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One of the Spartan Guards raced in carrying a case with a large red heart inset with a lightning bolt on it.

Behind him was Nikolett, held in the arms of one of her guards, who set her down near Colum’s feet.She balanced on her good foot, assessing them.

“What happened?”she demanded.

Xavier didn’t look away from Colum as he answered.“He was cleaning the page and he…he fell over.He’s not breathing.”

The guard with the AED pushed Xavier and Annie aside, but Annie regained control and started helping, grabbing the scissors from the kit and cutting Colum’s shirt open.

“Did you see anything?Smell anything?”Nikolett demanded.

“Sulfur, rotten eggs,” Annie said, as the guard stuck large pads to Colum’s chest.“But it was the cleaning putty?—”

“Poison,” Nikolett said immediately.She turned to the man who’d carried her in.“Do you have…”

“Yes, Admiral.”

“No shock advised,” the box announced in a mechanical voice.

That meant his heart was beating, right?Xavier fought to make sense of what was happening around him, but it was too hard to concentrate, his fear overriding his ability to reason, to think.

Nikolett gingerly lowered herself to her good knee, broken leg sticking out to the side.Her guard returned with a large kit, skidding to a stop beside her.

“What did he use?”Nikolett demanded.“Quick.”

“Cleaning putty and alcohol,” Annie said, voice tight.Xavier put his arm around her.She was shaking.

“Sulfur…” Nikolett looked at the guard.They spoke quickly to one another in an Eastern European language Xavier didn’t know.

And through it all, Eric grimly did mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, breathing for a dying Colum.

Nikolett pulled three things out of the kit.“Eric,” she said loudly.

He paused, glancing her way.

“Do you trust me?”she asked softly.

There was a heavy pause, before he said, “Always.”

“Then move.You’re in my way.”

Colum blinked several times,trying to focus his vision.However, clear vision didn’t help.

Where was he?

Wait a second.He knew this place.But…he couldn’t be here.It wasn’t possible.He was just at Triskelion Castle…with Annie and Xavier and Eric.

So how the hell did he get from there to here?

He hadn’t been in this cottage in well over a decade.Actually…Colum ran his hand through his hair…this was wrong.Everything here was wrong.

Because the cottage looked exactly as it did all those years ago, when Eric rented it from Colum’s parents.After Eric moved out, the place remained empty and fell into disrepair.The last time he’d been here, it had succumbed to the elements, the roof starting to cave in, dust and mold covering every flat surface, and a mountain of mouse droppings, thanks to one hell of an infestation.

Glancing around the room, he was transported back to his childhood, to the countless evenings he and Josephine had sat on that cozy couch, warmed by the fire, the room cast in orange flickers from the bright flames.They’d spent so many wonderful nights there, discussing books and politics and what they were learning in school, with Eric.

Eric had never treated them like children, always speaking to them as if they were equals.Rather than being dismissive of their thoughts and opinions like the other adults in their lives, Eric listened to things they had to say, interested in their comments, always following up with questions that made them think more deeply.The time he’d spent here with Josephine and Eric had influenced his future, and when he looked back on those evenings, it was always fondly, always tinged with the longing to spend just one more night with the two of them, right here.

Colum’s eyes scanned the overstuffed bookshelves, amazed to discover the same titles, all with their well-worn spines, the much-loved books read over and over.