They were almost at the beach where they had left the men, the same direction the scream had come from. Amanda shared a glance with Sirius and then they both broke into a run. With his extra height Sirius reached the beach a little before Amanda did. By the time she got there he was already pushing his way through the crowd of men who were gathered around something in a circle. Agonizing cries were coming from the middle.

“It fucking bit him!” Amanda heard one man explain.

“Which one? The brown fang?” Amanda heard Sirius ask.

“Yeah.” Amanda heard another reply, but by then all the men were talking at once.

“Well what do you expect from a man who puts coconut on his ankles.”

“Serves him right.”

“I saw it scuttle off into the bushes, over there.”

“What are we going to do? There’s no antidote!”

“See! The island is cursed!”

Sirius held up a hand and they all fell silent. He was easy to see over the heads of the shorter men. He pointed at the first man who had started talking. “What happened?”

“Billie was picking bananas…”

“No, he was carrying them,” interrupted another.

“That’s the same as picking,” replied the first.

“No it ain’t.”

“That’s not important,” Sirius interrupted. “What bit him?”

“The brown fang,” replied one man this time.

“Yeah,” agreed another.

“Yeah,” agreed two more.

“There’s no antidote,” repeated a forth.

“We’ll cut off his foot then.” Shiv held up a knife as the calamity of everyone talking at once started up again.

“Poison’s already got through,” rebutted another.

“How’s he gonna sail with one foot?”

“If he even survives.”

Amanda tried to peer through to the man on the ground but there were too many bodies in the way. She glanced up at Sirius’ stern thoughtful looking face through the gaps between the others. He wasn’t bothering to quiet them yet, he seemed to be thinking up a solution first.

Except there wasn’t one, no antidote. But that wasn’t right. That didn’t match Amanda’s memory of that entry in the book. That section hadn’t been blank. But what had been there? She closed her eyes tight and when she opened them again she knew what she had forgotten before.

She pushed her way forward into the crowd. “Wait!” she cried, struggling to be heard or move forward. “There is an antidote.” She repeated it twice loudly just for good measure but at first it seemed like no one heard her. They were all too busy shouting themselves, except one.

“Let her through,” a voice barked, and the whole beach fell silent. The men parted like the red sea at the captain’s command and she could finally see Billie lying on the sand, face twisted in agony, hand clutching at his newly bound ankle. Someone had wrapped cloth tightly around one foot in a weak attempt at a tourniquet. Not tight enough though, she could see it from here. But it didn’t matter because she knew how to fix this.

“What did you say?” Sirius asked her.

“There is an antidote. I remembered. I read about it in my sister’s book.”

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A ripple started in the group again but Sirius held up a hand and it never rose above a low hush.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Belladonna.”

The ripple in the group rose and fell but it kept quiet. She heard some sounds of joy and others of frustration. She could guess why. Their ability to administer this antidote depended on whether or not they had it. Amanda hadn’t considered until now that knowing the answer just might not be good enough.

“Do we have any?” Sirius asked the group.

Amanda held her breath. The group was silent.

Finally the big blonde haired guy that Amanda knew as Crick spoke up. “Pierre has some.”

Pierre, a smaller, skinnier man who stood beside him shot him an annoyed glance then he looked guiltily over at Sirius.

“I’ll ignore the drugs Pierre if it helps save a mans life,” Sirius told him. “Do you have belladonna or not?”

“Yes, but it’s on the ship, it’ll take time to get it, even now we’re running out of time.”

“Can you describe where it is to Benny?” Sirius asked.

Recognition crossed Pierre’s face and he nodded enthusiastically.

Amanda wasn’t sure what they were doing but she watched as Pierre described where he kept his belladonna in great detail. Nothing was left out. Pierre described his cabin, the small bedside table, top draw, red velvet pouch, needle and vial. He gave a precise description of quantity and when Benny frowned another man used his fingers to demonstrate the same in a more physical manner. A small amount for those unfamiliar with the extract and its potency. Amanda had tried it herself once before, although that had been in a different form. It had been a favorite past time among some teenagers to disappear into the woods, gather around a bonfire, and imbibe the drug.

A few feet away a couple of men were attempting to reassure Billie. He had pulled himself into a tight little ball and one hand now clutched at his chest instead of his ankle. The other hand was giving little twitches and as Amanda moved over to check he was still breathing she noticed the twitches affecting his other muscles too. She glanced back at the group huddled around Benny, willing them to hurry at whatever it was they were doing.

When they had thoroughly described everything to Benny she heard one of the men ask. “Okay ready?”

Benny nodded and look of great concentration come upon him. He held his hands out in front of himself palms in the air. Then poof a book appeared in his hands. Well half a book technically. So, he was a summoner.

“No, that ain’t it!” Pierre exclaimed.

“Hang on, hang on, I’ll get it this time.” Benny insisted handing Pierre the half book.

Pierre frowned and examined the page where the book had been cut in half. From what Amanda knew of summoners they needed a pretty good visualisation and knowledge of the location of the thing they wanted to summon to them. The further away it was the harder it was to bring to them. And no summoner, well very few, would risk summoning a person because if summoning went wrong sometimes only half the thing would appear, leaving the other half behind.

She gave another worried check at Billie. He was still breathing for now and he didn’t seem completely paralyzed yet. The muscle twitches continued and as she watched he vomited onto the sand. The snake injected something like a nerve agent, slower acting than gas but still fast enough to kill within an hour. The men had turned him on his side and one was holding his head gently.

“Is he going to be alright?” one of them asked her, evidently now recognizing her as an expert given her knowledge of the antidote. She didn’t know enough to be sure though. How fast did it need to be given? But she did know the first rule of first aid was to keep the bystanders and patient calm and so she didn’t hesitate, didn’t even for a moment give away her worry. “Yeah, he’ll be fine,” was her decisive answer. “We’ve got time.”

“But not time to go to the boat?” one asked.

“No, not time to go to the boat,” she said that firmly and calmly too. Of that she was reasonably certain.

As she turned back to see how Benny’s summoning attempt was going her gaze swept past Sirius. He was giving her a curious look but she didn’t pause long enough to wonder at it.

Just as her eyes found Benny there was a roar and a cheer as he succeeded. He brought it over. “How do we get it in him?”

Pierre reached around him and grabbed the pouch. “I know what to do,” he said confidently.

Pierre administered the drug while Amanda waited to unwind the fabric around the ankle. It probably wasn’t doing much but she figured it best to give it a minute for the drug to take effect.

The response wasn’t immediate but within a minute or two Billie’s twitching had reduced and his breathing had returned to normal. He was weak and sweaty.

“Get him on a boat,” Sirius instructed. “It’s time to head back. Reg, grab that plant.” He pointed at the versot weed which was lying where Amanda had dropped it before she’d pushed her way into the circle. A dark-haired crew man nodded and moved to retrieve it.

“Gah, that stinks,” another remarked.

A small group of men loaded Billie onto one boat. Sirius motioned for Amanda to follow. Once they were all on he pushed them down the beach and into the sea. Amanda noted that the tide was about the same height that it had been when they’d arrived. During the day it had risen to it’s peak and was now on it’s way out again.

Sirius leapt into the boat and took over one of the rowing positions. They moved faster back out than they had coming in. As Amanda watched the shore and all the other men, loading the last of the fruit she suddenly realised how tired she was. She longed for a soft bed to rest in. The sun was low in the sky a tinge of red starting to highlight the horizon. They were leaving later than intended she realised. She hoped that hadn’t been her fault for wandering off and she hoped it wouldn’t affect the difficult sailing they had to do to get out of the reef.