Casimir shoved Zane aside, earning a snarl that he ignored, and pressed his fingers against the dire wolf’s neck. Then he gently lifted one eyelid, leaned in to examine Brummy’s gums, and even risked checking under his tongue, an incredible act of trust. One snap and Casimir would lose fingers.
“Tachycardia. Hypothermia. Pupils blown.” His eyes swept the area. “What did he ingest?”
“Look!” Koa pointed to something a few feet away.
There, half-hidden behind a bookshelf, lay a pile of slimy fabric. The remains of my mother’s stitch book that Arabesque had sent yesterday.
“We ran it through every supernatural detector we had,” Koa snarled. “Every. Single. One. It came up clean!”
“It was laced withsomething,” Zane barked back, tears streaming down his face as he cradled Brummy’s head in his lap. “Something we missed.”
“The symptoms are wrong for magical toxins,” Casimir pointed out, still examining Brummy. “No glowing veins, no arcanesymbols appearing on the skin, no ectoplasmic discharge. This is chemical, not magical.”
“Human poison?” Zane gaped. “Why would our detectors not check for that?”
“Because we’re idiots,” Casimir bit out. “We’re so focused on supernatural threats that we overlooked the obvious. Common household toxins wouldn’t trigger our wards or detection spells.”
“Do something! Please, you have to help him!” I looked around, realizing Koa was no longer with us. “Where’s Koko?”
“Took the book to the lab.” Casimir reached for his phone. “Identify the poison to find the antidote.”
Brummy let out a pained whine, his legs jerking. More foam bubbled from his mouth, thicker now and tinged with pink. His breathing grew worse, each inhale a battle.
“Not now,” I whispered, my hands over my mouth. “Not after everything you survived! You can’t leave me, Brummy!”
Tears blurred my vision as memories flashed through my mind. Brumous huddled in that too-small cage in the basement, ribs showing through his patchy fur. The way he’d latched onto me when I stopped Arabesque from drowning him. How he’d somehow always known whenever my stepmother was coming and alerted me, giving me precious seconds to prepare for her cruelty.
“Stay with me, Brumous,” Zane pleaded, voice cracking. “We were gonna terrorize the squirrels together. We were gonna shred Cas’ leather jacket and blame it on raccoons. Please,pleasedon’t go.”
Seeing Zane like this made it harder for me to control myself. The bond between them was so special. They’d shared thoughts, dreams, jokes that none of us were privy to. Brummy wasn’t just a pet to Zane; he was a friend, a confidant who couldn’t judge or betray.
“She did this on purpose! Not a physical attack. Not coming after us directly. But this? Something I can’t fight—” Zane’s words dissolved into a sound that was half sob, half snarl.
I shuffled closer, wrapping an arm around him as we both cried and watched Brummy fight for each breath. His paws twitched weakly, and the sounds coming from his throat grew more strained.
“What could it be?” I looked to Casimir for answers, for hope, foranything, and saw him pacing, phone held tight in his hand.
“Angelo? Common toxins that could cause seizures and respiratory distress in canines. No time to explain. Foaming at the mouth, tremors, elevated heart rate, disorientation. Onset was quick. Less than thirty minutes.”
Brumous’ breathing was so shallow now, his chest barely rising with each inhale. Zane was beyond words, his body curled around the wolf, whispering pleas that broke my heart. Brummy’s eyes were glazed, not tracking any movement, and I felt him slipping away.
“Antifreeze!” Koa barreled back into the room, his eyes locked on us. “The molecular signature on the apple page is ethylene glycol!”
“Ethylene glycol, Angelo!” Casimir barked into his phone. “What? No. Yes.”
“Antifreeze?” I repeated. “Like in cars?”
“Yes. It’s deadly to animals. We can’t smell it, but canines can.” Koa’s face darkened with rage. “It smells alluringly sweet to them. Like candy.”
“Alcohol!” Casimir bellowed. “Angelo says alcohol is an antidote!”
And Koa took off like a shot.
“You mean we can save him? Just with alcohol?” Hope flickered in my chest, fragile yet fierce. “Let’s do it!”
“If we’re not too late.” Casimir pocketed his phone and dropped to his knees next to Zane. “Makes sense. Ethanol competes with the antifreeze for the same metabolic pathway in the liver. It prevents the antifreeze from breaking down into the compounds that cause renal failure—”
“Shut up and get some hootch!” Zane boomed.
