chapter twenty-five
THE POISONER
T he college lab was everything I dreamed it would be.
It buzzed with an enchanting chaos, featuring a delightful blend of dark wood cabinetry and brass instruments—some of which I had never seen before.
There were about a dozen dark wood desks with shelving separating them into halves lengthwise, holding many jars and tools.
Everything was organized into drawers or on the tops of the tables—pipettes, syringes, glassware, probes, and cotton pads.
Larger instruments were littered throughout the desks, some in their places on the wall and some out in the open from prior students’ use.
It was like peeping through someone’s window, looking at unfinished experiments or those about to start.
The entire scene appeared frozen in time, capturing the moment when the students had last left off.
Today the lab was deserted, entirely mine to occupy.
“This brings me back to when Jacek and I snuck into this lab as students.” Dr. Hayes chuckled. “Though we had less amicable goals, such as lighting things on fire for a good jest.”
“It’s odd hearing stories about him being fun.” I smiled. “ Though I will never understand a man’s natural desire to make things combust.”
“An enigma.” He shrugged, leaning against one of the desks and putting his hands in his pockets. “You will have to collect your things and bring them back each time. You aren’t technically supposed to be here, so you can’t store anything.”
“That’s all fine with me. What time did you say?”
“Three on Mondays and Fridays, five on Wednesdays.”
“I can make that work,” I mumbled, distracting myself with the far wall lined with glass and wood cabinets. The array of items within this enchanting wonderland surpassed my comprehension, leaving me both intrigued and overwhelmed.
Through a door at the top of a half flight of stairs there was a nice viewing area to observe the entire lab. Underneath it was the professor’s desk, where Dr. Hayes had student-authored papers scattered about. He’d taken a break from handing out marks to give me a tour.
“Everything you need should be in here. Standard tools will be on the workbench. You can work at any vacant spot as long as you sterilize it afterward,” he instructed.
I nodded as I peered through the glass of the cabinet. Every chemical I could think of could be found labeled in alphabetical order, lining the cabinet from top to bottom. Much like the gardens, I could spend hours only looking.
The door to the viewing area snapped open, and a familiar dark-haired puppy appeared.
“Alina! How did the apparatus work out?” Viktor grinned, rushing down the stairs to come face-to-face with Dr. Hayes.
“L—ook who it is.” Dr. Hayes drew out the L a bit too long.
“Did you forget my name?” Viktor’s eyes narrowed at him. “I know I am a bit quiet in your class, which I attend , but surely you haven’t forgotten?”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten.” Dr. Hayes squinted at him. There was silence for a minute between the two.
“Viktor.” He raised his brow. “It’s Viktor.”
“Right, Viktor,” Dr. Hayes said slowly, going to sit at the desk at the front of the room. “How could I forget?”
“Easily, clearly.” Viktor returned his attention to me. “So? How did it go?”
“It worked exactly as intended. Thank you.” I smiled sheepishly, nervously rubbing my bandaged wrist.
“What happened?” His eyes filled with concern as he snatched my arm and held it up.
“Nothing! Nothing happened. I tried to use it on myself—for practice,” I lied.
“I can show you again if you need.”
“No! That will be unnecessary.” I pulled my wrist back. “But I do have samples to look at. Join me?”
“Samples from what?”
“An…animal.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“I don’t know yet. It’s something new.” I cleared my throat.
I hoisted my satchel onto one of the workbenches, extracting several individually corked vials containing blood samples.
As I reached for the last venom sample, I stared at it at the bottom of my bag.
I did not know why I hesitated, but deep down, a subtle inner voice urged me to keep this particular sample to myself, reassuring me that no one other than myself needed to know.
Besides, the venom was the least deadly sample of the bunch.
I needed to see the blood, which was the whole reason for this study in the first place.
“The sample has odd properties. Black in color, thick, and seemingly poison through something other than bacterial infection,” I explained, focusing on the vials.
“What are you looking to do with it?” Viktor asked. He furrowed his brows as he lifted one of the glass flasks, watching the liquid move.
“I want to see how it works, break it apart and see if I can use anything in it. I must get another sample, but the creature’s saliva neutralizes it upon contact. First, I need to know how potent it is.” I leaned against the table, watching him study the odd fluid.
“So, a poison and an antidote?”
“Possibly. I may need to titrate it—I have some guesses about the compounds in the solution. Then, I would probably find the lethal dose. I might be able to bring my own rats,” I mumbled as I ran the tests in my head. At the end of the day, I would just have to play with it and see what happened.
“It’s your experiment, just let me know what you need. I could navigate this lab with my eyes closed.”
“Please don’t!” Dr. Hayes piped up from his desk at the front, his eyes never leaving the paper he was marking with a pen.
Viktor and I shared a grin before gathering the samples.