Rhinestone Way Read online

  “There’s something I’m wondering about,” I said, deciding on the direct approach.

  Professor Burger smiled at me and the other woman looked up, revealing startling eyes of a very pale pink. Her face was thin and her hair was cropped short and she looked terribly serious. When she’d taken a good look at us, she gathered the papers on the table and said, “I’ll just get going on these, shall I?” She smiled briefly in our direction and got up to leave.

  “Yes, of course. I’ll be along in a few minutes. Be sure to tell Emanuelle about the new series of experiments starting tomorrow.”

  The woman gave one curt nod and walked past us. She was tall and thin, with a lab coat and no-nonsense heels, the sort of woman who demanded that she be taken seriously.

  “Please sit. Don’t mind my assistant. She always has the next big project to get started on. Three years ago I suggested that she take some vacation and she said she would. I’m still waiting for her to go,” said Professor Burger with a chuckle.

  Lowe and I had come prepared, and now we sat down to make our pitch. I had brought the pearls I’d taken from Jonathan’s, some unicorn dung, and a couple of owl feathers that Kelly had found around the farm.

  “This is my cousin Lowe,” I said, making introductions.

  “Your turn next summer?” Professor Burger asked.

  “Hopefully,” said Lowe, blushing a bit. “This place is incredible.”

  “Thank you. Isn’t it? My dream was always to head my own lab. Of course, I only imagined that it would look half this pretty. Now that I’ve actually made it a reality, I often pinch myself. The experiments that we get to do here really are cutting edge,” said the professor.

  “How many students do you have?” I asked her.

  “During the summer it’s just the ones you see. For the school year I give big lectures, and then there are about fifty students who cycle in and out of the lab. Only the most serious cauldron students, though,” she added. “We’ve no time for being casual here. We’re trying to create new potions and find new mixes for ingredients. All sorts of experimenting goes into it, so we need the best and most promising students. Slackers and stupidity are not tolerated. For example, at low temperature the water lily can now form the basis for a pond scum potion. At high temperature nothing happens. For years we always boiled the lily, but now we’ve realized that cooling it makes a big difference. Those sorts of findings will really revolutionize the industry.”

  “That’s incredible,” Lowe breathed, her eyes shining. My cousin was a fan of gardening, but she had always taken an interest in potions, too. It wasn’t far-fetched to imagine her trying to attend the university and help out with the kind of experiments being done in that lab.

  “Yes, thank you,” said the professor. “From time to time my husband likes to come in and torture the students. They get used to me and stop finding me intimidating. That’s when I know it’s a good time to have him ‘stop by’ and whip them all into shape again. People think academic life is boring, but I’ve never found it so. I suppose once you find your calling, that’s all that really matters.”

  “That makes sense,” I told her. Of course, my calling was already laid out for me: help with the unicorns. I wondered if there would ever be more to it.

  “Now, I do have a little spare time, but we are very busy this afternoon. What was it exactly that you thought I could help you with?”

  “We were hoping you could help us with some ingredients we’ve come across. We don’t know what exactly they could be used for, in combination,” said Lowe.

  Professor Burger raised her eyebrows. “I suppose this has something to do with your family farm? All young witches get there eventually. If their family has special ingredients, for instance, unicorn dung, they can’t rest until they’ve found a use for it that their mothers surely wouldn’t approve of,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “I remember those days quite well. I’m pretty sure that if my mother could have shipped me off to terrorize someone else, she would have. She often told me that she wouldn’t inflict me on her worst enemy. In later years she admitted that was totally false. She would have totally inflicted me on her worst enemy if she thought they’d take me.” Mrs. Burger threw back her head and laughed. Lowe and I smiled.

  “In this case, I don’t think our grandmother would approve,” I said meekly. I wasn’t sure if the professor was the sort of person to take a joke, but after a single blink her face split into a wide grin.

  “That’s a good one. Well done. I do suppose you have a point. Very well. I will assist you with whatever ingredients you have. I do love talking about potion ingredients, so long as you promise not to do anything terrible with the information I provide,” she said.

  Lowe looked at me in confusion. “She means use recipe lists to blow stuff up and such,” I told my cousin.

  Lowe’s face smoothed over. Such a thing hadn’t even occurred to her until Professor Burger brought it up. Now she was relieved that she wasn’t being asked to do something she couldn’t say no to. Lowe had no interest in blowing anything up.

  “Of course we won’t. We just want information. There are some exceptional ingredients here,” I told her. Since she was doing us a favor, I didn’t want the professor to think we were wasting her time. If she wanted to help us in the name of curiosity, I didn’t want to take advantage.

  “Very well,” she said. “I have a few minutes yet. You’re welcome to show me whatever you like.”

  Out of my satchel I pulled the small containers. I had been careful to remove one pearl from Jonathan’s little box. Just in case Professor Burger or one of her associates couldn’t be trusted, I didn’t want her to recognize it.

  The professor didn’t react when I placed the pearl on the table. Then I pulled the unicorn dung out of my satchel. She was of course expecting that ingredient, given that we were Rhinestones.

  Lastly I pulled the feather out of my bag. I’d brought the ones Kelly had given me that she’d said weren’t very exciting, but we also had the one Michael Fieldcorn had offered us as a token of . . . whatever. Friendship? It was hard to tell.

  Now Professor Burger looked more interested and more curious. She leaned forward, her eyes intent on the feather.

  “Are there important mixtures that can be made with these?” I asked her.

  She glanced up at me. “This is one of Michael’s feathers, isn’t’ it? Given how important our research is, I won’t let our suppliers get their feathers from anyone else. His owls are exceptional. He gave you a special one, too. He could have sold this easily enough. I suppose as a token of friendship you took him some dung? Smart move, the Fieldcorn family doesn’t tend to do favors for others. The pearl is kind of the outlier. Were you not Rhinestones, I would say that obviously the pearl is the most common, even if the trade is regulated. Your grandmother refuses to sell dung to almost anyone. She provides the required amount to the Council every year and has a couple of important partners she works with to stay afloat, but that’s about it.”

  “What would you think this feather would normally be used for?” I asked.

  “Well, that’s an excellent question. Nothing nefarious, I can say that much. Usually truth-telling and sometimes fire-building. This is a straightforward feather without many hidden meanings. A good gift, since it would be very difficult to do any real damage with it,” explained Professor Burger.

  My shoulders drooped a bit in disappointment. I had been hoping for something dazzling, but that was probably foolish. No way Michael Fieldcorn would offer up something of real importance to the lives of the rest of us.

  “What about the pearl?” I asked.

  That was the only one of the three ingredients that was of unknown origin. Michael bred owls and my grandmother unicorns. As far as we knew, the pearls were not from a family farm.

  Professor Burger held it up to her face.

  “Yes, this is very interesting. You know we have standards for pearls. This is of the highest qua
lity. Hard to come by. I should imagine expensive. I’ve seen the like before,” she added.

  I perked up. “From where?”

  She frowned. “You know, now that you mention it, I can’t remember. Let me think about it some more. I’m sure it will come to me. I’ll go look at our pearl stocks this afternoon and maybe that will jog my memory,” she said.

  “Thank you. You really don’t have to go to all of this trouble just for us,” I told her. Guilt suddenly washed over me for taking up so much of this famous woman’s time. When I turned around and looked behind us, I saw all of her students and lab technicians working hard at their cauldrons. That’s what she should be doing, and instead she was up here with us.

  She saw me looking around and smiled. “I’ve never gotten tired of scientific inquiry. I’m happy to help. Now, what is your question about these three ingredients?” she asked.

  “We were just wondering in a general sort of way what would happen if they were mixed,” I said.

  Truly, we had brought the dung to throw her off the trail. If she was at all involved in what was going on—and that was hard to believe, though not entirely impossible—then having us ask what would happen when you combined pearls and a specific type of owl feather in a potion would give the game away.

  She took the question at face value. “Very good question. Now let me think.” There was a pause, then she said, “Right, well, unicorn dung is one of the most precious ingredients, because it stands in for so many others and works in so many potions. Not to mention that it performs tasks in an ingredient list that few others can. It’s like vanilla extract in baking. You could leave it out, but there’s really nothing else quite like it,” she explained. “Or maybe a fancy salt.”

  “That’s amazing. I never knew that,” Lowe said, frowning as if she was trying to keep up.

  Weren’t we all.

  “Yes, so there are some things that must be made and they cannot be made without the unicorn dung. That makes the stuff incredibly precious, so long as you don’t have to smell it,” said the professor with a crooked smile.

  “It doesn’t actually smell that bad,” Lowe told her.

  “Good to know,” she said. “I have used it from time to time. Your grandmother does have something of a soft spot for us researchers. Good thing. Otherwise, we’d never make any progress. So, anyway, back to what I was saying. Pearls and owl feathers are a little more difficult because there are many different types of owls. These two”—she picked up the ones that Kelly had given us—”are usually used for blasts, explosions, that sort of thing. Pearls are good for that as well. Different kinds of gas are also possible, although less likely,” she concluded.

  “These are all used for attack methods?” Lowe asked quietly.

  “Certainly. Pearls are the basis for the black market for a reason. Owl feathers are another level, but they’re much more difficult to get,” said Professor Burger. “You aren’t thinking of creating any of these dangerous potions, are you?” She said it with a slight smile, but we hastened to assure her that we weren’t. I certainly wasn’t. I’d probably screw something up and blow up the potion myself, and Bethel wouldn’t like that.

  “How about this? I have some practice packets of basic recipes. They only use trace amounts of some of these ingredients. We might not be able to do the experiments here, but you can take them home and see what they look like. Maybe that will answer the questions you’re wondering about. I’d suggest doing the experiments in the unicorn pasture if your grandmother is willing. Unicorns have the ability to fix problems like exploding cauldrons. How does that sound?” the professor asked.

  “That would be amazing. I’d love that,” said Lowe. “Why would you do that for us?”

  “I’m a curious lady. I’ll give you the recipes and you can see. Feel free to involve Bethel. She knows more than I do about unicorn dung. Feel free to come back and report to me. I might be able to help once you’ve done the experiments. Take copious notes,” she said.

  “Thank you. We’ll be sure to do that,” I said. “I hope it’s not too much trouble.”

  “Of course it isn’t. The more cauldron use I can get out of young witches, the better,” said Professor Burger.

  Taking one more sip of tea, she leveraged herself up off the bench and disappeared down the stairs. While we waited for her to come back, I looked around at the lab below us. There seemed to be more students than there’d been during the lunch hour. I saw the professor’s right hand woman examining the work in several cauldrons, and now Professor Burger was striding purposefully through the room as well, but no one looked at her or bothered her as she went. Eventually she disappeared through a set of metal double doors.

  “This place is amazing! I’d love to come here to school after I become a witch. Do all this good work? Can you imagine? It’d be glorious,” Lowe gushed.

  “She’s being awfully nice. I hope she doesn’t get too suspicious about what we’re doing, though,” I murmured. She might think we were up to no good. She might even tell Quinn, which would be a disaster.

  “She just seems interested in the science of it all,” said Lowe. “I love a woman dedicated to her cauldron.”

  I nodded my head absentmindedly. She did have a point. Professor Burger sure was dedicated.

  We waited for several minutes for the professor to return, then we saw her waving at us to come down to the main floor. When we rushed down she presented us with three packets, each in a see-through drawstring bag about the size of my fist. Through the thin material I could feel ingredients mixed together.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Try each of these. You can’t do them all at once, you’ll have to do them one at a time. Unfortunately, it won’t be quick, but you should get a pretty clear demonstration of what some of those ingredients can do. Now, be sure to add the common bases and of course the flame quota is written on each packet.” She handed them to me and I took the ingredients from her gratefully.

  “Let me know how it goes. I do love visitors at my lab,” she said with a smile.

  “We definitely will. This is the most magical place I’ve ever been, and that’s saying something, since this is a magical town,” said Lowe with a big smile.

  Professor Burger grinned. “I couldn’t agree more.”

  We headed for the door, where several students were waiting for the professor’s attention.

  Lowe made it to the door first after promising to wait to examine the packets until we were out of view of the professor. I glanced over my shoulder as we left the lab.

  The professor’s assistant was watching us go.

  Chapter Fourteen

  After that we went home. Despite Lowe’s fears about triggering some alarm when we’d followed Cynthia, no campus police showed up to kick us out.

  By now Bethel was definitely going to wonder where we were. We were apprehensive about telling her we’d gone to see Professor Burger, or that we were trying to get more information about what had happened to Kyle and who had killed Henry, but I didn’t know how long we’d be able to keep it a secret.

  Maybe at least Bethel would be happy that I was practicing using a cauldron. It was just that before I could use one, I’d have to dig it out of the basement.

  This time when we got home, we had to sneak past a particularly volatile skirmish in the tomato plants. Lowe lamented the fact that there probably wouldn’t be any edible ones left for dinner.

  Bethel was out in the pasture with the unicorns. We opened the back door and waved to her, but she didn’t look interested in talking to us right then. That gave me a welcome opportunity to go upstairs, shower, and get ready to start dinner. It was only mid-afternoon, and I was prepared to have a big evening meal. Bethel would probably want help cooking, and after that the only thing left to decide was whether I was going into the basement in the dark or not.

  When I got back downstairs, Bethel was in the kitchen. Lowe hadn’t come in yet.

  “How was y
our day?” I asked my grandmother.

  “Lots of unicorn work. Every year I think they’ll behave better when it comes to their yearly checkups, and every year they fool me. They seem to think that because they know they’re fine, I should as well. I want you and Lowe to look over my notes on their care. Maybe next year you can go around with me, although if Ethel is back by then you might be off the hook.”

  We both knew that Ethel was the real one who would take care of the unicorns in the future. That is to say, if she figured out why the Vixens hated her and we were able to fix it, that would be her task. Otherwise she would never come back in the first place.

  I shook that thought off. She’d come back. Maybe I could even help her out.

  Lowe and I had agreed that we needed to come clean with Bethel about going to the university. Much to my surprise, after I rushed through an explanation she wasn’t angry. I had been waiting for the roof to blow off, but all she said was, “Professor Burger must like you.”

  I sat at the kitchen table dumbfounded, wondering if my grandmother would ever stop being a mystery to me.

  “Let’s get dinner started, shall we?” Bethel asked. “I’ll wash up. Start peeling carrots.”

  She disappeared as I got going on the carrots. When she returned, we worked away on a vegetable salad. My grandmother’s salads were elaborate, in that she didn’t care for specific combinations or what tasted best with what. She crammed as many vegetables into her salads as she possibly could, then glared at them as if they were still missing something.

  Tonight was no different. To accompany the salad there was pasta. My job was to peel garlic and grate fresh parmesan.

  We were still working on our various tasks when Lowe wandered in.

  “Can you set the table, dear?” Bethel asked.

  Lowe went to get supplies. When she was halfway to the table, Bethel glanced up sharply and said, “With four place settings.”

  Lowe stopped short. Quite frequently we had Lisa and Lucky over for dinner. Sometimes we even had other guests who wanted to visit the famous unicorns and the Rhinestone matriarch. There were townsfolk who wanted to talk about this or that. The rumbling in the pit of my stomach told me that this was something else entirely.