Nigel''s mouth twitched as he nodded. "So it was you."


    Calliope nced at Lnd, whose guileless face made her pity Nigel even more.


    "You really have it tough."


    Damien was done arguing-bickering with Lnd only made him feel just as dim- witted.


    "You all look like you have plenty to say, but you just stand there," Lnd


    "Who gave you the apple?" Nigel asked wearily, rubbing the bridge of his nose.


    "A girl did," Lnd replied. "Is there something wrong with it?"


    He was still oblivious, slow on the uptake.


    "Nigel Howell, for the first time, I actually feel sorry for you," Damien said, shaking his head. "You must have a peculiar talent for suffering, keeping someone like him around. Are you just asking to be poisoned?"


    “Are you insulting me?" Lnd protested, frowning at Damien.


    "More or less. You really don''t get it, do you?" Damien shrugged. "It''s tragic, honestly."


    "I''m not tragic! What are you talking about?"


    "I meant your boss is the unlucky one, stuck with you." Damien gave a helpless sigh.


    "I think the apple you gave Mr. Howell was probably poisoned," Calliope said, pinning Lnd with a look.


    Lnd froze. "My apple was poisoned?"


    "Was it just one apple? And you just gave it to Mr. Howell, no questions asked?" Calliope pressed.


    "Yeah, it looked delicious, so I gave it


    to him," Lnd stammered. The realization suddenly dawned,


    ait-my apple was poisoned? That girl gave me a poisoned apple!"


    "That girl! I need to find her! How could she try to poison Mr. Howell?"


    "Mr. Howell, wait right here! I''m going to track her down!" Lnd dered with conviction. "I''ll get revenge for you!"


    "Don''t bother—" Nigel tried to stop him, but Lnd had already disappeared in a whirlwind of misced loyalty.


    Calliope arched an eyebrow at Nigel. "You really indulge him, don''t you?"


    Nigel shot her a wary look. “You''re not misunderstanding something here, are you?"


    "You know," Calliope mused, "Lnd is kind of cute, good skin color... So that''s your type, Mr. Howell?"


    Smirking, she gave Nigel a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don''t worry, your secret''s safe with me. I won''t breathe a word!"


    She turned away, gathering her things with exaggerated innocence.


    Nigel grimaced. "You''ve got the wrong idea! There is nothing going on between me and Lnd!"


    Calliope only smiled, a knowing twinkle in her eye. "No need to exin-denying it just means it''s true."


    "Seriously, I''m very open-minded. I''m not judging."


    "You think I care if you judge or not?" Nigel muttered, frowning.


    “See? That just confirms it." Calliope exchanged a look with Damien; both now wore expressions of sudden ''understanding.''


    Nigel sat up, exasperated. "You''re bothpletely off-base!"


    "It''s fine, what we think doesn''t matter anyway," Calliope replied breezily. "But listen-the person who poisoned you might still be around. You should be carefu


    or else your


    pampering is going to get you into


    even more trouble."


    She paused, then added, "By the


    way, the poison you were given is a special kind-something called e D-tox. It attacks the mind, ruins your sanity over time, and slowly eats. away your brain. It won''t kill you but it''ll strip you of your dignity and leave you a shell of yourself. As far as poison goes, it''s as nasty as theye."