Meryn was about to reply when she gasped. "Hold him!" she screamed.
Etain watched in horror as Magnus sat straight up in bed
and reached for his brother. Had Kendrick hesitated even for one moment they may have lost Caspian.
"Immobiles!" Kendrick shouted freezing Magnus in place.
Everyone stared in horror as their normally kind prince snarled and hissed at them, baring his fangs.
Beth collapsed against Gavriel. "Oh gods! He's feral!"
"Look at his eyes," Vivi whispered.
Etain felt like he was going to be ill. Magnus' eyes were pitch black.
Vivi looked up at him frantic. "What have I done?"
*****
Vivi worked with Kendrick and Gavriel to get Magnus to lay flat. It took them ten minutes of freezing and unfreezing him to get him back under his covers. Every time he could move he tried to attack them.
Meryn sat beside Beth her arm wrapped around her. "S'ok Beth," Meryn reached up and patted Beth's forehead with the palm of her hand. "S'ok."
Beth gave her a teary smile. "Thank you for trying," she said reaching up to hold Meryn's hand.
Kendrick collapsed into a chair. "What just happened?" he asked looking completely wiped.
Vivi stared down at Magnus. "I know I gave him an even distribution of blood."
Kendrick pulled out his walkie talkie. "Code One. Code One. I repeat we have a Code One, all unit warriors report to your assigned locations. This is not a drill."
"What's a Code One?" Meryn asked.
"Emergency on Level One. Aiden and Adriel worked out the code system last week," Gavriel answered sitting down next to Beth lending her his strength.
Vivi turned to Kendrick. "Could the samples have been tampered with?"
He shook his head. "I had spells on top of spells to keep the lab and the samples safe. Nothing disturbed them."
Marjoram smoothed Magnus' blankets. "We need to move him to his quarters. We cannot run the risk of anyone seeing him like this."
Gavriel stood and pulled Beth to her feet. "Kendrick could you shield Magnus from view if I were to carry him?"
"Easily," Kendrick said getting to his feet.
Caspian wiped his eyes and shook his head. "No. I will do it. He is my brother." Broderick rubbed his back. "And we will help you," he added looking around the room for support.
"Of course we will," Marjoram replied.
"We need to go. Everyone will be heading to the Rioux quarters for an update," Gavriel advised them.
Vivi jumped when Etain wrapped an arm around her. She had been absorbed in going over every step she had taken, but she couldn't think of anything that would have caused this.
"Come along my love. We can discuss it further with everyone at Magnus'." Etain walked with her toward the door. Behind them, Caspian and Kendrick lifted Magnus from the bed. With Broderick manning the doors, they hurried as fast as they could to the resident quarters.
Once inside Caspian, Broderick and Marjoram kept going to get Magnus settled in his own bedroom. Etain sat them down in a love seat as Aiden rushed over and scooped up Meryn looking relieved. "I thought the Code One was for you," he whispered burying his face in her hair. When he raised his head, he looked at Gavriel. "What happened?"
Gavriel looked around the room. Everyone, including Avery and Warrick, was huddled in the antechamber. Sebastian looked completely shaken. Hal walked over, led the squire to a chair and made him sit down.