Which Dark Secret Will You Discover in the Duke's Garden? (Choose Your Path)
Which Dark Secret Will You Discover in the Duke's Garden? (Choose Your Path)
The Apothecary, Chapter 6: "The Betrayal"
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The Apothecary is an interactive story in which your choices determine your fate. Don’t read the sections in order. At the end of each section, make your choice and click on the corresponding link to be taken to your next section. Will you choose to save the duke from a fairy curse, or will you aid the prince in a darker quest?
Start Here: The Midnight Task
(continued from Chapter 5, find all chapters here)
You never thought you’d be brewing an illegal potion. And now you find yourself in a double-bind—
The potion is your only hope for sneaking into the fairy queen’s garden and stealing what you need for the duke’s antidote. But to brew an illegal potion risks your reputation.
You’re also proving to the prince that you can brew illicit potions. Which means he’ll expect you to brew another for him, even while you fear the task. Whatever potion he might ask you for might be desperately dangerous to concoct.
But you have other things to worry about now—like sneaking past the fairy queen’s guards. You’ll have to be careful in brewing this invisibility potion.
You read notes from your father’s book about the ingredients you plan to use: “Myrtle leaves release their full essence only with time. Spider silk should be added only to a cool cauldron.”
How will you brew the potion?
First add myrtle leaves, then hare’s hair, then spider silk? Go to Elixir.
First add spider silk, then hare’s hair, then myrtle leaves? Go to Concoction.
First add myrtle leaves, then spider silk, then hare’s hair? Go to Tincture.
Umbra
The moment you pluck the mushrooms from the dark soil, their light goes out. They’re only a sickly shade of blue-green now.
Can this really be the right ingredient for the antidote? There’s no time to wonder. Your hand is starting to glimmer in the light as the invisibility potion wears off.
You hurry from the garden and past the guards, who stare in confusion at the way the air wavers around you. “Queen?” one of them calls into the garden.
In that moment, you suddenly remember what the queen wanted from the trade agreement: a special mineral. The mushrooms in your hand are, in fact, worthless.
The guards shout again, and in your despair you can do nothing but stand rooted to the spot. The potion must have worn off, because they seize you and drag you away.
Everything you’ve done has been in vain, and the duke will soon die. If only you had chosen to take the crystals from the garden…
Go to Splendor.
Hunger
You creep out from behind the tree to watch the queen break a globe of fairy fruit from a branch.
The queen’s dress glimmers with their juices. At her feet, peels litter the dirt. As you watch, the queen feeds greedily on the bursting globe in her hand.
The fruit’s scent wafts toward you. You could swear you smelled this same fruit in the goblet that held the antidote the queen gave to the duke.
The queen drops the peel of the devoured fruit and then kneels at the base of the tree. She probes carefully at something you can’t see. You steal closer…
A twig breaks under your boot. The queen straightens and whirls in alarm. “Who’s there?”
Go to Shimmering Thief.
Tincture
You add the myrtle leaves to the cauldron first so that they have time to boil. Then you douse the flames under your cauldron and add the spider silk. The liquid glimmers beautifully.
Now for a sprinkle of fur you combed from the hare you caught by moonlight…
With a flash, the potion ignites. The moonlight stored in the hare’s hair was truly powerful. Adding the fur last has spoiled your potion!
At least now the prince won’t ask you to brew a forbidden potion for him. But you also have no way to help the duke.
You wish you had tried a different order for your ingredients…
“Myrtle leaves release their full essence only with time. Spider silk should be added only to a cool cauldron.”
How will you brew the potion?
First add myrtle leaves, then hare’s hair, then spider silk? Go to Elixir.
First add spider silk, then hare’s hair, then myrtle leaves? Go to Concoction.
Garden of Greed
It’s morning when you finish brewing your potion. You make your way to the castle, the glass vial heavy in your pocket.
At the castle grounds, you slip along a path fenced by shrubbery until you come to a familiar place: the fairy queen’s garden. The intoxicating scent of strange fruit wafts over the wall. You drink it in while you swallow the sour potion.
The guards twitch in confusion when you pass them, as if they can feel the air moving in your wake. But you manage to enter the queen’s garden…
You stifle a gasp. The garden is strangely beautiful.
Clusters of purple flowers spill from tree branches, filling the air with a heady scent. Mushrooms sprout from between tree roots, glowing eerily.
A sudden noise catches your attention, a strange rustle, a wet crack…
You peer around a tree–and spy the fairy queen herself. Her dress shifts and rustles as she reaches into the branches overhead.
Her manner is desperate, greedy. What is she searching for?
Watch the fairy queen? Go to Hunger.
Inspect the tree you’re hiding behind? Go to Desire.
Desire
You peer up into the branches of the tree and spy shining globes of fruit. Their scent is familiar.
You could swear you smelled this same fruit in the goblet that held the antidote the queen gave to the duke.
You must have it. While the queen is diverted, you reach up and shake a branch laden with fruit.
The noise alerts the queen. “Who’s there?” she calls.
Go to Shimmering Thief.
Splendor
The crystals tingle against your fingertips. Such minerals must be worth more than any ordinary gemstone.
Your pockets laden with treasures from the queen’s garden, you hurry past the unsuspecting guards.
Near the castle steps, a shadowed form leans against a tree. But surely you’re still invisible and there’s no danger of being discovered lurking near the castle.
As you turn to hurry away, a hoarse voice croaks, “Wait!” Your potion must be starting to wear off.
You think you recognize the voice. Could that be the duke spying from near the tree?
Your heart thuds in your chest. Something seems wrong, but you can’t quite decide what it is. The strange quality of the duke’s voice? But his sickness accounts for that. The twitch of his cloak? Is he signaling to someone?
If you stay where you are, you’ll have to trust that he’ll hide you from the guards. If you run, you’ll have to hope your potion lasts just long enough for you to slip away.
Stay? Go to Trespasser.
Run? Go to Poacher.
Concoction
You add the spider silk to the cauldron while it’s still cool and then add the other ingredients as the cauldron heats up. But soon, the spider silk boils into a terrible glue…
Smoke billows from the cauldron and streams out the door. It seems to alert a figure in a dark cloak, who barges into your shop.
“So you stole my recipe for an invisibility potion and tried to brew it in secret?” the cloaked figure rasps. “I think I’ll tell the town council you’re breaking its rules on forbidden potions.”
You wish you had tried a different order for your ingredients…
“Myrtle leaves release their full essence only with time. Spider silk should be added only to a cool cauldron.”
How will you brew the potion?
First add myrtle leaves, then hare’s hair, then spider silk? Go to Elixir.
First add myrtle leaves, then spider silk, then hare’s hair? Go to Tincture.
Shimmering Thief
You hold your breath, hoping the invisibility potion won’t wear off even as you stand here. The queen turns, searching…
A bird twitters from somewhere, and the queen heads off toward it, as if it might be alerting her to the presence of an intruder.
You quickly scoop up a cluster of fallen fruit to take back to your apothecary.
But as you’re kneeling in the dirt, you spy something else: glowing mushrooms and darkly glittering crystals.
You think back to the conversation the queen had with the duke the day before. She was so desperate as to promise far too much grain in a treaty with another kingdom…
What did she want in return? It might be important for your potion.
Pluck some glowing mushrooms? Go to Umbra.
Dislodge some glittering crystals? Go to Splendor.
Trespasser
“Come to me!” calls the shadow near the tree.
It’s the duke—you’re sure of it now. You rush forward and throw your arms around him. It wasn’t until this moment that you realized how worried you’ve been for him.
He reacts by pushing you away, startled. “Don’t you recognize me?” you ask, holding your hands out to him as you watch them glimmer and then materialize.
For a moment, all his grim exhaustion falls away and his eyes light up in recognition. Is it your imagination, or is there tenderness in the way he looks at you?
Your words come out in a rush: “I found a way into the queen’s garden. I have what I need for your antidote.”
The duke stares in disbelief. Is he shocked by what you’ve told him, or is he only amazed that you’ve materialized out of thin air?
Before you can guess, he suddenly presses close to you, and your breath escapes in a startled rush. “Duke?” you breathe.
You realize he has reached into your pockets and drawn out the crystals you stole from the garden. The next moment, he steps back and calls out in his hoarse voice, “Guards!”
You don’t understand. Why would he betray you this way? Before you can ask him, the guards seize you.
You call out to the duke, but your pleas for help do nothing to move him. He watches in stony silence as the guards haul you toward a dark passage at the base of the castle.
Go to The Dark Passage.
Elixir
You add the myrtle leaves to the cauldron first so that they have time to boil. Now for a sprinkle of fur you combed from the hare you caught by moonlight…
As the hare’s hair hits the bubbling mixture, it seems to release a flash of moonlight. Is that a good thing, you wonder, or a bad thing?
You douse the flames under your cauldron and add the spider silk. The liquid glimmers beautifully. Your potion is perfect!
You’re ready to steal into the fairy queen’s garden to find the right ingredient for the duke’s antidote…
Go to Garden of Greed.
Poacher
You can’t risk being caught on the castle grounds with your pockets full of stolen goods. You turn to bolt.
The next moment, the duke’s arms are around you. Holding you safely, shielding you from the guards.
Your words come out in a rush: “You must help me escape. I’ve taken something from the queen’s garden.”
His only answer is to press closer to you. “Duke?” you breathe.
You realize he has reached into your pockets and drawn out the crystals you stole from the garden. In his hoarse voice, he calls out, “Guards!”
You don’t understand. Why would he betray you this way? Before you can ask him, the guards seize you.
You glimpse the duke’s stony expression before the guards haul you toward a dark passage at the base of the castle.
Go to The Dark Passage.
The Dark Passage
Just before you’re dragged into darkness, you think you hear the duke call, “Make sure not to harm her.”
Or was it the prince who called out? Was he watching what happened from some hidden place nearby?
The duke or the prince–you pray one of them will come and find you…
End of Chapter 6.
Continue to the next chapter? Go to Chapter 7: The Warning.
Return to the beginning? Go to Start Here: The Midnight Task
Come back soon for Chapter 7: The Warning. When both the prince and the duke each warn you against the other, you must choose who to trust.