Kalixa grabbed one of the books she'd taken from the library. Brushing her fingertips across the rough, ivory cover, she said, "You know what, Ruan? You seem awfully prepared. You've got this whole big idea, and on a relevant issue at that. How'd you know what the test would be on?" 

"For goodness' sake, Kalixa. You act as if you haven't been in this class for three years. Jedd's pretty easy to predict. Has he ever given a normal exam?" 

Kal made a serious expression as if she was actually deep in thought. This girl. "You're right. He hasn't. He even said it earlier. Still, I didn't expect him to be completely careless about it." 

Raising my index finger in protest, I countered. "Correction. He's not careless. It's more like he's nonchalant in the best way. He wants us to think for ourselves. If any of us seriously pursue the curriculum as a career, we won't always have someone there to tell us what to do. I like the way he teaches." 

Kalixa coughed and spoke under her breath. Of course, she made sure to be loud enough for me to hear. "I think you like a little more than the way he teaches." 

I can never catch a break with the likes of my dear Kalixa Calcatera. "What are you going on about now?" I began to write down a formula for the mixture I thought of while Kalixa was busy flipping through the content she gathered. 

"You heard me, Ms. Linshad." Kal tossed her honey glazed ringlets over her shoulder and continued her research. "To be quite honest, I wouldn't blame you. He's kinda cute." 

"Come on, Kal. He's our teacher." I paused for a second. "More reading, less talking. I'm trying to work." 

"Ha! I knew it. You just gave yourself away, Rue. When have we not been able to stay completely focused while working and having a conversation at the same time? Most can't, but we have a very special connection." 

"Things are a bit different this time. It's the Grads, a very important exam. I really have to focus. You should too." 

"Yeah. Right. Whatever you say, Ms. Linshad. We'll finish this conversation another day." She lowered her voice into a whisper. "By the way, your ears have gone red. I've got you." 

"Whatever Kal! Just shut up and work!" The class fell dead-silent. That came out a lot louder than I expected. It seemed as if a thousand eyes were watching my every move. 

"Do we have an issue ladies?" Jedd called out from behind his book. 

If only my ears were red before, I'm sure I was much more red now. "No, sir. Sorry for the disturbance." 

"Okay. Back to work everyone. You have an hour fifteen left. If we don't have any more banshees present, I may just give an extension." 

While Kalixa tried to suppress her laughter, I tried to suppress the urge to "accidentally" spill one of the flasks containing my own concoction. I leaned in nice and close, getting up in Kal's very personal space. "I'd be careful. There will be poison present." Her face fell in an instant. All I needed was a nod and that's exactly what she gave me. "Good girl." We exchanged smiles and went right back to work. 

"Okay, so what do we have, Ruan?" 

"The three most potent posions in all of Yanzen." 

Still nose-deep in her books, Kal asked, "If I'm correct that's ggolgor, rumanhor, and shimshot?" 

"Bingo." 

"Why's the sample so small? Shouldn't we use a few more?" 

"I thought about that, but since they're the most potent, I think we'll be fine with just three. Their toxicity level is so high that one of each amounts to about ten common poisons." 

"I see. Nice work. Now we have to get permission from the lab to use them in class. What do we do?" 

"We'll just get a pass. It should be easy, given the assignment." 

"You say that now. Alright, let's go. I'll do the talking. We don't need you turning into a beet again, do we?" 

Shooting a glare at her, Kal just winked and skipped off toward Jedd's desk. I grabbed a tarp from under our work station to place over the project and made my way over. He was still lost in his reading. Once a bookworm, always a bookworm. When he's not lecturing, all I ever see him do is read. 

"Hey, Jedd!" Kalixa tried sounding as cheerful as possible. I'm not too sure why.

He put down his current read and slid off his glasses, breaking into a bright smile that displayed all of his great teeth. 

"Well, if isn't Goldie Locks and Screech."

I clunched my hand to my chest as if I received the blow of the century. "Hey! I'm not that loud. This was a one time thing. Kalixa was getting on my nerves." 

The wide, chocolate pools that most refer to as eyes, narrowed into two slits. "Is that so? I wouldn't call you Screech over a one time occurrence. Anyway, what can I do for you?" 

Kalixa fulfilled her promise and explained the situation. "We need permission from the lab to use a few poisons for our project." 

Jedd stood up and walked over to his transmitter to the left of his clutter of spell books and such. "Sure thing. What poisons are you looking into?" 

Kalixa coughed and lowered her voice. "The Big Three." 

"What?" He exclaimed. The class stopped once more until Jedd made a second announcement for everyone to get back to work. This time, there was a clear touch of annoyance.

I butted in. "I guess I'm not the only Screech today." I soon realized that I shouldn't have.

The usually calm, cool, and collected advisor had lost all of his senses. "This isn't a time to joke Ruan." He let out a huge sigh and ran his hands through his ginger ocean of hair. "Do you have any idea what you two are asking me to do? Who's to say the lab will even permit this?" 

"They'll permit it because it's you. Anyone who's anyone knows how you are. You'd never allow something that wasn't okay in the slightest." 

He looked me straight in my eyes. It felt like he was invading my soul. "You're absolutely right. Which is why I can't allow this." He made a shooing motion with one arm while reaching for his book with the other. "I won't. Go find another project to do. You have an hour left." 

Kalixa tugged on my sash and began to walk away, but I couldn't move. I grounded myself. "No. I'm not leaving. We're seniors, Jedd! Seniors! This is when taking risks is the most acceptable, especially when in your class. You encourage this kind of stuff. Why are you shying away now? Simply because they're the Big Three? Don't you have any trust in your students?" 

His eyes had gone from just serious to as cold and set as stone. "This isn't about trust Ruan. It's about safety." Jedd let out a dry, humourless  laugh. "I don't even think you are fully aware of what you want to get yourself into. My apologies for not asking you. I was too occupied trying to get this insane idea out of your head. I'll ask now. What are you planning?" 

"Easy. An organic, universal poison neutralizer. It'll be able to not only control the Big Three but offer a painlessly safer alternative to the poison neutralizers we already have." 

Jedd's expression lightened in such a small way that you'd have had to watch him with great intensity to notice it. "Go on. What's your basis?" 

"Over the past few years, I've been conducting research on this topic and made some pretty interesting discoveries. For starters, all poisons, including the Big Three, share a common, deadly, factor. The strength of this factor depends on both the amount of said factor along with whatever other factors are present in a poison. I came to know that the Big Three possess an abundance of the factor and their remaining ingredients are unknown to Yanzen." 

Jedd's face began to drop the cold expression more and more as I went on. "Intriguing. How'd you come across all of this information?" 

"I'll get to that later. Moving forward, after looking at our current neutralizers I was able to come up with a possible concoction. It combines the base factor along with other substances that when combined, will naturally expunge the effects of poisons, including the deadliest of all. It also contains pain-relieving agents that take care of the pain side effect of our current neutralizers. The best part is that it can be created with zero help from the capital."  

Something in his expression twitched, or maybe it didn't. I only noticed it for a split second. "Why do you say that?" 

"I don't know. So many things in this society are off. You never know what the capital's up to unless you live there. Even less so if you don't live in the palace. I just think it'd be nice to have something separate from them." 

"Understandable. I have a few more questions, but I want them to be answered with your remedy. I'll contact the lab and have your poisons delivered." 

"Yes!" Kalixa finally spoke up after I lead the conversation for so long. 

"Hey, Jedd?" I asked. 

"Hmm?" He didn't look at me as he spoke. He was too busy preparing to get back to his literature after being away from it for what must have felt like a lifetime, judging by how swiftly he was moving. 

"I think we're going to need an extension." 

He stopped in his tracks and raised his eyes,  giving me a light smirk. "I think so too."