Page 58 of Seth
“I’ve already seen something like this before. When my aunt died, my uncle turned her into an extravagant vase, can you imagine? He kept her next to his bed even after he remarried to prove to her he could still get it up and the problem, after all, was in her.” He chuckled, shook his head, then froze, one brow quirked up. “Never thought this knowledge would come in handy…”
“Diego?”
“Right. So, to make sure I’m not imagining things, I asked a lab to run a test. It’s ashes, and I have a clear idea whose ashes they are.”
“Ashes…” Gustavo twirled the piece of glass, and the flakes sparked. “This is what he did with the arm. This is what he does with the bodies… Diego, you are fucking brilliant.”
“Wait…” Diego patted his pants, looked around, then ran his palms over his chest before fishing his cell phone out of the inner pocket of his black jacket. “Could you repeat, please? I’m going to record it this time.”
“Only if you return my horse,” Gustavo kept his face straight.
“You don’t need the horse, Gustavo. You already have a perfect, toothless pony.” Diego cracked up.
“Fucker…” Gustavo couldn’t help laughing.
“Oh, and I think we know how Mayr leaves his house. On the other side of the hill, opposite his villa, we found some old masonry showing through the ground. We followed the stone and found a garage almost sinking into the hill. Quite odd, right? So, we broke in, and guess what? It’s not a garage; it’s an entrance to an old tunnel. There’re no cameras around to confirm Mayr is using this tunnel as an exit, but I bet ten thousand, this is it.”
“You are on. Good job, Diego.” Gustavo smiled and once again looked at the glass. “Next time the boy leaves, let’s pay Loco a visit.”
* * *
In the eveningof theirthird day together, when Ignaz quietly informed him that he needed to go home, Seth kept his face straight despite the desert of his soul stirring up. Without a word, he gave Ignaz a lift, but before the boy exited his car, he said, “I’d like to meet again. Give me your cell phone.”
Ignaz hesitated before passing Seth an old flip phone with erased letters on the well-worn buttons. Seth hadn’t seen anything like this in ages. He struggled for a moment, trying to remember how to save his number into such a device, then proffered it back, looking Ignaz in the eye. “I hope it’s mutual. Call anytime; I’ll come and get you. Don’t look for anyone else.”
Their fingers brushed as Ignaz accepted the device. Seth held the phone for another moment before reluctantly releasing his grip. Every cell in his body protested letting Ignaz go, yet he unlocked the car, then averted his gaze, refusing to watch the boy leave. The familiar feeling of disappointment settled in his chest as Ignaz didn’t utter a word.I really shouldn’t hope. So what if he glows; they all did.
In the window reflection, Seth saw Ignaz nod, grab the door handle, then turn around, cheeks glowing. “Okay.”
The knot in Seth’s chest released. Head whipping to the boy, he smiled.
The need tosee Justinbrought Seth in the basement. He opened the refrigerator room and stepped in. His breath misted in the air, and his gaze automatically fixed on the thermometer. It showed +5°C1. He snatched surgical gloves from a shelf of the metal rack, slipped them on, then carefully drained the acetone-based solution from the jar into the metal sink.
Setting the jar on the small metal table that looked like it would fit in an operating theater, he took the heart in his hands. His fingers caressed the gentle tissue. It’d been a while since he held the heart. As always, it felt intimate and painful, as if he was reliving all the hopes and disappointments again, at once.
“It’s okay,” He wasn’t sure if he tried to comfort Justin or himself, but he added, “Not long left to wait. There will be no more pain, I promise.”
He placed the heart in a large glass beaker, then filled it with plastic solvent. Holding the beaker with both hands, he lowered it into an aluminum vacuum chamber that stood on the floor under the metal table. He put the vacuum chamber into the special freezer and connected the cords. A low hum filled the room.
Under absolute pressure, in cold temperature, the acetone in the heart would boil and evaporate, and silicone would be forcefully impregnated into every cell of Justin’s heart. Organs, plastinated this way, would forever retain their shape. No decay or smell would ever spoil them. A heart preserved this way could remain in a glass chamber for eternity.
He wiped every surface he used with oxygen detergent solution then stepped out of the refrigerator room. The door closed with a soft exhale. Seth’s gaze slid over the basement. Contrasting with the almost sterile feel of the hidden room, the basement drowned in chaos. Pieces of glass towered on every working bench; empty olive cans scattered across the floor.
I should clean up, and I need to finish SkyBlade.
* * *
The doorbell threwSeth out of the trance of creation. He glanced at the heat detector on the wall, then at his watch before he shoved a chunk of molten glass back in the furnace and hurried upstairs. Not bothering to cover his naked torso, Seth yanked the door open.
The breeze caressed his cheeks and licked his chest the same way Gustavo’s dark gaze groped his body. Obscenely, evaluatively, yet somehow casually, just like people look at meat at the market. Seth hated this look. It made him feel even more naked and, at the same time, somehow degraded.
“I see you are healing fine. The swelling passed.” Gustavo’s pupils dilated as he examined Seth’s chest and stomach. He swallowed, and his tanned skin picked up a darker hue. “I wish I could recover as speedily. My thigh is still bothering me. I guess I’m getting old.”
A low hissing left Seth’s mouth as he stared at the still visible cut on the bridge of Gustavo’s nose.
“Easy-easy, I’m not here to fight. I’m here to congratulate you. It’s a splendid young man you brought here the other day. So fit, so full of life, so cute. You see, there’s only one problem now. Justin misses you. He turned blue after hearing you forgot him so quickly. His body has barely cooled, and you have already found yourself another toy. Kinda heartless. Justin gave you his heart, and you broke it. What do we do about that?”
Seth tried to ignore Gustavo’s usual mocking and spiteful intonation. Today, it was even harder as the man didn’t smile, and his eyes glowed with dark, raw emotion. Seth didn’t care what caused the change, but his skin crawled under this raping gaze.
