“They also knew what they were doing,” Sage pointed out. “They had years of training and generations of knowledge at their disposal.” She looked at Wynter, who was prodding Reeve’s wound while visibly trying not to heave, and flatly added, “Something tells me that’s not the case here.”
“Unfortunately for you, I’m all you’ve got,” Wynter said, stepping away from Reeve and heading to the nearest bookcase. Scanning the spines, she pulled out two thick, leather-bound tomes, then carried them to her workbench and dropped them on it with a heavythud. “Bunny boy, get over here. You look like you know your way around a book.”
Jonas practically ran to her side. “What do you need?”
She held up one of the tomes, the cover embossed with golden symbols. “Can you read runes?”
He shook his head. “Basic letters only.”
Wynter reached for the second book—this one with the wordsPotente Toxicumwritten across the front—and shoved it toward him. “Then you take this one. Look for anything that mentions green flesh and sluggish coagulation. If you can’t find those, then search for any of the other symptoms your friend experienced.”
Jonas got straight to work, as did Wynter with the runicbook—a language she’d taught herself in the years since she’d first discovered the secret laboratory and its ancient literary collection.
“What can we do?” Viri asked, indicating herself and Sage.
“Here.” Wynter tossed her a vial of shimmery orange liquid. “Get that into him.”
Viri hesitated at the familiar elixir in her hands. “Um, this is your zingzest.”
“Don’t worry, I modified it since you tested it,” Wynter said distractedly, skimming the page before her. “All the adrenaline, none of the withdrawal.”
Viri wasn’t worried about the withdrawal—she was worried about the fact that it was anenergy booster, and Reeve was out cold. Elders knew what effect it might have on him.
Seeing her uncertainty, Wynter used a finger to mark her place and took the time to explain, “Magical ailments are complicated, V. His best chance at surviving this is if he’s conscious enough to fight it.” With gravity, she added, “His pulse is already too slow—he doesn’t have much time left. It’s a risk, but it’s a calculated one, and I wouldn’t suggest it if I thought it would cause more harm than good. He saved your life, so we save his, right?”
Viri’s throat clogged with gratitude for her friend, and she gave a quick nod before unstoppering the vial and pressing it to Reeve’s lips, gently tipping his head back. His midnight hair was like silk against her fingers as she coaxed the citrusy elixir down his throat with one hand and supported his neck with the other, all while Sage watched protectively from a few feet away.
Just as it had for Viri, the zingzest worked almost instantly, prompting Reeve to sit up with a gasp and launch into a coughing fit.
Being closest to him, Viri lowered herself onto the couch and patted his back. “Deep breaths, Reeve.”
“Hurts,” he gritted out.
Viri felt the pain of that one word piercing her chest. “I know,” she murmured. “Just breathe through it. It’ll ease in a second.”
It wouldn’t, though. Not while the grimblade poison flooded his veins. But at least he was awake again, and the zingzest had brought color back to his cheeks. His eyes, too, were more alert as he finally stopped coughing long enough to look around, his body tensing as he took in their unfamiliar surroundings and only relaxing again when he caught sight of Sage and Jonas.
“Where are we?”
“Wynter’s lab,” Viri answered, then gestured to her friend. “Wyn, meet Reeve Ashton. Reeve, Wynter Starling.”
“The pleasure is all yours,” Wynter muttered.
“The Magistratus’s daughter has been keeping a naughty little secret,” Sage told Reeve in a drawl. “She’s been practicing alchemy under her darling mommy’s nose for years.”
Wynter didn’t look up from her reading as she drawled back, “She also knows enough of that alchemy to cover you in boils and give you an embarrassing rash.” Her tone lowered in warning. “Don’t mess with me, reaper. You won’t like the results.”
Reeve was staring at Wynter, his face a mask of shock and something else, something unreadable—wariness, perhaps—but then his features turned pained again as another coughing fit struck, ending only when he leaned forward and spewed up more of the unnatural black bile.
Wynter immediately dry retched. “Ugh, people are so gross,” she moaned, then threw a vial of white powder to Sage. “Pour that on it. The whole vial.”
Sage did as ordered, and the vomit evaporated as soon as the dust hit it.
“Impressive,” Sage murmured, inspecting the empty vial in the light of the nearest everbeacon.
“Scrubbydust,” Wynter said. “Instantly cleans liquid spills of all kinds. One of my first experiments.”
“Successful,”Viri corrected, thinking of all the failed alchemical attempts before it. “One of her firstsuccessfulexperiments.”
