I was sitting in Brewing with Russel and Celica wondering how exactly I got into this mess.

There was a jar on our shared table. It was about a foot and a half tall, and a foot wide. It was filled with water, and inside was a single jellyfish. I wasn't sure what species it was, but it looked like a yellow sponge that had been tossed in a blender. It was still alive, floating around in the jar like it was still in the ocean.

I felt a little bad for it, even before knowing what we were about to do to it.

Though, considering this was Brewing class I had a couple of educated guesses.

All the stations had identical jars with still living jellyfish in them. All the same species as this one.

It almost cute, I didn't want to boil it alive. That felt mean.

I poked the jar and looked up towards the front of the room. Carmine had a terrible habit of not being here on time. The rest of us bothered. And I couldn't even teleport. Heck, the jellyfish were here on time, and they were aquatic. And in a jar. What was his excuse?

"What's always taking him so long?" Celica complained.

"Maybe he just likes the dramatic effect," Russel offered.

"Whatever his reasoning, it's getting on my nerves," I responded.

"All he does is teach brewing, what does he even do that makes him late all the time?" Celica grumbled.

"Didn't Jarec mention he was on a committee or two?" Russel asked.

Something about that sounded familiar. The representative council didn't interact with every committee, but Horus mentioned them occasionally. I couldn't recall if Carmine had ever come up in those conversations.

Russel paused for a moment, "Trial Planning, that was the one. I bet that's going to get busy soon."

"Probably. We're having another meeting about it this weekend. I'll let you guys know how it pans out," I told them. It was an easy promise to make. We never talked about anything in council meetings that were top secret. We were still students, professors weren't going to tell us everything.

There weren't any strange smells this time. Not that I knew what caused the smells that lingered in this room. Though considering what little I knew of Carmine I might be happier that way.

If it was something like bat's blood, I didn't want to know.

He was a Dragon, really anything was possible.

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Finally, Carmine Red fog rolled in from somewhere under Carmine's desk. It had lost the sense of melodrama from the first day.

He was smirking, and I didn't trust it. Something about it was mischievous, I think. Like he was up to something or knew something I didn't.

Hopefully he would tell us what his plans were this time.

He sat down on the elevated step his desk rested on. Casual as ever, fingers loosely interlocked in his lap and legs stretched straight out towards the center of the room.

It would be a tripping hazard if everyone wasn't already seated.

"You're probably all wondering, 'what's up with the jellyfish?'." he said with a teasing tint to his voice.

I couldn't speak for everyone else, but I was definitely curious. And a little worried.

"Plot twist," Carmine said with a snap of his fingers. "Nothing at all. Today." A small burst of candy apple red and the jars of jellyfish all vanished.

This freaking guy. Ugh, he was the worst. Why was he like this?

Because Dragon, I supposed.

He didn't replace the jellyfish with anything else.

"But speaking of the ocean, what do you all know about saltwater?" Carmine asked the class.

Not much, if I was being honest. I knew that it was a bad idea to drink and that it conducts electricity well, the saltier the better the conductivity.

I mostly knew about the layers of rock saltwater left behind. The ground up fossils that gave strength to limestone. The building blocks of so many monuments around the world were being held together by dead sea creatures.

"You," Carmine pointed to a Kraken. "Saltwater, thoughts?"

"Swimming in it can be good for your skin, drinking it is…ill-advised." I recognized that voice, it was Darkwell.

Carmine sighed, "We need to work on all of you." He stood up with an expression like we were a terrible inconvenience. His fingers trailed on the front and side of the desk as he went to the other side.

He leaned on his desk as he settled behind it, the extra height made him tower over all of us. He laid his left hand flat on the desk and pulled it upwards, red fog flooded out from between his fingers. A clear glass beaker filled with what I assumed was saltwater appeared when he pulled his hand away.

Did he think he was a stage magician?

"It's barely even about the water. Truthfully. It's the salt that I want you all to be think about," Carmine said as he traced a finger around the lip of the beaker.

It wasn't saltwater, it was sea salt. It was nice to cook with. Especially in chocolate desserts.

But what did that have to do with what we were making?

"Salt has been used to cure and preserve all kinds of things throughout history. Including a large selection of our ingredients."

Oh good, there was a point to all of this. As much as it was a massive troll, he was actually teaching us something. Just in a strange, roundabout sort of way. Maybe it was the Dragon way of doing things.

I wondered if other people viewed us like that.

Did the person targeting me think of me like that? Was that why they were going for a plan like this? Instead of going for me directly? Was I even the main target?

I hated how little we actually knew about this plan.

But the current holder of Death's Echo knew even less about our plan. We could still catch them. What would they do if we stole their murder weapon? Get a new one? Scrap the plan all together?

And of course the lingering question of why.

"Thus in the end salt's not something you can or should really avoid in brewing. With everything there's limits, of course, but everything is about the dosage."

Right. Of course. I needed to focus on class right now. And he was right. The line between poison and cure was thin. One pill might make your pain go away. A dozen might mean you don't wake up the next day.

"Stewart, what do you think? What salt-based ingredients do you think we might work with over this semester?"

I hoped he hadn't noticed me being distracted. I just had to guess and hope for the best. "I mean…seaweed seems obvious. And maybe dried fish?"

"Oh shoot, here I was hoping that blank look on your face was a sign I could trick you. Ah well. I'll get you some other time." He was teasing, and I hated it.

I wanted to hide under the desk. I still hated attention being drawn to me. It was an old and familiar feeling. I was always more comfortable being in the background.

And that instinct was the right one, if being targeted by a wraith was anything to go by. I'd rather be ignored than gutted by claws.

But we'd find a way out of this. Somehow. I could do this. I just needed to be stronger. I needed to be able to handle myself. No matter the circumstances.

I had time, I would use it as best as I could.

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