She poured herself a glass of wine and made a show of drinking it, laughing too loudly and telling some made-up story. Her friends looked at her a little questionably, but eventually, they joined in too. Mimicking her and pretending to be cheerful, pretending to be a lot drunker than they were.
She excused herself to use the restroom, stumbling a little as she walked. When she was close enough to the man, she tripped over her own feet and landed right behind him, placing a hand on his back.
"Ms. Diaz," he said, turning to help her off of the ground. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" she exclaimed, laughing a little. "Just a little drunk is all!"
She grabbed the hand he extended and rose to her feet. She placed a hand on the table, right next to his cup, pretending that she was trying to steady herself. Her hand jerked a little, hitting the cup and tipping it forward, spilling his drink on the table.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" she said, quickly picking the cup up.
"It's okay," he said, smiling at her a little.
"Here, let me pour you another!"
"No, you don't have Ms. Diaz. Really, it's no problem."
"No, no. Let me. Please. You have to try the wine I just had. Hold on a second!" she exclaimed, taking the cup with her as she walked back to her spot.
She filled the cup up halfway. Then she turned her back to the man, pretending like she was talking to Brent. He looked around, making sure no one was watching before giving her a little nod. She quickly took the vial from her pocket and emptied its contents into the glass.
She turned and walked back to the man, stumbling a little.
"Here you go. Try it. It's so good," she said, flashing the man her brightest smile.
"Th-thank you, Ms. Diaz," he said, taking the cup from her hand.
It's Mrs. Mills, asshole.
She stayed by his side, waiting for him to take a sip.
He did.
"Wow. That's good," he said, taking another sip.
"Right," she said. "Well, have a good night."
"You too," he said. She could feel him watching her walk away.
By the time she got to her quarters, the guilt had set in.
"Has anyone thought of anything?" Martinez asked.
They had all come back to Aria's room that night. She knew they only had a few minutes.
She had considered telling them, but she wasn't sure how they would react. If they'd be okay with what she had done.
"Don't worry about it," she finally said. The others all turned to look at her.
"What?" Hunt said.
"It's taken care of. At least, I think it is."
"What does that mean?" Katy asked, "Aria, what did you do?"
"The less you know, the better," Aria said.
Everyone was quiet for a few minutes.
"Aria, what did you do?" Katy repeated.
"I did what I had to do; that's all," Aria said, not meeting her mother's gaze.
"Aria..."
"I think it's time for you all to leave," she said. She got up to open the door.
"Aria, tell me. Tell me what you've done," Katy said, making no move to leave.
"Katy..." Hunt began. "The others trust Aria. Maybe we should, as well?"
Aria looked up to find him studying her from afar. They left after that.
"Did you do it?" Aria asked, grabbing Mara's arm as she tried to leave.
"Yeah," Mara said, "It's done."
"And you?" Aria asked, looking at Brent.
He nodded.
She nodded back, and they left.
As she got ready for bed, she thought about what she had just done. What she had made Mara and Brent do. The others would find out eventually. But at least it wouldn’t kill them. It shouldn’t.
But it wasn't like this was the first time she'd done something terrible to save her friends.
If the others, if her mother condemned her for it....well, she could live with that. But losing everything, losing this place and everything that came with it...
That was something she knew she couldn’t live with.
Chapter 44
"Aria! Aria, honey, wake up," Katy yelled, shaking Aria from her slumbers.
It felt a little unreal, seeing her mother there in bed beside her.
"M-mom? What is it? What's going on?" Aria asked, rubbing her eyes.
"I need your help. Something's happened. Get dressed and meet me in the library," Katy said, crawling out of bed and leaving the room.
Shit.
Aria quickly got dressed and made her way there. She couldn't have slept more than two, maybe three hours tops.
Warren, along with the two guards that Aria picked, were waiting for her.
"What is this?" she asked. But she knew why they were there. She knew what was going on.
"Something's happened to these two," Katy said, pointing at the guards. "They've come down with fevers. And they can’t keep any food down."
Aria grabbed a rag and put it over her mouth before going to the two guards and examining them.
"Do you know what this is?" Katy asked. Aria felt like there was a double meaning to her question.
Aria backed away from the guards.
"Yeah," she said, "I do."
"What is it?" Warren asked, placing a rag over his own mouth.
"When we came here, a few of us got sick, just like this. We started bleeding. It's some sort of virus. I guess the people who are native to here have an immunity to it. The doctor told me that it was an old virus from animals. Sometimes eating dairy products passes it. They're sick," she said, making the story up as she went.
"Is there a cure?" Katy asked.
"No."
"What happened to you all? Did it pass?" Warren asked, looking at Aria.
"Yes, but it's very, very easy to spread. We need to place them in quarantine. Have they been around anyone?"
"They ate dinner with all of us. They've been around us all," Warren said, looking a little worried.
"We need to check the others. The virus should pass in a few days. But like I said, it's very catchy. We need to ask about any symptoms," Aria said.
Warren nodded and left the room.
Katy and Aria stayed, helping the two guards. Aria knew there wasn't anything
