“That wasn’t a buzzword,” Mom said. “She’s telling you her next set of waffles aren’t gonna just be burned, they’re actually going to be on fire. Lit.” She glanced at the shiny new set of tires and rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe this. Why would somebody slash our tires?”

“The people at the tire place said it happens,” Mo said. “Local kids, you know?”

“They need an ass whoopin’,” Mom grumbled as we climbed the porch steps.

Billowing ash-gray clouds rolled across the sky. The smell of rain hung in the air. My plants would love that and it would give me a break from watering.

I went inside and up to my room. I studied the drawing Mrs. Redmond had given me—a black-and-white sketch, it didn’t have the details of the illustrations in the big book. I wondered whether it had been Circe or Selene who drew it, and what the three lines there at the bottom meant.

After making sure Mom and Mo were occupied downstairs, I opened the hidden door behind the fireplace. I slipped inside and studied the crest carved into the desk more closely. There were no lines anywhere around it. I pulled open the drawers and searched for any markings, symbols, anything that might help me figure out what I was missing but there was nothing.

Frustrated, I slumped into the chair and stared down at the crest. The lacquered finish was dull in the area directly in front of the symbol, as if it had been worn away over time. I traced the faded mark and found it ran under the lip of the desk. Scrambling out of the chair and crouching down, I swept the light from my phone across the underside of the desk. Three lines were etched deep into the wood, and a shallow divot sat directly on top of them.

“Holy shit,” I whispered, my heart thudding in my chest.

I pressed my finger to the indentation. There was a soft click and a compartment fell open with a heavy thud. I jumped, knocking my head on the edge of the desk. I clamped my hands down over the ache. The plants in my bedroom crowded in on me, stretching their roots across the floor.

A sketchbook sat tucked inside a hidden compartment the size of a small drawer. I lifted it out and paged through. The Absyrtus Heart was drawn there in even more intricate detail than it was in the big book. The inner workings of the plant were unlike anything I’d ever seen. The stalk appeared to be covered in something more like skin than plant matter. The lobes were shown splayed open and the voids inside were draped with pale, cobweb-like structures. On the last page was a recipe and some notes scribbled in the lower corner.

The Living Elixir

Absyrtus Heart

Quicksilver

Liquid Gold

Transfigure

Infuse in a draft of honey