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“Are you threatening me?” He stepped closer, towering over me.
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m doing.” Holding my ground, I locked eyes with him.
I couldn’t back down. Lives depended on me to stop Neville’s stupidity.
I turned on my heel and stormed toward the hallway. “Come on, Cody. We have work to do.”
I marched to the lab. As I strode to the counter that ran the length of the wall, I tried to force my brain away from Neville and Na-lynied and shift my thoughts into scientist mode.
“Jesus, Layla, that was intense.” Cody’s eyes were wild.
“Get the equipment ready,” I said, ignoring his comment. “We need to work with the berries we found before they spoil.”
As much as I hated to admit it, Neville was right. I needed him, and we needed those berries. Burns victims were depending on us . . . on me. I couldn't let my emotions cloud my judgment.
As I pulled the Inocea berries from the sealed plastic bag in my backpack, hope bloomed within me. Two days ago, I’d produced a successful formula that worked. But only once. My four subsequent trials failed.
It had been in the middle of the night when I’d recalled Arninadaal’s comment that the berries began to die as soon as they were picked. All berries do to some degree. But these obviously deteriorated rapidly so we had to work fast.
As I set up my equipment, my excitement grew and the prospect of proving my theory was correct energized me.
Focus, Layla.Pushing aside the turmoil in my mind, I admired the plump berries. The bunches we’d picked contained about thirty vibrant, cherry-red colored berries with glossy skin and a smooth, almost perfect sphere. Studying them, I realized that the berries I used in my last batch had lost some of their shine, and shriveled enough to have softer edges and they definitely weren’t as red as these.
Buoyed with this revelation, I washed my hands, pulled on my gloves, and grabbed my medicine tray from the refrigerated cabinet.
Behind me, the door hinge screeched, and I shot my gaze to Neville. “Get out.”
“You forget who you are, Layla.” He narrowed his eyes at me.
“Fuck you.” I shuddered with fury.
He stepped closer. “Be careful or I’ll have you booted from here and you’ll never come back.”
“Right back at you, asshole.” Clamping my jaw, I glared at him until he pulled his gaze away.
I inhaled a calming breath. I couldn’t waste any more time or energy on him. I directed my anger into measuring my dry ingredients and furiously grinding them into a fine powder in a mortar and pestle.
As Cody used a blow torch to scorch a specimen of pig skin that we’d sourced from the villagers that morning, I extracted the precious juice from the berries with a syringe.
“Let’s hope this works,” I muttered as I added the juice to the thick, fawn-colored paste. Working quickly, I stirred the elements together, then used a spatula to spread the ointment over the pig skin. Under a microscope, I studied the result with my breath trapped in my throat.
This could be the breakthrough I'd been waiting for. My heart raced with anticipation.
“Moment of truth,” Cody said beside me.
“And?” Neville barked.
I stared at the specimen. The Inocea ointment shimmered, then turned a vibrant shade of purple. “It’s working.”
“It is?” Cody’s questioning tone was full of hope.
“Look.” I eased back for Cody to see through the microscope.
“It’s producing froth,” he said. “It’s working.”
“Are you sure?” Neville asked.
Cody stepped back for me to study the specimen again.