by Jeff Stone
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Heart palpitations,” my mom answered. “All three of them. While I was frantically looking for you, I overheard them talking about it. They recalled your saying something once about them possibly dying from the dragon bone, and together we concluded that you might have come here to try to rescue Peter. They are terrified. They’ve apologized to Phoenix, Hú Dié, and Jake.”
“And now to you,” Lucas said. “I am sorry about that kick earlier. You deserve better. I apologize.”
“As do I,” Philippe said.
“And I,” SaYui said.
Lucas turned to my mother. “Thank you for the ride. We should go inside and call the authorities about this before it is too late for us.”
I tried to remember how much dragon bone antidote Hok had told me was left. Four doses? Five? Peter has already taken one dose.…
I decided it didn’t matter. “Wait!” I said, holding out the container. “I have an antidote.”
“Quoi?” Philippe asked. “Is this true?”
“It is,” Peter said. “I experienced heart palpitations, too, and I just took the antidote. The dragon bone inside me is dead. I am certain.”
“May we?” Lucas asked.
“Of course,” I said. “There should be enough for all three of you.”
“Merci!” Lucas said. “Thank you!” He reached out for the container.
“You guys better lie down first,” I said.
All three of them lay down in the rain-soaked parking lot.
“Only drink one swallow,” I said, “Lucas, you’ll go first. Mom, hold his head? He’s going to shake.”
“Sure,” my mom said, and she knelt next to Lucas.
I handed him the container, and he took a drink. I snatched it back from him, though, as he began to tremble and go through the same sequence Peter had. When it was over, he passed out. However, his breathing was regular. He appeared to be fine.
I turned to Philippe and SaYui.
“Do you still want it?” I asked.
They both nodded.
“Phoenix, Hú Dié,” I said. “Could you please hold their heads like my mom did?”
Phoenix and Hú Dié knelt down, and I gave one dose each to Philippe and SaYui. As their bodies went through the traumatic routine and Phoenix and Hú Dié held them, I glanced into the container.
There was still one dose left.
I looked over at my mom and saw that she was staring at me. She knew what I was thinking.
“Go ahead, if you want,” she said. “I’ll hold you.”
I didn’t know what to do. I wanted dragon bone out of my life, but drinking poison was a huge risk.
I could wait and take it some other time …, I thought.
Suddenly, as if taunting me, my dan tien quivered.
That did it.
I walked over to my mom and lay down next to her in the rain.
She kissed my cheek. “Are you sure?”
“Positive,” I said.
“I am proud of you, Ryan.”
I smiled. “I’m proud of me, too.”
She took my head in her hands, and I lifted the container to my lips, downing the last of the antidote.
I remember twitching and shaking and feeling as though my insides were being ripped apart. I also remember my mom holding me tightly, telling me everything was going to be all right.
But more than anything, I remember Jake’s voice saying, “Crap! I forgot to tell him that I won!”
About the Author
Jeff Stone is the author of the hugely successful Five Ancestors books. When that series concluded, he wanted to write something different from another tale set in seventeenth-century China. However, he was reluctant to completely let go of kung fu or the characters he had grown to love, so he created a new series to update them to his own time. Jeff lives in Indiana with his wife and two children, and while he’s active in several forms of bike racing, mountain biking is his favorite. Jeff has been to San Francisco’s Chinatown many times, but he has yet to meet any four-hundred-year-old apothecaries. (At least, that’s what he tells people.)