“What?” My heart flutters in my chest. “What do you think it was?”
Jack just shakes his head and crouches down next to Lindsay, who looks even worse than she did a minute ago. She’s doubled over, and now she’s mumbling something incoherent. I feel a stab of guilt in my chest. Lindsay was begging me to stay in the car with her. If only I had done it…
“Hey.” Noah touches my arm to get my attention. “You didn’t eat any berries, did you?”
Is that concern in his hazel eyes? “No. I didn’t.”
Thank God.
Lindsay is deteriorating rapidly. She’s becoming lethargic, and Warner is rubbing her shoulder, trying to get her to answer questions. I comfort myself with the fact that he’s a doctor. We’ve got a licensed physician with us—a surgeon. Even if Lindsay ate some poison berries, he’ll be able to save her.
“She’s losing consciousness.” Warner’s voice is even, but there’s a note of underlying panic. “We need to lie her down.”
Lindsay’s eyes are closed and she mumbles something incoherent. Jack and Warner lower her down onto the dirt, and she’s like a ragdoll. Her face looks really pale.
“What the hell did she eat?” Warner mutters.
“Could be elderberry,” Jack says. “But I’m more worried it could’ve been deadly nightshade. I’ve heard of that growing out here.”
I squeeze my hands together. “Nightshade?”
“The berries are sort of purple-black,” Jack says. “They look like blueberries a little bit. And if she ate that…”
He doesn’t complete his sentence. He doesn’t have to.
Lindsay’s body suddenly goes rigid on the ground. Jack takes several steps back, clearly shaken, but Warner stays close to her. I am frozen, watching in horror as Lindsay’s body starts to shake violently.
“She’s having a seizure,” Warner says. “This isn’t good.”
Well, duh.
The shaking goes on for what seems like forever, and when it ends, her body is completely limp. Her head falls to the right, and a glob of drool oozes from the corner of her lips. Warner places his hand on her chest, then lowers his head to the level of her mouth.
“Shit,” he says. “She’s not breathing.”
I clasp my hand over my mouth. “She’s not…”
I take a step back, watching helplessly as Warner performs CPR on Lindsay. I watch his muscular arms pumping against her frail chest. He counts quietly to fifteen with each compression, then puts two breaths into her mouth. Every minute or so, he stops and looks at her chest, then takes her pulse.
Thank God Warner is here. He knows what he’s doing. He’s going to save her.
Noah is standing beside me, watching with the same horrified expression that I must have on my own face. At some point, I feel his arm go around my shoulders. I barely notice it.
“She’ll be okay,” he murmurs.
“Does anybody have a cell signal?” Warner calls out, between compressions.
My hands are trembling as I pull my phone out of my pocket. I say a quiet prayer to myself. But it’s just as I thought. No service.
Noah has his phone in his hand. My eyes light up when I notice he has a single bar. But then he shakes his head. “No service,” he says.
I must be hallucinating. I’m seeing mirages of bars on cell phones.
Warner works on her for another ten minutes. I am frozen in place, watching him. He repeats the same process over and over. Compressions, breath, compressions, breaths, check for breathing, check for a pulse. Each time he checks, I hold my breath, hoping he’ll say she’s back. She’s okay.
But then he collapses onto the dirt beside her. He put his hands on his knees and stares down at her, his eyes glassy. “I think… she’s gone…”
“Gone?” I cry. “What are you talking about?”
Warner lifts his watery eyes to look at me. “She’s dead.”
“No!” I squirm away from Noah and drop down beside Lindsay. I pick up her limp left hand. “That’s not possible! All she did was eat a few berries…”
“If it was nightshade—” Jack says
“Shut up!” I scream. “The only reason she ate those berries is because we’ve been lost in the goddamn woods for hours! Why can’t we find this stupid inn? Why can’t we…”
I can’t even finish my sentence, because I’m crying so hard. How could this be happening? We’re supposed to be lying in the Jacuzzi now with a glass of bubbly. Instead, we’re lost in the woods and Lindsay is dead. Dead! How could Lindsay be dead? She’s my best friend! My college roommate. My maid of honor. The children’s godmother. She was so young and healthy and…