I walked as far I dared, realising my legs were remarkably shaky. The others’ voices drifted into the background. They’d be preoccupied for a while discussing my condition, so I reckoned we had a bit of time.

I halted and turned, waiting for Winter to catch up to me. It didn’t take long. He might not have been running but he was still striding towards me with the speed of an Olympic walker.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked, as soon as he reached me. He took hold of me as if I were about to collapse, grasping me by the shoulders and gazing into my eyes.

I passed a hand over my face. ‘I think so.’ I shook myself. ‘I don’t know. I was so sure that what I saw was blood.’ I bit my lip. ‘Do you think I was hallucinating as well? Am I just tired?’

‘Has it happened before?’

‘No.’ I paused. ‘Well, I might not know if it has happened before. I don’t think so. Is your magic telling you anything?’

His expression was alight with concern. ‘Something’s not right. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but there’s definitely something different.’ Something akin to anger flashed in his eyes. ‘There’s more to this than exhaustion.’

I swallowed. That didn’t sound good.

‘Has anyone given you anything strange to eat or drink?’

I scratched my head. ‘No. Everything I’ve had has been from the canteen. I had coffee this morning with Amy but she drank it too.’

‘Could she have slipped something into your drink?’

It was highly unlikely. I grimaced. ‘I doubt it, though right now it feels like anything’s possible.’

‘I’ll check this Amy out. If she’s done anything to you, given you something to drink which is spiked or brushed some kind of herb mixture against you which has hurt you, then I’ll make sure she never sees the light of day again.’ His voice was low but I was taken aback by his vehemence. I’d never seen Winter so irate. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists as if he wanted to punch something. I watched him, half fascinated, half concerned. Then his words trickled through.

‘Wait,’ I said slowly. ‘I did touch something.’

He stilled. ‘What?’

‘Belinda’s vial. When I was on stage, I changed her clothes so I could get a better look at it.’

‘I saw. You’re lucky you got away with that. It looked highly suspect to me.’

‘That’s because you knew what I was up to. Everyone else was watching Belinda,’ I said dismissively. ‘Anyway, I touched her vial. Not the contents but my skin definitely brushed against the outer glass.’

‘Plenty of poisons and herblore spells work through touch.’ His expression shifted. ‘Did you manage to work out what was inside it?’

I shook my head. ‘No. Just that it’s some kind of silvery liquid with orange and black threads moving around inside it.’

Winter’s eyes grew sharp. ‘Moving independently?’

‘As far as I could tell.’