Author's Note: Yay! We passed 100 reviews, you guys! Thanks so much! That really made my day when I saw that I had 108!
CONGRATULATIONS TO MY 100TH REVIEWER: Omypineapple. awesome :D I grant you a magical cookie that gives you permission to sneak peek at Chapter 9. . . When I'm partly done typing it up, ha ha.
Side Note: So a lot of my reviewers are asking what happened to Max and what the fudge Lissa did to her. Ha ha, you'll see. . .
Disclaimer: I no own. JP own. Me? No.
Enslaved
Chapter 8: Mistress
Ella POV
Oh my gosh! What happened to Max? She was just fine a second ago but then she just collapsed! Was it something she ate? Or was it- Wait!
I gasped. "Lissa!"
She ran up beside me. "Yes, Miss Ella? What can I get you?"
"You," I growled. "You did this, didn't you?"
"Miss, I don't know what you're talking about," she blinked her aqua eyes innocently.
"Don't give me that," I snarled. "You did this to our new guest. I know of it. It was definitely something in that glass of lemonade you gave her to drink."
"Ella!" my mother snapped. "That's a very serious accusation! You know that Lissa's been one of our most faithful maids."
"Yeah," I grumbled. "Only because we have Fang and Iggy in the house. And once Gazzy grows up, he'll be one on them too."
My mother seemed to get angrier at my comment. "Ella! I don't know what's gotten into you lately but-"
"Nothing's gotten into me! Can't you see that Lissa's only here because of those three boys? She wants to date one, marry one even, just because they're good looking and have a fortune behind them! She must be jealous of Max because Max is more beautiful than her and has a heart of gold! She's just jealous of Max!" I screamed in frustration. I love my mom, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I just want to pull my hair out.
Lissa's eyes glinted with a flash. "If you want to blame anyone, blame the Mistress. She ordered this as soon as she saw Maximum with Master Fang and Master Iggy. She's the one who's jealous. I'm just her chess piece! I'd like to survive when-"
One of our other maids, JJ, slapped a hand over Lissa's mouth. She hissed into Lissa's ear, "This is an order from the Mistress. No matter what, we cannot tell the Martinez's about Mission X. Got that?"
Lissa nodded slowly in fear. My mother was confused about what JJ might have said, but I had insanely sensitive hearing. I could hear anything and everything as long as I was close enough.
Quickly, Lissa backtracked to her previous comment. "I'm very sorry for being impudent, misses. I shall be on my way." Before I could say anything, she turned on her heel and followed JJ upstairs.
Who's the Mistress? I furrowed my eyebrows together. As I thought, my eyes trailed down to the ground and back up, making its way around to examine the room. They fell upon Max, who was now resting in Fang's lap, as Iggy tried his best to heal her. He was the best healer in our family, funny enough.
I rushed forward to her and stopped right beside Nudge, who had started to tear up.
"Goodness gracious! What's wrong with Max? Is she okay? Oh my god, is this my fault? I wonder if she ate anything funny back at the station. I'd hate myself forever for doing that! I cannot believe-" Nudge was frantically whispering to herself. She rubbed her eyes distressingly and bit her bottom lip in frustration.
"Nudge," I laid a comforting hand on her back and rubbed it in soothing circles. "She'll be fine. Iggy's healing her, and the hospital people are on their way." I leaned in closer to her and whispered, "Personally, I think it was Lissa."
Nudge's head snapped up, and she looked at me with wide eyes. "Lissa?" She whispered, seeming to not believe me.
I nodded in confirmation and continued, "Lissa. Remember that glass of lemonade she handed to Max? I think she must've put some kind of poison in it. Not a really strong one that'll kill her, but one that'll cause her lots of pain."
"I cannot believe Lissa," Nudge growled. "Max hasn't done anything to her!"
"Me either. But we can deal with her later. Right now, Max needs us," I said. Nudge nodded, and both of us kneeled down to be beside Fang, Max, and Iggy.
"How is she?"
Iggy looked up at us with concern in his eyes. "We're lucky she's not dead." I sucked in a deep breath. When I get to Lissa...
"Whoever tried to poison her almost gave her an over dosage. A few more milliliters, and Max would've have a painful death. I think a few milliliters of strychnine was mixed into, maybe, a teaspoon of methanol. The strychnine caused her to stiffen up, but thankfully it's only a little bit. Any more of it would've made her die," he continued.
"Can one of you bring me that glass Max drank out of?" Iggy asked.
"I'll get it." Gazzy raced back downstairs to get. After a minute, he came back up with a cup in his hand.
"Here," he said as the cup slipped into Iggy's hand. Iggy slowly raised the glass to his face. I thought he was about to take a sip and nearly yelled "No!" But all he did was sniff it. Then he nodded as if he understood something now.
"The methanol in this probably gave her fatigue, headache, dizziness, and a second of blindness. The blindness made her vision to blacken out for a second before she collapsed," Iggy explained.
My mom ran in just at that moment. "The ambulence is on its way."
Thump!
Nudge gasped. Gazzy and I had looked up at my mother. Nudge glanced up at her for a second before staring back down at Max again.
Thump!
Max's legs and arms twitched. Her foot moved from the left to the right, each time hitting the floor and causing the loud thumps.
"Wha-what's happening to her?" I breathed out. I reached out to help her, and I noticed that Fang's grip around her waist tightened.
Iggy lifted up his hand and stopped me. "Don't worry-"
"Don't worry? Are you kidding me? Max just twitched and you're telling me not to worry?" I shrieked with frustration.
"It's an effect from the strychnine," Iggy sighed. "This is supposed to happen. As long as she gets treated before two hours are up, she'll be fine. Usually, if there was more strychnine than methanol in the drink, her arms and legs would spasm until her whole body is arched."
I winced. "Ouch."
"Yeah, ouch."
Red lights shone through our windows. The blaring of the sirens echoed off the walls.
"They're here!" Gazzy jumped up to go open the door with Mom following closely behind him. I watched as Iggy lifted Max up and carried her in his arms while Fang got off his butt. Fang then took Max from Iggy, and both boys descended downstairs. Nudge and I stood up, held hands to comfort each other, and ran after them.
I'm still suspicious of Lissa.
Author's Note: You like? I think the next chapter will be of Max in the hospital. Ha ha, I updated pretty quickly this time, eh? My 'I'm-on-a-roll' phase thing only lasted for, like, two days. LOL. Hopefully, I can post some more chapters before I start procrastinating again.
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