Page 30 of Elysian

“Annum injections,” Al responded, distractedly answering.

My trembling hand caused me to nick the tissue attached to the splayed skin near her shoulder. It seemed as if all of her organs had withered.

All of this, caused by the annum injection. Suppressors that stifled redblood nature.

“Many annums ago, when I was a mere boy, my father was the lead Alchemist for a redblood camp. One eve, he brought me to a chamber where various redbloods had been chained to a wall. He went on to inject each and every single one of those redbloods with different trials that our lineage had cultivated. I have seen the insides of each of those results.”

For a moment—a split one—a frown crossed his features, and his quill ceased scratching across the parchment.

“Your generation has received the blessing of those advancements. With that in mind, collapsed organs are not so bad.” His bushy eyebrows twitched. With no chance for me to respond, he went back to scribbling. “Continue the separation process, Miss Amara, just as we have before.” He tucked the quill into the little slit at the front of his apron, took the parchment, and strode to a worn leather seat where a surface sat level. “And I will stay out of the way should they burst. Take care removing the ovaries. Those have been known to explode.” He had to raise his voice to reach us across the way.

I brought the knife down to the flesh the lung adhered itself to, and carved to separate the organ from the body. This was the fate of redbloods—ending in this degrading manner, being poked and prodded as if she were nothing. As if she were a thing—an experiment.

It was her fate. It would have been mine if not for the Sigil and what that meant. I finished detaching the tissue layer from the organ.

“Are you well?” Hester whispered.

Turning to the table behind me, I set the scalpel aside and took the clamps to move it.

“As can be,” I murmured.

Hester’s complexion soured as she watched me place the lung in the glass.

“If you cannot do this, he will send for someone else,” I warned. Hester took another audible breath. “Perhaps not breathing through your nose will help.”

“Ah,” she croaked, nodding.

Then we commenced placing every single organ in a different container. It took longer because I had to explain to Hester every step as we went. By the end, we had a stack of organs in glass containers. I took the beakers holding the heart and liver, one in each hand.

“Grab what you can hold. It will take a few rounds.”

I peered toward Al, and he was still scribbling in his journal. Officer Jahrod had taken Officer Brandt’s place, and he sat on a stool, leaning back against the wall. He was closer to Al than us. Hester took the liver and one lung. She kept right behind me as we walked across the work chamber toward the bookshelves.

“This is horrifying,” she choked. “How can you stomach it?”

“I had no choice.” I continue not to. “We have to find a way to leave this place.”

We made it to the shelves, and I reached up to place the heart on the top where Al preferred it. “The lung will be on the second.” I tapped the second shelf. Then I crouched to set the liver at the bottom. “I have mylk flowers and a journal stored in the drawer under my bed. Have you seen them?”

“Yes.” She sounded unsure. “After the Guard made a mess of your things, we collected their remnants as best we could and placed them back.”

“Did they take the journal?” I held my breath, waiting for her response.

She shook her head. “They snapped your quill and broke your ink. The journal was relatively unscathed other than being shaken about, but they left it on the floor with the flowers when they left.”

“Grind the dried stems down into a fine powder. It turns it into a poison.” The dosage depended on the fatality, but with a pinch ingested, it causes loss of consciousness.

“What? I cannot⁠—”

“You can,” I insisted. “There is no choice, Hester. All our fates will be death.” I met her terrified eyes. “Not one of us will walk free.” I took a deep breath. “Did you hear the tales of Lord Draven falling ill?”

“I have.”

“Soon, they will claim he died from the Hollow Plague.” She inhaled sharply. I peeked over my shoulder, but Al and the officer remained in their places. “He . . . is the only one that can end this. We need to free him.” She still seemed uncertain. “I do not like it, Hester, but what else are we to do?” A hint of desperation slid through my tone. I rolled my shoulders to relax them.

“We will discuss further when we have another moment. Do not anger Al. You will need to be here.” I drew straighter, knowing that was all I could do. If she refused, I would have to find another way.

Thuds resonated across the work chamber. Two young officers came in carrying a wrapped up item. A corpse from the look of it. They stretched it over the metal work table closest to the entrance.