Lucky and the Killer ✔

Down the Hatch

He scooped her up into his arms and ran back to the palace. Lilly looked up at the sky. No one had ever carried her like that—no matter how sick she'd been. She didn't regret going. It was still better than the pills. It was better than the lectures. It was better than the missed appointments at home. It didn't hurt that bad.

"Lock her up!" Zee shouted as he came inside the gate.

"Who?" Zachary asked and fell into a jog behind the prince.

"Valerie!" he yelled. "Get me a doctor."

"Yes, sir," Zachary said, but as he ran off, he couldn't help but feel a bit scorned that he was locking up yet another one of their guard members.

He took Lilly just inside the doors and laid her down on the carpeted floor. Her skin was normal. Her breathing was normal, but her eyes were far away.

"He poisoned her," Zee whispered.

"Who, my Lord?" the doctor asked as she came closer to them.

"I don't know," he said. "Damn! I can't remember him. Is there an antidote?"

"I don't know," the woman said as she crouched down beside the Earth-girl. "I have to know what kind of poison it was first."

"He said tomorrow at sun-down," Zee panicked. "So, it can't be a fast-killing one."

"That's a start," the woman said. "Did you see it? Anything?"

"It was in a small flask," he stammered. "Foamy."

"Color?"

"I don't know," Zee said as he took Lilly's hand in his.

She looked up at the ceiling. She could hear. She didn't feel like she was dying. She felt like she was falling asleep. Except, she couldn't sleep. All she could really do was look and listen. She flinched the muscles in her back and tried to sit up.

Zee pushed her shoulder back down as he spoke, "please, don't move. I don't want you to get worse, okay? It'll spread quicker if you move a lot."

Lilly saw the fear in his eyes and nodded. There was more worry in his eyes than she'd ever seen in anyone's back home. She smiled. It was a nice feeling—to be loved in some way.

"I'm okay," she said.

"She can move," the woman said and closed her eyes in thought. "She can speak. It's not a paralytic, then. If it's systemic, then it's slow-moving for sure. Kabo, fetch 1142. Let's try that one first."

The little boy from the gathering crowd of officials ran off towards the medical room to fetch the right medicine. He took the steps two at a time, went to the right desk, and pulled open the third drawer. He ran back upstairs as quickly as he'd gone. He reached his teacher, who was kneeling beside Lilly in a white dress, and gave her the bottle.

"Here, ma'am," he said.

"Thanks," she said. "This isn't going to taste good."

"It's alright," Lilly said.

"Wait," the doctor stopped herself, "Kabo. Cotton swab. Quick."

They waited on the boy to run down the steps and back up once more. She took the cotton and swooped it on the inside of Lilly's lip.

"Better," she said. "Down the hatch."

Lilly let them pour the silvery liquid in. She swallowed it despite how bitter it tasted. Her mouth dried and puckered on the inside, and she coughed over and over again—until she was laying on her side instead of her back. Whatever that was, it was nothing like her usual candy.

"You're killing my mouth," she groaned.

"Kabo," the doctor called again, "go analyze it."

The boy nodded, took the cotton, and ran back down the steps. The woman shook her head once he'd left. He was a good kid. She'd been training him for years. She trusted his work—even if he was younger than her.

"If it's not alkaloid-based, this will work," she said. "If it is, you'll need physostigmine...which I don't have. How do you feel, honey?"

"The light hurts," Lilly said. "My heart's fast, but I'm okay. It's fine. I just can't stand the taste."

Zee let out a hefty sigh and sat back against the wall. It was a punishment he deserved but not one that she did.

"How long before you know?" he asked.

"It depends on how fast the proteins break down," she said. "Let's get her to a bed, your highness."

Zee looked down at her. Her hair waved above her head—a straight waterfall on the floor. The cape sprawled out beneath her like a snowy blanket, but the arms under the orange shirt shivered. He should have tried harder to stop her.

"Alright," he said as he stood, bent, and lifted her into his arms again. He walked towards his room, and even though she was right against him, every step seemed to make her go farther away.

"Her pupils are big," the doctor said from beside him as they walked. "Who is she?"

"She's Lilly," he said quietly as they turned the corner.

When they reached his large room, he laid her down on his bed. He lifted her above the covers and slid her yellow shoes off—tucking her slender feet beneath the sheets. He pulled them back up and tucked them under her chin—the chin that still had red marks on it from the man's hands around her throat.

"Zee," Lilly said, "chill out. I'm not worried about this. I've never felt like such a princess before. It's nice."

"Zee?" the doctor said under her breath. It wasn't everyday that she heard his name spoken so informally.

"Shut up," Zee said. "This should have never happened. I don't buy that 'I'm-okay' bull, either. Just don't talk like that."

"What do you want me to say?" she asked.

"I don't want you to say anything," he said and sat down at the foot of his bed. "I need to know those results."

"Let's go then, Sir," the woman said.

Zee nodded, walked out of the room, and passed a 'thank you' to the guards he left with Lilly. They passed down the hallways again, and the colors that once seemed sluggish to him echoed violently in his eyes. If it was as he feared, and there was no cure there, he'd have to choose between Lucky or Lilly.

Kabo ran up to them, cloth and pen in hand, with a worried look on his face. He shoved the pen in his pocket, swept the hair off of his forehead, and looked at Zee fearfully.

"We can't," he said. "It's the one thing we don't have."

"I thought," Zee said as he pressed his hand into his face. "I thought keeping her close would prevent stuff like this..., but we've been had. It was that damn woman, Valerie. She told him where I would be. She told him which poison to get. She told him which ones we wouldn't be able to cure."

"Sir?" the doctor asked, but Zee shook his head.

"Assemble the guard," he said, but the words were hollow. He slammed his hand against the wall and clenched his fist. He had to find Lucky again, and he wasn't sure what he was going to do if he even managed to find her.