The Rage Eater

Chapter 43: Sworn to Health

Shivering and blue-lipped, Sadie pushed open the door to the greenhouse. "We've got her."

Behind her, Master Dao held up the red-faced monkey, who was still savagely clawing at the thick ropes of the net.

"You're both freezing!" Master Padwe said. "I'll fetch you some blankets."

He scurried away, returning seconds later with two thick brown blankets.

Sadie placed Dylan on the ground, stripped off her wool coat and tunic, and wrapped herself in the blanket.

"Never mind, us!" Master Dao said through chattering teeth. Her face was ghostly white, her hair and clothes crystalled with ice. "Do something with this." Master Dao dropped the snow monkey to the floor, where she landed with a thud and started screeching.

"Stop that!" Master Padwe said.

"It's a disease," Master Dao sneered.

"She's a living thing," Master Padwe countered, shoving the blanket at Master Dao. "Now either help us or leave."

"Fine," Master Dao said as she tugged off her ice-hard coat and wrapped herself in the blanket. "What do you need me to do?"

Master Padwe hurried to a nearby shelf and grabbed a needle and a pair of work gloves. "Put these on. And get that monkey on my desk."

With gloved hands, Master Dao grabbed the screeching monkey from the net and pinned her to Master Padwe's desk. Yet even with all her strength, the monkey still twisted and gnashed its teeth. "Sadie, help me!"

Sadie pulled on a pair of work gloves and helped pin the monkey down, terrified that the shrieking feral might scratch or bite her.

Then, with great care, Master Padwe pushed the needle into the monkey's neck, and pressed the plunger. Within seconds, the monkey was in a deep sleep.

"Essence of lotus clouds?" Sadie asked.

Master Padwe nodded as he picked up a second needle and inserted it into the monkey's arm. He pulled the plunger, filling the long syringe with dark red blood.

"Now what?" Master Dao said.

"Now we make the medicine," Master Padwe said, eyeing the needle. "Sadie, fetch Aubrey and Sim. We've got a lot of work to do. And very little time."

#

Sadie burst into the infirmary and ran towards Sim's bed. She stopped when she realized that everyone was staring.

And why wouldn't they be? Sadie thought.

She was out-of-breath, filthy, exhausted, and wearing little more than a blanket, in an infirmary overflowing with deathly-ill beastlies and the students who loved them.

"You truly are despicable, you know that?" a voice said.

It was Nicolas Bilton. His beastly, Devon, lay on the ground, unmoving.

"G-g-g get out!" said Tim Terrin, choking back sobs. "No one wants you here." Emily lay on a bed beside him, still as a corpse.

Tim's words stung in a way Nicolas' never could.

Fran sat on the ground with King curled in her lap, stroking his soft red fur. She looked up at Sadie with bloodshot eyes, saying nothing. She didn't have to—it was the same look she gave to Geoffrey Galeran. A look of utter hatred. Sadie felt worse than she ever had before, like she was being buried alive. But now was not the time for self-pity.

She was on a mission. She had to find her friend. She had to stop the plague.

"Sadie, you need to leave," Aubrey said, emerging from a far corner in the room. She looked worse than tired, the kind of exhaustion that comes from days of grief and sleepless nights.

"We got her," Sadie said. "The snow monkey. She's in Master Padwe's greenhouse. And he needs your help."

#

Once in the greenhouse, Aubrey, Sadie, and Master Padwe worked furiously, shaving lava root, boiling lotus clouds, and carefully diluting the infected monkey's blood with purified water. Even Master Dao helped best as she could, fetching test tubes, medicine pouches, and candles with a humility rare for the proud Warrior. As they worked, Sim lay on Master Padwe's desk, his raspy, shallow breaths a dark reminder that time was short.

Finally, after an hour of tinkering and mixing, Master Padwe held up a vial filled with a sludgy red goo—the cure.

"I believe this should work," Master Padwe said, his normally deep and resonant voice reduced to a coarse whisper.

Aubrey took the vial with a shaking hand. "Five drops under the tongue?" she said.

Master Padwe nodded. He looked scared. They all did.

Sadie gently opened Sim's mouth and lifted his pale pink tongue. Aubrey poured one drop. Two. Three. Four. And five. With great care, Sadie let Sim's tongue drop, and gently closed his mouth.

Sim didn't stir.

Clutching Dylan, Sadie watched and waited. For a long time, no one said a thing.

Aubrey began to cry. "Please, Sim! Come back. I need you."

The sounds of her tears and the possibility of hope was too much for Sadie. It was as if a dam had been broken, and all the pent-up feelings—of guilt, of sadness, of exhaustion—poured forth in loud, trembling sobs. "I'm so sorry, Sim! This all my fault. Please, please come back."

Master Dao gently placed a calloused hand on Sadie's shoulder, the tenderness of her touch making Sadie only cry harder.

"What's wrong? Why are you all crying?"

Sim sat up, rubbing his eyes, looking terribly confused.

"Sim, are you okay?" Master Padwe said urgently. "How do you feel?"

"Well, I have a rather nasty headache," Sim said. "But I'm more concerned about you—what happened? Why are you all so upset?"

Sadie laughed as relief flooded her body. Sim was going to be okay.

Everyone was going to be okay.