Amber Silverblood: Silverpack

Chapter Twenty Three

Nobody said anything for a few minutes after Victor left. The cold wind blew in through the door Victor hadn't been polite enough to close before flashing himself back to Majestic, blowing snow into Stark's living room. My mom was the first one to move, getting up from the couch to finally close the door.

"Well," she said, trying and failing to sound cheerful, "at least Amber made it back safely, right?"

"Yeah," I agreed. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the pills Petunia had given me. "And I got the medicine like you asked, Stark."

Stark was staring into space, like he'd fallen asleep with his eyes open, but hearing his name seemed to wake him up. He looked at the pills for a few long seconds, and then nodded. "Good. Take one now."

I twisted the lid off and spilled one of the pills into my hand. It was small, and its plastic shell was half green, half blue. Ramidreju fur, Dr. Munse had said. I'd never heard of a ramidreju before, but I was slowly coming to realize that there were a lot more things I didn't know than I had ever thought. Every time I thought I'd figured this crap out, life threw another curveball at me. No, not a curveball. Normal people got curveballs. This was like... having someone throw a paper mache model of Mt. Rushmore at you during a baseball game. Except it weighed more than paper mache. And hurt more.

Yeah, that about summed it up.

"You first," I said, holding the bottle up to tip a pill into his hand. "Alpha eats first, remember? You've got to keep up your strength and—"

"Amber," he snapped, and I saw anger flash in his eyes, "take the freaking pill right now!"

I froze, the bottle halfway between me and him.

"I- I'm sorry," I mumbled, and did as he said. I popped the pill into my mouth and tilted my head back, swallowing it without any water. After that, I looked back at him again, too afraid to say anything.

Stark sighed, but I couldn't tell if it was in relief or frustration. "Go give one to Kimberly," he said. "You go help her, Jennifer. You'll probably have to force it down her throat, but once you do she'll be fine."

"All right," I said, taking a step back. I glanced at the bottle in my hand again. "Are you sure you—"

"I will take mine after the rest of my pack is safe," he answered without looking up at me.

I nodded and headed down the hall, Mom following right behind me.

"I'm worried about him," I heard her mutter. "I've never seen him like that before."

"Victor's good at that," I said wryly. "He'll be fine."

"I hope so."

You know what? I'm glad Victor didn't die when that truck blew up on top of him. That wasn't nearly painful enough for him.

I paused when I came to my bedroom door. Mom probably couldn't hear it, but Kimberly's breathing on the other side was loud and clear to me. Her breathing was labored but regular, which both comforted me and made my skin crawl. She was still sick, but at least it wasn't life threatening or anything. I looked down at the bottle in my hand, and the two little pills inside it. Smaller than my thumbnail, but both Stark and Dr. Munse claimed it could heal literally anything.

A miracle in a bottle.

I pushed open the door and walked inside. Kimberly was still right where I'd left her, sleeping fitfully in her bed. Sweat glistened on her brow, even though the room was chilly. She looked so helpless there that I could almost forget the way she'd turned into a giant wolf the other night and tried to kill me. Some things matter more than others, and... well, everyone was trying to kill me these days, so maybe I was getting used to it.