Never Be Tamed

Chapter 10: Poison

Chapter 10: Poison

Did I do something wrong?

This was the thought lingering in my head while on the car ride back to the apothecary. I must have done something wrong dahil mukhang nagalit si Zackary sa'kin.

Dumaan ako sa infirmary para ipaalam kay Senior Violeta na nakabalik na ako. There were two orders waiting for treatment at mukhang wala pang staff na nagaasikaso sa kanila.

"I'll call a staff to treat you."

"Hindi na kailangan. If Sir Zackary could trust you with his wounds, we could trust you too," said one of them. "Pasensya na sa naging asal ng mga kasama ko."

They're saying sorry... to me? "Okay lang," sagot ko. "Naiintindihan ko."

Ilang araw din ang lumipas bago tuluyang bumalik sa pagiging tahimik ang apothecary. The border incident was taken under control pero kailangan parin itong pagtuunan ng pansin, considering these types of tasks are for an alpha.

"He's basically the acting alpha now," Anabeth told me while we're preparing for another foraging. "Official transition nalang ang kulang pero kung tutuusin, ilang buwan na niyang hawak ang responsibilities ng isang alpha."

Zack as an alpha... the title didn't dawn on me. Maybe that's why he treated me indifferently in the last minutes I was in the mansion. I've overstepped my boundaries.

Matapos maihanda ang mga gamit para sa foraging, we took the path towards the forest. The entire apothecary was unusually quiet since yesterday since half of the staff were in a quarterly visit in the northern part of town.

We spent another clear day at the forest, checking the seedling's growth from last time, recording them, drawing illustrations of new plants I came across with, and searching for plants and herbs we needed for the apothecary. Big cotton candy clouds hovered across the sky, above the towering tree branches.

Pagbalik namin sa apothecary bandang hapon, napansin agad namin na may hindi tama. There were no staff in the greenhouse or garden at nagkakagulo ang lahat sa loob ng tower.

"What's happening?" tanong ni Anabeth pagpasok namin.

Nagmamadali ang lahat ng masalubong namin na staff sa hallway. "There's a poisoning outbreak in the northern part of town," one of the senior staff informed us.

Poisoning?

"Kailangan nila ng mga bagong staff to help control the outbreak since most of our staff in the area were poisoned too." Nanlaki ang mga mata ni Anabeth.

Nasa gitna sila ng paghahanda ng mga gamit na kailangang dalhin sa lugar, all the remaining medicines and small equipment needed to make the antidote.

"You two need to come with us."

Tahimik sa loob ng sasakyan nang magsimula kaming magbyahe. Anabeth and Senior Violeta was with me in the car. Walang umiimik sa'min maliban sa ilang paalala ni Senior Violeta. The whole ordeal seems pretty serious.

Mahaba ang naging byahe namin dahil sa hindi maayos na daan. The northern part of town was barely accessible at kinailangan naming mag-trek ng kalahating oras para marating ang village sa bundok. Good thing we were used to foraging that even the senior staff didn't mind the trek.

According to Anabeth, the people in this part of town were one of the early families who settled in Van Zanth noong pasimula palang ang bayan. They were considered as important residence of the Van Zanth family.

"Mas okay sana kung lilipat sila sa mismong bayan para mas madali silang naaabot o natutulungan," sinabi ni Anabeth sa gitna ng pagtawid namin sa mababaw na ilog.