Thomas was panicked, he didn't know what to do. He managed to free himself from Calhoun's death grip and slid under the bed. Simon and George entered the room at that time. They found no one there.
"I told you he wasn't in here. You always fail to listen and did you forget that you are not the king's right-hand man? Just his doctor, your job is to sit by his side, administering drugs to keep the symptoms at bay while I go fetch the cure." George said angrily. "You all just seem too eager to assume your position now that the king is indisposed. I wonder what you all would do if he were to be dead. Perhaps a fight and a war would break out to select the new Alpha."
"That's insensible, the beta is to come in after the alpha," Simon said. "No one is dragging the position with him."
"Of course," George said. He turned and left the chamber. Simon stood for a few more seconds, watching Calhoun's peaceful body lie stiffly. He wondered if Calhoun was seeing anything as he slept. Perhaps he was trapped in his dream.
"Hm." He exhaled. He narrowed his eyes on Calhoun's body. Perhaps the king was pretending as well? Well, he would be able to figure it out when he spent time with the king. Six days would be enough to know if Calhoun was only pretending. He slowly left the chamber.
Thomas waited a few more minutes after Simon had left before he finally came out from under the king's bed. He walked around and he noticed that Calhoun's eyes were open a little. He bent over, Calhoun was indeed awake, staring at him.
"My king..." Thomas whispered in shock. "What happened?"
"Poison," Calhoun whispered weakly. The more he tried to focus his gaze on Thomas and speak to him, the more he felt weaker. He was only able to store up a little strength.
"Go to the dungeon," Calhoun said. "There's a small gate that is quite invisible."
"If you can open it..." He exhaled softly. "... You will find a green vial."
"Get it to me, as quickly as you can. I don't know for how long I can keep my eyes open."
Thomas nodded and made haste to leave. He heard a faint whisper and he stopped and returned to Calhoun's bed.
"If by the time you return, you find that I'm guarded, or have returned to this darkness... Keep the vial with you, protected."
"Make sure, nobody sees it.".
"Guard it with your life, Thomas."
"That is your king's life as well."
Thomas nodded. He finally left. Calhoun could feel the rest of his strength leave him and he fell back into deep unconsciousness.
Thomas left the king's chamber to return to his room first. If he did anything, he would be under suspicion. He had to tread carefully this time around. He couldn't afforz6d any slip. Since there was an option for coming late, he would rather get the vial late and hold it for when the king would wake up again than try to get it to him hurriedly, he would lose himself, and lose the vial as well. As of now, nobody in the castle was to be trusted.
He heard some commotion in the castle's hall. He had to verify. Coming out, he found a lot of people in the castle. He could recognize Felix and Evander. But the people with them? He couldn't recognize them and somehow he felt protective of the castle. Anyway, he decided to just be the king's eyes and ears for when he would recover.
He walked over to George who stood by the side as well.
"Who are all these people?" Thomas asked nonchalantly. "Why have they all come around?"
"These are the families of beta Felix and gamma Evander. Then those two over there are Calhoun's cousins, his uncle's children."
"What about their parents?" Thomas asked. "His cousins I mean? What about their parents?"
"They will be on their way I guess. Word sure does travel fast in Wisteria." George said, keeping his gaze fixed on a certain person who stood afar off.
Thomas could trace his gaze and he found him staring at Patricia. He thought the woman was still in chains. He smirked to himself. So far, he had three potential suspects; Simon, Patricia, and George. How could either of them do that to the king? Or how could all three of them be linked to this poison accident? He kept his questions to himself.
"So, how then do they know what has happened to the king?" Thomas asked. George turned to stare at him.
"How did you also find out?" George asked. Was Simon right about him being a snooper?
"Don't look at me that way. Do you think words could fly out of the castle without spreading in and around it?" Thomas asked. "To answer your question though, Simon doesn't know proper ethics."
"What? That's the best werewolf doctor in and around Wisteria." George quickly defended.
"Of course," Thomas said, offering him a smile. "He could know how to treat people and wolves, doesn't mean he has good manners. They are two different things, George."
Shaking his head, George skipped back to his question. "Just tell me, how did you find out?"
"Simon was arguing in my room about the king's illness, I don't know who he was talking to since I was bathing," Thomas said. "Seeing these multitudes of people here only confirms that there is something wrong with king Calhoun."
"Hm." George hummed. "You expect me to just believe you?"
"You asked, I answered." Thomas shrugged. "It's in your place to decide if you want to believe or not. You could also ask him and have him tell you who he was arguing with, the person seemed to have such a mighty hold on him too."
George scowled and returned his gaze to the direction they had been. She was no longer there. He used his eyes to search for her and couldn't find her anywhere in the hall. Simon was missing and so was his family. He turned to stare at Thomas whose gaze was anywhere but on him.
"Excuse me, I think the castle has become too congested for my liking... I need some fresh air." Thomas said, walking out of the castle. George narrowed his eyes at Thomas's retreating figure.
Felix approached him. "Quit staring at nothing George, why are Calhoun's cousins here?"
"How should I know sir?" George asked in return. "You and Evander are the ones who went out of the castle after having heard of the king's illness, how come I'm the one being asked?'
Felix took the not-so-subtle accusation. "I will assume you had simply spoken out of line, and you are sorry about it. I shall forgive you this once."
"I want you to know, George, I am not Calhoun. I am Felix. Not the Alpha, the beta. If you will not behave yourself, I shall have you hung when the king wakes up."
"Good Luck with that," George said and left.
Felix stood there, staring at George, walking out on him. He felt insulted. A soft hand landed on his shoulder, caressing him softly.
"Calm down my dear, don't get upset over that lowly servant."
Felix sighed softly. He turned to his wife, he felt appreciative to have her around him.
"Thank you, darling."
"Good, now let's go to the room which has been prepared for us. I did hear a servant say she prepared two rooms. One for us and one for the kids."
"All our kids? In one room?" Felix asked, scowling softly. "Do they accept it?"
"They wish to return home, Felix. What shall we do?"
"If they wish to stay home then let's allow them. They are of age anyway." He said, shrugging. "Just tell them to be careful and stay safe."
She smiled and nodded. "I'll go and inform them right away."
Felix allowed her to leave together with Evander's wife.
"Evan..." Felix called. "Something is wrong."
"What?"
"I don't know, I have this gut feeling like something very terrible is about to befall Wisteria."
Evander exhaled sharply. "Honestly Felix, I have felt it too. And I won't say I am not expecting it. From the minute I heard of the king's illness, I could already tell that something terrible was about to befall Wisteria."
"It can only happen now. Firstly, how did everyone get to find out about Calhoun's illness? I thought we were supposed to manage it among ourselves."
"I asked George the same thing," Felix said, shaking his head lightly.
Evander looked up. "What did he say?"
"He accused us instead," Felix said. "He said, we are the ones who have gone out of the castle since the news of the king's illness. He has been inside the castle so how then do I ask him?"
"That bratty fool!" Evander cursed. "How can he accuse us so quickly?! What if he is the traitor? Does he think the king doesn't already know who was in this?"
"It's surprising that there is a chance it's him or the slave girl. But either way, we all know that the perpetrators will not go unpunished." Felix exclaimed, balling his hand into a fist.
Evander nodded. "I feel so bad for the king. He has to remain in such a bad position for such a long time. I do hope the antidote can be found soon."
"He did say something about the king's wolf being affected too." Felix suddenly remembered. "Simon I mean. He mentioned that, didn't he?"
"Of course he did. I can remember clearly that he said so." Evander said. "That will be very bad for us as well."
"Yes, very very bad."
Evander rubbed his temples. He had never vied for the throne and he never wanted it. Wisteria was a tough place to rule even though it had the most peaceful people. You would wonder why it was so difficult to rule them, it was mostly because the other towns would never stop pointing accusing fingers at the throne. It wasn't because Calhoun Montego sat on the throne, it was just because the Wisteria pack still existed as the strongest pack ever.
"Let's go and check on the king, shall we?" Felix asked. Evander nodded and together, they went up to the king's chamber.
Thomas had walked around the castle and he finally slipped into the dungeon. He went to the last floor which was about seven floors into the ground. The place was so dark, if not for his special vision, he wouldn't have been able to see a thing. He wondered why the king would hide something down there. Perhaps because no one in their right mind would want to go down there.
He went further into the deepest part of the dungeon until he reached the end. Truly, there was a small gate there. Thomas grabbed the lock and found out that it was locked. How was he supposed to open it?
"If you need to open that, you have to kill the viper that guards it. You are not king Calhoun so it will never give the key to you directly." A voice said from the side.
Thomas, gripped by fear, turned so fast, he could hear a slight crack in his neck.
"Easy, easy. I'm not a foe." The voice said again. "Perhaps a friend."
"Who are you?" Thomas asked.
"If you will tell me why you want to get the king's most-prized treasure, I will tell you who I am."
"I only want to help the king. He's dying, and he asked me to get the vial for him."
"Calhoun is dying?" The voice came very ragged and became scary. Thomas instantly had a gut feeling that he had done something terrible.
"Who are you?" Thomas inquired. "You have to say who you are." The viper came out and was about to sting Thomas but the man was quick to grab the reptile.
"Please viper, I know the king had ordered you to never allow anyone in here, but he's dying and I need the vial in there," Thomas said. The viper hissed at him severally, and Thomas was confused.
"He's asking you to tell him a word that would make him believe Calhoun sent you." The other man said, retaining the mocking smirk he held.
Thomas was at loss. The only thing he knew that could affect Calhoun was... "Diana?"
The viper began to gag and a shiny gold key fell out of its mouth.
"The viper's saliva can maintain gold and silver objects." The man said again. "Go ahead and get what you need to save your king, I'm waiting."
Thomas reached out and grabbed the key from the ground where it had fallen. He unlocked the gate and took out the vial. Immediately he raised it, the man snatched it from his hand.
"Hey! Bring that back!" Thomas growled.
"You don't want to see what I am too." The man threatened and his eyes began to glow in the dark. Thomas could feel himself become Wesker.
"Who are you?" He asked again.
"They call me Yara." The man said and burst out laughing. Thomas wondered who that was. But he was too weak to do anything, he could only watch as the man-made away with the vial he was supposed to protect with his life.
He could feel the viper crawl over his body and into his coat.
It could as well kill him now, after all, he lost the vial.