Chapter Thirty-Eight
Lois angrily bit into a double fudge crunch bar. A sleeping potion. How could it be after all this investigating, Lex was still a good guy? Nothing nefarious to see here folks.
You want him to be a villain? Her brain asked. She took another bit. No, Lois reasoned with herself. I want the truth.
Had Lex told the truth? He had been under Zatanna's hex, but then he had been able to hold back for that one question. What other truths had he kept from them? That led to Lois going back to Zatanna's place, complete with a backpack full of chocolate bars, for a truth check. Zatanna was standing at the kitchen table covered in open books. Lois tried to help, but most of the books were in a weird language.
"Okay, so the truth spell I used isn't the strongest one." Zatanna traced her finger across the line of text. "'The strong of mind can resist or divulge what they believe is truth'".
"So, Lex lied?"
"I think this just means the strong minded can resist telling the whole truth. I mean, Lex was already aware magic existed if he went to my father, so he wasn't caught that off guard when I hexed him. And if he really did something to alter reality, it's a pretty good chance he believes he was right."
"And no possibility of time travel?"
"Well, thanks to Lex's confession, I was able to confirm that all but three ingredients match with a sleeping potion."
"Any chance they're from a previous brewing session?"
"Not a chance. When my dad was giving lessons his first one was to always properly clean your cauldron to avoid cross contamination. These ingredients could be add-ons or enhancements. Like, I found dirt. Where it's from, I can't say without doing a retrace spell. But it could mean that if the drinker, in this case, Julian, walked to a specific location he'd fall asleep again."
"Again?"
"Yeah. So how the main spell works is that Julian drinks the potion. He doesn't fall asleep until a trigger set by the caster, or in this case, Lex, is activated. The trigger can be a word, a hand gesture, a whistle. Anything. In the case of the dirt, a location. Then Julian falls asleep. Unlike other potions, this one has a limit of Julian being asleep for forty-eight hours after initial activation. However, he can wake up when the trigger is activated a second time. The trigger can be activated numerous times in those forty-eight hours; meaning Julian could fall asleep or wake up as many times Lex wants. But there's a safeguard ensuring Julian would be awake after forty-eight hours of drinking the potion."
"Hang on," Lois reached in her bag and got out her notes. She flipped to an early page. "Julian told me he fell asleep as soon as he got to the Kent farm. He went there shortly after waking up the first time."
"Might be the place. Like I said, can't confirm without doing the other spell."
"What were the other ingredients?"
"Orange peel and curcuma longa. Not done researching yet, but as far as I can tell, they're used in teeth whitening spells."
"You're kidding me."
"No. Why?"
"Because Clark Kent drank the Loomis Dental Gel 2000!" Lois exclaimed. "Okay. So Clark did drink coffee that was spiked with the dental gel. Then Lex gives him the sleeping potion. And then…" her voice trailed off as she didn't know what came next.
"Or, hear me out, Lex just gave him the sleeping potion to wake up from the coma. And just wanted to ensure he woke up with good morning breath."
"But then why the soil? I'll bet a million dollars it's from the Kent farm. And how could Lex know Julian would go there? There would be no reason unless Clark Kent wanted to go home. And, why the teeth whitening spell? Believe me, only magic could clean your teeth after drinking that stuff." Lois winced. Her teeth had stayed a dull grey much longer than expected.
"Okay, I'll do the retrace spell. No promises; there's not a lot of dirt. You are lucky I'm finding this good practice."
Zatanna got busy flipping through pages and gathering things she would need for the spell. Lois retreated to the living room and sat on the sofa to think. She closed her eyes and shoved the rest of the chocolate goodness into her mouth. She needed to think. Some things were coming together, but there was a piece of the puzzle still missing.
Lex had known his "Julian" was once Clark Kent who would return to the Kent farm, his home. Lex knew Clark had drunk coffee spiked with dental gel and would need to get rid of the evidence. Lex had known these things. He had planned for these things. Zatanna could confirm Zatara did indeed give Lex a sleeping potion.
Maybe Lex didn't lie. Maybe he told the truth. But not the entire truth. Like having help. Lex had an accomplice.
She had to return to the question Jeff asked: who gained by Clark Kent becoming Julian Luthor?
Clark/Julian did, her mind told her. Clark became a millionaire overnight. Lois remembered the pained look he had the first time she saw in the Torch office. How crestfallen he looked when Chloe told him his name was Julian. How broken he looked leaving the Kent barn.
No, Lois didn't believe for one second he would give up his family.
There was Chloe. She did gain a boyfriend. That meant it could be Jeff, too. He gained a friend. But did either of them have the means to alter reality?
Lois needed an aspirin. Her head hurt.
Aspirin. Medicine. Asclepius. Revolutionary. Luthor Corp stocks would probably skyrocket because of this. Lois bit pulled out another chocolate bar and began to chew as her mind picked up speed. Made from Julian's blood. Released by Cadmus. Julian at Cadmus. Julian under the supervision of Dr. Hamilton at Cadmus. Hamilton the genius.
Hamilton the missing link.
Lois opened her eyes to get her notebook and write down questions she could ask Brainwave during the next session. She was interrupted by a scream and smoke coming from the kitchen. She raced in to find Zatanna covered in soot.
"I was just trying to increase the bit of soil so I had more to work with."
"It's gone now, isn't it?" Lois took in the sight of a small, scorched spot on the counter. It looked like a mini bomb had gone off.
"Oops," Zatanna said weakly.
Curcuma longa is the Latin term for turmeric. Apparently turmeric and orange peel are used in home remedies for whitening teeth. Can't say if they're effective.