She was a prisoner in her own room.
Julian had locked the door from the outside. He hadn't come back since the clinic.
Evening fell. The lock clicked.
Scarlett walked in. She was wearing a silk robe that was tied loosely, revealing her collarbone. There was a fresh, red mark on her neck. A hickey.
Avery looked away, her stomach twisting. But then, a scent hit her. Or rather, the lack of one. Julian smelled of sandalwood and expensive tobacco. Scarlett smelled only of her own cloying floral perfume and... rubbing alcohol?
Avery looked closer at the mark. The edges were too perfect. Too round. It looked like it had been made with a curling iron or suction, not a mouth.
"Julian is exhausted," Scarlett sighed, placing a tray on the bedside table. "He asked me to bring you this. It's a special herbal soup. For your... nerves."
"I'm not hungry."
"Drink it," Scarlett said, her voice dropping the sweet facade. "He wants you medicated."
Avery looked at the bowl. The liquid was dark, thick. It smelled bitter. Like mugwort and something metallic.
"What's in it?" Avery asked.
"Just what you need," Scarlett smiled. It was a shark's smile.
Avery reached for the bowl. She brought it to her lips, feigning compliance. Then, with a sudden jerk of her wrist, she shoved it away.
The bowl crashed to the floor. The dark liquid splattered everywhere-over the rug, over Scarlett's white slippers.
"You bitch!" Scarlett shrieked. She threw herself onto the floor, grabbing a shard of porcelain. She sliced her own palm.
"Julian!" she screamed. "Julian, help!"
Footsteps thundered down the hall. Julian burst in.
He saw Scarlett on the floor, clutching her bleeding hand. He saw the broken bowl.
"She threw it at me!" Scarlett sobbed. "I tried to help her, and she attacked me!"
Julian looked at Avery. His eyes were black holes.
"Are you insane?" he shouted. He knelt beside Scarlett, wrapping a handkerchief around her hand.
"There was something in the soup," Avery said calmly. She was sitting on the bed, her hands folded. "She's trying to poison me."
"Poison you?" Julian laughed, a harsh, barking sound. "She spent three hours making this for you. You are delusional."
He scooped Scarlett up in his arms.
"You stay here," he spat at Avery. "And if you break anything else, I'll tie you to the bed myself."
He carried Scarlett out.
Avery waited. Once the house was quiet, she slid off the bed. She took a small, empty vial of perfume from her vanity. She knelt on the rug and carefully scooped up some of the spilled liquid that hadn't soaked in yet.
She capped the vial.
Evidence. She needed to get this to a lab. But how? She was locked in. She tucked the vial into her bra, against her heart. It was a futile hope, but it was all she had.
Then she pulled out a burner phone she had hidden in a hollowed-out book. She dialed Sebastian.
"It's getting worse," she whispered. "She's trying to kill it."
