LUMM 1: Die a Horrid Death, Arlo Crowhaven

9 | bells & poison

After spending the third night with Andy, I was more than ready to escape Hell. My steps echoed across the roofed corridor on my way to the campus exit. The trimmed hedges shaped my way, the flowers and chunks of fruit swirling within, around, and atop them distracting me from what I came here for. After yesterday's revelations, I had some errands to run...and people to confront.

Voices rang behind the hedges, and I remembered Ethan leading me through hidden pathways in the same hedge maze as a shortcut to the Humanities Cluster. Only this time...

I ran my hands along the leafy wall, feeling for the bend rather than trying to spot it. Inside this maze, everything bled into each other, including corners. I reached the nearest bend, and the voices grew louder. "Someone help!" A familiar voice rang from the corridor's end, breathy and urgent. "Please!"

My legs acted on their own, rushing towards the source. When I got there, the world froze. About half a dozen students milled around, idling but never helping. They formed a hazy semi-circle around the central attraction. Ethan's blue uniform stood out from the rest, facing away from me, and lying on her back was...

"Move," I hissed, my own voice jarring me to reality. When did I get from there to here? Ethan sputtered, no doubt wondering where I came from, but my eyes fixated on the blue-haired girl seizing amidst the cobbled floor. Vomit trailed down the side of her mouth, and she choked. Her eyes rolled back to her head, eyelids fluttering to show me nothing but the whites. She heaved, hands clawing at her throat in an attempt to clear it. Dread knocked against my gut.

This was poison.

I pressed my hand on her forehead, exerting enough influence on her mind. "Sleep," I said. Her body stilled, but it never halted its response to its irritant. I ran down my mental list of accessible substances that could kill someone or incapacitate them to this degree. One substance clicked. Alright. Here I go.

A glowing representation of a clock appeared by Alyson's gut. Monothocroxin would only manifest like this when it was ingested. Was this a forced feeding? She was smarter to accept dubious drinks from people she didn't know. The other possibility, I'd rather not think about, because it would prove my initial suspicion. I didn't want Alyson to be a murderer, so I'd do what I do rarely but the best among them—save people.

My teeth dug against my lip as I turned the time on her system. It was a temporary fix, bringing the state of the body before the poison ingestion. If the spell ran out, her systems would catch up, and the effects would accelerate. Her breathing eased, and while she wasn't hurling her guts out, I fished a spare vial from the pocket of my vest. Tilting her head back, I pushed the all-cure between her lips. Upon emptying it, I released my time-turning spell, bringing the state of her body into his original state. But with the antidote already on its way, she wouldn't suffer any longer.

Only then did I realize my head spun and my chest heaved. When Alyson's air intake evened out and she stopped throwing up, I released the sleep spell and waited for her to come to. Seconds passed, and her eyelids fluttered. With my arm around her shoulders, I helped her sit up. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand, her gaze searching the multiplying crowd around us. Then, her eyes fell on me.