His shirt clung to his back and chest. His heart hammered as if it wanted to rip itself out of his ribcage.
He ran a trembling hand over his neck and collarbone. The black lines had already reached there.
They now covered the entire left side of his neck and were crawling toward his collarbone like living roots slowly, inexorably burrowing deeper.
The skin around them felt cold, almost dead to the touch. When Ethan's fingers brushed them, it seemed as though something was moving beneath the surface.
He sat in the darkness, breathing hard, staring at his own hand.
"I… can't do anything anymore," he whispered into the empty room.
At the same time, in the living room, Flash rose quietly.
Bruno and Gideon were both asleep, Bruno on the couch, Gideon in the armchair. Flash moved silently to the large metal case they had brought from Laurent's house.
"Container 47" stood in the corner. Flash glanced back at his sleeping friends, then carefully lifted the lid.
He had opened it using Maria's key card and Laurent's key.
Inside, nestled in soft fabric padding, were two glass vials.
One contained a bluish, faintly glowing liquid, clear, almost transparent.
The second held an almost black substance. It pulsed slowly inside the glass, as if it were alive.
Flash stared at the gray vial for a long time. His face remained completely still. He reached out, but stopped just short of touching the glass.
He simply stood there, looking. Then he turned toward the window.
Ethan burst out of the bedroom as if something had shoved him from inside.
The door slammed against the wall with a loud bang. He was breathing hard, his eyes burning with rage and despair.
The black lines now stretched across his neck toward his collarbone, and he no longer tried to hide them.
Flash stood by the window, staring into the distance, the open container still beside him.
"Where is it?"
"The wister… I need to go somewhere! Right now!"
Flash straightened slowly. A shadow of worry crossed his face, but he answered calmly:
"The vials are on the table. Take one…"
Ethan didn't ask which one. He didn't even look properly. In one quick stride he reached the table, grabbed the first vial he saw, and yanked the stopper out with his teeth. Of course he drank the one from the container.
"Ethan, wait…" Flash began, but it was already too late.
Ethan tilted his head back and poured the entire contents down his throat in one long swallow. The thick, viscous liquid slid down his gullet like oil, leaving behind a metallic, bittersweet aftertaste.
He drained the vial to the last drop, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and set the empty glass back on the table with a loud clink.
The moment Flash wanted to speak, he turned and froze. He stared at the table, then at the vial in Ethan's hand.
"No…" he breathed.
"Not that one!"
Ethan turned to him, still boiling with anger.
"What do you mean 'not that one'? You said they were on the table."
Flash stared at the empty gray vial as if it were a live grenade with the pin pulled. His face turned ashen.
"I said they were on the table, not drink any of them! You just drank what was in Container 47."
"The gray vial… that wasn't even wisteria. I have no idea what you just swallowed, and I'm afraid you've made another mistake!"
"Ethan, damn it, you could die!"
Ethan froze.
He slowly lowered his gaze to the empty vial, then looked back at Flash. A strange, almost childlike confusion appeared in his eyes.
"I… already drank it…"
Flash nodded very slowly.
"Yes. You drank one of the vials. The one you weren't supposed to touch."
"Oh God… oh God!" he repeated, now almost in a whisper, and his voice held a strange, almost insane note of surprise.
"I just… grabbed it and drank."
Flash stepped closer but stopped halfway, as if afraid to come any nearer.
"Ethan…"
Ethan didn't answer right away. He stood motionless, listening to the sensations inside himself.
His heart beat as if trying to push something thick and alien through his veins.
"I didn't see which one I took," he finally admitted. His voice was quiet, almost indifferent.
"I didn't care."
"I just wanted… for it to end. I need wisteria. I want to kill Gérard and I need to be ready!"