The Apothecary Diaries Chapter 1 Novels & Stories

Charlie took out the pocket-sized book carefully and saw ‘Apocalyptic Book’ written in ancient script on the title page. “The name is quite interesting, I wonder what is written inside.” Charlie flipped the book and read its contents. The first chapter was the ‘Medical Techniques’, which recorded a large number of cases and treatment methods. Charlie frowned curiously. He had studied medicine briefly before and knew some basic theories, but the content in the books was obviously much better and advanced than the methods used in the medical industry nowadays. Some methods of diagnosis and treatment were unheard of even. In fact, at the end of the ‘Medical Techniques’ chapter, he saw a content

It was as if every piece of knowledge that could be useful in this world had been gathered and preserved here, waiting to be used by those who needed it. My fingers moved slowly across the shelves until they stopped on one particular title. Herb Remedies & Elixirs. The moment I read the words, something shifted inside me. It wasn’t just recognition—it was something deeper, sharper. Images flooded my mind without warning, vivid and overwhelming. A small room, dimly lit, with books scattered across a bed. Pages filled with notes written in hurried handwriting. My hands holding one of those books, flipping through it quickly, trying to memorize something important. The feeling of pressure, of n

"They used her jealousy to get into my father's head, then they used his hatred to get to me. This wasn't just a switch at a wedding. This was a twenty-one-year-old trap." Suddenly, a muffled scream echoed from the apothecary's room down the hall. Audrey, Silas, and Marcus ran toward the sound. They burst into the small room where the herbs and tonics were prepared. The head apothecary, an elderly wolf named Elian, was slumped over his desk. Standing over him was a young acolyte—a girl Audrey recognized as one of the new recruits from the refugee camps. The girl held a glass vial filled with a shimmering, violet liquid.

He’d made that very clear when he left me drunk in bed, refusing my advances like it was the easiest thing in the world. Face still burning, I extracted my foot from his lap as casually as I could manage, muttering something about needing a different reference text. I slipped away behind the nearest shelf and exhaled. The herbal medicine section was three rows over, blissfully quiet. I took my time perusing the shelves, not really looking for anything in particular. Halfway down the aisle, something caught my eye. A textbook on herbal remedies, titled: Herbal Remedies of the Old World.

Tristen scrambled back up to his feet in an instant, keeping his chin tucked low and his hands clasped nervously in front of his waist. Michael slowly turned his head, scanning his sharp eyes across the cluttered wooden shelves, the dusty glass bottles, and the old, falling-apart walls of the cramped room. He turned back to face the trembling apothecary, his eyebrow arching slightly. "What exactly do you do in a place like this?"

Sweat gathered at my temples and Cobwebs clung to my sleeves. The air smelled of cardboard and time. I pushed aside old picture frames, college notebooks, and broken electronics. “Where is it?” I whispered to myself. Box after box, I searched. My fingers were sore and my back ached but then I found it. A navy-blue leather cover…Worn at the corners. The pages sticking out a little from the sides. My diary. I sat on the cold floor, back against the wall, and opened the first page. It was mostly silly things at first.

However tonight, it felt like entering a crypt full of answers waiting to be disturbed. Althea moved directly toward the historical archive section, replaying the nurse’s explanation precisely. Early trade convergence. Underground structures. Keeper orders. Her fingers moved rapidly across old spines, her eyes scanning the titles. “There!” She muttered as she found a section of ancient military and historical texts. Most of the books are untouched and covered in dust. Forgotten. She started pulling books down immediately. One after another, scanning the titles and summary on the inside cover. Nothing. She thought desperately as she pulled another down. Was that the only book?

The title page and table of contents looks normal, but I keep flipping pages to get to chapter one. Two more pages and I’m staring at the first chapter, titled “Finding a Companion.” I almost missed the title completely because my eyes were drawn to the center of the page where there was a rectangular shaped wooden box. All the pages had been cut through the center to fit this box inside, and there was something carved into the box. It was an image of the compass rose and the words “You’re My True North.” I glance back up to the first sentence of the chapter and it reads, “When preparing for an adventure, the first, and possibly most important, decision is who you will choose as your comp

He was handsome beyond reasonable doubt, and I envied the woman who would get to call him hers. “You asked for me?” I asked, doing my best to sound unaffected by his presence. He nodded and then beckoned me closer. I strode to his desk and he pointed at a green worn-out diary. “As promised,” he said simply. “The past born healer’s diary,” I said in awe, as if it held all the answers already. I reached out a hand and took it cautiously. It was rather thin. “The first of many,” he said softly while looking at me. “Once you finish it, come find me and I’ll give you the next one.”

“There’s not much to talk about. I’m an exile with a death warrant and a mate who’d rather kill me than have me expose the pack secrets.” Cassie’s eyebrows lift. “Is that what you think?” The question sits there, sticky and sharp. I look away, up at the line of drying herbs that bisects the room. There’s more variety here than in most apothecaries: sage, mugwort, skullcap, dried poppies hanging like little brown bells. Bundles of pale birch bark, glass jars packed with yellow roots and bitter leaves, whole shelves dedicated to vials of what I’d guess are poisons if I didn’t know Cassie’s reputation.