✔ Secrets of the Amulet | ONC 2023 | EDITING

3. Taste of Poison

Bleach and sandalwood wafted in the air as Everett fiddled with the pulse oximeter attached to his finger. He had woken a few minutes ago with an excruciating headache. Memories swarmed his mind of finding Rowena's dead husband's head in his library, then fainting shortly after the detectives had removed it. Not only that, but his amulet had glowed and pulsed against his neck right before he lost consciousness.

Everett reached for it, caressing the gem as if he expected it to illuminate vibrant red again. What had triggered that? Was it the cursed object - cursed head? He'd heard of items being imbued with dark magic but was it possible to do that with a dead man's head?

"Everett Vossane Pepperheart!" Mother's strident voice rang through the hallway louder than the church bells before service as she walloped the door open. Her heels clacked with each step across the linoleum floor as she rounded the side of his bed, crouching down to squeeze his hand tightly. "What in heaven's name happened?"

"Fainted." Everett shrugged it off. "I'm okay, mom. I promise."

"You most certainly are not okay." She tsked, straightening out the blanket covering him. "Orick told me about that gruesome discovery of yours. You don't think someone's threatening you, do you?"

"Orick thinks it's just a sick joke. The head belongs to Rowena's dead husband," Everett replied.

"Goodness gracious." Mrs. Pepperheart gasped.

"It was just a way to rattle her. Me as well, I'm sure." Everett pulled the blanket closer around his freezing body, undoing his mother's loving tucking.

"I'm not sure about that." Mrs. Pepperheart bit on her trembling lip and spared a glance around the room. "Have you taken your elixir already?" she asked softly.

Everett shook his head with a sigh. "No, I was about to before everything happened."

From her gigantic purse of wonders, she produced a small vial of shimmery orange liquid. Everett accepted it and popped the cork from the top, downing the foul-tasting medicine in one gulp. He made a face of disgust. Despite how he'd taken it since a wee child, the bitter aftertaste of sour lemons and pool chemicals always made him want to spit it out.

Without it, Everett would die.

However, that wasn't the cause of his fainting. Everett knew the effects of the poison and he hadn't gone long enough without his antidote to suffer yet. A pain more agonizing than death would've struck him, until his poor heart finally gave out.

"Mom, there's something I want to ask you about this amulet." Everett pointed to the crimson gem. "Where did it come from?"

She furrowed her brows. "Honey, you already know. It's a lucky charm that's been passed down for many Pepperheart generations. I had it, your grandmother had it, and now you do." Her smile wavered, uncertainty clouding her eyes. "Why do you ask all of a sudden?"

"Before I passed out, it glowed brightly."

"That's because it was trying to protect you." She rubbed his arm in a reassuring manner. "Maybe making you faint was a way of protecting your mind from harm?"

Everett doubted that, but he wouldn't worry his mother anymore than he already had. Sometimes, he found it strange how she had given him the amulet instead of either of his sisters, but she had always insisted it was because he needed more protection than them. After being poisoned as a child, his folks were quite strict with him and a tad overbearing at times, but he knew it was only because they cared so much about him.

As the door to his hospital room creaked open, Kieran stepped in, dressed in a pair of black wizard's robes. His eyes, transformed by his glamor magic, gleamed with a mesmerizing hazel shade. He carried a small basket beneath his arm.