“What’s wrong?” Coral asked sharply, her eyes roaming over me for signs of damage.
“Someone spiked the cupcakes withScopolia,” he said quietly.
Coral gasped. “I heard that happened a few years ago.”
Callan’s face was grave. “I’m going to find Professor East. This can spiral out of control quickly.”
Coral took my hand, and Callan disappeared into the crowd.
“But I want to go with Callan,” I whined, unable tocontrol my words.
“Come on. Let’s find Yas and Aurielle and head back upstairs.”
“Of course Coral’s into you,” Aurielle was saying to Waylon when we found her. Coral gave her a horrified look and took her hand.
“Sorry, it’s the apple wine,” Coral whispered to Waylon over her shoulder. “This is a disaster,” she said to me. “We need to find Yas.”
We spotted Yasmin a few minutes later. She was grabbing another cupcake from the garden table.
“I’ll take that,” Coral said, casually placing the cupcake back on the tray. “I should probably take all of these.” She picked up the large tray and motioned for Yasmin to follow us. I felt like I was in a daze, not sure exactly where we were going or why Coral was acting so stressed.
“I want to dance,” I said, and Coral shook her head.
“We need to go up to the room first.”
“But the party’s not over,” Yasmin whined.
Coral sighed, looking frazzled. Then her eyes widened slightly. “I’ve got a surprise for you in my room.”
We all murmured in excitement at that and followed Coral as she locked the cupcakes in a cupboard then climbed the stairs.
“What’s the surprise?” Aurielle asked, looking around the room she shared with Coral.
“I’m going to brew y’all a special tea.” Coral began to heat an electric kettle and sift through some canisters of loose herbs on her dresser.
“Ohhh, that sounds yummy,” Yasmin said.
“And let’s just hope Professor Sato is already working on brewing a batch for everyone else,” Coral mumbled.
The three of us flopped on the two beds as Coral worked. My limbs were suddenly feeling tired, and I lay back on a large pillow shaped like a fern leaf. The ceiling began to spin as I did so.
“The room is spinning!” I shouted.
“You’re fine,” Coral insisted, shoving a mug of tea into my hands. “Sit up and drink this.”
A few minutes later, my head began to clear, and I blinked at Coral in confusion.
“What the heck happened?” Aurielle asked.
“You were all drugged with enhancedScopolia carniolica.”
“The truth serum?” Yasmin sputtered.
“Thankfully, Callan noticed and asked me to get you all out of the party before too much damage could be done.”
“Please tell me I didn’t say anything stupid,” Aurielle muttered.
“Oh, not much. You just told Waylon that I’m into him,” Coral said in exasperation.
