Page 88 of Wraithwound

Nothing happened.

She tried the other lock, and still, nothing.

“Together, I think,” Taya suggested, lifting the diary up.

Lena fit the keys into the locks at the same time. With a click, the rings holding the larger crystals in place unlatched, allowing Lena to pull one free. She marveled at the pink tinted crystal before handing it to Taya, who seemed to have remembered herself.

Taya walked to the center of the room and, cupping the crystal in her hands, brought it to her heart. For a moment, nothing happened, and then light began to glow in Taya’s eyes. It erupted from her, the white light pouring from her mouth and ears too. Lena had to shield herself from the brightness, her eyes aching as she squeezed them shut, but when she opened them again, Taya’s features had returned to normal, and she stared at the wall.

That was when Lena saw her. Her mother. She choked back a sob as she saw Marisee’s image projected onto the stone wall behind her. She was scribbling into her treatment journal, dressed in her usual trousers and a linen shirt. Lena focused on the writing in her journal which read:

Phytotherapy: Creeping Vine

Serum Variation #4

The creeping vine plant seems to slow the transformation for those infected by wraiths.

Patient #1:

Date of infection: 2 weeks ago

Symptoms: Severe black veining from infection site, skin grey with black on outer edges, brief loss of consciousness since serum was administered 7 days after the attack.

Patient #2:

Date of infection: 1 week ago

Symptoms: Moderate veining from infection site, wound is inflamed but decrease in discoloration. No loss of consciousness since serum was administered 2 days after the attack.

Patient #3:

Date of infection: 3 days ago

Symptoms: Light veining from infection site, little to no discoloration in skin although wound/infection site remains inflamed. No loss of consciousness since serum was administered same day as the attack.

Ponytail swinging with the movement, her mother looked up from the treatment journal to the plant growing in a clay pot by the window. That was no doubt the plant she was writing about. She sat there for a minute, drenched in morning sun that poured in through the window with a look of pure amazement on her face, before she smiled and turned back to her journal.

It was the smile that gutted her. The quiet joy on her mother’s face as she worked something out. She loved any and all kinds of puzzles, something she’d inherited from her father. Lena’s grandfather. Lena felt like a bolt had torn a hole through her chest. And then the memory faded. Lena stared at the spot on the wall where her mother’s face had just been.

“That is your mother?” Leonid said from behind her.

“Yes,” she choked out, still staring at the blank wall.

“Then it’s your mother we have to thank for the serum,” he said.

Lena turned to look at him, bracing herself on the table for fear her legs would give out.

“What?” she asked, the words not registering in her mind.

“It was a healer who provided us with the serum that slows the transformation. We knew she was a part of the Org, but we never found out who she was. She only had three vials, but we were able to make a synthetic version of the serum. It doesn’t work as well as what she gave us, but it’s been a lifeline for those infected,” he said.

“She shared it with you?” Lena asked.

“Yes. We sent people to track her down when we ran out, but we were unsuccessful. Where is your mother now?” he asked.

“She—she disappeared. Three years ago. In the fallen city,” she answered. Saying it out loud somehow made the ache in her chest worse. Leonid and Dauen looked at each other, some silent conversation happening between them. Cross still stood near the door, but she could feel his gaze on her back.

Returning to her seat, Lena felt a sense of dread settle into the pit of her stomach. The eleuth nuzzled its head into her hand, blinking up at her from the table.