The Starling Saviour

Chapter 70

'Is it safe?' I checked precariously. 'I've had a bad history with pills.'

'If you have a problem with them, fight the pharmacist, not me,' Adrian laughed lightly before he left to the door. 'See you soon, Aria.'

Adrian advised to take the pills before I went to sleep, and so that night I did just that, popping one of the white, powdery pills in my mouth. They tasted familiar, as if I had encountered them before, my eyes starting to go blurry and my pulse accelerating.

This wasn't any natural remedy I had heard of.

The lamp beside my bed was the first thing I noticed spinning in the corner of my eye, the light it was emitting now completely blurry as my eyes tried to regain focus, the whole room now spinning with me. Standing up, it was almost like I could hear beautiful music, the world seeming so much more beautiful now. I had no worries, no pain, and no flashbacks anymore.

I felt invincible.

Stammering backwards, I fell back onto my bed, a small note falling out of the pill bottle along with the only two that were left in there. Why had the bottle been barely filled? What pills had Adrian given me?

Unrolling the note, I read the madly scrawled handwriting inked on the paper. It read 'Courtesy of the Count', followed by an address in the bottom half of the paper.

Vertigo. Not again. But the feeling was so good, and I couldn't deny that I loved the buzz Vertigo gave.

And I needed more.

I quickly took the final two pills, my hallucinations becoming more extreme, as though the world around me was a beautiful place filled with fairy lights and brilliant colours. I may not have taken what I had intended to, but this rush felt better than any natural remedy could conjure up. The lights in the hideout guided me, leading me outside and plunging me into the darkness of the night. I traipsed along the road, the street lamps twinkling in my drug-fuelled mind, showing me the way to my destination, the address the Count had scrawled on a small piece of paper for me.

---

I woke in a cold sweat as the spring sunlight shone down on me, my whole body jolting as I suddenly tried to get my bearings. I was laying in an alleyway, crumpled, my clothes and hair a mess. I had been out cold for the whole night, the Vertigo virtually knocking me out when my high had plummeted. Still disorientated, I took a few breaths to pull myself together, great tremors affecting my hands and my balance as I attempted to stand up. I was unstable, and my body craved Vertigo.

I found the Count's note against the palm of my right hand, and I soon remembered why I had been venturing around the streets of The Glades in the dead of the night. The Count had certainly delivered; I was addicted to his poison, and this time, Malcolm probably wouldn't interfere after I had ordered him not to last time. I clambered to my feet, looking for the direction of the address, but I was still confused and had no idea where I had ended up, leaving the alleyway to find a road with one or two buildings scattered in front of me.

Vaguely recognising the area, I saw a small house just opposite me, its resident just outside the door in his signature red hoodie. I was looking at Roy Harper's house. But which part of The Glades did he live in? I was unable to find a street sign, so I slowly walked towards the part of the road that wasn't a dead end.

'Er, hey!' A voice shouted behind me, slightly laced with concern.

I turned round hesitantly, finding Roy walking towards me, looking like he was trying to figure me out.