Page 28 of Bone Year

This is anatomy. Structure. Skin, fascia, muscle. I have studied this.

My eyes trail up to the man’s face.

His skin is pale and bloodied with pieces of flesh peeling back like he scratched at his own face in a frenzy. His lips are parted, frozen during a scream or gasp. And then I don’t see the crawler anymore.

I see my father.

I see his lifeless body lying there, cold and pale and so terribly still. I see the way his chest did not rise. The way his eyes stared at nothing. The way my mother screamed.

My hand starts to shake. My vision tunnels, everything around me collapsing into darkness until all I can see is my trembling fingers and the gray skin of the crawler beneath them. The scalpel hovers, quivering.

I cannot press in. I cannot make the cut.

My breathing turns erratic, short, sharp gasps that do nothing to fill my lungs. And then I hear her voice, distant and damning, rising from somewhere deep in my memory. “You did this, Maelis. Look at him. This is your fault.”

The scalpel slips from my fingers and clatters against the steel table. I stumble back, swaying, losing my bearings. A hand grips my shoulder, steadying me, and for a moment I think someone is helping.

“I knew the human would choke.”

Miles’s voice echoes in my ear, far too loud for how close his mouth is to my head. His breath is warm and smug against my skin. I want to elbow him in his round gut, spin around, and drive my fist into his throat. But I can’t focus. I need out of this room. I need air. I need to run.

“Disappointing, Freckles.” Draven tsks, shaking his head slowly. “Maybe the rumors are true.”

Something inside me snaps.

“Don’t call me Freckles. I don’t need a pet name. I’m not a gods-damned dog.” I step forward, snatching the scalpel off the table and shoving it into his hand hard enough that he has to catch it or let it fall. “I may be human, but I don’t need to prove shit to you. All you’ve been doing is a lot of fucking talking. Why don’t you show us all how it’s done?”

I’m breathing hard, seeing red, my pulse pounding so loud I can barely hear myself think.

Draven tilts his head, studying me like I am something he has found under a rock. Then his eyes crinkle at the corners, the only indication of the smile I know is lurking beneath his mask.

“Some mouth you have on you, Freckles.”

Heat rises to my cheeks, my anger spiking, but I force myself to shake it off. I will not give him the satisfaction. I turn away, snatching the instruction pages back from Nyra and bending to pick up the ink pen from the floor.

“Get cutting,” I say without looking at him. “I don’t want to lose this thing because the vampire choked.”

He chuckles but doesn’t waste any time. I hear the blade press into flesh, the faint pop as it breaks through the first layer of skin.

I keep my eyes on the instructions. I don’t want to see what he’s doing or the body on that table.

I don’t want to see my father lying there.

I try to focus on the task at hand and push all intruding thoughts out of my mind. I skim the instructions every team was handed before we started even as my pulse still thrums with residual panic.

“Here.” I hand the list to Nyra, her violet eyes narrow on me. “When you weigh an organ, write it down in grams.”

She takes it reluctantly and grabs another pen from the counter where the woman supervising us sits in silence. I almost forgot she was there.

“Heart’s out first,” Draven says.

I hear the wet, sucking sound as Miles takes it from him and drops it onto the scale with a squishy thud. So Draven is cutting, Miles is handling the organs, Nyra is tracking the weights, and I am making sure we stay on task. We all have roles now. Hopefully that is good for our team.

I remember Malric said one of the things we are judged on is how well we work together.

My outburst, the scalpel I shoved into Draven’s hand, the cursing. Maybe all of it was uncalled for. I need to rein it in and put on a better face if we have any chance at winning this thing.

“If anyone sees anything unusual, call it out so I can take note of it,” I say, clearing my throat and trying to sound authoritative. “Remember, we need to come up with a cause of death and list any anomalies we come across.”