The Quagmires

Chapter 5: The Wild Wolfsbane

Most people are left speechless, a word which refers to not being able to think of anything to say, when they see something shocking, whether it is good or bad. Duncan and Isadora were left speechless when they saw what the secret elevator had led them to.

"Welcome to the Wilder Room," said Ms. Adria, as the Quagmires walked into the enormous room that stood before them. Duncan and Isadora were speechless. What they saw at that moment was something they had never seen in their entire life. Vastly unordinary plants were standing there; blue roses, dark pink cacti, trees growing unusual star shaped apples, it was just unbelievable. It was such a green, yet colorful room. 

"This is wonderful," said Isadora.

"It's amazing," agreed Duncan.

"Let me show you around," stated Ms. Adria, their guardian. "Here are some Maidstone roses," pointing at the unusual blue flowers in her Wilder room. "These are my pink cacti, called Fuchsia Cactusa. It's a rare specie of cactus found only in the most deserted desert," she said as she gestured towards some pink cacti. "My favorite plant though, is this Star Tree," she mentioned as she stopped near a tree growing star-shaped apples. "I discovered this on the Mortmain mountains. There was only one star apple on it, due to the cold weather, and so I used that to plant one Star Tree in warm weather. This was the astonishing result."

"This is all awesome," said Isadora.

"Do you have any dangerous plants here," asked Duncan curiously.

"Only one," answered Ms. Adria. She walked towards a transparent glass containing purple flowers. "The Wild Wolfsbane."

"I read about that last night," said Isadora surprised. "It was in one of the books in our bookshelf. It said that touching the plant, especially the roots, with your bare hands may poison your respiratory system."

Our body consists of many different parts. The smallest is the cell. Many cells together form a tissue. Tissues together form an organ, like the heart. Different organs together make up an organ system, like the respiratory system, which contains your lungs. Finally, these organ systems shape the final product, the organism, like you, human being. 

"You're right, Isadora. That is why I always use very thick gloves to handle them," explained Ms. Adria, "and today, I will teach you to handle a Wolfsbane." Duncan and Isadora looked both nervous and excited. They were scared that someone might get poisoned, but they were excited to get the opportunity to handle something so wild and dangerous.

Ms. Adria pulled all the gloves she had and handed out two to each of them. 

"Wait a minute, I don't have enough gloves," she said.

"Maybe we'll do this next time then," suggested Isadora.

"No, it's alright. I'll give you all the instructions and you'll handle the flowers. You're intelligent children, Quagmires, you can do this," replied Ms. Adria. "Alright, wear your gloves and make sure all of your fingers are covered."

"Done," said Duncan.

"Good. Now, I'll remove the glass cover and you must gently pull the plant out of the soil from its stem," continued Ms. Adria, and so, the Quagmires were doing well. 

"Why are we doing this?" asked Duncan.

"I am trying to find a way to make the poison helpful. Besides, many plants are used to make cures," replied his guardian.

"Well, I guess that makes sense," said Duncan.

"Since, you two are done, may I have one pair of your gloves?" asked Ms. Adria.

"Certainly," replied Isadora, and she handed her gloves to Ms. Adria.

Ms. Adria then started working on extracting the poison from the Wolfsbane plant. When she was finally done, she said,

"Alright, this is the extract of Wolfsbane poison. It will stay right here in this container. Oh, I forgot to get its cover. Just a minute." She left the room  and entered the elevator afterwards to get what she needed.

"I have a bad feeling about leaving Wolfsbane poison just lying there," stated Isadora.

"Me too," said Duncan, "Let's hope she'll be back soon."

Indeed, she was back soon, but sometimes I just wish she had forgotten to come back, and stayed downstairs.

"You know children, I was thinking. I think I'm finally ready to explain why I took that book from you, Duncan, and I'll allow you to read it as soon as we are done." Duncan smiled and so did Isadora.

"Anyways, I got the desired cover," said Ms. Adria cheerfully. "I don't think I'll be needing my gloves to cover a container." 

She was wrong. She was entirely wrong. Maybe if she had worn her gloves, nothing bad would've happened. Maybe if she wore them, the container wouldn't have slipped from her hands.

Ms. Adria picked up the Wolfsbane poison and used her other hand to get the cover. A few seconds later, Isadora exclaimed in fright.

"Ms. Adria!"

 Duncan was shocked and speechless. The container had slipped from her very hand and had dropped to the ground, shattering into a million pieces. Only one drop of poison had dropped onto her arm, but the effect was enormous. Ms. Adria began to gasp for air, unable to breathe properly. Her veins visibly began turning into a beautiful, yet frightening violet.

"I'll call the ambulance," said Duncan, shaking.

"But there's no phone up here, and we don't know how the elevator works," explained Isadora. Ms. Adria had said something unclear, but Duncan was able to make out what she said.

"VFD!" he exclaimed. "That's what she said to get the elevator here, it must be the way out."

"Alright, I'll stay here, you go! Quickly!" replied Isadora. Duncan ran towards the elevator and entered.

"VFD!" he said quickly, running out of breath. The elevator went down and when Duncan was on the second story, he ran down the stairs and found the phone. He dialed the ambulance number and explained everything. In a few minutes the doorbell rang. Duncan ran towards the door and opened it. Before him stood medical personnel whom Duncan led into the Wilder Room. It was too late. Isadora was sobbing and Ms. Adria was lying unconscious on the floor. Even her plants became wilted. Duncan ran towards his sister and hugged her, frowning, as the nurses took Ms. Adria away and took samples of the poison. Duncan and Isadora were traumatized. It wasn't long since the death of their parents and now they had lost their very first guardian.