Noir by Jacqueline Garlick Read Free Book Online Page A

“Close your eyes!” I shout to C.L. I pull up Cordelia’s skirts and yank down her stocking.
    Iris brings her apron to her mouth to stifle her scream as I jab the syringe into the muscle of Cordelia’s thigh. The potion sizzles and it gurgles out the sides of the thin pin. I feel a swell of sick sneak up my windpipe. I close my eyes and pray what I’ve done will be of some assistance.
    Cordelia sputters and starts to shake. Her heart picks up speed. I hold her wrist in my hand, counting her pulse, panicking, my own heart galloping in my throat.
    “Mum!” C.L. shakes my eyes open.
    Cordelia’s limbs twist, then start to gyrate. She heaves in a healthy gulp of air.
    “More,” I say. “I need more leaves!”
    Iris tosses me the leftover leaves I’d brought up originally. I crumple them in my hand to get them to weep, and then wave the leaves under Cordelia’s nose.
    She coughs and sputters and gasps, sucking in a deep breath. Her eyes spring open. “Eyelet?” she says weakly.
    Iris squeals and falls to her knees, hugging first Cordelia, then me.
    “You’ve done it, mum! You’ve done it!” C.L. claps my back, nearly knocking me over.
    I have done it. I can’t believe it. I draw in a breath.
    The biggest most grateful breath ever.
    I feel a slight twinge of silver coming on and slip a leaf into my own mouth . . .

Six
    Urlick
    I wake to the sound of footsteps descending the staircase adjacent to the mud-and-stone coffin where I’m being held. Blood pumps in my ears. I take a sharp breath and hold it in, listening. It is not the thunderous slap of the guard boots against rails, but rather a gentle padding of bare feet, cautiously negotiating the treads of the looping staircase as if exploring unfamiliar territory . . . or trying hard not to be heard.
    I right myself immediately, preparing for anything, my heart beating like a warrior’s. My mind loops through scenarios of who it could be.
    A guard. The warden. Death.
    Eyelet. The thought comes over me. What’s to become of Eyelet?
    I close my eyes and her image appears before me, her posture serious, her expression stoic. There’s a distant light in her eyes.
    “What is it?” I say to her likeness. “What’s the matter?”
    Her mouth shrivels into a painful grimace and she throws out her arms, and just as I’m about to swallow her up in my embrace, she vanishes into a thin wisp of corkscrewing black smoke.
    No. I gasp, leaping to my feet, swimming through the illusion in my mind. I try to catch hold of the spiraling tails of Vapours as they rise, but they’re swiped from my grasp. “No!” I shout, shuffling after them. “You cannot have her! She is mine!” The Vapours flip and turn and laugh at me, engulfing her until every trace of her is gone. “No!” I fall to my knees, shaking the vision off. “That can’t happen! It won’t happen! She is coming for me! I will see her again! I will!” I lower my head. “Please, Lord, let me see her again . . .”
    The footsteps in the hallway stop, as if my screaming has frightened them. A guard would never hesitate. I press my face through the bars. My heart balloons with hope.
    “Eyelet?” I whisper, listening to the rise and fall of the intruder’s ragged breath. “Is that you?”
    There is no answer, only a feeble gasping. After a short hesitation, the sound of steps again, picking up pace, skittering softly across the narrow hallway between the landing of the stairs and the door that blocks the short hallway to my cell.
    I hold my breath and squint my eyes as something struggles to throw back the heavy wooden door that separates the two rooms. The door creaks slowly open, letting in a vertical sliver of white light that blinds me temporarily—long enough that I cannot make out who is entering—before the door swings shut and the space falls to darkness again.
    I suck in a breath and prepare for the worst, pressing my shoulder to the stone wall. Eyelet would have answered me.
    Unsure feet