Dr. Hayes tensed and looked in my direction. I did not know why everyone danced around the subject, as if I would cry whenever my father was brought up.
“An accident in the lab,” I said simply. “His assistant was clumsy. He died of some sort of exposure.”
“That is unfortunate, especially for an experienced chemist.” Viktor tilted his head. “Did the coroner say what it could have been?”
“No, I did not read the report.”
“I see.” Viktor squeezed my shoulder gently. “Well, do not doubt yourself on the account of ghosts. You have much to be proud of.”
I shrugged and put my glass on the desk, pushing it toward Dr. Hayes with two fingers. He poured me another, and we all shared a silent moment.
“To ghosts and whatever poor soul they choose to haunt,” I muttered, raising my glass lazily before downing the bourbon, relishing the burn in my throat. The men followed suit.
“What is next for your experiment?” Viktor asked. “You have been working without rest.”
“I do not know. I was hoping more questions would reveal themselves to me as I worked.”
“Whatever it is, let me know if you need more time. The new semester will begin in a month,” Dr. Hayes said.
“Right,” I mumbled.
All was going welluntil we approached the end of the week.
The smell of rot hit my nose the second I entered the King’s College lab. The cause was no mystery. My rats from the day before had met the same fate they always did. What happened to me in the greenhouse nursery would repeat for weeks as I tested the blood on rats. No matter how I changed the formula and dosage, it always ended the same.
My hand rubbed the front of my throat, remembering that burning.
The rat carcasses were bloated, and their eyes looked like theyhad been liquified before the flies had gotten to them. All subjects that received the blood had met the same fate.
My face twisted as I dumped one of them in the bin while holding a rag over my mouth and nose, a vain attempt to block out the wretched scent. One cage down, fourteen to go.
As I observed one more closely, I realized even the rats that did not receive any blood were in the same condition. There must be some sort of cross contamination.
The lab was free the entire day today. While I would have liked to say the time was spent being productive, it was not. I sat in the room and stared at the wall, eyeing the samples or ignoring the pile of metal tools waiting to be cleaned in the sink. I wasn’t able to finish the rest of the cages in my depression.
My forehead rested in my shaky hands.
Get ahold of yourself!
I pressed the palms of my hands into my eye sockets, seeking some relief from this migraine brought on by my unrest.
“Alina, I got the—oh my.” Viktor barged into the lab, but as soon as the scent hit him, he had to lean against the railing of the observation balcony to steady himself.
“I know,I know,” I groaned, throwing my hands up. “They all ended like that! I only gave them a drop! Just barely!”
“That is horrid,” he mumbled, going down the steps and over to the cages, covering his mouth with a handkerchief from his jacket.
“I don’t understand. Based on the lethal dose, this should have only made them ill. I was going to test possible antidotes on them to see if they survived the process.” I frowned. “None of this makes sense.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.” He sighed. “Maybe it isn’t possible to receive it without the effects taking hold.”
“I’ll keep looking at it. No more rats for now.” I sighed, picking up one of the cages to take a closer look at the small corpse.
Something was working against me. I did not know what powers were at play, but none of my conclusions or calculations aligned with the outcomes. I did the math myself. I even had Viktor and Dr. Hayes proofread my work. It should have gone as planned. What was Imissing?
29
THE POISONER
