It’s her third time over in the last week, her first visit where she isn’t here for dinner, sign language lessons, or watching Antaris fail at a second brewing attempt. Today, she’s here to study. Boxes of books are stacked everywhere, all opened, in Hiram’s makeshift office, which now has two chairs and a new bookcase.
“Unpublished research we’ve needed to get to for a couple of weeks now,” Hiram says, taking a seat and putting on his glasses. “Where do you want to start?”
“Actually, we need to start withBeeyardS Rain.”
“Gabriel told you?”
“He let me take a crack at the anagram, and honestly, with everything that’s happened, it slipped my mind until last night. I neverfigured out the code, but I remembered the name he mentioned, and it fit the anagram. Ariadne Byers. Gabriel said you vaguely knew the name. Clinton, too.”
“Yeah,” Hiram says.
“It’s not looking like one of those coincidences, is it?”
“Not at all.”
“I wonder what else Everett knows. The handwriting is the same as the note he gave me.”
Hiram looks grim. “I have a feeling we won’t find out in time.”
“Then we should get started with something wecanfigure out. What have you found so far?”
“Not much, but I’ve sorted some.” He points to one stack. “That’s information on general curses, but I think you’d be more interested in this.” He moves to the next. “Blood curses. How they’re created, how they can survive while dormant, and several unconventional and dangerous ways they’ve been expelled from the body.”
Veda skims the top file. “This is more of what I know. Only thing I need to know is whether there’ve been any successes using unconventional extraction methods.”
“A few, but all of them have one thing in common. The blood in your veins must stop.Death will lead it out. I read that in a book.”
“The healer at the hospital said he’d seen my curse before, in another patient. It didn’t leave until she died. I think ... Where are the reports of the tests that were run to extract the curse?”
Hiram flips through files, finds it, and hands it over. Veda reads it until words begin jumping out at her. “Didn’t leave until ... death will lead it out ...” An idea strikes like lightning and rolls like thunder. She paces the width of the room twice, deep in thought. “Like a parasite.”
“I wonder how long it takes to be expelled after death. We’ll need to try something that mimics death. Poison?”
“I’ve never seen one that’s both powerful enough while also slow-acting enough to do what we want it to do. Hmm ... another option might be something that tricks the body into thinking it’s dying.”
“We can figure something out.”
Veda glances at him, slow and reflective. He didn’t misspeak. Wandering to the boxes lined against the wall, she asks, “What’s in here?”
“From what I gathered, curse studies,” Hiram replies, visibly uncomfortable. “My father said that everything I need to know is here, but I’m not sure how this applies.”
“Sounds like some illegal shit.”
“Probably. I’d turn it in to Gabriel for the hell of it, but they’re spelled to burst into flames if they leave the custody of a blood relative.” At her raised brow, he shrugs. “My uncle is bizarre, even for an Ellis. Paranoid, apparently. Likely for good reason.”
“Are the subjects Seers?” Veda asks, already scanning for the answer herself.
“Not sure.”
She doesn’t get far before a more pressing question arises. “The subjects are all different, all Mages paid handsomely, but all the casters’ names are redacted. Why?” Veda frowns. “Actually, better question, why didn’t they redact their ages? One caster wasfifteen!”
“Check the others,” Hiram says.
He calls out dates and hands Veda the files to arrange chronologically. He starts from the beginning; she begins at the end. The more Veda reads, the more disturbed she becomes at the thought of teenagers casting serious curses under instruction. Soon, they’ve gone through an entire box of case studies.
“Says here that the curse studies were cut short because the school was shut down. There’s an article listing Phillip Ellis as the lead science teacher ... basically the person running these studies. I can’t believe this was ata school.” Revulsion is thick in her voice. “Shit, this reminds me of the horror stories Ruth used to tell me. Seers were sent to boarding schools after their parents gave up custody once their Sight manifested. Since the schools were unregulated, the Seers were used for free labor or experimenting on their magic, then the schools covered up the horrific details to publish their results.”
Hiram doesn’t respond, so Veda looks up. He’s leaning against his desk, eyes glued to the document he’s reading. His expression shifts. “This isn’t about curses or experimenting on test subjects. This is about the fact that my uncle was a hypocrite.”
