Alchemy class. My one comfort in all of this, and so far, the only thing that will ever come close to a true love for me.

On the station Celica and I shared were two very familiar vials of liquid. One silver, one red.

"He's certainly kept us waiting for this, hasn't he?" I asked as we settled in.

My vial, full of blood-red liquid made from the red crystals inside a geode, powderized and dissolved in a solution. It still looked eerily like blood.

Cool. But just a bit creepy.

And Gorgon wasn't here yet.

Rude

Celica leaned close and whispered, "Are you ever going to tell us about what happened that had you in a state of shock most of yesterday?"

"Yes, but not in a classroom."

"Is it that big a secret?"

"Bigger," I told her.

"Tower meeting after classes then?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"I'll let the others know our representative is calling a meeting."

"I'm both trying to keep people informed and trying not to cause problems."

"And now you have me very intrigued."

"No intrigue. Please let's focus on class."

"Yes, Representative Stewart."

Gorgon finally rescued me from this nightmare of a friendship.

"I hope you all have sufficient enough memories to recognize what's sitting in front of you. If you don't, ask your partner."

What a wonderful, supportive, and caring professor we had.

I sighed.

"Now which of you know what a Focus is?"

I had heard of them before, but I wasn't sure about what they did. Something about mana channeling?

Celica raised her hand lazily.

"Miss Fel'Graces."

"A device used for casting spells in stronger forms than what you're usually capable of without needing to risk Awakening and completely draining yourself. Though the spells won't be as strong as when in the Awakened state."

"Precisely."

Oh no.

Was me handling one of these safe?

I rubbed at the spot where the curse was hidden by the gloves.

Oh no.

"If we're making Focuses, are we going to be allowed to keep them?" I heard a student try and fail to whisper.

"If you succeed, the Focus will be bound to you and you will be allowed to keep it. But being first years none of you will be allowed to use them in classes, inside your Towers, or without the supervision of an appropriate member of the staff."

Yeah I really shouldn't be handling one of these.

There was a split-second flash of hot pain in my wrist that vanished almost as quickly as it came.

Maybe we should have told Gorgon about the curse after all…

Celica's dual-colored eyes were suddenly on my movement. She raised an eyebrow as I tried to hold in a terrified giggle.

Please don't be a Magic Manifestation exercise all over again. Please. I don't want more scars.

Celica scooted her chair away from me.

I raised my hand tentatively.

"Miss Stewart."

"Question, are we going to need to be able to cast to make these?" I asked.

There was laughter.

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They weren't there when my hand nearly got clawed off.

"No one's ever lost a hand making Focuses before Miss Stewart, though you will have to take off those gloves."

No…

Also that was not reassuring professor.

My hands trembled as I took the gloves off.

"If that thing zaps someone can you make sure it isn't me?" Celica asked.

"It hasn't zapped anyone. Yet."

"That's not reassuring."

Time to play the 'Will Serafina go back to the Healer today?' game.

There was a puff of electric purple smoke and sheets of paper with instructions, a cup of small metal needles and two wooden trays in front of us.

Just…please don't explode.

Why was the first step to add a drop of our own blood to the vial?!

A tiny needle had never been so intimidating.

Funnily enough, the prick itself was rather uneventful. Barely even felt it.

Probably because the curse was already acting up. It was stinging and burning at the same time. Could it sense what I was about to try or was it reacting to my worry about it reacting?

Celica was eyeing me warily the entire time.

"Are you sure you don't want to just leave the class?" she asked as the drop of red landed in the vial.

"I absolutely do. But I don't want to get in trouble with Gorgon. I have enough on my plate." I gave the mixture a stir with a glass rod.

It hadn't done anything. For now.

I pulled a wooden tray closer with one hand while being very worried about my mixture in the other.

Please do nothing. Please, please do nothing.

I closed my eyes and let out a breath. I held the vial between both hands and followed the diagrams in the instructions.

I opened my eyes to see the vial glowing my pink very faintly.

Right, my finger was still bleeding a little.

I don't think Celica was breathing as she braced herself on our shared desk.

Here goes.

I poured the glowing red liquid into the tray while praying silently to Hecate that I wasn't about to go see Sealie again.

She did not answer my prayers.

As soon as the vial was empty a terrible agonizing burn ripped through my entire body.

Dark green bolted across my vision.

Then everything went black.

I fell backwards off the chair with the force of the curse's retaliation.

Really glad no one sits behind us.

I shut my eyes tight from the sudden sharp pain. My hands flew to my face of their own accord. Something wet was coming out of my eyes. Something warm. Something that felt nothing like tears.

"Serafina!"

Celica?

"Oh shit. Oh shit. Serafina? Hey, can you hear me?"

I nodded. "I can hear you."

"Miss Stewart, I need you to open your eyes." That was Gorgon.

I pulled my hands away and tried to blink open my eyes.

The world was completely black. I couldn't see anything.

"Professor," I said as I felt the panic begin to rise, "I can't see."

(*********)

Celica held my arm as we stepped into what I think was the Healer Wing. At least, I think that's where we were judging from the sudden increase of warmth and the familiar-sounding gasp.

"What in the heavens happened?"

Yep. Definitely Sealie.

"Apparently," I swallowed between words, "the curse doesn't like the idea of me making a Focus."

"She says she can't see." Celica interjected. "And there's green stuff coming out of her face."

"Give her here." I was handed off to a different hold and gently pushed onto a cot.

"Does it look like the stuff from when the Curse Breaker tried to poke at it?" I asked.

There was a pause and then, "Yes. Yes it does. You can't see?" Sealie asked.

"Nothingness. Completely black." I hoped I was facing her direction.

"Zeus in Elysium…" Sealie said. "Okay."

There was a hand under my chin and my face was being lifted up.

"Your Focus did this?" Sealie asked.

"Pretty sure it was the curse. I don't even know if the Focus worked." Dark green was the last thing I saw.

"It sort of did," Celica said.

"I'll want details in a moment, Miss Fel'Graces," Sealie said. "I'm not seeing anything that won't heal. But you'll need to wear bandages over your eyes for at least the next day."

Good news. It was temporary.

"Miss Fel'Graces, can you inform the rest of your Tower that Serafina will need help getting around until the bandages come off?"

"Already did."

The group chat. "I'm not going to hear the end of this, am I?"

"Jarec is throwing a fit and is getting our Tower Head right now."

"My new grandmother is going to ground me. I can already tell."

Sealie's hands, which had been wiping stuff off my face, stopped. "Oh. You know."

"I know," I confirmed.

"Oh come on! You can't keep secrets right now!" Celica complained.

"Vivian Hearth is my maternal grandmother. Surprise? Also Jarec and I are cousins," I summarized for her. "Can we go over the details later? Please?"

I heard what I think was a huff. "Fine. But you are going to give me all the details later."

"I will."

"Where is she?" Speaking of my expanded family.

"Professor Hearth," I greeted.

"What happened?" Vivian Hearth demanded.

"We made Focuses in Alchemy. The curse didn't like that," I explained.

Sealie's hands left my face only for a new one to jerk it in a direction suddenly.

"You can't see?" Vivian Hearth asked.

"Temporarily," Sealie interjected.

"Hecate have mercy," she said softly. "You can't go to class with your eyes like this."

"She'll need to wear bandages for at least the next day. The damage looks worse than it is." Sealie explained.

"Any idea what this green substance is?" Vivian asked.

"It seems to be her body trying to forcibly eject the curse's energy. The discharge has stopped for now." Sealie's voice sounded quieter, like she had moved farther away. I think I also heard rustling.

"Jarec and I can sit with her for right now. Miss Fel'Graces, could you go collect the Focus Serafina made?"

"Right away professor. And just so you know Serafina, it did go solid. Which means it did work."

I nodded. "Thank you for telling me."

"I assume by the lack of anyone else here that no one else was hurt?" Vivian Hearth asked.

"Nope. Dark green mana zapped to the Focus and then hit Serafina's eyes," Celica answered before I heard a door close.

Oh. That's what happened.

"She's breathing very steadily," Sealie remarked as her voice grew louder. "I know I would be panicking out of my mind if it were me."

"I'm tired," I said. "Once you get the bandages on, can I sleep for a little bit?"

"Yes, of course. But I would prefer you drink something first."

I nodded again.

The bandages tightened as I could feel her tie them.

My hands were gently and slowly grabbed and a cool glass was put into them. "Since I can't see can someone tell me what this is before I drink it?"

"Vegetable juice," Vivian said. "I've been told you like it and we want to get some vitamins in you since eating while those bandages are on is going to be challenging."

Oh gods.

This was real.

My hands shook.

I felt someone take my hands.

"Breathe, Serafina. I swear we'll get you through this." Vivian Hearth said.

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