I can get some ideas too.”

“We need to get something for Martin. A gift from each of us would be appropriate, although I have no ideas on that front.”

Finding the perfect present for someone always felt great, but most of the time, I stressed over not finding the perfect present.

“We should get started,” I agreed. “I’m not going to stress until school gets out though. I have too much to do.”

“Of course you do.”

Christmas had exploded in the mall, with red and green decorations, and the nonstop Christmas music. Little kids waited impatiently to see Santa and to ride the tot-sized train.

Mom and I found some delicious hand lotion at one of the department stores, and we agreed that the vanilla scent was perfect for the gift packages. Unfortunately, we didn’t accomplish much more, and I realized I had no idea what to get Jake.

“I was thinking about Milo and his family,” Mom said. “I know Bill and Marjorie would love to have autographed volumes of Martin’s work on potions.”

“Mom, you are brilliant! I know exactly which one Milo would like.”

“If only everyone else were so easy,” she said as we walked to the parking lot.

“I guess Finn wouldn’t want his own work. Maybe we should get him a vacation. Then he’d actually have to take a vacation.”

“Maybe,” Mom said. “What he might like most is a friend.”

“I can try to brew him one, but the Council will probably get ticked off.”

“Not funny,” Mom said, but she was grinning. “I wish we could brew him a friend.”

I wished I could brew her a date.

On Thursday, I was sitting in class when it hit me. A stroke of genius. Well, maybe not genius. It started with the guy wearing the Vampire Weekend T-shirt across from me. Then I remembered Brice’s South Park T-shirt from this morning. Finn the potions master didn’t need anything. He had the resources to buy whatever he wanted. The Finn we should be shopping for was the nineteen-year-old, the young college guy that he appeared to be. Mom had helped him with his wardrobe, and he was working on behaving and speaking more like a teen. He needed the full pop culture education. He needed a season’s worth of South Park, Family Guy, The Big Bang Theory, and Sponge Bob. The DVD collections would be perfect gifts.

In between classes, I texted Mom.

She texted back before the bell rang.
Brilliant
!

By the time I got home, Mom had already stopped by Target and bought the DVDs. She’d also picked up a T-shirt with Brian, the dog from Family Guy, and one of Stewie with his freakishly shaped head.

“Want to help me wrap these?” she asked.

“No. I want to work on the substitution tonight.”

“Okay,” she said, scooping up her purchases. “I can’t believe we already got Martin taken care of!”

Finn finally arrived on Thursday night, and I decided to reveal my surprise. I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer. “Finn,” I announced. “I’m only a couple of days away from perfecting the unicorn horn solution.”

Finn didn’t look up from his laptop. “That’s nice.”

“No, really. Finn, I’ve almost got it. Unicorn horn!” I said proudly.

Finn looked at me this time. “Zoe, are you quite serious?”

I nodded. “Yes! I wanted to wait until I had it complete, but I’m too excited. I’m so close. I think I’ll have it by the end of the week.”

“Show me,” Finn said, not a hint of excitement in his voice.

Did he not believe me? I wrinkled my brow in consternation. “Um, okay.” I took out all of the ingredients, and then got my favorite cauldron. “I used the limestone plus four cat’s meows, plus a few other tweaks on my original choices with the ingredients for the enlargement of inanimate objects potion.” I opened the back door and motioned to the giant flower pot on the patio. It was the size of a large trash can. “The potion should have yielded better results. The flower pot should have reached about ten feet tall and five feet in diameter.” I stopped to see Finn’s reaction. “It’s not perfect, but I’m close.” I was ready for the accolades now.

“Oh dear,” Finn said, his expression solemn. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I only gave you permission to pursue the substitution because I thought there was no chance of you succeeding.”