It was only our second day of Advanced Brewing and I was already wary of whatever was waiting for us in there. I knew what he'd told us the day before but I wasn't sure how much of that I was confident in.

Not that I was comfortable calling Professor Carmine a liar, per se. But trusting his word fully was something that he would need to earn. I would have to play along for a while to see what kind of person he was.

So when I walked in the room and saw a small single-gallon sized barrel filled with little red berries. It took me a moment to realize there were holly without the leaves. It was just the berries. Why just the berries? I was enough of an expert in any of this to even guess.

The feeling of dread and mistrust reminded me a little too much of how I felt about the others sometimes. I didn't want to be paranoid, just cautious until I knew more.

I walked to the table I shared with Russel and Celica. Carmine wasn't in the room again. He seemed to enjoy making us wait.

Holly berries. He was actually going to make us do this. I hoped we weren't going to have to drink whatever we were making. Time to see what was being planned for us this time.

I watched red fog roll in from somewhere under the desk with only a smidge of wariness. It was less dramatic than that first entrance.

Which was actually a little reassuring, he wasn't full drama queen all the time. Just some of the time. There was only so much drama I could handle.

Oh boy. We were going to be in for it with this one.

"Like I said last time," Professor Carmine started, "We'll be working with holly this time. And yes, you'll be drinking the end result."

Were all Dragons crazy?

"Now, who here can tell me why you shouldn't say…reach your hand in here and eat them like they're blueberries?" Professor Carmine asked the class. He picked up the side of the barrel to show off the red berries inside even more. A few fell onto the professor's desk.

Holly berries were poisonous. Not deadly in themselves, but very unpleasant. A great way to make yourself very sick.

"Come on people this supposed to be an advanced class, you're all supposed to know what you're doing. You in the front, in the green. Tell the class what happens when you eat one of these," he reached into the barrel and pulled out a single tiny berry.

"Nausea, discomfort, weakness," the Kelpie answered.

"Thank you," Professor Carmine answered in a way that sounded like sarcasm.

This guy. I had to wonder why he even became a teacher in the first place. I wasn't getting the feeling he was enjoying himself, and he didn't come across as the kind to care about duty or passing stuff on. But he was also a Dragon. We were up to something and hard to predict. So why not him too?

Then Professor Carmine smirked. Fog rolled over the class in candy red clouds. There was no smell this time, thankfully. A kettle appeared on each table. Brass, with bits of steam coming out the spout. The lids were open and there were little dishes of dried things around us. Three had nearly identical looking leaves, one of dried red berries, and something pink in tiny little cubes.

"For some fruits, drying them out makes the chemicals inside stronger. But in this case we want them dried for the reaction they have with our other ingredients. Does anyone have a guess to what else I've prepared for you bunch today?"

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Russel raised his hand, "Smells like fennel."

"Not a bad guess, anyone else?" Professor Carmine asked the room.

I had no idea what any of this stuff was for. It was a bit out of my wheelhouse.

"Are we all scared or was the text too easy?" Professor Carmine teased. He rubbed his hands together. "Come on someone, I don't bite. That's what my summon is for."

Then was the fog something else?

I frowned.

"We have bits of cubed Ais Shrooms." Someone else in green said.

Was that what the pink stuff was? It almost looked like dragon fruit to me. But I wasn't going to volunteer when I was far from sure.

"We have two out of four ingredients identified. You're almost at a passing grade there guys." His clap at the end was condescending, it was terrible. He looked around the room again, probably looking for another brave soul.

Celica sighed like this was some terrible burden. "We have shredded Felweed."

Felweed? I remembered our conversation yesterday, was it something that grew near her hometown?

Probably best to not ask.

"Seventy-five percent, good enough. The last thing on your station is leaves of a crying willow tree." He sounded so unimpressed, it infuriated me. But maybe that was better with a Dragon for a teacher. Being on his radar might not be in our best interest. While I didn't think he was outright dangerous, but a Dragon's going to Dragon. Being picked on by a professor was not on my to-do list.

"Of course, knowing what to use is only half the equation. Get the amounts wrong and you'll be in world of hurt. I recommend paying close attention to this," Professor Carmine said.

He snapped his fingers and a scroll was in his hand with a zap of candy red. It unraveled in his hand revealing large images of plants. One looked like a tree, another a very bizarre piece of seaweed, an almost alien-looking pink fungus was the other one I recognized.

Celica began to re-arranged our little dishes. The berries first, then the Felweed, the fennel, the crying willow, and lastly the Ais Shrooms.

I couldn't see any numbers on the scroll.

Little puffs of fog lingered in the air. Numbers looked different here from what I was used to, so it took me longer than it should have to realize it was proportions of the mixture he wanted us to make and drink.

If we were feeling bold enough for that. I wasn't sure I was that kind of bold, but we would see how the others felt. Celica took charge, adding things to the kettle very slowly as I handed the dishes to her in the order she'd put them in.

It was reminiscent of our time together in Alchemy. Russel was staying out of our way. Either because he didn't trust us or didn't want to get in Celica's way. I trusted us. And would probably make him drink what we made if we actually had to.

We weren't outpacing anyone this time, but everyone was taking it slow. And Professor Carmine was watching everyone's every move. His eyes met mine for a single moment that made me look away very quickly.

Celica closed the lid and looked up to make eye contact with the professor. She didn't look away instantly though, she gave him a slight appraising look. Like she was still trying to find out what to make of him. I agreed with that assessment.

Then Professor Carmine grinned. I didn't like it. It was something closer to a victorious smirk than anything else. I wanted to hide away from it.

More red fog, and then a mug was in front of Russel. A dare or a threat?

Whatever the case, Russel grabbed the kettle and poured himself a splash of pink liquid.

I held my breath and watched as he drank it. Mimicking the moment from yesterday.

Russel shrugged, "It's underwhelming."

I wanted to trust him on that. Then, to test all of our courage more fog left more mugs in front of everyone.

He was joking, right?

Celica looked very apprehensive about it but poured herself an amount of liquid identical to Russel's. Then she drank it too. Because my friends were ridiculous.

I supposed it was my turn. I looked around the room to see two others putting their digestive track on the line for this. The things I let these people talk me into. I poured myself less than the other two had.

I swirled it around in the cup, catching a hint of my own reflection looking back at me. Bits of green leaves that made a shape like a sphere with little points. A sun maybe? I took a breath and took a small sip.

It tasted like chewing on salty grass. Gross.

I didn't feel anything besides anxiety for a few moments. Nothing happened. It seemed like our professor wasn't trying to harm us. Truly most of the professors wouldn't mean us harm. For all intents and purposes it was just the one. We needed to find it, and we would. I trusted my friends.

We could do this.

"Look who's mustered their bravery. I'm almost proud of you all. Good job. Those tests might actually show something useful. How are we all feeling? I know, it's an acquired taste." He was joking. He made drink us that garbage and he was telling jokes.

But then, what else could I be expecting from a fellow Dragon?

I wondered what him being Tower Head would have been like. Worse? Better? Would we be taken less seriously or more seriously? Could we have been able to tell him about Death's Echo? Involve him in the plan?

Too risky to do it now, but the what-ifs were tantalizing. Dragons were different, but maybe we could use that to our advantage.

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