Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
I thought the only thing that mattered was being a supervillain. But I was wrong.
Kaiser reaches for me. I retreat before he touches me—my skin is still poison—and his hand falls on the box.
“What’s this?” he asks. His voice sounds like his throat is sliced to ribbons. Just hearing him is painful, and I wish he would stop trying to talk.
I wrap my hands in the blanket so my skin won’t touch his and cradle his hand between them. “It’s from my father. He’s… he’s gone.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. He wanted this.” My father may not be dead, but he’s gone from my life. He finally left me. He’s finally free. After making sure that Kaiser would keep me safe from blowback, he was finally able to get his revenge.
It hurts knowing he’s gone, but I’m glad he finally fought for the vengeance my mother deserved.
“Dominus will pay,” Kaiser vows.
“He already lost two sons in one night,” Jaeger says. “He’s hurting. We’ll end this soon.”
I want to close my eyes and sleep. I don’t want to be a supervillain right now. That was a bloody battle and it was epic, but it came at too high a cost.
I never want Kaiser to be hurt. Never, ever. Everyone expects him to fight for them. But who will fight for him?
Atticus returns to speak to Kaiser. “We wrapped your ribs. You had a stab wound in your back that we treated, but we couldn’t find a bullet hole. It looks like the vest protected you.”
That’s right, that’s where all the blood came from. The stab wound. The bullet he took for me didn’t penetrate.
It hits me: if Kaiser dies, it won’t be from Sal’s shot. It will be because of the poison.
Because of me.
“My eyes,” Kaiser says. His hand raises a few inches, like he wants to touch the bandages but thinks better of it.
“Do they hurt?”
Kaiser flicks a few fingers, which I take to mean, yes, they hurt. “Manicheel sap can cause acute keratoconjunctivitis.” Atticus glances at me, and I nod. “The damage may only be temporary. You weren’t exposed to the full force of the sap, just a compound that included it. It seems to be specially formulated to be more toxic—”
“It was,” I say. “Ten times more toxic. A hundred times.” Papa made sure it would be instantly painful if not deadly.
“You may recover fully,” Atticus says. “We just don’t know.”
We’re all silent, probably imagining all the terrible ways Kaiser could die or be permanently maimed. At least, I am.
My eyes are wet again.
“Now what?” Kaiser asks.
“Your body is fighting the poison,” Atticus says. “We’ve given you painkillers and a few of my own formulations that will boost your immune system.” Jaeger and Kaiser nod as if they know what Atticus is talking about. I remember Kaiser saying that Atticus cared for them after their fights. They’re used to him patching them up. They trust him.
“A little activated charcoal in case you ingested any of it.” Atticus sighs, rubbing his shaved head. “But since the compound was designed to be absorbed through skin contact versus your digestive system, I don’t know if it will help. We just have to wait and see.”
“What about my blood?” I ask. My voice sounds almost as raw as Kaiser’s. “It might hold the antidote. I’m immune to poison. There might be something you can find in my blood to save him.”
“That’s an idea,” Atticus says, sounding thoughtful. “There was a man who developed super immunity to snake bites through repeated exposure, and he gave his blood to a lab to create a universal antivenom. We might be able to isolate an antitoxin from your blood. How many poisons did you ingest?”
“As many as I could. I’ll write you a list.”
“And you’re immune to all of them?”
“To most poisons, yes. Some of them still cause a reaction, though.”
“That’s why you were in a coma for a few days.”
“Yes.”
“And the senator? How did you poison him?”
Atticus is prying for more information, knowing that in this desperate emotional state, I’m likely to give him anything he wants. I can hear my father warning me not to give away any proprietary formulas, but I don’t care about protecting our secrets anymore. “It was a blend of several compounds mixed into a lotion I put on my palm.”
“Ricin?”
“No. He would have to ingest that. I used compounds distilled from cassava and oleander, along with a compound my father invented to make it faster-acting.”
Atticus’s eyes narrow. “And Alfredo Vesuvio?”
Despite feeling rotten, I smile. My secrets are out. They all know I’m the Poisoner now. “Good old arsenic and belladonna. Aqua Tofana.”
“Nobody knows that recipe.”
“My mother did.”
“And what about Bella’s blood?” Jaeger asks. “Can it help my brother?”
Atticus rubs his face. He’s thinking about what a bad idea this is. “It’s risky and it might not even work. I’d need to test it.”