Page 38 of With the Potion in the Courtyard

"Let me try something," she said, her concentration knitting her brows together. She extended her wand outwards toward the writhing mass of greenery. A soft, golden glow emanated from the tip of her wand, and slowly, the vines and branches began to stiffen, like ice creeping over a windowpane.

"Quickly, before they break free," Jessie broke into a jog.

We slipped through the now-motionless plants. It felt eerie, passing so close to what could've been our doom if not for Jessie's spell. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding when we finally cleared the last of them.

"Nice work," Robbie commended as we gathered ourselves on the other side.

"Thanks, but let's keep moving," Jessie said, already eyeing the next obstacle.

That's when we saw a waterfall so massive, the sound alone could've drowned out a dragon's roar. The water crashed down with such force that mist sprayed up, soaking everything within a ten-foot radius. We were at the top of the waterfall. Over the edge, there was nothing but mist. On each side of us, nothing but an abyss.

"Looks like there's no way around it," Robbie squinted at the map.

"Got any other spells up your sleeve?" I asked Jessie.

She seemed to take a moment to think. "Again, not that I can do without any ingredients for potions, because there’s no enchantment to get through something like this."

"So, we’re stuck," I said, feeling defeated.

Robbie squeezed my shoulder. "Magic isn’t the only way out of this situation."

"Do you have an idea?" I asked, studying his face.

"I think so." He moved away from us and grabbed a vine as thick as my arm and gave it a tug. It held fast.

"We could use this to swing across."

"Robbie," I said, shaking my head. "That’s insane."

His gaze moved from the vine to the other side of the abyss. "Do you have a better choice?"

"There has to be a better choice," I said, my words shaking.

Jessie tugged the vine too, looking thoughtful. Surely, she had a better idea. "I think this could actually work."

I took a deep breath. Okay, we’d done worse things than this. "What do we do?"

"I’ll go first, do what I do," Robbie said, then planted a kiss on my lips before jogging back the way we came.

With a running start, he grabbed onto the vine and swung across the raging waters. He acted like he did this sort of thing daily. On the other side, he gave us a thumbs-up, then swung the vine back, which I caught.

"Your turn, Cendi."

My heart hammered against my ribs. I wasn't exactly the swinging-on-vines type. ButI couldn't back down, not with Robbie watching and certainly not with Jessie depending on me.

"Here goes nothing," I said, jogging away from the vine, then running at it before clutching the vine with both hands.

I pushed off, and for a moment, I was flying. The other side came at me, but it happened too fast. When I slid down the vine, my toes caught the edge of the other side, and then I was hanging over the abyss. Just barely hanging onto the edge of the other side with my toes. My grip slipped, and for a horrifying second, I thought I was going to fall.

"Pull yourself over to me!" Robbie shouted, reaching a hand out to pull me to safety.

I summoned every ounce of strength I had left, I used my feet to haul myself onto solid ground, far enough that Robbie could grab me and pull me fully to safety. Breathing hard, I glanced back at where Jessie still waited and tried to remember that I wasn’t having a heart attack.

"Are you okay?" Jessie asked, her face etched with concern.

"Never better," I lied, trying to steady my trembling legs. I couldn't shake the image of the waterfall waiting to swallow me whole.

"Let's not do anything like that again," I added, more to myself than anyone else.