She kisses him again, clutching his shirt tightly, and he kisses her back. He draws her into a hug, and Dorian’s fingers twitch around mine. His expression is strained, his mouth pressed into a worried line. When he locks eyes with me, a frightened look creeps into his features. What’s wrong with him?
Adelina pulls away, and when she looks at Henri, there’s a frantic energy in her eyes. It makes my stomach drop.
“We should celebrate,” she says. “Meet me in my workshop, below Arches. At midnight.”
The scene fades once more into murky darkness.
—
Then we’re inthe tunnels beneath Arches. We’re in that same large room where we found the cage, but in this time, there’s no cage. The room looks as if it is new, the marble floors are polished, and hundreds of lit candles illuminate the space.
Adelina clutches a wand with mother-of-pearl inlay. Her black robes are disheveled, hanging off one shoulder. She circles the room, smiling with her head thrown back, as if she’s enjoying a spring shower.
There’s a body on the floor.
It’s Henri.
He’s laid out on a pentagram drawn in blood. A steady stream of red drips from his forehead. His eyes are closed, and he’s barely breathing. His chest rises and falls in fits and starts.
Dorian flinches.
This is his vision. This is what he saw on his first day at the museum. He’s frantic, glancing around, knowing, perhaps, what comes next, and dreading it with every ounce of his being. I want to say something to him, to remind him that this isn’t real, this is just a memory, but I can’t. This has already happened, and I can’t do anything to stop it.
Adelina lets out a little sigh. She’s so happy and so relieved, like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders. She stares at Henri’s body on the ground with a smile so twisted, it looks like she’s holding the corners of her lips up with her fingers.
Then I notice something: Tears glisten on her cheeks.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “Thank you.”
Hurried footsteps echo down the secret passage. Mary emerges, cheeks flushed and hair wild. She ran all the way here. And when Adelina sees her, she is delighted. “Mary! You came!”
Mary sees Henri.
“Adelina, what are you doing?” she cries, and runs to Henri’s side. “What happened to him?” She kneels down, and her hands begin to glow. She’s trying to heal the boy.
“I just needed a little blood, that’s all,” Adelina says.
Henri doesn’t wake. Mary looks up at Adelina, angry tears swimming in her eyes. “What did you do?”
“I did it. I created life. Like I said I could.”
“Stop this, Adelina.”
“It’s already done. The malum is free.”
A shadow flickers in the candlelit room.
Mary whips around, horrified. “A malum?” she asks.
Something moves in the dark. No. Itisthe dark that moves.
“Everything they taught us was a lie, they said it was impossible,” Adelina says.
“Please. Adelina. No. Don’t do this.” Mary stumbles back, hands up.
“My creation needs more magic, I think,” she says absently, ignoring Mary’s plea. “It needs to feed, like all of us do. It wants to live.”
Mary lets out a sob as the shadow approaches. It moves like liquid smoke, melting over the ground, taking shape, growing tall. Arms, legs, head, a warped humanoid.
