Page 101 of The Cannibal

“Did you read your father’s paper?”

That statement being the follow-up made my stomach turn, but without context it sounded even scarier.

He must have seen it on my face, because that’s when he went on. “Phoebe.” He didn’t look at her when he spoke. “Did your father tell you about your mother?”

Phoebe lifted her head, but she had the same answer as I.

Luka smiled, shaking his head as he looked at me with disgust. “It may be in your best interests to read about your father’s work.”

“How would you even know?” I sneered.

“I was on the surgery team,” he said. “All of them. We weren’t allowed to know their names, to see their faces. It kept things impersonal.”

My fingers were freezing, no matter how I held them. My heart was pounding so hard that I was getting tremors just trying to keep myself together. I ignored every signal from my body to stop, even when the pain bloomed in my abdomen.

It had been easy to ignore the hunger. The longer I practiced, it would go away. The longer I played the staring game with Luka, the worse it got.

And suddenly there was no Luka, no lab, just an image that faded.

Everything went black.

“Alina.” There was tapping on my face.

In a sea of sparkling stars, my entire surroundings were gone, changed. Suddenly I was in my old room, from when I first woke.

“Christ.” Luka sat up straight on the edge of the bed, hand on his head as if to soothe a headache.

Phoebe stopped her pacing and nail chewing at the end of the bed to rush to my other side. “Thank God!” she cried, her hands grabbing my face and kissing my cheek and head. “This is why I told you to rest!”

“Get off me,” I croaked. When I lifted my head it stung, then weighed itself back into the soft pillows.

“Don’t move.” Luka stood, going to the door to retrieve hot towels from one of the staff.

I shoved the duvet down, trying to roll myself out of the bed.

“Alina, please don’t⁠—”

“What happened?” I couldn’t stop from hyperventilating. The back of my head was hot, the pain was coming back.

“Please settle, you’ll disturb the stitches,” Phoebe begged, holding my hand tightly.

Luka returned, placing the cloth on my head. The warmth did something to settle me, especially since my head was becoming light again.

I grabbed him by the tie, yanking it so hard it tightened around his neck.

He stared, stone-faced as I nearly seethed in his face.

“What did you do?” I barked.

“You’re welcome.” He pulled his tie back from my grasp, hooking a finger in the knot to loosen it. “You had a seizure.”

“No, I didn’t.” I looked to Phoebe.

She looked just as guilty.

“What happened?” I thought I might cry if no one offered any elaboration.

“Did you feed recently?”