The Way Back Home's
Blood
Jim and Joe are no longer near the portal to the capital. So, Christo and Farrell could come back easily. They rushed back to Hendrick's shop and let the old man work on examining Denise's mannequin concoction.
Hendrick took a pinch of powder with his index finger and thumb and affixed it to the paper. His eyes closed as he began to cast a spell. Fire appeared above the potion. There was only a smokeless fire. Only after waiting for a minute, began to appear black smoke. The smoke swerved up as if dancing. Farrell could see the smoke moving in a pattern. A wide variety of patterns. Ranging from flowers, eyeballs to something like a wide grin. Some forms he could not recognize because they were too abstract. Hendrick was silent like that for a few minutes.
When he opened his eyes, he took out a paper and started taking notes while the smoke still formed the pictures. Sometimes he shook his head or frowned and went back to writing. After the smoke vanished and the potion powder turned grey, he looked at Farrell and smiled. “You're dealing with a neat witch. He concocted the potion with precision. His binding spell was neatly craved. I had a little trouble guessing the ingredients of the potion she was using.”
“You can make the antidote?” ask Farrell.
“This is the list of ingredients that the potion maker used. Pretty much, pretty rare.” Hendrick thrust the paper at Farrell. There were at least thirty ingredients there. Hendrick picked up another paper and started writing again.
Farrell showed the paper to Christo who was only raising his shoulders.
Hendrik handed me a second paper. “This is the material I need to make the ingredients.” The list on the second paper is not less than the first paper. It is no less strange. There are several foreign names as well as different types of flowers, animal fur, and more. There are also abstract words such as ‘warikan’ and ‘mimpi’.
Farrell could only exchange views with Christo without a single word.
Hendrick smiled again. “See you guys don't seem to understand at all about potions so let me explain a little. Some customers usually want to help me find these materials. I can give them a discount. If not, it can't be a problem either. I'll find the ingredients myself. Although it may be a little longer.”
“How long?” sahut Farrell's.
“One week fastest.”
Farrell. That meant that the effect of the potion on his two younger siblings was already permanent. “One week? Can't it be faster? What if we help you find the ingredients?”
“Sweetest. There are materials that only grow new moon time,” replied Hendrick as he pointed at the paper in Farrell's grasp. “Unless you know the people of the black market, maybe the result will be another.”
Christo spoke up, “How about you make another potion? Maybe something to just prevent the effect from being so strong or another stronger mannequin concoction that makes the drinker obey our orders?”
Hendrick chuckles. “You want to make a mannequin potion that can fight the first mannequin potion? Interesting idea, young man. I think I can do it and it might be effective. But I wouldn't suggest it. I've been working in the field of potions for decades. When a potion is drunk not according to the rules, side effects we can not expect. Especially when the two herbs are related to the mind of people.” Hendrick shook his head. “I wouldn't suggest it.”
“Is there no other way to eliminate the effect of the herb without an antidote? Another magic maybe?” Farrell asked again, but this time his voice was not as enthusiastic as the beginning.
“I am a potion expert not a sorcerer so my answer is no.”
Farrell fell silent. He doesn't know what else to do. He stared at the two papers Hendrick had written. Read them one by one, trying to find a way out. But instead, he found something else interesting. On the first paper where it was written the ingredients of a mannequin concoction made by Denise, he found one odd word at the end of the list. “What does it mean with parental blood?” ask Farrell.
“Blood of parents.. Yes, as we know. Parents, father or mother. Potion makers do not need to mix the blood of people who want to be adhered to it. Simply mentioning the name of the person you want to obey while reciting a spell is enough. As for the potion itself, it used the blood of the closest person to bind the potion into one. It was the most important ingredient and the determinant of what the herb was successful or failed. Usually they use the blood of women.”
“Blood mom?”
“But, in the potion this time, the witch used male blood.”
“Oh, so this is a family matter, eh?”
“I myself also drank the potion but was completely unaffected. What... Do you perhaps know what caused it, Mr Hendrick?”
Hendrick nodded. “Many can cause a herb not to work. For example, such as a person's resistance to magic or certain conditions that are not met. For example, there are herbs that must be drunk when the chicken crowed. But, as far as I know the herb mannequin does not need certain conditions like that.”
“Other causes may be?”
Hendrick folded his hands and started shaking his head after thinking for a while. “Entai, it doesn't seem to exist.”
“Farrell,” Christo interrupts. “We don't need to talk about this. Make the antidote herb more important—”
“You know something?” Farrell interrupted. He looked at Christo fixedly. “Do you hide something from me?”
Christo shook his head, “I'm not—”
“You worked long enough with my father. You know a lot of things, Christo. What are you still hiding from me?” Farrell asked again but Christo did not answer. Farrell continued, “Christo, I am not a witch. I have no resistance to magic. Hendrick also said that mannequin ingredients do not have special conditions when taken.”
“What do you think?” Christo asked back.
“I have no blood relation with father.” This sentence slid bitterly on Farrell's lips. “I'm not Alan Eden's biological son.”
“Why do you think so?”
“If the blood of the parents is an important point of success or failure of a potion, that is the most logical reason why the herb does not work on me.”
Christo shakes. “Farrell, we shouldn't be discussing this. The most important focus now is—”
“You know about this?” sahut Farrell's.
“Farrell, we should have—”
“Do you already know this reality?” Farrell asked again. Christo clenched his mouth tightly. “Christo, did you know that I'm not your biological son?” Farrell clarified his question.
Hendrick looked at the two.
Christo sighed softly and just said, “Ya, I already know.”
Farrell doesn't know what's on his mind anymore or what's on his face right now. Her body moved without permission. His hand grabbed the doorknob and his foot carried him off. Keep running.
