20 The potion

Bryanna and I were standing outside of Wes's spell work room.

We were sitting in the living room when I noticed a red glow seeping out through the edges of the door.

What could it be?

"Should we open the door to find out?" Bree asked me.

"It could be a bad idea. Knowing Wes, he could have booby-trapped the entire room to prevent anyone from just coming in and out as they pleased, or better yet, tried to steal from him."

"What are you two idiots doing?" Asked Wes from behind us.

Bryanna and I both screamed.

"We saw a light coming from the room and were wondering, what could it be?"

With a smile on his face, he said, "Go ahead and open it."

"What if I don't want to? You are probably saying that so I can fall into one of your traps again!"

"You really are an idiot. When have I ever done that to you?"

I raised my eyebrow at him, "Oh really? We are going to go there. How about the last time you told me to read one of your grimoires and my eyes started burning? You said you did it to see if the spell was still in place! It hurt like hell, and it felt like I was pepper sprayed."

Wes crossed his arms, "You still haven't let that go?! It was only one time that I did that. Get over it already!"

"How about the incident with the laptop?"

"That was your fault for grabbing it."

I raised my voice at Wes, "You're the one that told me to move it!"

"Look, let's not be pointing fingers here."

Bryanna was just having a wonderful time laughing at us.

"You know what?! I am going to open that door! Just so I can show Bree what kind of spells you test on me."

As I opened the door, the potion was emitting a red glow.

"Cool… Why is it glowing like that?" I asked Wes.

"That's how you know that it is ready. Remember that I told you we needed to let it sit for a couple of days to let the magic properties that are inside that bark do their work."

Wes walked over to the desk, grabbed the jar, and put it in his backpack.

"This is so cool! I can't believe I saw that jar glow! Witchcraft does exist!" Bree shouted.

"You never thought it existed?" I asked her.

"I did, I just never knew of anyone who could do it to prove to me that it does. Then when I found out that your godfather did it, I was intrigued, and I wanted to know more. I was just afraid to ask, and I didn't know how Wes would have reacted. Now, I definitely want to learn more."

"And you will with my guidance." Said Wes as he walked up to us, "Are you ready to go?"

"Go where?" I asked.

Wes gave me a look that said he was going to kill me, "To drop off this potion to the old lady you big dummy!"

"Oh right! I forgot about her!"

"Oh, you poor child. What am I going to do with you?"

We walked out of the room and Wes locked the door behind us.

When we got to the lady's house, everything seemed normal. I was expecting to see the guys that came over to the house the other day threatening us. I was sure that at least he would have been here to try and stop us from giving the old lady the potion. The daughter greeted us at the front door and led us to her mother's room again.

Wes pulled out the potion from his backpack and it illuminated the whole room red again.

"Is it safe to drink?" asked the daughter worried.

"It is. The only drawback to this is that she has to drink every drop of it in order for it to work."

Wes helped the old lady sit up so she could drink it, and before she did, she told Wes, "I hope this works, if not, I know that this will be the end."

"It will work. You need to trust me. I won't make you drink it if you are afraid, but I am telling you that my recipes have never failed me. Not once."

And with that, she drank it.

Bryanna and I just stared in suspense to see what would happen next.

She finished the jar and handed it back to Wes, "I don't feel anything."

"You will, give it a moment."

Her stomach started to slightly glow red and began to spread across her body. It was kind of cool to see the red glow spread throughout her body in the veins.

She looked at Wes, "I feel warm."

"That is because it's starting to work."

Bree wedged me on the arm with her elbow, "Are you seeing this?! She's glowing red! This is amazing!"

I just nodded my head up and down.

After about five minutes of her glowing, it finally stopped. She had a smile on her face that said that she felt good.

"I feel great! I'm a little dizzy, but I am fine. For some reason, I can't feel my body and at the same time I feel so relaxed."

Wes told the daughter, "She will be hallucinating and high for a while, but she will be fine in a couple of hours."

The daughter was in tears and asked Wes, "How much do I owe you?"

"$200 even."

"What?! Are you sure about that?! That seems like so little."

"I am sure. I usually don't charge that much anyways."

She handed Wes the money and we were on our way. As we were walking to the house, Wes hopped in his truck.

"I will be right back. I am going to the store to buy some groceries. Do either one of you want anything?"

Bree and I answered simultaneously, "No! We are good!"

We went inside the house and Bryanna could not hold her excitement. She was jumping up and down, "Wes is amazing! I can't wait to be that good! Just seeing the way that the daughter was happy and grateful made me want to work hard so that I to can help people in their time of need."

She was overwhelmed with joy.

"Did you see that Wes only charged her two hundred bucks even though Wes used an ingredient that is hard to come by?"

"Yeah, Wes isn't that heartless. He cares about helping people that truly need it."

"I can see that!"

I paused for a moment when I got a whiff of something, "Do you smell… smoke?"

Bryanna looked at me crazy, "Smoke?! I don't smell anything!"

That's when I heard someone shout from outside our home, "FIIIRRE!!"

Gunshots started to go off. Glass started to shatter, and pieces of wood were flying everywhere.

Bryanna started to scream, and I grabbed her and threw her onto the wooden floor. I got on top of her and used myself as a human shield to protect her from the incoming shots and projectiles.

Smoke started to fill the house and Bryanna started to choke.

"Paul! I can't breathe!"

"Don't worry! I will get us out of here!"

I picked her up from the floor and placed her on my back so as they were firing, it would hit me instead of her.

I kicked the front door down and ran a couple of feet away from the house. I placed Bryanna down and she was still choking and gasping for air.

"KILL THEM!"

I turned behind me to see that guy again, but this time with twenty people.

No! I am going to kill them!

I charged at them while Bryanna yelled my name. The main guy himself pointed a rifle at me.

"Die! You little shit!"

He started to unload his rifle on me, and every shot hit me. I will admit, the bullets hurt, but I was still charging at him. His friends joined in as well.

"Why isn't he going down?!"

"I don't know! Just keep shooting at him!"

I stopped in my tracks when I heard Bryanna calling out to me for help. I turned to see her, and someone struck her on the head with one of the rifle's shoulder stocks.

"BRYANNA!!!!"

I ran back towards her when I heard a motor revving and tires screeching, followed by a bright white light.