It makes my eyes burn, and before I can stop it, tears leak down my cheeks.
“I’ll meet Mister Rierson in the lobby. It’ll take at least thirty minutes,” she says quietly. “Collect yourself, Elliot. Don’t make a scene here. Understand?”
Then, she’s gone, and I’m alone in her office, surrounded by the smell of her perfume and black tea and brutal complacency.
“Coward,” I whisper. Not sure if I mean it, not sure if it’s fair.
I glance up at the clock on the wall, then at my bag on the floor. Thirty minutes is a long time. I look at the clock again. The bag. The rows of books and documents. The locked desk drawers and filing cabinets.
This place has always been a treasure trove, but for the first time in my life, I see the potential. There isn’t just history in these books; there are clues. Keys to old curses…and perhaps a cure for the woman who made them.
I arriveto the Lyrie Healing Center just after eleven. There are stacks upon stacks of paperwork waiting on my desk, but I ignore them. Prior to my visit with Mama, I’d intended to catch up on all the work I’ve put off. Now, I take the stairs two at a time, not so much as glancing at my office door. Instead, I run allthe way to the seventh floor, crashing into the break room with the grace of a freshly winged harpy.
It’s empty.
“Dammit,” I mutter.
Henry was scheduled for a nine o’clock surgery, and I hoped he’d be done by now.
I pace the room while I wait, then find a stack of blank parchment and sit at the rough table. I scrawl one idea after another, tossing each rejected scrap to the tiled floor. By the time I have a fully-formed plan, I’ve used up all of the parchment.
“Oh for Mother’s sake…”
I jolt, looking up from the table to find Henry standing in the doorway. He’s wearing a bloodied surgeon’s coat, his transparent face mask hanging around his neck. His eyes are half-open, dark bags beneath them.
“Rough surgery?” I ask. I glance at his vibrating hands, at the magic that’s undoubtedly been stripped from his skin.
“What are you doing, Elliot?” he asks, rather than answering. He disposes of his surgical attire as he looks over my discarded mess of parchment.
“I figured it out,” I say. My hands are stained with blank ink, and I’m sure I look about as disturbed as he does. I hold the final piece of parchment on the table, pinching it between my thumb and index finger. “The sunwalker spell. I know how to mass produce it.”
Henry grimaces and looks over his shoulder, as if expecting someone to be behind him. He’s right to be cautious, and yet, I can’t bring myself to care. My entire world has imploded in the past few weeks, and not even imprisonment would make it worse.
“Since when was that part of your plan?” he asks. He takes a careful step toward me, and his expression is so timid it’s almost comical. The brave and reckless Henry looks mortifiedby me, and if it weren’t such a shit situation, maybe I’d laugh. “Mass sunwalker spells, Elliot? That’s past the point of a fair trade.”
“Mama thinks the Mother is punishing her for the sun curse, right?” I say, ignoring him. “We can’t undo it, obviously, but we can stop the harm. Maybe, if we make the vampires mortal in sunlight—rather than dead—the Mother will forgive her.”
“Elliot—”
“I know it sounds crazy,” I interrupt. “But she won’t be seen in the clinic. She won’t be seen at my house. She’s determined to let the Mother decide, so fine. We’ll let the Mother decide. I’m just going to make that decision a little easier. Once the curse isn’t actively killing people, the Mother will have mercy. She will.”
I sound like an absolute deranged lunatic, but I don’t care. I look away from Henry to go over my notes again.
“This will undermine your mama’s life work,” Henry says slowly. He’s reached the side of the table now, bumping it gently as he looks over my work.
Good,I want to say.Maybe it will give her a reason to stay.
I swallow, pressing my tongue against the back of my teeth, trying to keep in the words I’ve wanted to say for too long. Yes, I want Mama to live. And yes, I’d love to be the one to keep her here. More than that though…
“They’re people, Henry,” I say. I stare at the parchment, rather than him, as I speak. “Maybe they’re terrible. Maybe they deserved it. But it’s been twenty years. They’ve paid long enough.”
“Your mama would disagree.”
“I know,” I say.
There’s a heavy silence between us. I’m not sure why I’m telling Henry all of this. When I first came here, I’d wanted his help in forming a solution. Now that I’ve figured it out on myown, there’s no reason to stay. I don’t need him for any of this, but I continue speaking all the same.
“I’m going to work out a trade with Cora,” I say. “All of my memories for a widespread sunwalker spell. She won’t be able to say no.”
