Page 43 of Stars May Fall

“This is what we call The Nursery. The Originals are contained within. I will walk from one end of the corridor to the other to demonstrate what I want you to do. Then you can.” He waved his hand dismissively toward Meena. “And then you.” He smiled and inclined his head at me. “Afterward, I will give you a decent sample of the metal in your blood. I will even include a simple ingredients list if you wish. You can then perform whatever kryalcomy you wish to remove it from your body.”

I breathed in through my nose, the air damp and stale, and nodded. Gregane took out a key and unlocked the thick door.

SOPHIE

The hinges screeched as the door opened, and a cacophony of shrieks and rattles and scrapes tore through the air in response. The smell of urine and feces accosted my nostrils. It felt like the gaping darkness beyond was filled with injured dangerous wild animals.

Gregane didn’t seem at all ruffled by the noise and reached out to turn on a series of kryalcomy lights. They were small and evenly placed along the ceiling. Their faint blue light highlighted eight cells, four on each side of the corridor. The inward walls were purely thick bars, and those closest to us rattled as skeletal hands tried to reach through or wrench the bars apart. Three of the cells were strangely silent.

My heart went out to the people these creatures had once been. I had once been locked in the dark too, and I had once been a halfsoul. How was it fair that I’d been the only one saved from their fate?

Gregane walked slowly down the center. Every time he passed a cell, the occupant threw itself at the bars with an inhuman shriek, desperately scrambling to grab him. I’d heard the halfsouls described a few times, but my memories of them from the night I was attacked were hazy. I had been toooverwhelmed and weakened from my injuries to truly take them in. I squinted into the dark, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Even though the creatures’ features weren’t clear in the gloom, their ferocity and energy were startling. The three last cells remained silent as Gregane reached them, and I could only guess their occupants were unconscious or dead.

Gregane walked back to us at a leisurely pace. He pointed to Meena. “Now your turn. Nice and slow, please. And don’t you dare harm them.”

Meena curled her lip in disgust before she walked up and down the corridor. Again, the halfsouls did everything they could to reach her with angular fingers and broken nails. She didn’t flinch. I wished I was as calm and brave as her, though I supposed she’d fought the halfsouls many times in the past.

She met my eyes as she returned through the door. “You don’t have to do this, my lady.”

I clenched my fists. “I do.”

It was just a short walk in return for what we needed. I’d always wondered what the halfsouls looked like. This was a chance to show I really could be brave and belonged at Kasten’s side. I would show everyone that I was worthy of him.

Gregane held out his hand. “Just give them a moment to settle down.” I wondered if that was even possible. The noise lessened by a barely perceptible amount. “Now. Go nice and slow.”

I held my breath and stepped through the doorway. The sound didn’t escalate like they had when Gregane or Meena had stepped through. I took one step. Then another. Nothing threw itself at the bars. I gazed into the shadows and made out a hunched figure crouching on the floor in strips of cloth that could barely be called rags. It was gnawing at one of the bars with broken teeth and occasionally gave out an animalistic cry of frustration. It completely ignored me. Did it assume from mybuild and mannerisms that I wasn’t a threat? But that made no sense. They were aggressive toward everyone and attacked without fear.

I stepped farther in. Again, nothing shook the bars. The next halfsoul was fixated on the open door behind me as if waiting for somebody else to come through. The next one paced back and forth like a caged lion. I stepped closer, causing Meena to shout a warning. Nothing tried to grab me, but they reacted to her voice, running to the front of their cages and craning to see her, snarls on their faces.

“Interesting.” Mister Gregane’s voice was an eerie whisper. “They still see you as one of them. I’ve always found it interesting that they don’t attack one another. But I suppose that would be detrimental to the spread of the disease.”

Feeling slightly calmer, I reached the silent cells at the end of the corridor and turned around. One had an unmoving body in its center. The other two were empty. Had they even been occupied? Or was that where they put their new halfsouls while they turned?

My hatred of this place intensified, and I just wanted to get out. These poor, poor people. So many people.

I started back for the open door where Meena and Callum waited with wide eyes. Hinges squealed, and before I could register what was happening, the door clanged shut. Panic flooded my body. I ran as if in slow motion, barely making out alarmed shouts from behind the thick door. My body slammed against the wood, and I tried to find a handle, but there wasn’t one. The door was wedged shut. There was no way to open it from the inside.

Gregane’s face appeared through the tiny grid. “Don’t worry. Don’t worry. I just wanted to try one more thing, just to make sure.”

Where were Meena and Callum? Why hadn’t they stopped him? And why weren’t they opening the door? I raked at the wood with my nails, trying to gain purchase. My fingers couldn’t fit through the grid. I was trapped and alone again. Only this time, I was with those monsters.

I heard a long, low grating sound, and I turned around in horror as the barred gates of the cells slowly lifted into the ceiling. I felt under my skirt and unsheathed my freisk knife. Meena had told me the knives weren’t as effective against halfsouls as Kollenstar soulless, but it was all I had.

WherewereMeena and Callum?

The first halfsoul rushed out from under the rising gate. It had a collar around its neck, which was attached to a chain that clinked behind it. It screeched and jumped around in excitement, its bony limbs bleached white by the dim blue kryalcomy lights.

Then a second came out, rapid, broken and jerky. And a third, staying low to the ground like a shadow.

I pressed myself against the door and didn’t move. I barely even breathed. My heart beat so hard it sounded erratic in my chest.

Gregane’s voice behind me was laced with pleasure. The twisted man was enjoying this. “Go on. Why not walk around? This won’t take long.”

I didn’t move. I was frozen to the spot, watching these strange creatures check every inch of the space for a way to escape. When they approached the door, I slid away to the corner. One clawed at the grid in the door window and squealed in delight when it saw Gregane. It scrambled and clattered, trying to get him.

I edged further away. The creatures still ignored me. One of the weak kryalcomy lights flickered overhead. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I struggled not to hyperventilate, trapped inmy worst nightmare. How long until they realized I was no longer a halfsoul?

Behind me, Gregane laughed, a breathy, disbelieving sound of delight.

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