Now that everything had been added to the cauldron, it was time to turn up the heat. He pulled out the timer from his bag. It was shaped like an egg, and shimmered like dragon scales. His mother had given it to him when he showed interest in making potions. It was pretty, sure, but it was reliable, and that's what Austin loved about it.

Austin set the heat to medium and began counting. "One failed potion... Two failed potions... Three failed potions... Four failed potions... Five failed potions..." Once the five seconds were up, Austin left the potion to brew. He turned the timer to five minutes, and thus began a very long five minutes.

It was long because there was nothing to distract him. The Unicorn horn was already crushed, and the berries had to be put in whole. All he had left to do was worry about Scarlett. She hadn't said much (or maybe he wasn't paying much attention) and he was worried he wasn't working fast enough.