Naturally, the first thing she noticed after the candles was the cauldron. It was just like how they were in the movies, black and medieval-looking, with grime around the edges. There was still a giant ladle-type thing inside. There must have been hundreds of potion containers on the shelves around the room. Some she recognized, but she found herself wondering how one sorceress could possibly use all of them. Some looked like perfume bottles, some were small containers that looked like fancy jewelry boxes that you might find in an Imperial Russian palace, some were goblets that King Arthur and his buddies could've drunk out of. In anyone else's house, she'd be looking through all of them already, but past experiences had taught her to be a little more careful with magic. Besides, Morgana wasn't here to fix it if she messed up again. So she settled for reading the labels.
...That got boring fast. Yeah, yeah, melting potion, growth potion, color changing potion, what good were any of them if she couldn't see them in action? But she couldn't use them herself. Morgana had tried to teach her again after the incident at the Academy, knowing Gos was too embarrassed from it to learn any of it in an actual class, but Gosalyn still could never quite get it, or at least became too frustrated to keep trying for it. Morgana would note sometimes that she showed potential, though, so there was that to hold onto. When Morgana got back - and she wasgoing to get back - maybe Gos would take her up on those lessons one more time. Morgana and her dad and her teachers and almost all the grown-ups she knew (aside from all her dad's nemeses) kept giving her chances, she owed them the same, at least.
She found herself eyeing a small cloth sack sitting in a clear box sticking out of a more crowded shelf, tied shut with a piece of string. The writing on a piece of white masking tape on the side of the box facing her read "SLEEP SAND." That told her just about everything. She opened it to find that it was mostly empty anyway. The other bags in the box looked full, so this one would bring the least amount of risk. When Morgana got back from wherever she was, she probably wouldn't miss it. If she did, maybe she would assume it had been empty since the last time she'd been home. She pulled the drawstring closed again and headed back into the foyer, where the familiars were still sitting and munching on their treats. The second she reached their line of vision, she hid the sack behind her and tried to look casual as she exited.
"Well, this was really nice, guys," she said. "But I should be getting home. Dad won't get off my back about my grades and I've got this huge test -"
As tiny as Archie was, she could see his eyes narrowing from the doorway, and before she could continue, he hopped over to her and crawled over her shoulder to find her contraband.
"Quit it!" she protested as he grabbed onto the drawstring and pulled on it until she was forced to reveal the bag to Eek and Squeak, who immediately flew over to take it from her. She managed to keep it from them, though, insisting that she wasn't stealing.
"I'm gonna give it back when Morgana comes home! I'm not gonna use it, honest!" She was met with skeptical looks from the trio. "I just need somethin' to...I need to remember that she's coming back, okay?"
They softened their expressions, but still gestured that they couldn't let her take it.
"What's the big deal, anyway?" She was near tears by now. "It puts people to sleep, big whoop. It's not like I don't know how to wake 'em up. There's barely even any of it left, see?" She swiftly pulled the top of the bag open to show them, kicking up enough of its contents to make her drowsy all of a sudden. Eek and Squeak rushed to get a throw pillow from one of Morgana's armchairs to cushion her fall, and she was out within seconds.
