49%


    “I see,” I said, narrowing my eyes.


    “It was all for her benefit, of course,” Head Healer Eric said. “Naturally, I would have loved to see her seed on her own. But she just doesn’t have the same experience that I do. Nor does she have the same strong disposition as me. She buckles under pressure,


    that one.”


    I knew in that moment, with how he was gently but thoroughly dismissing Amber, that he had no idea Healer Amanda was my ex-


    wife.


    I decided not to point that out, allowing him to continue weaving his tale.


    I tried to think back on what I knew about Amber – if she had ever shied away from the pressure of a situation. I couldn’t think of


    an instance.


    Even when I had treated her so unkindly, she pushed ever forward.


    Would she really have gone crying to Head Healer Eric for help?


    No, not just for help… but to take over the entire project?


    Amber’s POV


    Noah and I stood in theb, looking through the reports, the results of the tests we ran on the potential cure.


    What bothered me more than the potion being stolen was that it hadn’t been tested thoroughly enough. The person who took it likely didn’t know that there were still dangers to be uncovered with the tests.


    Like this one…


    “How many times did we run this test?” I asked Noah. I wanted to be certain it wasn’t simply a fluke in the results. These things


    needed to be tested and retested.


    “Four,” Noah said.


    “And this result showed up every time?”


    “Yes.”


    I frowned. This was very troubling. “We need to find that potion before it’s toote.”


    It wasn’t ready for human consumption, not with these results.


    While temporarily effective, the potion would wear off over a longer term. In the interim, any patient of the potion would suffer from severe stomach pain.


    Truly, the potion just needed a couple more ingredients.


    12:39 PM Tue 26 Aug


    I hurried to adjust the form, Noah watching over my shoulder.


    “Ah,” he said. “That would solve that problem.”


    I was d he agreed.


    49%


    “We need to hurry and make up this new potion,” I said. “I don’t know what happened to the old one, but we need to be ready with a fix in case it gets out.”


    “I don’t understand why anyone would take an untested potion from ab,” Noah said.


    I had a few suspicions but I didn’t want to give voice to them. Most likely the potion was stolen. To have ess to theb, the thief would have had to be someone who worked at the hospital.


    I was still trying to hope that Noah had been careless and misced it, but I knew that wasn’t likely the case. Noah was too good of an assistant for that, and very responsible.


    With the new form in hand, I moved toward one of the work tables in theb, ready to mix a new batch. The table was close to a


    window that overlooked the front of the hospital.


    Down below, I could see news vans on the street and a crowd gathering on the front steps of the hospital.


    I asked Noah, “What’s going on?”


    He came to the window and we both looked down.


    “It looks like a press conference,” he said.


    My stomach started to sink. I had a very bad feeling about this.


    I asked, “Regarding what?”


    GET IT N


    12:39 PM Tue 26 Aug