Trouble's Brewing (Stirring Up Trouble) (23 page)

The words stung. I had known she’d react badly. I hadn’t expected her to ridicule my father or sneer at my version of a family Christmas.

I didn’t say anything.

“Zoe! You promised I could stay. You are a horrible friend!”

With my voice little more than a whisper, I said, “You can’t stay, Anya. Sorry.” Then I pressed end.

Chapter Fifteen

On Monday, I checked to be sure Finn’s flight had left as scheduled for the symposium, and then I started brewing.

Mom came in from work and said, “Oh, Zoe. I’m so glad to see you back at work on your potions! What’s next? Eye of newt?”

“Yes.” Eye of newt was next, so technically I hadn’t lied. I hadn’t said I was working on it now.

“Do you have everything you need? Should I run to the store for anything?”

“No. I’m good for now.” I ignored the guilty tightening of my shoulder and neck muscles.

Mom put her arm around me and kissed me on the cheek. “My good girl,” she said.

I tried to smile.

“I’ll be in the living room if you need me, Zoe,” she said and left me to my potion. I wasn’t searching for the eye of newt substitution. I was working on modifying the rat potion to work on humans. My first step was going to be to modify it to work on cats. Jasmine would be my first victim, er, test subject.

The potion recipe called for two rat hairs, one from a female and one from a male. I had a hair from Jasmine, and a hair I’d cut from the male cat down the street. I hadn’t hurt him. I had paid him well with fresh tuna.

Surely this would work.

I brewed the cat version of the potion. Then I put it aside to cool. I got another cauldron and added the ingredients again. This time, I reached into my pocket for the plastic baggie with rat hairs. I had visited the pet store in the mall and stolen a hair from each of two cages. One from a male rat and one from a female. I’d gotten lucky that they kept them separated and that the rats had managed to shed a few hairs for me.

I dropped the fine white hairs into the pot.

When I had finished, I compared the two mixtures side by side. Same color, same consistency. After putting aside a small vial of the cat potion, I separated each into three bowls and tested their reactions to salt, water, and cold. Everything looked good. I had done everything I could do except for administering the potion to Jasmine and watching what happened. I decided to wait until morning because cats were less active during the day. I didn’t want my cat getting attacked by hordes of male cats. I’d dose her and then make sure she was safely inside the house when I left for school in the morning. Mom would never know the difference.

Now to clean up. I needed to be sure to neutralize the rat potion. I didn’t want to attract any rodents. My mother would freak. I double checked the steps in Finnegan’s Treatise on Environmental Emergency Aversion and carefully followed the instructions. I needed to bury the mixture in the backyard. Fortunately, many of my potions had to be handled this way. I went out the back door and grabbed the spade from the bucket on the patio. Careful to stay a foot away from any other mixture, I bent and started digging.

Jasmine ignored my calls. I was running out of time. The bus would be here at any moment, and I couldn’t find the cat. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a packet of tuna from the fridge. I opened it and scooped some out onto the counter.

Seconds later, Jasmine jumped up beside the treat.

I sprinkled some of the potion on her back and watched it sink in. Then I put the cap on the bottle, stashed it with my other potions, and ran from window to window checking that they were all firmly closed.

“Good luck, Jasmine,” I said as she gobbled down the last few bites. “Don’t let any strangers in the house.”

I grabbed my backpack and bolted out the front door as the bus came around the corner. I wasn’t cut out for this secret experiment stuff.

When I got off the bus eight hours later, the sound of meowing signaled that the potion had worked. I walked around to the back door where I expected to see a handful of male cats. The sight before my eyes brought me to a stop. My potion had worked all right. I couldn’t count them all but I knew I was looking at about a hundred cats. They perched on the window boxes and the patio furniture, and they covered the back lawn. As I watched, several of those against the door and windows clawed frantically, leaving deep claw marks in the wood door and siding.

Oh no. I had used a potion that was far too strong. My second thought was that there was no way to hide this from my mother. I had to get rid of them.

I turned back toward Mrs. MacGregor’s house, hoping that they hadn’t destroyed her lawn too. It looked okay. Mrs. MacGregor opened her side door and stepped slowly onto the stoop.

Oh no! Was Snowball okay?

“Zoe, dear,” she called, as Snowball appeared unharmed at her feet. “The hose.”

“What?” I asked, moving closer to her. At least Snowball wasn’t hurt.

“Turn the hose on them,” she said.

I frowned. It seemed so harsh.

“It’s the only way, dear. I don’t know what’s gotten into them, but they’re damaging your house.”

She was right. “Okay,” I said. “Thank you. I’ll try it.”

She stepped back inside and closed her door, but I knew she’d watch to see what happened next.

I went to the faucet by the back door, shooing cats out of my way, and grabbed the hose. At first too many cats were standing on it for much water to gurgle out, but that quickly changed as water started to hit the cats nearest to me. Apparently, cats hated water. The racket was deafening as they screeched and shrieked in protest. I swept across them in an arc, hitting cats at the edges of the yard. Pandemonium. I had total pandemonium. They jumped over bushes and fences, landing at times on other cats and then fighting each other. Once they had all fled, I turned to look at the back of my house. The scratches were horrible. The screens were shredded, and the patio chairs had been utterly destroyed.

I turned off the faucet. Then I went back to the front door, retrieving my backpack on the way. For the first time in weeks, I didn’t see a single frog in my yard.

I unlocked the front door and went inside. “Jasmine,” I called. “Are you okay?”

Instead of hiding, Jasmine ran at me from across the room and launched herself into my arms. I ignored the scratches as I sat on the couch and snuggled her close. “That’s a good kitty. Everything’s okay now.”

As my cat quivered in my lap, I considered the various ways I could dilute the potion to an acceptable strength. I didn’t want my mother traumatized.

“I made a mistake,” I said as soon as Mom came in the house. “I didn’t dispose of something right. When I got home, there were cats all over the backyard.”

Mom walked out back to see what they’d done. “Unbelievable,” she said.

“I’m so sorry, Mom.”

“What potion did you dispose of? I’ve never heard of anything like this happening!”

“I know. I think it’s because I was trying to combine three potions.”

“I can’t believe you’ve already managed toad slime and unicorn horn and yet your first attempt at eye of newt brings this much damage,” she said, gesturing to the house.

“How bad is it? Will it cost a lot?”

Mom shook her head. “It isn’t going to be cheap.”

“I think I know what I did wrong though, so I doubt it will happen again.”

“You think? Maybe we should call Martin.”

“Mom, he’s been stuck here for months. I don’t think we should bother him on his first vacation. I have it under control.” I glanced at the back of the house and gulped. “I have it under control now.”

On Wednesday morning, I gave Jasmine a dose that was five percent of the strength of the first one. I gave her twice as much tuna, and then I went to catch the bus.

I couldn’t concentrate. I had finished my exams, but I had a paper to finish. I had counted on using part of the school day to finish my citations. I couldn’t begin to focus on the format of the sources. Normally I struggled to get them right, but with the distraction and to be honest, flat out fear, about Jasmine and the potion, I couldn’t begin to get the commas and periods in the right places.

I was the first one on the bus, jiggling my leg as I willed the other students to move faster. It felt like hours had passed by the time the bus rolled out of the school parking lot. The driver scolded me for standing up before the bus rolled to a stop at my house. I apologized as I sprinted around the side of the house.

I slowed as I turned the corner of the house. There in the backyard, five cats sat calmly at the back door as if waiting for admission. Five calm cats. I took a deep breath. I think I had my perfect dose. I knew how much to use on Mom.

And I still had until Saturday to get the potion brewed.

Finally calm, I went inside to get those citations finished.

My mother had dressed in a dress that showed off more of her skin than usual. I could see she was uncomfortable with the neckline, so I made sure to gush about how great she looked.

“Maybe I should dress more conservatively. Maybe a sweater? I do want to discourage Mack Junior.”

“Sweaters aren’t dressy enough for an evening holiday party, are they?”

Mom sighed. “Probably not.”

“And you have to impress your big sponsors.”

“Yes. I certainly can’t show up underdressed for the occasion.”

“Which necklace?” I asked.

Mom gestured to the diamond on a simple gold chain.

I picked it up, and while my mother held her hair off her neck and continued to fret about her dress, I slipped the necklace on, fastened it, and squeezed the potion onto her skin in one quick motion. The tiny amount of moisture didn’t alert my mother to my purpose. The hair from Milo had arrived on Friday, and I’d been careful to brew the potion with precision.

“You look great, Mom. I know you’re dreading the party, but I think you might have a good time.”

Mom rolled her eyes. “We’ll see. What time is your father picking you up?”

“Right after you leave.” I didn’t want Jake to leave town, but considering my plans for my mother, having him leave was convenient. I was spending the evening over at Jake’s even though I’d be nervous about the potion.

“You seem nervous.”

Uh oh. “I do?”

“He’s going to love his gift, Zoe. You don’t need to worry.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” I wanted to tell her why I was nervous. I wanted to come clean, but I didn’t.

The Christmas gift exchange at Sheree’s should have been fun. She’d made a delicious dinner, and Jake held my hand whenever the parents weren’t paying attention. Between worrying about what I’d done to my mother and what my punishment might be, and the fear that my father would propose to Sheree, I didn’t manage to enjoy one second of it.

Well, maybe a second.

When Jake opened his present, and I saw that glint of pure glee in his eyes. He pulled out the first edition of
Eragon
with the “autographed” sticker on the cover.

“Is this—”

“Oh, Jake!” his mother said as he opened the book. “How wonderful!”

He turned the book to show us Christopher Paolini’s signature. “I can’t believe you did this, Zoe.”

Maybe it was because I’d just watched
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
for the gazillionth time, but I could swear my heart grew three sizes watching Jake with his present.

I suddenly regretted giving my mother the potion tonight. I didn’t want this night to end. Soon, Dad and Sheree would leave me and Jake alone, and I would be able to bask in the perfection that was my first Christmas with Jake. Except I wouldn’t. I had gambled with that potion, and I could easily be jerked out of here and marched off to face my punishment.

“This is the best present ever,” Jake said. Then he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek right in front of Dad and Sheree.

Dad cleared his throat.

“It’s her cheek, John,” Sheree chided.

“Now open mine,” Jake said, handing me a small package wrapped beautifully in silver and blue paper.

My phone beeped in my pocket, signaling a text, but I ignored it.

“It’s not as perfect as what you got me, but I think you’ll like it.”

I knew I’d like it. It didn’t matter what it was. I would love it because it was from Jake. I carefully unwrapped it, hoping to save the wrapping paper from my first present from him. Once the paper was free, I set it on the floor next to me. Then I lifted the lid from the rectangular box. A silver chain with a silver charm of a doctor’s bag with my name engraved on it, a caduceus charm, the symbol for medicine based on the staff Hermes carried, and a round charm bearing the image of a man.

“It’s Saint Luke,” Jake said. “I know you aren’t Catholic, but he’s—”

“The patron saint of physicians.”

“Right. I figured if you were going to find the cure for cancer, you could use all the help you could get.”

“They’re beautiful,” I said as I ran my finger over the caduceus. “Perfect.”

I lifted the chain from the box and undid the clasp. “Put it on me,” I said to Jake.

He moved around behind me, and I lifted my hair for him to place the necklace and reclasp it. The weight of the three charms felt right on my chest. My phone beeped again.

“It’s lovely, Jake,” Sheree said.

I turned to show him, and I threw my arms around him. I hugged him tight. I hugged him because I loved the gift, and I hugged him because any minute I could be torn from here to deal with my misbehavior.

We watched as Dad and Sheree exchanged gifts. Sheree was going to go nuts, so I braced myself.

When she pulled the football from the box, she squealed with excitement. “OhmyGod,” she said in a rush. “It’s autographed by Peyton Manning!”

My father basked in the excitement. “I thought you might like it.”

“My gift goes with it,” I said. “My gift is the display case for it.

Sheree epitomized the kid on Christmas morning as she grabbed for my present and tore it open. She set it on the coffee table, and then she picked up the football and clutched it to her chest.