“Well, maybe not touch it, but we should test it somehow,” Max said.
“And if we think we got it right and accidentally give her something that does her more harm?” Britt asked.
“Like I said, if you have any better ideas?” Max said.
“If we give her something from these bottles, we need to be sure it won’t harm her,” Thomas chimed in from the couch and Max realized how small the room really was.
“I promise to only give her something if we know for sure it won’t do more harm,” Bo said.
Max looked to Thomas and saw him nod, the pain still present in his expression. “Okay, let’s get on it,” Max said, turning back to the cabinet and feeling more confident that they would find a way to treat her. As he pulled even more small bottles from the cabinet and handed them to Britt, he said, “Keep track of the order their coming out. I know Solomon wasn’t the most organized person, but I’ve got a feeling that with this, he had them arranged a certain way. If nothing else tells us what the potions are, perhaps we’ll be able to decipher how he’s arranged them and why.”
Britt nodded and continued to line them up in the order they’d been filed in the cabinet. Bo held the book of potions close as he read in the candlelight. Often, he would look up to check a bottle, then set it down and continue reading. When they had removed all of the bottles from the cabinet, Max managed to find two towels from the mess in the kitchen. Handing one to Britt, the two began wiping the bottles clean of dirt and debris.
“How’s the identification coming along?” Max asked his brother as he continually looked from the book to the bottles before him.
Selecting a long-necked bottle from the group and holding it up to the candlelight, he said, “Not very clear. The descriptions of each potion can vary in color depending on the ingredients used. Some are simple and easy to decipher, but others aren’t so easy. There are also a lot that have a green shade to them, but the purposes for them ranges from wart removal to pest removal. It’s almost impossible to tell them apart.”
“What about any notes Sol scribbled down on the recipes?” Max asked, looking over Bo’s shoulder at the book.
Bo angled the book so Max could see clearly. Together they worked to find identifiable qualities in each potion, while Britt continued to clean the bottles. “Maybe we should start with those that are very different from the others. Pick out the bottles that are a drastically darker or lighter shade than most and then try to correlate them to a recipe,” Max suggested.
“Yeah,” Bo agreed. “That could make things go faster.”
Assisting in picking the more unique potions, Britt helped Bo and Max to pull five potions from the bunch, all of which were drastically different from the others. One, in a vial-like bottle, tubular in shape, was a deep purple and had flecks of reflective particles floating through the solution. Another, a bright yellow, and a third, a crisp white. Britt found a coal-black bottle and separated it from the bunch. The fifth potion varying greatly from the others was in a teardrop-shaped bottle and held a thick, deep red liquid, almost resembling blood.
When Max pulled it out of the bunch, Bo groaned.
“What? It’s probably not real blood,” Max said. Swirling the thick liquid, he shrugged, “Well, maybe it is.”
The brothers started searching through the book, arguing about whether one description matched better than another. As they bickered through their process of elimination, Britt realized something about each of the bottles they’d pulled. Connecting the order of their retrieval from the cabinet and associating them with the shelves in the cabinet, Britt said, “Did either of you notice that each of these bottles came from a different row on the shelf?” She waited for a response, but the two brothers were deeply engrossed in their argument regarding whether the yellow bottle was the hunger potion or a diluted warrior’s potion.
Sighing, Britt grabbed a bottle from the bunch and began to wipe it down with the cloth. As she cleaned it off, she watched the liquid swirl, causing the whites and streaks of black that had settled at the bottom to mix in the solution. The colors didn’t blend as she would’ve expected, but stayed separate, like oil and water, bubbling and streaking separately through the mixture. Britt flipped the bottle upside down to see if the colors would shift. When she did, a shimmer caught her eye and she noticed a glint of light reflecting from the base of the bottle. She looked up from the bottle to see if Max or Bo had seen it too, but they were still consumed by their argument. She flipped the bottle again, and, again, she saw the shimmer at its base. She turned it back and forth until the glimmer could be seen clearly. To her surprise, on the underside of the bottle a bright label shone and she let out a gasp.
Max heard Britt’s exhalation and noticed she was flipping a potion in her hand. Finally abandoning his insistence on being right in his debate with Bo, he asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to explain to you,” Bo began, but Max waved a dismissive hand in his face.
“Not you, Bo. Britt?” he asked as she looked at him with a stunned expression.
Britt stepped up to the table and held the bottle’s underside toward them. “Look at this,” she said, turning the bottle’s underside back and forth.
The shining glint of a label flashed in his eyes and Max leaned forward. Grabbing the bottle from Britt’s hand, he asked, “How did you find this?”
“What is it?” Bo asked, leaning over to see the bottom of the bottle.
“Can it help you figure out which potions are which?” Britt asked.
Max tilted the bottle to reveal the hidden label and recognized the insignia. Taking the book from Bo, he flipped through the pages, stopping at the one he was searching for. Pointing at it on the page, he showed it to Bo, “I knew I recognized that symbol.”
“Helianthus,” Bo said pointing to the description. “So that’s why it’s yellow.”
“And the black streaks in it,” Max said pointing to the bottle.
“What’s Helianthus?” Britt asked.
“Sunflower,” Max said not looking up from the book. “I’m not sure what it’s got to do with the potion, but in horticulture, Helianthus is the genus of sunflowers and the like.”
“How in the five nations did you know that?” Britt asked.
“Our stepmom,” Max said as he felt Britt’s gaze lingering on him. Looking up from the book, he added, “She was really into flowers.” Britt shook her head in disbelief. Shrugging, he added, “I don’t remember what they were all called, but that one I always liked, so it stuck.”
“Okay. It’s good to know your knowledge of the obscure is wide-ranging,” she said with a grin.
“And I thought you were the funny one?” Bo said under his breath.
Max elbowed his brother and returned his focus to the book, “The Helianthus Papaver potion. It’s used in tinctures as a powerful numbing agent. Solomon’s commented on the side here that one drop of this will turn anyone into a bumbling fool and render them useless in any physical endeavor for hours.”
“Not exactly what we’re looking for,” Britt said.
“Which row did you get this one from?” Max asked.
Britt pointed to the third row down from the far end of the table. Max grabbed two potions from the row, one greenish-hued and the other a turquoise blue. He flipped them over until the reflective symbols on the base could be seen clearly. He pointed them toward Bo, asking if he could find them in the text.
A short time later Bo answered, “They’re both potions used to treat physical and mental pain.”
“That must mean this third row is pain treatment,” Max suggested. “Didn’t you say each one of these five we selected came from a different row?” Max asked Britt.
“I didn’t think you heard me,” Britt said.
