“Nothing! Nothing happened. I tried to use it on myself—for practice,” I lied.
“I can show you again if you need.”
“No! That will be unnecessary.” I pulled my wrist back. “But I do have samples to look at. Join me?”
“Samples from what?”
“An . . . animal.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“I don’t know yet. It’s something new.” I cleared my throat.
I hoisted my satchel onto one of the workbenches, extracting several individually corked vials containing blood samples. As I reached for the last venom sample, I stared at it at the bottom of my bag. I did not know why I hesitated, but deep down, a subtle inner voice urged me to keep this particular sample to myself, reassuring me that no one other than myself needed to know. Besides, the venom was the least deadly sample of the bunch. I needed to see the blood, which was the whole reason for this study in the first place.
“The sample has odd properties. Black in color, thick, and seemingly poison through something other than bacterial infection,” I explained, focusing on the vials.
“What are you looking to do with it?” Viktor asked. He furrowed his brows as he lifted one of the glass flasks, watching the liquid move.
“I want to see how it works, break it apart and see if I can use anything in it. I must get another sample, but the creature’s saliva neutralizes it upon contact. First, I need to know how potent it is.” I leaned against the table, watching him study the odd fluid.
“So, a poisonandan antidote?”
“Possibly. I may need to titrate it—I have some guesses about the compounds in the solution. Then, I would probably find the lethal dose. I might be able to bring my own rats,” I mumbled as I ran the tests in my head. At the end of the day, I would just have to play with it and see what happened.
“It’s your experiment, just let me know what you need. I could navigate this lab with my eyes closed.”
“Please don’t!” Dr. Hayes piped up from his desk at the front, his eyes never leaving the paper he was marking with a pen.
Viktor and I shared a grin before gathering the samples.
26
THE POISONER
“Do you remember when we corralled about a dozen rats into the house when we were little?” Phoebe sipped her unsweetened tea from her side of the couch, poking me with her foot to get my attention.
“I believe we put them in the brass tub on the third floor, or am I remembering incorrectly?” I pushed her foot away. We were huddled on the couch by the fireplace in her estate. Living so close to the friend I could never bear to stay away from was nice. Always a short walk away.
“Yes. I only remember that it was above the first floor because we ran down the stairs impossibly fast when they found them.” She laughed.
“I couldn’t believe it took the household three days to find them. I still remember the screech of your governess—I thought the kettle was ready.” I shook my head. “How old were we? But five years?”
“Maybe six.” Phoebe chuckled. “I couldn’t believe we didn’t get bit by oneof those things. Poor creatures had to endure our games of house.”
“Ah yes, our little family of rats.”
“Playing house sounded more fun back then.” Phoebe sighed. “Now it’s like waiting for the inevitable. Especially when men become less interesting by the year.”
“I’m sure it isn’t so bad, as long as the children resemble their mother,” I joked. “I can’t imagine what kind of mayhem our children would get into.”
“No trouble of the good sort.” She shook her head. “Speaking of”—she scooted closer and set her teacup down on the table—“tell me about your date at the lab.”
“It wasn’t a date!” I blushed. “But it was fine. We have been spending time together here and there. I asked him to be my lab partner.”
“And what did he say to that?” she pressed, eating up every word I offered to her.
“He said yes.” I couldn’t stop the smile from creeping onto my face. “He is going to help me with some things I’m working on.”
