Serum

"Just relax." The strange Dr. Moon's voice is filled with her manic cheer as Dr. Reeves cinches the restraint around my wrist again. Leather bites into my skin, where it's already chafed from before.

"We're going to test your magic with a special serum." Eliana leans over me, her unnaturally bright eyes boring into mine. Her wide smile is too toothy and predatory to be comforting. "Don't worry, it won't kill you."

My stomach drops at her choice of words, even though I'm not surprised. Sure, it won't kill me. But what about everything else it might do?

Dr. Reeves wraps the blood pressure cuff around my arm. A mechanical whir fills the sterile room as it tightens, and he reads off the machine when it's done.

"Blood pressure one-forty over ninety." He scribbles on his clipboard. "Pulse elevated at one-ten. Sats 100%."

Then the thermometer over my forehead, with impersonal beeps. "Temperature 97.6."