Page 18 of Monster's Melody

“Hey, why is this my fault?”I lurched to my feet, clutching my head in agony, and staggered to my bookshelf.

“Because you’re the reason we’re taking this class in the first place,” Mikaela said.

“You’re also the one who suggested hunting for the wine cellar yesterday,” Kasi said.

“Like you guys weren’t up for the adventure,” I said.

“Ooh,andyou were the one who wanted us to ditch the guys and hang out, just the three of us,” Mikaela said.“If we’d stayed together, Elliot would have dragged me off for sexytimes and I wouldn’t be so miserable.”

“Good point,” Kasi said.“So basically, Jasmine’s not only responsible for our misery this morning, but also for our lack of sexytimes last night.”

I would have rolled my eyes, but I was afraid my head would fall off from the effort and I needed it to find what I was looking for.

“And all because she wanted to avoid the gorgon,” Mikaela said.

“Just for that, I’m not sharing when I find what I’m looking for,” I threatened, bracing an arm on the wall as I bent at the waist to stare at the books on my shelves.

It took entirely too long for my eyes to focus enough to pick out my potions textbook from all the others and then to achieve enough hand-eye coordination to extract it and find the page with the tonic I’d marked my first year at the Academy, but I finally succeeded.“Oh, thank the goddess.I have all the ingredients in my suitcase.”

“What ingredients?”Mikaela waved an arm, beckoning me closer.

I staggered forward and shoved the book in her face, swaying a bit as I did so.

Mikaela blinked blearily at the page.

I tried holding the book with both hands to keep it from shaking, but I was a little—okay a lot—unsteady on my feet.

Finally, I just set it on the bed beside her, stepped over Kasi, who was lying prone on the floor, and walked into the closet to find my suitcase.

A moment later, Mikaela exclaimed, “Oh, shit.I take it back, Jasmine.You’re a goddess and I wholeheartedly support your efforts to avoid the gorgon.”

“Aha!”I gathered the ingredients I needed and headed for my desk, where Mikaela was now seated.

She’d already set my book on its stand and had it propped open to the correct page.

I grabbed my mortar and pestle and set to work.

“I approved anyway,” Mikaela rambled as she watched me struggle to open a bottle of sage, “because youknowhow I feel about snakes, but now I approve even more.Avoid the gorgon, share the cure.Pleasetell me there’s enough ingredients for all three of us.”

At that, Kasi stirred.“Cure?”A few moments later, she joined us at my desk, where she first examined the book, then stared down at the mess I was making as I tried to follow its recipe.“Oh, yes,” she groaned.“Please let there be enough.”

Fifteen minutes later, the three of us were a little less miserable.However, the tonic wasn’t the cure-all I’d been hoping for.Either ithadn’tbeen enough and we’d each taken less than a full doseorI’d screwed it up, which was entirely possible given how impaired I still was.

“That tonic sucked,” I announced as we made our way down the hall to the stairs.

“No, it helped a little,” Kasi said.

“Yeah, but we’re still stumbling around like drunkards.”

“That’s ’cause wearedrunk,” Mikaela mumbled.

“Which is another reason Jasmine’s to blame,” Kasi said.

“Hey, I made the cure, didn’t I?”

“You also cast the doubling spell that made each bottle last twice as long as it should have,” Kasi said.

“Shit, that’s right,” Mikaela grumbled.“Why did we think that was a good idea again?”