Secrets - part 1

"If she doesn't get it..."
"She'll get it," I hiss. "Relax."
Nick twitches anxiously. "She's been too long. Someone must have spotted her."
"No one has spotted her," I say patiently. "We'd know if they had."
Nick's eyes flick to the distress beacon in my hand. It's really just a branch taken from a tree - but a branch infused with magic. If Sophie was in trouble, she'd be able to let us know instantly with that.
"Kim... she's been so long in there."
"Has my sister ever let us down?" I whisper harshly. "Do you think she will now, when the stakes are so high?"
Nick reluctantly shakes his head. I turn back to the door, just visible through the leaves of the bush we are hiding in. Nick waits with me in silence. A spasm of pain goes through me, and though I try to stifle it, Nick sees it on my face at once. His hands clench.
"I'm going after -""
"Nick, no -"
Before either of us can move, the door opens and Sophie bounces out, laughing and shouting something over her shoulder as she goes. As soon as the door has closed, her face descends into lines of worry and her pace quickens. She walks straight into the street, vanishing among the houses around.
Nick and I carefully crawl backwards out of the bush until we, too, can blend with the late afternoon traffic. Sophie is waiting for us at Nick's house, just as we agreed.
"Do you have it?" Nick demands before even opening the door.
"Here," she says, holding out a small bottle to me. Without hesitation, I take it.
"Are you sure it's the right one?" Nick asks.
Sophie nods.
"What's wrong?" I say sharply, looking at her expression. "Did you have trouble?"
"We'll talk about all that later, just take the antidote," she says, waving her hands impatiently at the bottle. My stomach cramps up again and it is all I can do not to double over. Not needing to be told twice, I open the bottle and down it in one go.
"Better?" Nick asks anxiously.
"Not yet," I say. "Don't worry, it'll take time to work."
Nick leads me over to the couch and helps me lie down. "Get better," he commands, kissing me before pulling my head onto his lap.
"So what happened?" I ask Sophie.
"He wasn't really in the mood for visitors. I had to... distract him if I wanted to get it."
I close my eyes. "I'm sorry. I never wanted that."
"I want you alive, so it's a fair trade," Sophie says firmly. "Now, we need to deal with the real issue. Nick, focus!"
Nick has been staring at me, not taking in a word of the conversation. "Are you feeling better yet?" he asks.
"Yes," I say quickly, and am surprised to find that it is actually true.
"As I was saying," continues Sophie, "we need to find out why someone would want to poison Kim."
"It was probably meant for the queen," Nick says. "No big mystery there."
"If it was meant for the queen then how did Kim get it? The queen hardly shares her drinks with her servants, even ones she's had as long as Kim. No, this was deliberate."
Sophie and Nick keep discussing possibilities, seeming to get nowhere. In truth, I am not really listening. I know exactly why someone would want to poison me. That's not the question. The real question is how do I get them to stop digging before they get themselves killed?
I'll have to tell them the truth - at least some of it. The whole truth will get them killed just as surely as saying nothing. I'll have to pick carefully what I say.
I look at the two people who I trust most in the world and wonder if they know I am keeping secrets from them.

To be continued