Green, Green, Red

"Poison?" Mina's eyes widen and she drops the cup she holds.

My reflexes kick in, and I grab it by the rim before it crashes to the ground. The punch inside sloshes over the top, dousing my fingers in red liquid.

Fear shoots through me, unsure if the poison can work through skin contact, and I set the cup on the table to wipe my hand off with a napkin.

"What did you do?" Haut growls, stepping toward the young witch.

"Nothing!" Mina's voice rises, her hands raised in self-defense. "I just poured it from the punch bowl! I swear!"

"Really?" Tris's eyes narrow on her. "Because you're the one who kept trying to get her to drink it."

"Rowe, you have to believe me!" She reaches out, then shrinks back when my mates close in. "What reason would I have to harm you?"

"Oh, I don't know." Tris sweeps a hand around. "Maybe because you have something to do with the failing barrier?"

"I…" She looks at her fellow witches. "I would never… Silver Hollow is my home."

Griffen, Levi, and Ezra catch wind of the commotion and push through the crowd forming.

"What's going on here?" Griffen demands, his gaze sweeping over the gathered werewolves.

"Someone's poisoned the punch," Aris supplies. "Or, at least, they poisoned Rowe's cup. The charm I gave her stopped her from drinking it, though."

"Nobody drink the punch!" Ezra orders, his voice firm and authoritative, and a murmur spreads through the other werewolves. "We need to check it for contamination."

He strides across the clearing, heading toward the drink table.

Griffen focuses on Mina, who cowers back. "How did this happen?"

"I was sitting here the whole time with Aris and Kaela, watching everyone dance." Mina's eyes plead for understanding. "I swear, I didn't do it."

"Watching people dance?" At Mina's nod, Griffen's face hardens. "Which means you weren't actually watching Rowe's cup the entire time."

"I… well, no, but I was right next to it!" Mina stammers, her face turning red.

"Jacob." Griffen turns toward Kaela's werewolf companion, who stands with a protective arm around the witch. "Did you see anything?"

The young werewolf shakes his head, his shaggy brown hair flopping over his eyes. "Sorry, Alpha." Guilt flickers across his face, and his arm drops from Kaela. "I was too distracted."

At his admission, Kaela blushes. "I was also distracted."

Griffen looks from them to the surrounding werewolves. Any of them could have slipped up to the table and spiked my drink, though Mina still seems the most likely culprit.

Ezra returns, a fresh cup of punch in hand, and he holds it out to me. "Test this one for contamination."

I take out my wand and dip the little potion bottle into the liquid. Instantly, it lights up green. "No poison. Everyone else is safe."

Tris grabs my hand. "Which means the poison was targeted at you."

"Let's check the others to be sure," Ezra suggests.

A dozen cups litter the table, and I check each one, receiving an all-clear until I reach Aspen's cup, where the charm turns red.

Fear roils in my stomach. Someone was targeting us. Realizing that Aspen has been unusually quiet amid all this chaos, I spin toward my mentor.

He rests in the same pose he took when I joined Tris on the dance floor, his head tipped back and his eyes closed.

"Aspen?" I call out, worry gnawing at my insides.

He doesn't respond, so I shake him gently.

His head lolls toward me, and in the flickering light from the bonfire, I notice a blue tinge to his lips.

Panic shoots through me. "Tris! I don't think he's breathing!"

By now, the rest of the partygoers realize that something's wrong, and the music comes to an abrupt halt.

Tris swoops in, checking for Aspen's pulse. "It's slow, but it's there."

I turn to Mina, Kaela, and Aris, desperation creeping in. "Do any of you have a spell to fix this?"

They exchange worried glances before shaking their heads.

"Maybe Phoebe with her ability to heal, or Lyra with her water magic could help," Kaela suggests, "but it will take time for them to arrive."

"We can call the town doctor," Levi says. "But…"

"Too long." I shove my hand into Tris's pocket, grabbing his phone.

Fear makes my fingers shake as I dial Mel's number.

"Wha… Hello?" she answers, her voice thick with sleep.

"Mel! Aspen drank poison and is now unconscious! What do we do?" I blurt out in a single breath, struggling to keep the panic from taking over.

"Rowe? Slow down. What happened?" Mel snaps to alertness, her grogginess gone.

"Someone poisoned Aspen," I repeat, fighting to remain calm. "He's unconscious, and we don't know how to save him."

"Listen closely. Aspen has a counter-curse tattooed on him for situations like this, but if he's not conscious, you'll have to activate it for him," Mel instructs, her voice steady and reassuring. "Lay him flat on his back and open his shirt."

"Got it," I say, motioning for Tris to help me.

Partygoers scramble to clear the table, and Levi helps Tris lift Aspen onto it. Tris rips open our mentor's shirt, revealing a canvas of tattoos across his torso.

"Uh, Mel? There are about a million tattoos here." Dismay fills me as I try to separate one from the other. "How am I supposed to find the right one?"

"Look for something that resembles a boob with a ring piercing surrounded by three circles, all within a larger circle filled with runes," Mel explains, her voice far too calm for this situation.

"Okay, a magical boob. Got it." I scan Aspen's torso, my eyes darting from one symbol to another, but they all blur together. "I can't find it! This is like a magical Where's Waldo!"

"Here." Aris leans over to point at a tattoo on Aspen's sternum. "This one's for poison. I recognize it because I used a variant of it for the charm you have."

"We found the boob." I poke the inked lines of the nipple, but nothing happens. "How do I activate this stupid thing?"

"Rowe, you're an ethereal witch." Strain tightens Mel's voice, but she remains steady. "You need to concentrate and feel the magic within the spell. You can do this."

"Right. Concentrating." I thrust the phone at Tris and hastily peel off one shoe and sock.

When I attempt to remove the other, the knotted laces refuse to come undone, and I give up, not willing to waste time. With my bare foot planted on the ground, I stand on one leg.

"Relax and take deep breaths," I murmur to myself. "Just like Aspen taught you."

Inhaling deeply, I reach for my inner Zen, or whatever Aspen is when he's not being a pain in my ass. My racing pulse steadies, and I close my eyes as I envision opening the door of a toaster, letting in all the magic.

Tingles rush up from the ground and spread throughout my body as I connect to the barrier above. My hair lifts in a breeze of its own, and I open my eyes as the silver lines flare to life.

Murmurs of awe come from the werewolves surrounding us, but I ignore them as I realize I don't need what Silver Hollow can offer.

I need Aspen.

When I turn my attention to my unconscious mentor, his tattoos shimmer with life. Beneath them, I see Aspen's energy fading as his heartbeat slows. I have to act fast, and there's no time to figure out how to let go of the barrier without losing the connection to Aspen.

"Okay, you magical boob, do your job," I mutter under my breath, narrowing in on the glowing green symbol Aris had identified.

As I reach out my finger to press against the tattoo, I imagine plugging in my toaster to give it power.

Magic floods the tattoo, making it blaze like a beacon, and Aspen's back arches, his body lifting off the table as his eyes fly wide open.

Startled, I jerk back my hand, breaking the connection.

He crashes back onto the table with a thud, then rolls to his side and throws up the contents of his stomach.

"Yeah, he's alive and puking," Tris tells Mel. "I'd say that's a step in the right direction. Thanks, Mel."

Aris peers over my shoulder. "Is he going to be okay?"

"You don't have to use the whole power plant to jump-start a body," Aspen groans as he falls to his back once more. "What happened?"

"Someone tried to poison you and Rowe. She caught it. You didn't." Tris helps him sit up and passes him the phone. "Mel wants a word with you."

Aspen cradles his head as he presses the speaker to his ear. "Yes, I'm fine… No, you don't need to join us here… Yes, I was stupid and let my guard down… No, the barrier is still standing."

His gaze flicks to me. "Put your shoe back on, Rowe."

Belatedly, I realize that the connection to the barrier still tingles through me, and I lift my bare foot off the dirt. When that doesn't make the barrier or Aspen's glowing tattoos vanish, I slam the door on my toaster.

The magic cuts off with a snap that leaves me lightheaded, and I sway. Haut's strong hands catch me, offering his solid body to ground myself against.

As I regain my balance, I flash Haut a grateful smile before turning my attention back to Aspen.

He ends the call and groans in pain as he swings his feet off the table to rest on the bench, his shirt gaping open. "Thank you, Rowe, for saving my sorry hide."

"Hey, all I did was press the magic boob." The joke falls flat. "How are you feeling? Any desire to keel over again?"

Aspen shakes his head, then lifts a hand to his head. "I'll be fine, thanks to your fast thinking. But we need to figure out who tried to poison us."

I hug Haut's arm around me like a teddy bear. "Is it possible the guy who attacked us before is behind this?"

Griffen frowns as his gaze sweeps over the woods. "I'd like to say no, but his scent has proved elusive."

"It wasn't masked at the gas station," Haut rumbles.

"Nor outside the hotel," Levi adds. "Also wasn't a wolf of any kind."

"Not sure it was a wolf we faced in the forest." Aspen's head lifts. "If we analyze the poison, it might give us some leads."

"Uh, there might be an issue with that." Tris points to the ground.

All eyes turn to the mess of empty red cups, scattered in our haste to save Aspen, the evidence of the poisoner long gone.