“Not here. It belongs here.” I reach out and stroke the reddish leaves. They’re shiny with oily resin that causes a horrific, itchy rash.
The man leans away from me. “I thought you said it was poisonous?”
“It is,” I say, “but I’m immune. I practically rolled in this a few times as a child. Most people get more allergic to it with exposure, but me?” I shrug. “It doesn’t affect me anymore.” I show him the oil on my fingers. “But don’t touch me. Now I’m poisonous, too.” I give him a wicked smile that’s more of a warning.
He nods slowly. Maybe he can be taught.
And with that, I decide to ignore him. He makes no move to get closer. If he were going to attack me, he would’ve already. Maybe now he’ll think twice before touching me.
I can feel him watching me as I move deeper into the garden. I feel the pull between us, like I want to keep talking to him, but I refuse to miss out on the reason for my visit to the garden. Hecate, help me be strong!
My mind is still on my audience when I find a patch of deadly nightshade to distract me. It’s flowering, but the leaves look a bit wilted. I grab my UU-branded water bottle and dump the contents at its roots. The soil soaks it in. Yep, dehydrated, just as I suspected.
I resist the urge to look up at the man watching me, acting aloof like a boss! I crouch and press my fingers to the soil to see how much more water the nightshade might need.
Plants are so freaking durable, and yet they’re fragile. This subshrub will bow before a hurricane and survive, but get the equation of water/sunlight/nutrients wrong, and it will wither and die.
Kind of like humans. In some ways, humans are also so resilient. But if you possess the dark knowledge of poisons, it’s laughably easy to kill them.
I smile to myself, thinking of the man watching me. It wouldn’t take much nightshade to kill him.
“What else do you need, baby?” I murmur to the dark purple blooms. “More nitrogen? A bit more sunlight? You can tell me.”
I’m startled by the creak of the iron gate at the garden entrance. I look around for the mystery masked man but don’t see him. He must have left when I got distracted by the nightshade. I try not to feel disappointed.
A guy wearing a UU Lacrosse jersey walks through the gate, looks around, and then heads my way. It’s Radley, captain of the lacrosse team. King of the tools.
“You.” His eyes narrow at me. “I know what you did.”
I rise, brushing dirt from my fingertips. “You’ll have to be more specific. I’ve done a lot of things.”
“You’re the one who poisoned my team.”
5
Bella
* * *
I cock my head and blink at the angry sports god. “Poison? Me?”
“I know it was you. Sailor recognized you.”
Damn. I thought my disguise was good enough. The skirt was short, and I wore a push-up bra to show off my girls. I don’t have epic cleavage like Honey, but it was enough to distract a bunch of horny guys.
But apparently not Sailor. She must have emerged from Radley’s room long enough to spot me.
“You’re the one who handed out those bullshit care packages,” Radley says. “Admit it. I don’t know how you did it, but you made them all sick.”
I admit nothing. He has no proof. If he tested the contents of the gifts, he’d know the culprit was the electrolyte drink I bottled up specially for the team. I made a UU label for the bottle and everything. The drink contained a signature blend of herbs, including senna and a strain of bacteria cultured in my father’s lab. It’s like E. coli but faster.
The care package also contained extra salty snacks that would make them thirsty. I told them each item was carefully selected by their athletic advisor to provide the best possible nutrition need the night before the summer championship.
I lied.
“Oh no, that sounds terrible,” I coo and make sympathetic noises, but he’s not buying it, so I give up. “Did anyone die?” The dose wasn’t deadly, but you never know when calculating these effects on different-sized guys.
A muscle clenches in his jaw. “Penn’s in the hospital.”
