*
She was contemplating a stroll down to the kitchens to see what they were making for dinner when there was a knock at the door.
“Daniel asked me to fetch you,” Matt said. One of the best students at both poisons and medicines, he’d quickly fallen into acting as Daniel’s assistant in his spare time. “He said you should come and eat with us.”
“He did, did he? Did he consider that I might already have plans?”
“Have you?”
“No, not really.” She picked up her jacket and followed him into the corridor. She was hungry, anyway, but she wondered what Daniel was after. It would hardly be a romantic meal with Matt there, so it couldn’t be a social call.
“Today we have chicken,” Daniel said when they arrived, indicating the bird which sat, surrounded by a lake of green-flecked sauce, in the middle of the table. “I hope you are hungry.”
“I am,” Eleanor said. “And I should think Matt will be, after what I put them through this afternoon.”
“It was nothing,” Matt said, though she knew he was bluffing. He’d succeeded, but only just.
She’d almost finished eating when Daniel handed a small bottle across the table to her. “Here. Five drops on your tongue, morning and evening.”
She eyed the it suspiciously. “Is this what I think it is?”
“It is the conclusion of my latest experiment, yes.”
“You want me to drink that stuff, knowing what it’s made from?”
“I had never thought you squeamish. Besides, you are my only female subject – I need to measure your responses.”
“And what responses are you expecting?” she asked, realising that despite her fascination with the method she hadn’t bothered to ask what he expected to get out of the end. ‘The strength of a bull’ was hardly the kind of measurable quantity with which Daniel usually dealt.
“I do not wish to risk influencing your experience,” he said. “Once you have taken it for a few days, you can tell me. I will also be taking it.”
She pocketed the bottle. “I’ll try it this evening, then.”
“Why not now?”
“I’m just not sure about testicle juice and chicken.”
Matt laughed, but Daniel looked unimpressed.
“You will do what you want,” he said. “You always do.”
They finished their meal in silence, and Eleanor didn’t stay to chat after she’d cleared her plate. Daniel was in one of his obsessive, inventive phases and there was no way she’d get his attention away from Matt and whatever they were working on. Not tonight.
Alone in her room, she pulled out the bottle Daniel had given her. Of all his experiments, this seemed by far the strangest. Just because some people back in history had thought that eating a bull’s testicles made them stronger? Most likely they’d just worked harder because they thought it would help.
But of course Daniel was right, she was the only girl he could test it on. That meant she had to try it. Besides, she wouldn’t turn down a little extra strength if there was any truth in it. She pulled out the stopper and dropped some onto her tongue as he’d instructed.
She waited for a moment, but nothing happened. She flexed her muscles, not feeling any stronger, and then laughed at herself for even trying when she hadn’t really expected it to work. Unimpressed, she made herself a mug of tea, hoping to wash away the oily residue from her mouth. She sank into a chair and sipped at the drink. Perhaps she was being unfair, perhaps it’d take a few days to kick in. But if that’s what Daniel had been expecting, why had he wanted her to try it at dinner?
She was lucky that she’d half-finished her tea before the shaking started, because hot liquid sloshed violently against the sides of the mug. She gripped it more tightly at first, but that only seemed to make the trembling in her fingers worsen.
Setting the mug down by her feet, she stood and took a deep breath, willing her muscles to stop spasming. It didn’t work. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, pulse racing as if she’d just sprinted across the city. She waited, hoping the tremors would subside, but if anything she seemed to be getting worse. Whatever Daniel had inflicted on her, it wasn’t strength.
She ran down the stairs and across the grass to the apothecary. It was no great surprise that Daniel and Matt were still working in the lab.
“What have you done to me?” she demanded, sweat beading on her forehead. “Daniel, what is this stuff?”
He looked up. “Do you have something to tell me? Please wait for just a moment.”
“I don’t have a moment. Can’t you see the way I’m shaking? It’s killing me.”
“Is this the new tonic?” Matt asked. He looked more excited than concerned. “How much did you take?”
Daniel carefully wiped the powders from his hands with a small towel he reserved for the purpose, and reached for his record book. “You are not dying. Now, tell me exactly what has happened.”
“I’m shaking like a leaf, my heart is racing at twice the speed it should, and I feel like I’m going to die.”
He made a few notes. “You feel unwell? How so?”
“I just told you.”
“‘Like you will die’ is not very precise. What are you feeling?”
She grabbed his hand and held it against her neck. “Can’t you feel it?”
He nodded, removed his hand from hers, and scribbled another line in his book. “Is that all? You are fine.”
“I don’t call this fine.”
“It is nothing to worry about. Try just four drops in the morning, and let me know how it goes.”
“You’re going to have to do a bit better than that if you want me to take any more, at all, ever,” she said. Her muscles still trembled, beyond her control. “Don’t you have an antidote?”
“You have not been poisoned. If you are so worried, take only three, but you are really fine. Go for a run, use up the energy.”
She stared at him. “Are you mad? My heart’s already gone crazy, I don’t want to explode.”
“Try it, or not. Matt will run with you if you need someone to watch you.”
“I will?” he asked, but a look from Daniel silenced him.
“Do you really think it’ll help?”
“I think it may be the only way for you to get some sleep tonight.”
“Okay.” Eleanor nodded, and looked at Matt. “But you’re definitely coming with me in case I collapse out there.”
“Around the lake?” he suggested as they walked outside. “That’s not too far.”
She glared at him and started to stretch out her muscles. No matter how ill she felt, she didn’t like anyone implying she might have difficulty on a simple run. The stretches made her muscles tremble more violently and she wondered if she was making a mistake, but she wasn’t about to admit that to him.
They started to run towards the lake, feet bouncing off the compacted mud of the trail. Eleanor could feel her heart racing, but somehow running didn’t seem to make it worse. She still felt dizzy, but she could channel the falling sensation into the motion of throwing one foot ahead of the other.
“Wait for me,” Matt called, and she realised how far she’d left him behind.
“Am I going too fast for you?”
“A moment ago you were facing death’s door. Don’t you want to pace yourself?”
“This is my pace.” She grinned. “Seems I feel a bit better when I’m running.”
Revolution (Chronicles of Charanthe #2) Page 28