Teddy woke up feeling terrible. His arm was in a bandage, he was lying on the library floor, and his head throbbed as if he had a hangover. He noticed Kathleen sleeping on the opposite side of the room, so he got up quietly, not wanting to wake her.

What had happened? He wondered as he looked at the mud on the floor that the jeweler had tracked in and the scattered papers and scrolls she had rifled through.

"Teddy?" Kathleen was sitting up, rubbing at the corners of her bleary eyes. "Are you alright?"

He turned so he could see her better and smiled gently. "Aye. Thanks to you." There was no point in mentioning his pain, - she had enough to worry about as it was.

"Ughh. What an experience!" Kathleen exclaimed as she stood up. Her long black hair was frizzy and disheveled, like she had tossed and turned all night.

Teddy thought she looked beautiful nonetheless.

"Aye." He cleared his throat. "What took place, exactly, after she threw that needle at my arm?"

Kathleen recounted the evening's events while she folded the blanket she had been sleeping on. "She must have needed the necklace desperately. She didn't want to give it to us in the first place, but to come back to steal it?" Kathleen shook her head and Teddy could tell that she'd been pondering the issue for quite some time. "The jeweler may be malignant, but I don't think she works alone. Someone probably scared her somehow, and that necklace is her defense."

"'Tis a possibility." Teddy rubbed the back of his neck. "I wonder if Merlin will be back today with more information." He picked up a book and set it back on the shelf where it belonged.

It seemed like everything was waiting on Merlin. Teddy just hoped that the old wizard would indeed return, that he wasn't hurt...or worse.

"I am going to go change clothes." Kathleen announced. "We'll make breakfast after that."

Teddy nodded and headed towards his own room, anxious to take the bandage off his arm. As he unwound the cloth, though, it gave off a sickly scent that seemed to puncture his stomach. He sank onto his bed, nauseated and dizzy. The room began to blur as he was hit with wave after wave of fatigue. Not again, he thought to himself, moments before he blacked out.

He didn't awaken until mid afternoon. Teddy sat up slowly, ignoring the throbbing in his head, and looking around the room. Kathleen was sitting at the foot of his bed, reading, but she threw down her book the moment he stirred.

He expected her to be relieved and even joyful, but to his surprise she shot him an irritated look.

"You said you were feeling fine! You left me to worry about you, to try to do everything myself,-why didn't you shout or...or something." Kathleen's voice was strained and Teddy noticed that she was trembling. "Every time this happens, I fear that it is the last time, that you won't wake up." She cupped her head in her hands and Teddy was, for once, wordless.

A long silent minute passed and then Kathleen stood up abruptly. "Put on some clean clothes and meet me in the kitchen. I have a plan."

Without any further explanation, she threw his garments at him and stomped out of the room.

Teddy didn't dare disobey, so he dressed quickly and headed down the hallway. He had noticed that his arm had been cleaned; the puncture now small and inconspicuous. He thanked Kathleen the moment he walked into the kitchen.

"No problem." She said, teeth clenched. Teddy grabbed a chunk of bread and nibbled at it while Kathleen launched into her "plan."

"Since Merlin's still not back, we'll have to solve this ourselves. The jeweler is obviously back in town, so we start by looking for her again. We still don't know how Morgan fits into this, but of course we'll look for her too." Kathleen set a hand down on the counter, clearly determined.

"So, basically, we do the same routine we went through yesterday?" Teddy tried to keep the skepticism out of his voice.

Kathleen didn't meet his eyes. "Aye. We have to."

"Why?" Teddy didn't like the mysterious tone she used. It unnerved him; she was hiding something. When she ignored his question, he calmly repeated himself. Something was definitely wrong; it wasn't like Kathleen to act in such a way.

Finally her head snapped up and she smacked the counter with her palm in frustration. "We have to find someone who can help us, and we have to do it soon because,.." Her voice wobbled and she leaned against the counter for support. "Because if we don't find a cure, you will die."

Teddy's heart skipped a beat and Kathleen stared at the wooden groves in the table like they were the most interesting things in the world. "I analyzed that substance on the needle the jeweler used. I looked it up in some of Merlin's books this afternoon." Kathleen took another deep breath. '"Tis poison meant to enhance the effects of the necklace's curse. It will keep getting worse until..."

She stopped talking but Teddy knew what she had meant to say.

He bit his lip and tried not to think about what dying would feel like. Kathleen composed herself and put a hand on his shoulder, her voice much softer than it had been earlier. "Come on. You mustn't despair. We can find a cure. We'll hurry."

Teddy nodded. He really wasn't despairing, as Kathleen had thought; he was mainly just in shock. It wasn't everyday that his best friend told him he was dying.

The selkie sorceress moved about Merlin's house, gathering food and writing a note for their mentor in case he returned while they were out. Teddy decided that he had better make himself useful as well, so he quickly grabbed their cloaks and finished tidying the library.

As they left the house and started down the all too familiar path to the village, the sun began to dim, enveloping the landscape in shadows. Teddy was suddenly hit with the realization that his time was fading too, and he began to walk faster. He turned to Kathleen and put on a fake smile, saying the only thing that came to mind.

"Onwards!"