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“She’s in a bad way, but alive and stable, thanks to you girls,” Sandra said as she reached me, putting her hands on her hips. “Maeve, how did you know to give her mugwort?”
“I’ve seen it before, in London,” I said.
My friend in pathology had explained how small the window was to saving someone with aconite poisoning, and the only thing that could lengthen it.
“Well, you may very well have saved her life.” Sandra adjusted the pen around her neck. “Now that she’s recovering, we’d like to know how the poison got into her system.”
Now that I didn’t know.
“They were drinking milkshakes,” Allison said.
“Yeah, but the other girl was fine.” Kira fluttered down to stand next to me. “Unless the server slipped it in there?”
“He didn’t look the type. He was too flustered,” I said. “Whoever poisoned her wasn’t there when she went down, I’m sure of it. The aconite didn’t act like I expected, either.”
“This poison had some intricate tendencies,” Sandra said. “Aconite was the key ingredient in whatever she ingested, but we found something else in her bloodstream.”
Something else? I exchanged looks with Kira.
“A trace of a hybrid ingredient called ‘yewlock,’” Sandra said. “Illegal in most countries, and certainly on Dusk.”
“What does it do?” I asked.
Allison unravelled herself to come and stand with me and Kira. She stared at Sandra, open-mouthed.
“It’s a suppressant,” Allison said. “It stops any counteracting effects of the potion it’s put in.”
“Wait.” I planted my hand on my chest and clasped my pendant. “Do you mean someone spiked her with a potion that was designed not to let antidotes work?”
“Thankfully, they didn’t put enough of it in,” Sandra said. “Which is why your mugwort worked just enough to save her.”
A piece of my hair tickled the back of my neck as an icy feeling rippled down it.
“They really wanted to make sure she died, huh?” I muttered.
This couldn’t be a coincidence. Someone pushes Tyler off a cliff and then a girl’s milkshake got spiked with aconite?
Someone was happily skipping their way around Dusk, murdering their butt off.
“Does Mallory know?” I asked.
Involving the police was the last thing anyone did around here, but attempted murder was on that small list of things you told them about.
“She’s on her way, or someone is, anyway.” Sandra waved a hand, her eyelids drooping. “I’m guessing they’ll want to speak to you three. Have you called your dad?”
I pursed my lips.
In all the drama, I had completely forgotten.
“Call him,” Sandra said, walking back down the corridor. “My shift ends in ten minutes. I’ll stay with you in case the police need a chat.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but stopped myself. All this babying would take some getting used to, because nothing I said would make her stop.
The moment Sandra walked out of sight, the three of us huddled together. I peeked over Allison’s head to check the receptionist wasn’t watching.
She stared, zombie-eyed, at a computer screen, cheek smushed into her palm as she leaned on her hand.
“There’s a murderer out here somewhere.” Allison squeaked her way through the sentence. “How do we know who he’s going to kill next?”
