As soon as they got to Markos's school, the group split up. Markos, Misty, and Millie took Scottie's spellbook and went straight to the library, while Scottie and Meadow went to the potion lab. Scottie walked around the room, looking at and studying all the various ingredients and equipment they had available to them. He had a general idea of what he wanted to do but was glad he had Meadow there to bounce some ideas back and forth.

After taking a good look around, Scottie turned sharply to Meadow who was seated on a nearby stool.

"How are you with needles?"

Meadow shrugged. She honestly wasn't a fan of needles, but she wasn't going to let Scottie know that.

"They don't bother me."

"I think we should take a blood sample."

Determined to show how strong she was, Meadow aggressively rolled her sleeve up and stuck her arm out.

"Go for it."

Even though he had put it out there, Scottie was somewhat uncomfortable with the idea. He had never drawn blood before and he was no doctor. But he felt it was essential and she seemed perfectly willing.

Scottie nodded his head and approached her slowly. Carefully, he inserted the needle, constantly checking for signs of discomfort. She winced slightly every now and then, so he asked her how she was, but she insisted they continue. When he finished, he put a few droplets on a slide and inspected it through a microscope.

"Hey, come take a look at this," Scottie said, beckoning Meadow over.

She hopped off her stool and inspected it herself. She saw little black squiggles squirming around, expanding and contracting like microscopic parasites.

"Huh," she said. "Well, that's certainly something."

Scottie nodded his head in agreement. His prediction being correct gave him a boost of confidence.

"Let's use this as a base," Scottie said and enthusiastically dumped her blood into a pot.

He had waited just as long, if not longer, for an opportunity to exact his revenge on The Assembly. He was as much a prisoner as the Tarbys were and he couldn't wait to be free.

"Now, Hystopheria is caused by an overabundance of dark magic, right? So, we should add elements that contain dark magic, like crow's feathers and devil's horns."

Meadow wracked her brain trying to think of what she could add. Scottie had asked her to help for a reason. She was what he needed to really push the potion over the edge.

"I could enchant them," she said. "I can use the memories I have from when I was sick and channel that energy into them. It's got to work."

Scottie liked the idea, but it gave him pause. Channeling energy like that, reliving those painful memories would be hard for her. He had plenty of dark memories of his own, and they weren't something he ever wanted to revisit.

"You don't have to," Scottie said.

Meadow felt his hesitation, but as she said to Markos, she wasn't going to let anything stop her.

"Yes, I do."

Sensing her willful perseverance, Scottie agreed and started gathering the items. He laid them out in front of her and let her do her magic. Meadow closed her eyes and traveled back in time to her time of illness. She pictured herself, small and fragile. She took everything she felt back then, every ounce of pain, and poured it into the potion. Even when she began to feel overwhelmed, she pushed through until she felt her job was done. She took a step back, her heart beating fast and tears in her eyes.

"You okay?" Scottie asked as he placed a gentle arm around her.

"Yeah, yeah," Meadow insisted.

Though Meadow assured him she was fine, he was still wracked with guilt. After all, it was his family that had put her through all this. He always knew that she had suffered, but to see it up close and in-person really hit home for him.

"Hey," he said. "I'm really sorry you've had to go through this."

Meadow looked him in the eyes and she could tell he was being sincere. In a strange way, his sincerity made it that much more painful. She didn't like to be pitied, especially not when it was coming from him.

"It's whatever," she said, pushing him away. "Let's just get this done."

Scottie received her message loud and clear and they returned to their work. They discussed possible additions and ways to make it most effective. They both came to the conclusion, that in order for it to work, it had to be both tasteless and colorless. They mixed and poured and stirred until they reached a finished product. It sat on the table in front of them as they stared at it. It was complete, but there was one question that hung in their minds.

"How do we know if it works?"

Scottie continued to stare at the potion, wondering the same thing. There really was no way to know and that scared him. He desperately needed this to work. If this failed, they'd all be dead in the water. The longer Scottie stared at it, the antsier he became. Every worst-case scenario ran through his head and it was driving him near mad. He couldn't take any chances with this, he had to know that it worked.

"Only one way to find out," Scottie said.

He impulsively grabbed the bottle and quickly took a swig before he changed his mind. Meadow's eyes widened as she watched him gulp it down.

"Omg, what the hell?" She practically shouted. She could not believe the sheer lunacy she had just witnessed. It was truly blowing her mind. "Are you insane?"

The potion hit Scottie's stomach and he came down in a fit of coughs. He instantly felt light-headed and weak. His vision became so blurred that he had to lean back on a table just to keep himself upright. One thing was for sure, it was definitely working.

"Our lives depend on whether or not this potion works," Scottie said. "We couldn't operate on blind faith."

"Okay, yeah, I get that, but that seemed a little extreme," Meadow said.

"Look, we needed to know if it would work or not, and now we know," Scottie said, brushing off the sickness he was feeling. "We can worry about an antidote later. Right now, we need to follow through with the plan."

Meadow looked at him with skepticism, still thinking that he was totally insane, but then again, maybe he was. Either way, she didn't get a chance to divulge it further, because as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, her three siblings burst through the door.

"We figured out a reversal spell."

Meadow and Scottie looked at each other and they knew it was time. They had the potion. They had the spell. They were ready.

***

Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage 

https://youtu.be/z5rRZdiu1UE