The tower’s first floor, with no ventilation, was already white with acrid smoke. I narrowed my eyes and headed for the stairs.
Thankfully, the higher I climbed, the cleaner the air got. The spiral stair had windows on each level.
I ran up in a blur and reached my destination.
The room with the wooden door left half open was the infirmary where Margon had been held.
"Kh—koff, kh—kgh...."
Now Theo was in there instead of Margon, limbs bound.
Still unconscious, but he must have felt the fire’s breath—he kept hacking.
I squatted on the floor and slapped his face with my palm.
"Hey, you bastard. You can sleep? You can sleep now?"
I’d always wanted to land a punch on Jed’s shitty face.
The resemblance was close enough, and Theo was someone I wanted dead anyway, so I took it out on him with a slap.
"Ugh... who...."
After ten-plus hits, when my palm was stinging, Theo opened his eyes. The muddy gray irises made me smirk.
"Grim Reaper, bastard."
"Reaper—what—khrk... a monster... is what you are...."
I grabbed his collar and hauled him up to sit. He shook his head, struggling to pull himself together.
I gave him no opening—my forearm pressed across his throat.
"Khk... Ce—Ceryl...."
"The injections you put in the dragon and Elfera. What are they."
A man who saves lives also knows very well how to cut the thread.
I firmed my fingers and pinned his airway exactly. Minimal force, maximal efficiency.
"Kh—gh...."
"Talk. If you don’t want to die."
Theo’s eyes flickered rapidly. I focused on the pulse under my fingertips and pushed him to his limit.
Exactly one minute. Past that, hypoxia could make him black out. Then I wouldn’t get what I wanted.
I watched him thrash, airless, and let go right before his face went slate-blue.
"Keck... kh—koff, koff...."
"I’ll repeat this until you answer. If you don’t want to die, talk."
I fisted his gray ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) hair and lifted his head. The tear-and-snot-smeared face was a sight.
The choking worked; Theo opened his mouth without fuss.
"Hah... b-brainwashing... drug... I injected...."
Brainwashing. Looked like Jed hadn’t given up on what he’d failed at when Varen was still in the egg.
"If it’s a drug, there’s an antidote too?"
"Y—yes... koff... an anti—kh—"
"You’ve got a lab in this tower. Where is it."
As his breathing came back, Theo rolled his eyes up at me in a glare.
I saw him gearing up to argue—so I clamped his throat again.
"Don’t get clever. You have two options. Talk, or die."
"Kh—... kuh...."
"Talk. Where is the antidote."
I pressed his airway once more, for emphasis.
Blood veined up into the whites of his eyes; his mouth worked.
I released at once, and saliva streamed from his panting lips.
"Fif—teenth... floor, desk... drawer...."
"What does it look like."
"Koff... blue... syringe... hah... nine—teen...."
Nineteen doses of antidote.
Which meant, inversely, he’d brewed the experimental drug at least nineteen times.
...How many monsters did nineteen experiments consume.
"Hah... you don’t deserve a clean death."
I’d planned to kill Theo right after I wrung him dry, but I changed my mind.
I stood without regret and headed for the door. Behind me, Theo rasped a scream through a wrecked throat.
"S—spare me! Untie this! Koff...."
The flame had already come near. Even if I did nothing, Theo would die.
If he was lucky, carbon monoxide would lull him to sleep. If not, he’d feel his whole body burning.
Either way, I didn’t care. What I wanted was for Theo to suffocate on fear of death.
Like the monsters he used in trials. Not knowing when or why—locked in, helpless.
"Please... please, Ceryl... mercy...."
He writhed on the floor, twisting himself. Must’ve been raised soft—he had no tied-up sense.
Still, the word “mercy” sat very nicely with me.
I took out the key ring I’d lifted from a dead hunter’s pocket. I stripped off the key that opened this door and tossed it.
Clink. Theo stared at the key where it fell with a bright little sound.
"Ah—sorry. No strength in my hands."
I nudged it with my toe so it skittered to his feet.
Ten paces if you’re not bound; a long crawl like a caterpillar if you are.
What’ll be faster—crawling from there to here, or suffocating on toxic gas first.
The thought made a good smile tug at my mouth.
Hope is just another torture.
"Pay your price before you go. Here—that’s the price for the antidote info."
"...What?"
At my flat tone, Theo’s brow crumpled hard.
Mm. As expected. He wore Jed’s face, but he pulled an expression Jed wouldn’t.
"You like Equivalent Exchange, don’t you."
"W—wait! Wait, Ceryl! Spare me! Don’t leave me!"
I turned my back without hesitation and headed for the stairs. The human’s desperate scream auto-muted at my eardrums.
***
Fifteenth floor of the tower. At last I reached Theo’s lab.
I pulled out the key ring immediately and fed them one by one until one fit. On the fifth try, the door opened.
And the moment I pushed in without hesitation, I lost words.
"Beeeeep! Beeeeeep!"
"Yip! Yip-yip!"
Cages, identical to a measure, filled one wall.
In spaces not even a meter high, every slot occupied, dozens of monsters were packed in.
A lark with rainbow iridescent feathers. A cat that shed silver dust when it moved. A puppy hovering a fingertip above the floor. A rabbit with four ears.
Other small-bodied monsters were waiting, pitifully, for rescue.
I clenched my teeth and checked the cage construction. The latches opened from the outside; no separate keys needed.
"Run! Kids, run! Go!"
I flung cages open in a frenzy and pulled the little ones free.
The moment the doors—shut tight until now—swung wide, the terrified monsters bolted.
Some flew out the windows in a flutter; some sprinted straight through the open wooden door.
There were eight cages per tier, six tiers total. I opened every door from the top to the bottom.
I stepped back and took in the lot. I rechecked again and again in case any were left.
Satisfied the racks were clean, I crossed to the desk on the opposite wall. I pulled the drawer and winced.
Identical syringes, lined and squared, arranged with prissy care. Theo’s compulsions were nauseating.
I found the syringe labeled with the Arabic number “19.” I nested it into one of the cases stacked on the desk so it wouldn’t break and took it.
"Koff, koff... damn—smoke...."
Even this high up, the smoke was vicious. Now I really had to get out.
One last sweep of Theo’s lab with my eyes.
I yanked the door to go—and something felt off, so I came back in.
"You’ve got to be kidding me! You cry when I’m right here— I almost left you!"
On the bookshelf sat a transparent glass jar. Inside, a white snake.
A monster small enough to slip between bars—he’d penned it separately.
I shot over like a bullet and lifted the whole jar from up high. Heavier than it looked.
I set it on the floor and ran my fingers over the transparent surface. The hard feel was like bulletproof glass.
The mouth was stopped with a wide cork. I set my nails and popped it free; it came out easily.
"Ha... thank god. Run!"
The white snake was different from the others.
Unlike the ones who sprang out the instant the door opened, it lay flat as if dead.
Don’t tell me I was too late. I pressed my eye to the mouth to look closer.
"...Why are you playing dead? I said run."
The white snake trembled minutely.
I jiggled the jar to coax it out, but it didn’t seem inclined.
The smoke was thickening in real time. With my nerves fraying, I had no choice but to use a slightly rougher method.
"Come on, come on! Baby, winter’s not the time to nap!"
I flipped the jar and tapped it smartly. The thin thread-snake dropped to the floor.
I whipped the jar away and it shot off in a zigzag.
But instead of heading out, it slipped under the bookcase.
One maddening thing after another. I grabbed my own hair and chased the little monster.
"Oh, come on! You can’t hide there! You have to run!"
I lay flat and peered under the case. Into a gap less than a hand-span, the monster had tucked itself in a curl.
Peach-pink eyes to match the white scales glinted in the dark.
Well, well. A timid temperament.
It’s fine. Back at the animal hospital, the scared babies were always my job.
"Baby, you’re good, right? Come on out, quickly. Hm? Come to dad."
Face pressed to the floor, I pitched my voice gentle.
As if answering me, the white snake trembled and made a cry.
"Mee-yaang... myaang...."
Why is that snake meowing like a cat.
"That’s right, good. It’s okay, come on out."
"Mee-yaang...."
"If you stay there you might die. The whole forest is on fire right now. Okay?"
I could feel lukewarm heat even in the floor stones now.
Shit, how far has the fireline come?
Careful not to startle the snake, I stood and leaned out the window.
"...We’re fucked."
The blaze had reached the tower’s perimeter, and the first floor was roaring like a stuffed woodstove.
I’d wasted too much time interrogating Theo and coaxing a white snake.
I went back, dropped flat to the floor again.
"Baby, quickly...."
But the white snake that had been huddled in the corner was gone.
