The door to the sleeping compartment swung open as Liz came in. "I brought you some water and something to eat." She held a water bottle in one hand and a bag of strawberry Pop Tarts in the other.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "I'm not hungry." My stomach immediately growled in betrayal, giving away my lie.

Liz raised an eyebrow at me. "I find that hard to believe. You barely ate anything yesterday."

I shimmed myself into a sitting position, blowing a strand of stray hair out of my eyes. "Fine. I'm starving. But how the fuck am I supposed to eat or drink anything with my hands tied behind my fucking back like this?"

Liz eyed my hands, and she bit down on her lower lip. "I guess I could . . . feed you."

"Fuck no," I said. "You didn't even feed me the bottle when I was a baby. Dad did that."

"How do you remember when you were a baby?" she asked.

"Oh, so I was right!"

Liz opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but nothing came out. "I fed you sometimes, too," she finally said.

"Just untie me and let me eat and drink myself," I continued, "and then you can tie me back up or whatever the hell you want to do. I'm in a moving vehicle." As if on cue, the bus went over a bump, sending me flying an inch into the air. My head nearly slammed into the bunk above me. "It's not like I have anywhere to run anyway."

Liz sighed. "Okay, fine. But only your hands, and just while you eat."

I nodded.

She set the water bottle and bag of Pop Tarts down on the bunk behind her. I turned my back, holding out my hands for her so she could reach the knot to untie them. The relief as the binds loosened felt amazing. I wished I had ice to run over my raw wrists to soothe the burn.

"Thank you." I faced her again.

Liz turned from me for a second to retrieve the water and Pop Tarts.

The idea of catching her off guard and fighting her down tickled the back of my mind, but I pushed the tempting thought away. I had to be smarter than that. I needed to convince everyone that Alex was wrong about what he heard. Attacking would be the opposite of getting them on my side. Not to mention Liz would probably kick my ass if I tried to attack her. Even if I somehow did get the best of her, I would be no match for the entire pack of wolves waiting on the other side of the door.

"Here." She handed me the water bottle and Pop Tart.

"Thanks." I took the water bottle with my left hand. I reached over to the top with my right, but I still had no feeling in it. My numb hand slipped pathetically over the plastic cap. I let out a frustrated growl. "When is this stupid sedative going to wear off?"

"The numbness will probably last for another hour or so."

I continued to struggle with the top, eventually trying it with my teeth.

"Here, let me." Liz took the water bottle from me and twisted the cap off easily.

"I loosened it for you," I grumbled as she handed it back. I quickly chugged half of it, soothing my dry, sore throat. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was until it hit my tongue.

"I still can't feel my hand, and my arm is numb," I complained once I had finally caught my breath after chugging the water. "I didn't know tranquilizers did that."

Liz opened the bag of Pop Tarts for me. After peeling back the foil, she handed them to me. "That wasn't a normal sedative," she said.

I took a bite. I wished they were blueberry, but strawberry would do. "If it wasn't a sedative, then what the hell was it?" I asked.

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

I wiped crumbs from my lips and swallowed a gulp of cold, dry strawberry Pop Tart. "Sorry."

"It was mostly just a general tranquilizer," she continued, "but it was laced with a trace of aconitum."

"Aconitum?"

"It's a type of flower," she explained.

I raised my eyebrows at her as I took another bite of Pop Tart.

"More commonly known as wolf's bane," she continued. Then, she smirked slightly. "Or—at least to werewolves—I suppose another good name for it would be the Hell Flower."

Hell Flower. The name of my band.

As upset and angry as I was by the whole situation, I couldn't help the smile that snuck across my face. "Hell Flower. I like that."

She smiled back. "I like it, too."

I took another sip of water. "So, why Hell Flower? What does it do?"

"Wolf's bane, or Hell Flower is highly poisonous. While it is lethal to humans in a high enough dose, it is even more toxic to werewolves. Aconitine, the toxin in Hell Flower, can actually reverse the transformation of a werewolf. When injected or ingested, it induces the transformation back to the human form." She paused. "Of course, injection is much faster."

"Faster, yeah," I said. "Seemed like it was pretty much instant."

She nodded. "Pretty much. It only takes a couple of seconds to be effective."

"So, if that shit works like a magic drug to make me change back, why are we so worried about my wolf causing a permanent shift? Couldn't you just inject me with the Hell Flower tranq and call it a day if I accidentally shift?"

Liz sighed. "Unfortunately, werewolves are quick to build up a tolerance to the toxin. Meaning, it takes more and more each time to induce the transformation." A pause. "Eventually, the required dose becomes so high that it is lethal to both the werewolf and the human."

I swallowed a bite of barely chewed Pop Tart. It lodged in my throat, and I coughed, taking another sip of water. "Oh." I wiped my sweaty palms on my legs. "How long before that happens then? How many doses until . . . "

"Usually, it can work about twice."

"Twice?" I gasped. "Like just two times?" I held up two fingers for emphasis and shook them.

She nodded.

"So, then you can only use it on me . . ."

"One more time," she filled in when I trailed off.

I chewed on my lower lip. "How did you learn about this?"

She looked off to the side, pinching her eyes closed. "According to mythology, the Hell Flower was believed to be toxic to werewolves. Although the exact properties and effects of it were disputed, enough legends held that it was able to weaken the wolf. When your . . ." she trailed off.

"My brother?" I asked. "James? Your son?"

Her face blanched white.

"Alex told me about him. About how he didn't shift back."

She nodded, pinching her eyes closed. "Yes." Her blue eyes were watering when she opened them. "When your brother started having trouble shifting back and getting harder and harder to control, we became desperate. We searched everywhere we could think for ways to help him. We combed through old legends, trying to find anything that might be more than just folklore. The one thing that kept showing up everywhere we looked was the Hell Flower. As a last-ditch hope, we tried it on him."

She paused, and I held my breath, accidently crumbling some of my Pop Tart in my nervous hands.

"And?" I asked.

"And it worked," she said.

"For a little while," I added quietly.

"Right," she replied with a slow, pained nod. "The second time we tried it, we learned about the tolerance, but we knew we couldn't keep upping the dose. At that point we realized we had to go to extremes if we wanted to save him. Performing an exorcism was the only way."

She left out the part about how when they had tried the exorcism on James, it hadn't been successful. He hadn't shifted back. He'd escape. Their son became lost to the demon of his own wolf.

I clenched the hand I could still feel. "I'm not like him, though," I said. "My wolf isn't like his. I talked to her last night, Liz. I remember it."

"I know," Liz said. "I know you did. Alex told me what you told him."

"And you don't believe me." I frowned. "It's my word against his, and you side with him, of course."

"Alex isn't lying."

"Neither am I!" I rose to my feet, for a second forgetting my legs were tied together. The bus shifted in its lane, and I lost my balance, falling back onto my ass on the bunk. "I didn't say he was lying," I continued lowly. "He just doesn't understand. He must have misinterpreted what he heard. I know my wolf, Liz. She's scared. She's confused. She doesn't want you to kill her tonight. She's trying as hard as she can to open up the streamway to talk with me, but it's hard. She just needs more time!"

Liz covered her mouth with one hand, and her eyes watered like she was about to cry. Finally, she removed her hand. "I believe you Allison. I believe that you believe this, but she's lying to you. She's manipulating you to get her own way."

"No." I shook my head. "No, no, no. That isn't true. And I won't let you kill her tonight. I won't go through with the exorcism."

Liz nodded, avoiding eye contact with me. "I'm sorry, Allison." She jerked my hands behind me and wrapped the rope around them again. The rough fibers burned as they rubbed against the arm I could feel. The other one was still numb and tingled from when she'd injected me with the poison.

I didn't struggle. I knew there was no point to trying to stop her.

Finally, she tied a tight knot, securing my hands together. Then she stood and made her way to the door. "We are performing the exorcism tonight, Allison, and you don't have a choice in that matter."