Page 88 of Bitten By the Basilisk

“Would it be weird to say I’m excited to work with fire?” she replied, wincing.

Justin chuckled. “No, that’s not weird. It’s better not to be scared of handling molten glass.”

Next, he demonstrated how to make a simple ball-shaped paperweight. When he was ready to dab a gather of molten glass onto a tray of frit, he asked Alice which color to use. She chose the one that would create green.

At the end of the demonstration, once he had scored the last narrow connection between the completed paperweight and the end of the blowpipe, he had her tap the side of the pipe with the pair of jacks he’d used, his hand over hers so she could feel how hard to strike. The paperweight separated from the blowpipe with a crisp clink.

As he then set down his tools to switch to a handheld torch for one final step, Alice glanced back at Silas, a slight furrow between her eyebrows, as if worried he was irritated by how familiar Justin was acting with her.

Silas couldn’t deny that his territorial nature wanted to break Justin’s nose, but the human didn’t pose any real threat to his claim over Alice, nor did she appear to be uncomfortable, so he gave her a reassuring smile. “Having fun, kitten?”

She nodded, smiling back. Which was all that mattered.

Once their instructor moved the completed paperweight into a specialized oven that would allow it to cool slowly, the time came at last for Alice and Silas to try making their own.

Justin was understandably hands-on for Alice’s first glass project, helping her gather molten glass from the melting furnace onto the end of her blowpipe and roll it across the marver to create a skin. She chose to use a dark-colored frit that would produce purple glass, then Justin helped her reheat it in the glory hole.

Once it was ready for more shaping, she used giant tweezers to twist the taffy-like material into a swirled shape, saying she wanted it to look like ube soft serve—her mom’s favorite flavor.

Her expression as she worked was mesmerizing. She was concentrating, biting her lip and furrowing her brow, but the occasional jubilant smile broke through.

Once she was satisfied, she and Justin returned to the melting furnace, both holding the blowpipe from either side as he helped her encase her creation in another layer of clear glass. A harsh light overhead cast their shadows on the concrete floor.

At first, Silas wasn’t sure what he was looking at. Justin’s shadow had a normal head and two arms, but the shape of Alice’s shadow suggested she had an animal head with two triangular ears, and a long, bushy tail.

A fox, he realized. He wanted to point it out to her but couldn’t in front of Justin, not to mention the two human artisans working at another station.

Alice marvered the glowing glob without assistance, but Justin helped her use a water-soaked wood block to shape it into a perfect sphere, and showed her how to constrict its point of contact with the blowpipe prior to scoring and removal.

He then had her use a torch to soften the top and taught her how much pressure to use when creating the paperweight’s flat resting surface.

“Congratulations, you made your first glass piece,” Justin declared once she transferred her paperweight into the kiln. He and Silas both clapped, as did the other pair of artisans.

“That was so much fun!” she effused, practically glowing with joy.

“You’re a natural,” Justin determined. “That swirl turned out really well.”

The compliment made her beam, and it made Silas both proud of her and a little less inclined to break Justin’s nose for all the times he’d touched her, regardless of whether each instance had been respectful.

“I can only hope mine turns out as well as yours did,” Silas said as he pulled her into a side hug, relishing her happiness.

Thanks to his experience working with hot oil, stovetop flames, and high oven temperatures, he managed just fine, creating a paperweight with a flower-like red shape on the inside, although it was less neatly formed than the others’.

After he placed his creation next to Alice’s, he took her to a sandwich shop for their lunch break, where he ate everything on his plate, including a generous helping of fries, and then finished her meal once she declared herself full.

When they returned for the rest of the class, Justin demonstrated marbling multiple colors and using the blowpipe to introduce air into the molten glass, creating a simple ornament. Rather than leave it as a hollow ball, he dabbed a small amount of hot glass onto the completed sphere, which he pulled and twisted to form a loop for hanging.

Alice insisted that Silas make his ornament first, as she had gone first when they’d made their paperweights. He was about to pick up a blowpipe when his phone began vibrating against his leg.

An incoming call from Nic, no doubt for something that couldn’t wait.

“It’s Nic,” he informed Alice. “Mind if I take this?”

“Not at all,” she said cheerfully. “I’m sure Nic wouldn’t call unless it was important.”

He nodded, pleased to hear how familiar she was becoming with those closest to him. “Back in a minute.” He put the phone to his ear as he headed toward the rear entrance of the glassworks. “Everything all right?” he asked his lieutenant.

Nic quickly relayed a fresh incident involving two male serpent-folk and, ironically, a great deal of broken glass. Once Silas fully grasped the situation, he told Nic to expect him, though he hated to leave Alice in the middle of their date.