Wiping her mouth, Bisma stood. She drank water—then got back to work.
Bisma worked all night: growing plants, making potions, taking notes the way Xander would have. She tested each trial on her body, each time upending the contents of her stomach.
It was horrible, awful, but she kept glancing at the still bodies of her sisters, at the still body of her love, and turned back with renewed vigor until the early morning came, and she passed out in her seat for a few hours, completely spent.
When she woke, she ate some of the cheese and dried fruit Xander kept at the greenhouse, along with a fortifying potion, then began again.
After half a dozen more failed attempts, she was exhausted. Her throat burned, but she kept going until the afternoon, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She had only until the evening before Deeba would die. The thought of losing her sister forced her to carry on, even as her body resisted such abuse.
Bisma took heart in the fact that she was getting closer and closer; she could feel it. The intensity of the vomiting was decreasing, until—
The vomit did not come.
She held her breath, not believing it.
‘Can it be?’ she whispered aloud, holding a hand over her mouth. Along with the hope, fear beat through her. She waited, standing perfectly still.
Then she felt the irritation in her throat heal, as if she had drunk a glass of cool water after a long day of thirst. The exhaustion from earlier faded away. The terrible taste of vomit left her mouth and was replaced by a fresh minty taste.
She felt … good. Wonderful even. Intensified further by the fact that she had done it.
She had found the cure!
Or had she?
Bisma waited, making sure the effects would continue to hold.
Her mind raced. But she had not been poisoned. What if the cure reacted differently in a poisoned body?
She could poison herself and test it, but what if it didn’t work and she died? There would be no one left to wake the others.
Her only choice was to test it on one of them.
But who?
She approached Xander, sitting beside him on the bed. If the cure failed, he would be fine, since the poison had spread the least in him. If it didn’t work, she could give him another dose of the freeze potion and try again.
But she really hoped it would work.
‘Please,’ she whispered, holding Xander’s head in her hand. She poured the cure into his mouth and waited.
For a moment, nothing happened, and she worried.
But then—he moved.
‘Xander?’ she whispered, curved over him, watching and waiting.
He let out a groan, eyes crinkling. ‘Bis?’ he said, voice rasped. And then his eyes opened, that brilliant emerald green, her favorite color, and her heart soared like a bird taking flight for the very first time.
‘Xander!’ she cried out. She leapt on him with a hug, arms going around his neck.
He wrapped his arm around her immediately, holding her.
She pulled away to make sure this was real—that he was really alright. She ran her hands through his hair, coming down to rest her fingers along his neck. His free hand came up to cup her cheek, and she pressed a kiss to his palm.
‘You did it,’ he said, mouth spreading into a slow smile. ‘That’s my girl.’
