Page 69 of Skinwalker's Bane
He took a big gulp of it when she handed it to him, then looked at it in surprise. “Good,” he muttered. “Thank you.”
Devin nodded and went to her favorite corner of the sofa. Adam was already sitting in the middle of the sofa, which put him right next to her. She gave him his cup and sat down.
“Is this about the stuff that Corin tried to give me?” Adam asked.
“Bellish,” Peter said flatly. “It’s called Bellish.”
“It has a name?” Adam asked, sounding both amused and surprised.
Devin resisted the need to ask what they were talking about. She would ask Adam later. Instead, she concentrated on unravelling what Bellish was from the clues and inferences they left as they spoke.
“I suppose it comes fromembellishment,” Peter said.
“As in, all your senses are embellished? I suppose,” Adam said quietly. “What about the stuff? Did you test Lincoln’s samples?” He glanced at Devin and she thought she could see apology in his eyes.
Peter sighed and sat, very suddenly, on the square Ottoman, the glass cradled in both hands. “It eats away at your brain, did you know that? No, of course you don’t. Why would you? I only just found out myself. If you stop taking the stuff, it doesn’t just kill your reactions and response time and give you the mother of all headaches. As well as that, the absence of Bellish, the withdrawals, actually make your brain cells crumble, because they’re not being propped up anymore and they forget how to work by themselves.” He swallowed. “This stuff actually destroys your mind.”
Adam drew in a slow breath and let it out. “Stars and shipyards,” he murmured. “Did you tell Hadyn this?”
Devin couldn’tnotspeak. “And Lincoln was on this stuff?”
Peter’s gaze shifted to her. “You knew him?”
“A little,” she said carefully.
“Then you’d probably know better than me,” Peter said. “Me and Adam, we just lived with him and neither of us guessed. Although how in the stars he hid it fromanyonebeats me. The headaches alone…I’m not talking about your average brain ache, here. I’m talking about pain so bad, you’re afraid to move, when light hurts to look at and you want to throw up if someone talks too loudly.”
“He was using it?” Adam asked.
Peter shook his head. “He was tryingnotto use it. The amount in his samples…it wasn’t enough for an active user. I think he was trying to wean himself off.”
“Without telling anyone,” Adam breathed. “If the symptoms of withdrawal are as bad as you say, then he was outside with us and barely functioning. Peter, Haydnhasto know about this. You have to tell him.”
Peter gripped the glass even tighter. “The thing is,” he said. “I invented it.”
Devin gasped.
Adam just looked at him. “No,” he said, his voice firm. “I refuse to believe that.”
“Remember I said the chemical breakdown felt almost familiar?” Peter asked. “That’s because itwas. The base component…it’s mine. It’s something I was fooling around with, years and years ago.” He looked wretched.
“Basecomponent,” Adam repeated. “Then it’s been altered since you built it?”
“By someone with no soul and no morals,” Peter said. “The stuff was already wicked when I finished with it. The addictive quality, the stimulation to the cerebellum…I tried to minimize those and when I couldn’t, I shelved it. Someone got hold of it, though, and they were ruthless. They maximized the effects of Bellish, with zero regard for what it would do to the user.” He swallowed. “I had the project locked away. Someone must have got to it. It’s not like I sealed it with bio-seals. It was just normal security. There are very few people who would give a damn about my projects. That’s the other thing. I’ve never hidden what I do in my spare time. Maybe someone thought poking around in my archives might be useful.” He sighed. “This is my fault.”
“No, it’s not,” Devin said, using the same firm tone as Adam. “You didn’t leave it lying around for anyone to pick up and even if you did, it would take someone with the same skills as you and no heart to do what they did, which limits the number of people who could do it. It’s just an unfortunate event, that’s all.”
“Is that why you’re here instead of telling Haydn about this?” Adam asked.
“I had to tell someone. You seemed like a good half-way step,” Peter said. “No offence.”
Adam shook his head. “Call him. Now. You know you have to. You call him and I’ll get ready.” He got up.
“Where are you going?” Devin asked. Peter also looked surprised.
“This stuff has a name, which means it’s circulating through the ship, although how it has done that and remained unknown to most people for so long is another mystery we’ll have to clear up later,” Adam said. “For now, we know that Lincoln was hooked on it and it probably killed him. Who else is in danger? We have to make sure skinwalkers are safe. Peter, whatever test you devised to check Lincoln’s samples, we’ll have to use on every skinwalker and every Droolie and every trainee. Everyone in the Institute will have to be tested, too. Then we’ll know who needs treatment and support.”
“You wouldn’t just fire them?” Devin asked.
