Chapter 12: Death in a tumbler

As they whispered on, Zeke shrugged, then picked up the glass and brought it to his lips. Alex, who was facing him, desperately jumped forward in an attempt to stop him from drinking the fatal concoction. Her brother's quick arms, however, quickly blocked her path and brought her back to where she was standing.

"Wait, don't -" Alex managed to say before Justin's left hand unclutched her shoulder and covered her mouth. "Eeem - don't - mefmmfm - mooos" and a series of cautions, muffled beyond all intelligibility, were all Harper and Zeke heard at the other side of the room.

The scene was enough to draw Zeke's attention, he slowly pulled the glass back away from his lips, without having drunk from it, but still unaware of the danger it posed. Harper also broke eye contact with Zeke and shot Alex a "what's going on?" look.

Justin, feeling the pair of stares aimed in his direction, but not turning around, tried to alleviate the situation. "A - Alex!" He said, almost lovingly, "you gotta finish telling me this story before you go telling everyone. I want to be the first to hear it." His tone was hardly convincing, but the wizard siblings were known to frequently have strange sidebars the rest of the room was not privy to.

He leaned his head down to be level with his sister's ear. "Don't you dare stop him from drinking that," he whispered in an absolutely intimidating tone.

Alex, who was still facing the couple and seeing everything Justin was not, sighed at the sight of Zeke placing his drink back on the counter and resume his awkward "seductive" stare and pose with Harper. The prize boyfriend was safe for the moment. She was still trying to break free of Justin's hold and secure the boy's life. Figuring she would not get past Justin, she decided her best shot was quickly reasoning with him to prevent the catastrophe.

"Justin you have to listen, Harper alre-" Alex attempted to explain quickly, as fast as her tongue and lips would allow.

"I don't give a shit about Harper!" He cut in, getting emotional now. "I told you she doesn't deserve him."

"No, Justin, listen. You can't do this because Zeke has alr-" She tried explaining a bit more slowly and calmly now.

He interrupted once more, voice almost breaking. "I can do it! I can! And besides it's already done. Too late now to try to change my mind."

Alex saw Zeke's hand inching despairingly close to glass once more. Now knowing she could not reason with Justin, escape his hold, nor yell without being muzzled, she opted to mime a warning who was aware of half the situation.

She mimed a potion being poured into a container and then drinking it; pointing desperately to Zeke she put her hands around her neck in an alarmed choking signal. This was all she managed before Justin held her forearms down. Pointing at Zeke, who was now holding the glass, and signaling with what appeared to be facial tics was all she could do. But the charades only produced a quizzical expression on Harper's face.

The redhead, who misunderstood the signals as advice that she should talk to Zeke, unsurely approached him and attempted to start a conversation.

"So Zeke," she said meekly.

Zeke quickly put the glass back on the counter, comically restraightening his back and puffing out his chest. "Yeah?" he asked in his usual excited voice. "I mean… What?" he rephrased using a lower tone in a failed attempt to seem superconfident. The conversation went nowhere.

Alex couldn't take much more of the suspense. Neither could Justin, who was picturing the whole scene in his head.

Zeke began to feel thirst from his undeniable nervousness and the scratchy feeling in his throat after using a voice that was not his normal one. He reached for the juice and brought it mouth level.

Alex opened her mouth in an attempt to yell out a warning, but Justin anticipated this from the exalted look on her face and covered his mouth, ensuring the only audible noise was once again a muffled cry. Zeke's lips were once again on the rim of the tilted glass.

Alex bit down as hard as she could on the hand covering her mouth, breaking the skin on Justin's palm. As he yelled and cursed, she pushed him out of the way, lunged forward three giant steps, jumped, and tackled Zeke hard. As he went down, Zeke spat out the mouthful of juice that he had fortunately not yet swallowed. They both fell to the ground and Alex rolled off of him, still carrying the momentum of her epic leap. Justin jumped to them and helped Zeke to his feet.

"Dude, you okay?" he asked. Then, quickly turning and shouting, "Alex, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I'm fine, looks like you're worse off man," Zeke said as he rubbed his aching head and pointed at Justin's injured hand, which was now dripping blood. "So what is this, some kind of Russo tradition?" He unresentfully lent a hand to Alex, who was still on the floor.

"Yeah, it's called drink my juice and you'll get tackled," Alex said with a faint laugh.

"Fun," Zeke chuckled, still holding his head and grateful he missed the sharp edge of the countertop as he went down. "Anyway, I should get going before I get bitten. See y'all later." He left, confused. For him, however, confusion was not an unusual state in which to depart.

Justin was too furious at his sister to even say bye. His glare and puffing breath said it all.

Harper took it as a hint and also left. "See you guys, later," she said quietly as she ran down the spiral staircase.

"What the HELL is your PROBLEM?!" Justin repeated.

"Hey, listen, calm down. There's something that you have to know," Alex breathed, still a bit winded.

"What?" Justin asked, still shouting and ready to explode. "You already ruined everything. I guess you might as well tell me what the hell you did it for!"

Alex hesitated before saying, "Zeke has already had a dose of the potion. That's why he's in love with Harper." She avoided eye contact when explaining this.

Justin made the most enraged expression imaginable. He couldn't manage to speak. Then, his fiery gaze became weak and his eyes began shimmering and watering. He wiped at them with his forearm and retreated upstairs to his room.

Alex had never felt worse.


Author's notes:

1) I would not want Harper on my team for charades.

2) Do pardon my prolonged absence. I just moved to a new city and have been dealing with everything that goes along with that, but fortunately I am settled in now. Next chapter is in progress.

3) Please comment, be it positive or negative, I promise it's extremely inspiring (thus making updates more frequent!).