Cora ran her hands over her fluffy ponytail, threading it between her fingers to catch on knots. She stared into a beaker, listening for the sound of melting ice in the crucible beneath. The book she took the theory from lay open in her lap. She reread the paragraph and glared at a curly red hair that had fallen into the crease.
“The mercury is not falling as fast as I would expect.” The man in the engineer’s uniform squinted at the glass tube.
“Please leave it in the tincture.” Cora traced the paragraph and muttered to herself. “I tried oil pulling, but Lissie seems to be proven right at every turn. Whatever the cure is, it binds with alcohol, just as she suggested. It is strengthened by cold, like the Giant’s magic…” She looked up, eyes unfocused.
The engineer looked quizzical and raised his eyebrows at her.
Cora turned to another book, and asked, “What methods of chilling do you know?”
He opened his mouth to answer, and then his eyes went wide and he fell backward, scrambling away from the door.
Cora scowled and looked up at him in shock. “What are you doing? I asked you a question.”
The Vulture marches upon the barren fields. The voice in Cora’s mind had a resonance, as though two voices were speaking at once. Harmonizing together, she could recognize Lissie’s words, but not their meaning. She spun around toward the engineer’s pointing finger.
Lissie hung in the air, feet hanging bare above the stone floor. Her white-blonde hair blew in a fierce gale that did not touch anything else. Lissie’s face was rigid, and her mouth was closed as her voice continued to ring through Cora. She considered the sensation. It’s coming from the base of my spine, and hijacking my own inner monologue. She thought against the torrent of words flooding into her. Keeping control of her thoughts made her dizzy. Seasick.
Cora, start the evacuation immediately. Pack the mycelium in thick ice, because it has far to travel. A slaughter is coming. From the east there is an ocean of black feathers crashing down towards us. I was selfish. I wasted what time I had with goodbyes for my love. Niko can be saved, but I don’t know how yet. I locked him in a golden prison made of your inheritance.
The words were coming in fragments now, Lissie had already turned and was floating out of the door. Cora ran after her, shouting, “What happened to you?” She tried to grab at her friend. “Are you okay?”
The swirl of fabric and hair slowed, but Lissie did not meet Cora’s pleading gaze. I do not know. I may not ever know.
Cora stared at Lissie. The blood seemed to be drawn from her face, leaving her golden skin wan and waxy. Her hands were shaking. Cora raised a hand to offer comfort, but the meaning of the words coalesced into actions, and she turned away. “I trust you, Lissie. If you say we must evacuate now, then I will tell my mother. What will you do?”
I must take the sick, the infected. I can control them, I can— The words broke off in Cora’s mind, and Cora felt her heart aching in her chest.
Lissie looked down, with eyes a twisting stormy grey. “Forgive me, Cora, if you can. Forgive me for my fear and for my sentiment.” She said this with her mouth, and her voice was hollow and tight. “I know that no one else will.” She flew out the open window in the hall, and Cora watched her disappear into a cloud of her own making.