REECE

Once we arrive back at the hideout, we find Aeryn and Lucian waiting for us expectantly by the front door with Caliber and Juniper.

"Took you long enough," Aeryn huffs and throws a hand over her shoulder before shifting her pose to having her hand on her hip, "What took you so long?"

"Yeah," Lucian darts his eyes in Aeryn's direction, no doubt recalling the torture that she put him through whenever we were gone, "What took you so long?"

"We were starting to get worried," Juniper says.

"Did Katsuro get back yet?" I ask as I glance between the four of them.

Juniper and Caliber exchange a glance before Juniper finally answers.

"Um," Juniper starts, "Katsuro is in the medical room resting. He got back about a half hour ago and he came in to help us, but right when he opened the door there was an explosion of dust and he didn't have on the protective gear that we did, so he inhaled it. Thankfully, it wasn't toxic, but it made him kind of..."

"Kind of?" Clattonia rises a brow.

"He had symptoms of delirium, impulsiveness, bluntness, and overly-affectionate behaviors," Caliber finishes, "He began coughing upon the initial inhalation, but soon acquired a fever that brought on those symptoms, which was shown through the flush of his skin, his words, and the way that he clung to Juniper. It should wear off in six more hours, if my deduction is correct."

I raise a brow at Juniper and she shifts around uncomfortably as she glances down at her hands, which are clasped together, and a blush rises to her face.

"Um, alright," I clear my throat, "Did either of you find out anything that could be helpful in understanding Nightshade's attacks more?"

"Yes. I can go fetch the lab reports," Caliber says and hurries off down the hall.

"Well?" Aeryn sighs impatiently, "Are you guys ever going to answer me?"

"We found out some vital information," I start, "We should wait until everyone's here, but, simply put, we found a new ally, among some other things, as well as something that will require every one of us to beat."

Aeryn raises a brow and goes silent as everyone else in the room suddenly seems to focus their attention on us, Ink and Indigo entering hesitantly through the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Ink asks.

"Is everything okay?" Indigo asks worriedly and grabs on to Ink's arm anxiously.

"You might want to take a seat," I say and the two exchange a glance before heading towards the couch and sitting down as Aeryn leans against the arm of the couch and crosses her arms while Lucian takes the third seat on the couch.

Meanwhile, Caliber comes running back with the lab report and she hands it to me before she goes over and stands next to Aeryn.

"We found out that the dust Nightshade uses can have deterrents to it in order to counteract it," Juniper starts hesitantly, "The one that causes delirium is one that we made an antibiotic to, which is how we're treating Katsuro. If we didn't have the medicine for it, it could still be treated, but the side effects would be harder to contain and it would take much longer."

"Harder to contain in what sense?" Clattonia asks.

"He most likely wouldn't be able to walk straight or think of anything except for the fever consuming him, aside from incoherent thoughts, and his senses would be entirely messed up," Juniper explains, "As of right now, it's as if he has a horrible cold, but he still can't function properly."

"The delirium powder is pink," Caliber says, "We also concluded that the baby blue powder is poison, but so is the amethyst. The difference between the two is that the amethyst acts as a form of nightshade poison from Atropa Belladonna flowers, which Juniper recognized right away, and will ultimately kill the victim within thirty minutes if not treated, causing a wide variety of symptoms before death, which includes delirium, hallucinations, disorientation, drowsiness, increased heart rate, convulsions, vomiting, confusion, slurred speech, possibility of a coma, and much more. The blue powder is a form of cyanide, which will ultimately cause cyanide poisoning and will most likely result in death."

"If that's true, then how come Lucian isn't dead? Nightshade blew a purple-blue powder in his face whenever we fought," I say.

"I already have a high tolerance to all of her poisons due to being around them for so long," Lucian says and shifts around anxiously, "You should know why."

"Right, sorry," I sigh before turning my attention back to Juniper and Caliber, "How far along are you in creating deterrents to those?"

"We still have a long way to go with those two," Juniper frowns.

"If I may ask," Essence starts, "Have you tried adding small doses of each to your deterrents in order to build up immunity? I know it would take a while and small doses for each person, but could that possibly work?"

"We could try that for the blue," Caliber starts, "But the purple is too lethal for that."

"What about the green and the yellow?" Clattonia asks.

"The green causes temporary paralysis and occasional blackouts," Caliber continues to explain, "And the yellow produces an illness that may cause internal bleeding, fever, extreme fatigue, soreness, uncoordination, and more. It's a slow and painful way to get your enemies out of the way ahead of time for future plans. The symptoms can last anywhere from six days to two weeks."

"Well, that sounds horrible," Labyrinth says as she stands at the top of the stairs of the training room wearing a fitting, dark blue tank top and dark grey, baggy jeans with a black belt holding them in place around her waist and a towel draped around her neck as she holds water bottle, "I see you guys have been having fun."

"I thought you finished training earlier," I say.

"I had nothing better to do, so I went back to the training room to do some running and to practice kickboxing," Labyrinth raises a brow and places her free hand on her hip before wandering off towards the kitchen, "Try to keep up, Cuz."

"Aren't you going to listen to--" I start.

"I'll be back later," Labyrinth waves me off as she enters the kitchen, the door swinging shut behind her.

"What did you expect?" Lucian snorts, "She doesn't care about things as long as she believes she can smash them."

"Diva much," Aeryn hums and Lucian shoots her a pointed glare.

"You're one to talk," Lucian mutters under his breath, and judging by Aeryn's expression, she heard him.

"Um," Indigo starts, "Could we please continue?"

"Well--" Jace starts, but the opening of the door and the sound of voices behind us stops him.

"I'm back!" Valentina shouts and twirls around marvelously, beaming before stopping at a halt whenever she notices us all gathered in the living room, "Oh?"

"Valentina," Simon groans whenever he bumps into the back of her, "Don't just stop in the middle of the-- oh."

"What are you two going on about?" Kai sighs as he comes in behind them, raising his eyebrows whenever he notices us, "More importantly, what's going on here?"

"Everyone but Labyrinth and Katsuro are here. Labyrinth should be back and if she needs to she can just ask someone what she missed. We'll just have to update Katsuro later," I say to Clattonia, "Do you wanna start?"

"Yeah," Clattonia nods as Valentina, Simon, and Kai spread further out into the room, watching expectantly, "Everyone, we have something important to tell you. In addition to finding two new allies, we have also found a great enemy. White Rabbit has done something entirely despicable and completely inhumane, and there's nobody who can stop it but us."

I go to shoot Clattonia a confused glance, because I don't know why she said we have two new allies instead of one, but Jace meets my gaze first and I raise a brow at him whenever he shakes his head, silently telling me not to question it. I decide to stay silent and cross my arms against my chest as I listen to Clattonia. I suppose she'll explain it eventually, anyways.

Well, either way, the more the merrier, right? At least, that's what I'd be told.

"With that said," Clattonia continues, "If any of you wish to not follow us passed this point, I completely understand, although you will be dearly missed, seeing as how we're all like family here."

"You know we'd follow you to the ends of the earth, Clattonia," Juniper smiles slightly, "You and Reece. And I know that Katsuro would say the same."

"She's right," Indigo nods.

"Of course," Ink grins lopsidedly, "There's nowhere else we belong but here. This is our home and we're going to protect everyone who belongs to it."

"We're the harbingers of justice," Lucian says, "There's no way we couldn't stand alongside you."

"I protect my family and aim for equality," Caliber nods.

"I know you're a good leader and all and that it makes you an even better one to selflessly ask if anyone wants to leave because it'll be dangerous, but you really don't gotta ask that," Aeryn says with a sigh and rolls her eyes, "We'd never abandon each other."

"That was surprisingly...enlightening...coming from you," Lucian raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"Shut up," Aeryn snaps with a huff.

"Everyone here is willing to be alongside you," Valentina says and smiles as she jerks her thumb over her shoulder, Kai and Simon nodding in agreement, "Where you go, we go."

"I agree," Labyrinth says as she comes back, "And I'm always up for a fight."

"Alright," Clattonia smiles warmly and in a reassured manner, "Let's do this."