“Not even close,” Giles replied.“Though you might wish it would for about twenty minutes.”
Gunnar moved closer to Bryn.“I’ll stay with you.”
Bryn took the drug from Giles.“So I just…swallow it?”
“Obviously.And then we wait.It should only take five minutes to begin working.”
Bryn took a deep breath then swallowed the capsule before he could think too hard about it.It went down easily, tasteless and smooth.“Now what?”
“Now we wait,” Giles said, checking his watch.“And when it starts…try to remember that it will end.”
The first five minutes were anticlimactic.Bryn and Gunnar retreated to Bryn’s ensuite bathroom in their apartment where Bryn sat on the closed toilet lid, while Gunnar leaned against the wall beside him.
Then Bryn felt it, a slight warmth in his stomach that quickly turned into a burning sensation.“Oh,” he said, “that’s…unpleasant.”
The burning spread, racing through his veins like liquid fire.His hands began to shake, and sweat broke out across his forehead.“Okay, that’s not nice.”
“Beginning of phase one.”Giles stuck his head around the door.“Initial systemic response.”
“Fuck your phases, and fuck you, Giles,” Bryn gasped as the burning intensified.It felt like his blood was trying to claw its way out of his body.His vision blurred, the bathroom light too harsh.Gunnar squeezed his shoulder.
“Oh fuck,” Bryn managed through clenched teeth.The pain was getting worse, radiating from his core to his extremities.His fingers and toes tingled like they were being stabbed with thousands of tiny needles.“Oh fuck, the bee venom thing makes sense now.”
He doubled over, fighting the urge to be sick.Gunnar moved his hand to the back of Bryn’s neck, cool against his burning skin.The touch helped, giving him something to focus on besides the inferno raging through his body.The contact didn’t instigate a read because Bryn’s focus was very much elsewhere.
“Phase two,” Giles announced, his voice seeming to come from very far away.“Peak reaction.”
Bryn wanted to tell Giles exactly where he could stick his phases, but he couldn’t form words anymore.The pain had become all-consuming.He slid off the toilet seat and Gunnar caught him.He lowered him to the cool tile floor.
“Is this normal?”Gunnar’s voice was tight.
“Completely,” Giles assured him.“Though his reaction seems more intense than average.Probably due to his augur physiology.”
“You might have mentioned that possibility beforehand,” Gunnar said.
“Would it have changed anything?”
Bryn pressed his face against the tile floor, desperate for any relief.Time lost all meaning—it could have been minutes or hours that he lay there, trembling and sweating, while his blood burned and his muscles spasmed.
Then, gradually, the pain faded to manageable discomfort.His vision cleared, the light no longer feeling like daggers in his eyes.
“Phase three,” Giles said.“Resolution.”
“If you don’t stop with the phases,” Bryn croaked, “I’m going to throw up on your fucking Italian shoes.”
“He’s feeling better,” Giles observed.“Return of verbal hostility indicates recovery.”
Gunnar helped Bryn sit up.The room spun for a moment before settling.“That,” Bryn said, “wasn’t a fun time.”
“But educational,” Giles added.“Now you know what to expect tomorrow.”
“Yeah, now I can look forward to it with informed dread instead of ignorant dread.Much better.”Bryn accepted the glass of water Gunnar offered, taking small sips.“Please tell me it won’t be worse the second time.”
“It won’t be worse,” Giles said.“But it won’t be better, either.The body doesn’t build up tolerance to this particular process.”
“Fantastic.”He let Gunnar help him to his feet.“And I have to do this, then immediately go act normal?”
“Do you ever act normal?You’ll have about thirty minutes between taking it and our arrival to recover.”
