Seeds of Discovery (18 page)

Quinn giggled, and the three of them sat up slowly.

“I suppose it is time to put together something to eat,” William said.

“For sure,” Thomas answered, grinning. “Quinn, do you want me to get you something to change into?”

Quinn stood and nodded; she really didn’t want to stay in her wet clothes until they got back to the clinic.

Thomas rummaged through one of the saddlebags and pulled out a shirt and a pair of long shorts. Quinn recognized them from the bag Mia had packed for her. She looked at Thomas quizzically.

He shrugged, “I like to be prepared. You never know when you’re going to need extra stuff out here.”

“I could have helped you pack, you know.”

“You were busy with lunch. This is what I do. It’s why they bring me.”

Quinn sighed, slightly embarrassed at the idea of Thomas going through her bag. She couldn’t fault his intentions, though. “Um, where should I change?” she asked, looking around.

“What about over there?” William broke in, pointing to a stand of trees about fifty feet down the riverbank from them. “That’s probably about as good as you’re going to get. Want me to walk you down?”

Quinn thought about trying to change in the trees with William standing close by, and a wave of heat washed over her face. “Uh, that’s okay. I think I can handle it.”

It was shady and cool in the little cluster of trees. Through the leaves, Quinn could see the flowing water of the river several feet away. Getting chilly, she dressed quickly, blushing again when she discovered dry underclothes folded neatly inside the shirt. When she was dry and comfortable, she decided to take a few minutes to explore and enjoy the privacy.

She didn’t recognize any of the trees or plants here. They were certainly nothing like the ones in Colorado, most of which she’d known on sight for years. She was used to forest floors that were covered in pine needles, rocks, and pieces of bark, but here there was lush vegetation underneath her feet. Green grasses and leafy plants were everywhere, even in this dark, sheltered area.

There were flowers, too, in brilliant colors popping out of nearly every shrub. Quinn was fascinated by the deep purple and red blooms of one of the bushes, growing right at the base of a tree. The leaf-covered stems of the bush were beautiful as well, a very dark, glossy color that was almost black.

She couldn’t resist; the flowers were so amazing, and it had been such a fun day - a couple of blossoms would make a nice souvenir if she took them back and dried them. Maybe one or two would make a nice little secret gift for Annie. Quinn had already put a few rocks in her bag for Owen, who liked to collect unusual stones.

She gently pulled off two red and two purple flowers, careful not to damage the rest of the plant, and carried them out of the grove, blinking as she stepped back into the bright sunlight.

When she got back over near William and Thomas, she discovered that they’d both changed, as well. They’d laid out their clothes in the sun to dry, so she did the same with hers, though she hid her bra and underwear underneath the wet shirt. She set the flowers next to her clothes, and walked over to where the boys were sitting near the river.

“Hungry?” Thomas asked, holding out a sandwich.

“I’m starving, thanks,” Quinn accepted the sandwich and bit into it without even looking. She turned to Thomas in surprise. “Peanut butter and jelly?”

William laughed. “Not exactly, but the closest thing we have here. Nathaniel’s the one who brought back that idea years and years ago. It’s caught on.”

“It’s perfect for today,” Quinn smiled. “It would be even better if we had milk.”

“You’ll have to make do with fresh water from the river today.” Thomas told her.

She was in the middle of her second sandwich when she noticed William staring at her leg.

“What?” she asked him.

“I was just thinking that it’s probably about time for those stitches to come out.
it’s
been over a week, and your leg looks like it’s healing very well.”

Her eyes widened. “They don’t just dissolve on their own or something?”

William smiled, “We don’t use that kind for a cut on your leg. Those ones need taken out – it won’t hurt,” he added quickly.

“Are you sure?” she asked suspiciously.

William looked straight at her, a serious, sympathetic expression in his gray eyes that made her heart skip a beat. “Do you think I would tell you that if it wasn’t true?”

“Probably not,” she admitted quietly, thinking of the gentle way he’d treated little
Alyia
in the clinic.

And it didn’t. Quinn felt a few odd, tugging sensations as William gently pulled out the stitches, but it wasn’t painful at all. When he was finished, he applied some kind of oily salve from a tiny jar.

“You’ll need to keep putting this on for a few days,” he told her. “It will keep you from getting a scar.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” The smile he gave her was nothing that she would have ever expected from William Rose. It felt like the more she knew about him, the less she understood.

“Hey, Quinn! Will! Come look at this!” Thomas was several yards up the river, crouched down by the bank.

William and Quinn hurried over, and Thomas indicated that they should kneel down with him. Right in the side of the riverbank there was a little hole, and inside the hole were three tiny, fuzzy animals. They were obviously newly-born; their eyes were still closed. They slept, huddled together in a tiny, quivering ball.

“What are they?” Quinn breathed.

“They’re called river boles,” William answered quietly. “They’re kind of similar to otters.”

“Wow.” Quinn was fascinated. “Where’s the mother?”

“I’m sure she’s swimming somewhere nearby, looking for food,” Thomas replied. “She probably won’t approach while we’re standing here. She won’t want to call attention to the nest.”

They watched the sleeping babies for a few more minutes, before heading back to their picnicking site.

“We should probably be headed back to the village soon,” William said.

“Are you really ready?” Thomas asked him.

“Yes. The break was nice, but I need to get back.”

Thomas was starting to get the saddlebags back on the horses when Quinn heard him call her name in a strange, strained-sounding voice. William followed her as she walked over.

“Yeah, Thomas?”

“Where did you get these?” He was pointing to the purple and red flowers, lying next to Quinn’s drying clothes.

“Um, over in that grove of trees, when I was changing,” she answered, not understanding. Was it illegal to pick flowers here?

“Quinn, those are shadeweed flowers,” William told her, a serious tone in his voice.

Quinn frowned. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place it...

“They’re very poisonous,” William said. “Let me see your hands.”

The tone in his voice set her heart beating
faster,
she held her hands out to him, suddenly remembering the conversation about shadeweed from yesterday. She sighed; of course she would pick flowers from the one poisonous plant. “I... didn’t know,” she stammered.

“I know,” William told her, examining both sides of her hands and wrists carefully, though he didn’t touch them.

“It’s my fault,” Thomas’ expression was mortified. “I should have shown you...”

“Both of us are at fault, Thomas. I’m sorry, Quinn. But you look okay, no signs of a rash, at least yet. It’s usually not dangerous the first few times you’re exposed. Just keep an eye on it okay? Let me know right away if your hands get itchy or you see anything that looks like a rash. And don’t touch flowers like that again.”

Quinn nodded. Although she knew it was just her imagination, an overreaction to William’s warning, her hands felt just a little tingly.

Thomas handed her a small glass bottle he had pulled out of one of the saddle bags. “This is soap. Go and wash your hands and arms really well in the river. Wash the soap bottle, too.”

She blinked. “It’s that dangerous?”

William nodded. “The nectar from the flowers and the sap from the branches both dry into a soft, powdery substance that retains the ability to poison for months, sometimes longer if it’s in a closed space. You just want to make sure you don’t get it on anything else where it might stay. You should take a shower and change clothes again when we get back.”

“He’s overreacting a little,” Thomas said, “but still, we’d rather be safe.”

William followed her down to the river, washing his hands and arms too, worried that he might have gotten some on him while he was removing her stitches.

“Wow,” Quinn said, watching him scrub. The whole thing was making her stomach a little wobbly.

“It’s not actually that easy to pass from person to person. The oils in your skin dissolve the powder and activate the toxin. Only the powder can be transferred. I just think
it’s
better not to take chances.”

Quinn couldn’t argue with that.

“You should probably wash your legs, and your face and neck, too,” he added. “People usually touch those places with their hands without thinking about it.”

By the time they had finally finished, Thomas, ever efficient, had the horses completely loaded and ready to go.

The sun was low in the sky as the horses walked into the small, fenced field next to Mistle Village clinic. Thomas offered to take care of the animals so that William could get inside right away. Although they kept claiming that there was really nothing to worry about, both boys were insistent that Quinn’s hands and arms be examined again, as well.

Quinn was glad to see
Alyia
sitting propped up on pillows, holding a little cup with the stick of an ice pop poking up, but otherwise the little girl didn’t look too much better. The rash had now spread all over her left arm, too, and there was a painful-looking blister on her right cheek. Essie was sitting with her, and she waved William away.

Marcus and Olivia were both sitting on Marcus’ bed, giggling over ice pops of their own, which was a happy sight to everyone. Nathaniel and Jacob were in the kitchen, cleaning up from dinner.

Once he was reassured that things were calm, William took Quinn back to a little treatment room, where he could look at her hands underneath a lighted magnifying glass. “I’m really just being paranoid,” he said. “Shadeweed is not that dangerous with minimal exposure. The main concern is that the effects are cumulative. You’d be more at risk if you touched it again sometime and worse still if it happened again. Still, you need to keep an eye out for any kind of a rash in the next few days.”

Yeah,
she thought,
he’s so unconcerned he’s repeating himself.
“How long does it take for the rash to show up?” she wondered.

“It takes anywhere from about five minutes to several days, depending on the person.”

“Of course, the last time we used a plant from our world on you, look what happened,” Thomas interjected. “If you were going to get shadeweed poisoning, you’d probably already be unconscious.”

William chortled, but Quinn shot Thomas a dirty look. “It just causes a rash, right? Like poison ivy?” She had never been inclined to touch poison ivy on purpose, but she’d never been afraid of it, the way she already was of this plant the boys were obsessing over.

“No. The rash is not the biggest issue. The toxins from the plant can make people extremely sick. With several exposures and improper treatment, it causes terrible poisoning. It can even be fatal. Not that a rash is always something to take lightly,” he added, nodding his head toward the clinic door.

Quinn nodded. The rashes that some of these children had
were
serious indeed. “You don’t think their rashes are from shadeweed, do you?”

 William turned off the lamp and looked back at Quinn. “No, it’s impossible that those children could be sick from shadeweed. You saw it today; it’s a very recognizable plant. Even toddlers are taught to stay far away from it. And to get as sick as they are would require more than just accidentally getting into it. Besides, potential shadeweed exposure is one of the first things we ask about when someone comes in with a rash.”

“Right,” Thomas added. “Shadeweed poisoning is really rare. There isn’t any way that this many kids could be sick with it at the same time.”

She considered that. What they were saying made sense, but still… “What would you do if it
was
shadeweed poisoning?” she asked.

William sighed. “We would treat the rash the same way we’re treating the children’s rashes now. The poisoning has a separate treatment.”

“Have you treated any of the children for possible poisoning?”

“No, we haven’t.”

“What if you tried that? What would it hurt?” she wondered.

“The medication we use for treating the poisoning has risks of its own,” William told her. “For very mild cases, there is an oral medication. It’s mostly safe, but it can also make people feel awful for a few days, especially if several doses are needed. There are also greater risks with more doses.”

“It tastes completely horrendous, too. It’s a thick, brown, disgusting liquid,” Thomas told her. “You pretty much have to hold a kid down and force them to take a second or third dose, after that first one.”

She looked at him in surprise, “Have you taken it?”

Thomas nodded. “A lot of people have.”

“We give the medication the first time someone gets the mildest rash, as a precaution - I’d be giving it to you if I saw any signs of it on your skin.” William explained.

“And that experience keeps even the most adventurous kids from trying it again,” Thomas shuddered at the memory.

“I take it you were one of those adventurous kids?” Quinn teased.

“Would you expect anything else?” Thomas grinned back. “But even I only did that once. Nathaniel had to use one of those syringe-thingies to shove the second dose in the back of my throat. I was in the clinic throwing up the whole next day.”

Quinn felt a sudden urge to hide her hands behind her back, afraid a rash might decide to appear.

“In any case,” William continued, “the liquid is only effective in very early and very mild cases, but for a long time it was all we had. It was actually Nathaniel who developed a stronger, and much more effective intravenous form.”

“So can’t you just use that one?”

“It’s fairly painful - it stings,” William’s eyes were down, and he was pulling apart a piece of scrap paper that had been on the desk, “and the side effects can be pretty terrible. It clears the toxins from the body, but also depletes several important nutrients. People are often hospitalized for a week or more after the poisoning clears. It can only be used for so long, as well. There is a metal compound in the medication that can build up in the body if too much is used, or for too long. It’s serious stuff.”

“Basically, there’s no way we use the medication unless we’re absolutely positive that it’s shadeweed poisoning,” Thomas summarized.

“Does shadeweed poisoning ever go away without the medicine?” Quinn wondered.

“Yes. The acute symptoms can go away on their own if the patients are well-rested and hydrated, although they don’t always. The rash will also usually heal with topical treatment. The big problem is that the body doesn’t always completely clear the toxin. Small amounts of it can stay and then cause problems later, sometimes within several weeks, sometimes even months or years later. It can attack the central nervous system, causing blindness, deafness, even paralysis.” William’s eyes were tired.

Quinn was well aware that William knew much more about this than she ever would. She was sure he was right. But she couldn’t stop herself. “What
is
the difference between shadeweed poisoning and what those children have?” she pressed.

William’s eyes flashed annoyance, and he walked out of the room. Quinn gulped; she’d gone too far. “I didn’t mean...” she started saying to Thomas, but then William came back in. He set a thick, red book on the desk between them. He flipped rapidly through the pages until he found the one he was looking for.

Quinn and Thomas sat in silence for several minutes as William read. Finally, he looked up. “Nothing,” he said. “There is no difference between the symptoms that those children have, and the symptoms of shadeweed poisoning - except maybe that none of them are bad enough yet that their eyes have turned yellow.” He folded his arms over the book, and laid his head on his hands. “You’d better go get the others, Thomas.”

Nathaniel, Jacob, and Essie were all just as shocked and upset at the idea as William was.

“It’s not even possible!” Essie said, wringing her hands. “There is no way all of these children could have shadeweed poisoning. All of their parents told us that their children hadn’t been playing in the woods before the rashes appeared.”

“It’s too risky to treat them for shadeweed if that’s not what it is,” Jacob was adamant.

“Riskier than not treating them if it is?” Nathaniel asked quietly.

*          *          *

Quinn was awake before the sun the next morning. Nathaniel had ordered her, Thomas, and William to bed early the night before. She was surprised when she reached the clinic and found only Thomas in there. He sat in a chair in the middle of the room, reading a book. When he saw Quinn, he held a finger to his lips, and pointed over at
Alyia’s
cubicle.

She tip-toed over.
Alyia
and her mother were both curled up, asleep in the small bed. The difference in the child was obvious; the awful blister on her cheek had faded to a purple-red blotch, and the raised
red
sores over her face and arm had blended into the more tolerable-looking rash. The child slept peacefully, her breathing even. She was clearly not feverish.

Quinn looked at Thomas in surprise. He nodded and rose, indicating that she follow him into the kitchen.

“So, it looks like you were right,” he said quietly, once the door had closed behind them.

“I wasn’t trying to…”

“It isn’t something to apologize for, Quinn. It’s a wonderful thing to worry about other people’s feelings, but not at the expense of doing what you think is right. You were right.”

Quinn felt her cheeks turning pink. “Is everyone else still asleep?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah. Will was completely crashed when I came out here. I’m glad; he needed it. He almost never sleeps.”

She nodded; she’d noticed that. Every morning for the whole time she had been here, William had already been awake when she’d gotten out of bed. “How long have you been up?”

“I don’t know, a couple of hours, maybe? Jacob was in the clinic when I woke up, worrying over
Alyia
. I sent him to bed. Told him I’d wake him up if he was needed.”

She looked out the kitchen window. A thin strip of pink was beginning to appear right at the horizon. “A couple of hours? Do you ever sleep, either?”

“Sure,” he shrugged, “I have plenty of time for sleeping in when Will and Nathaniel are gone.”

She studied him for a moment.

“You miss them when they’re away, don’t you?”

Thomas paused, “Do you have any brothers or sisters, Quinn?”

“Yes. I have one of each. Owen and Annie.”

“Is one of them your best friend?”

“Not exactly. They’re both a lot younger than I am. But I love them both very much … And yes, I miss them.” Looking in Thomas’ clear gray eyes, it was obvious how much he loved his brother. She swallowed hard, thinking about what it must be like for him when William was gone for long stretches of time. A single school week for William in Bristlecone meant his missing fifty days at home.

What would it be like to be away from Annie and Owen for that long?

He squeezed her shoulder. “Want to help me get breakfast started?”

*          *          *

William must have really been exhausted; everyone had already eaten breakfast when he finally walked into the clinic. He went immediately over to
Alyia
, who was sitting up and nibbling at some toast. Quinn was just returning with a fresh cup of tea for Mrs.
Hawken
as Nathaniel followed him over.

“I just gave her the second dose a little while ago,” he told William quietly. “I followed it with a dose of your anti-nausea med; that seems to be helping.”

William nodded; his eyes were still tired. He stepped out of the
Hawkens
’ earshot to speak with Nathaniel more. Quinn couldn’t resist walking close enough to hear.

“Have you started the other children on the oral meds?”

Nathaniel shook his head. “We wanted to get breakfast in them first, and talk to their parents. Jacob is pulling together all the records of children who have been seen for this so far. They’re all going to need to be treated to make sure the toxin is cleared.”

William nodded, staring over at
Alyia
. “She’s so little. Probably need to start a second line. Need to keep her hydrated and replace the nutrients.” It was clear from the tone in his voice that he did not intend to do it himself.

Quinn watched William as he walked away from Nathaniel. His face was hard, unreadable. He disappeared into the small supply closet and re-emerged a few minutes later with a bulging leather bag, which he carried outside. Quinn looked at Nathaniel quizzically.

Nathaniel only shook his head. “Leave him be. We’ll finish doing what we can here this morning, and we’ll follow William to Cloud Village before lunch.”

Quinn frowned, “Follow him?”

“Yes. I’m certain that’s where he’ll be headed in the next few minutes.”