23
Breaking the Wall
There was no taste of it on the rim of the glass—but all it took was a look at Winter, before he even spoke, for Sydney to know that something was wrong.
Then she felt it. The heat. She hurriedly wiped her lips clean against her sleeve, but the poison was already trickling down her throat, leaving a trail of slow-burning fire in its wake.
It took Sydney another second to realize that Winter had gripped her shoulders and was trying to say something to her—but she wasn’t really processing what. She was concentrating too hard on keeping her mind still. Her thoughts fluttered frantically, as if she were struggling to contain them. She could already feel the first hints of fire in her stomach, a pulse that rushed through her veins, turning her to ice. Damn, this one acted fast.
She recognized this feeling. She’d taken toxins before during training, could still remember the pain in her gut as Sauda fed her an antidote and then had medics pump her stomach.
How embarrassing,she thought idly as she felt Winter scoop her up in his arms. Her world spun.
She had never been poisoned before, not for real. Not out in the field.
It was a strange sensation and, somehow, not entirely unpleasant. There was no pain, although she found herself in the grip of an intenseheat that consumed every part of her body, could feel the heat emanating from her and the bitter cold of everything else around her in comparison. No sweat, though.
Maybe she had a fever.
Her breathing came in shallow, whistling gasps. Her lungs heaved. She could hear her teeth chattering loudly. The kitchen blurred past her, noon light painting stripes so bright against the floor that they swam blindingly in her vision. The patterns in the marble counter swirled.
“Get me in the pool,” she managed to utter through her gasps. She needed to cool down.
Winter didn’t hesitate. Sydney leaned heavily against him and saw the shimmering surface of the pool growing nearer in her vision. The waterfall flowing down into it against the glass wall seemed to roar in her ears.
Then there was a splash, and she could feel Winter frantically dragging her into the water and the blessed coolness of it soaking through her clothes.
Winter propped her up, waist deep, against the shallow edge of the pool near the waterfall. “Focus on me,” she heard him say. When she struggled to obey, she could make out his face leaning down toward hers. “Focus on me. Focus on me.”
His voice sounded so far away. Somehow that seemed funny to her when he was obviously so close, and Sydney fought an urge to laugh. Her mind swam with exhaustion. She could feel herself heaving, her lungs struggling for air. Water lapped against her.
“Upstairs,” she finally managed to blurt out, the word tangling on her tongue.
“I can’t leave you here.”
“Upstairs,” she tried to repeat. “My bag.”
This time he winced, glancing up at the winding staircase. “Make sure you keep pressed against the pool’s edge,” he told her. “I’ll be right back.”
Then he was gone, his warm presence giving way for the cold lappingof water around her. Her skin felt so hot that she swore she must be heating up the pool on her own.
For a moment, she thought he’d left the house entirely, that she was now all alone.
The idea filled her with sudden terror. Her breaths quickened.Whistle. Whistle.Strands of her damp hair clung to the sides of her face. What had Sauda told her to do if she couldn’t reach her bag of antidotes? God, she felt so tired. It took every bit of her strength just to steady herself against the pool’s edge. She could still smell the lingering fumes of the poisoned drink on her clothes, and the scent made her head swim, made her wipe her lips over and over with the pool’s water to cleanse it further.
She needed to take the shirt off.
She gritted her teeth as she undid the first few buttons of her wet shirt, then stopped to concentrate on getting oxygen.Whistle. Whistle.Her lungs struggled. Where was Winter? Had he left?
She was on her own.
There was nothing new about that—she’d been locked in solitary confinement before on a mission, had to break out of countless places by herself. She’d sent him away, after all. Why did it matter to her that Winter wasn’t by her side?
Sydney shivered so violently that she thought she might be having a seizure right here in the pool. Could you be aware of yourself when you were having a seizure? The question floated through her mind and faded.
And suddenly, she saw the memory around her—the small apartment she’d been given near Panacea’s headquarters for the duration of her training, and Sauda and Niall standing in the living room, waiting with her as two inspectors searched her place.
I’m going to ask you again, Ms. Cossette,Sauda said to her, the woman’s eyes cool and calm.Have you ever stolen from headquarters?
