Witches Burn at Dawn ✔

33. Yaroslava

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The St. Seraph's Morgue is a lone building on the edge of the city, sad and silent as death itself. Sneaking in through a window, I find myself in a long unlit hall. Adélard climbs over the windowsill after me, but Mir stays outside.

"Don't waste time," Mir says and pushes the window shut in front of my and Ady's noses. Yet, before turning his back to us, I notice him give Adélard a stern look, just a flash of his eyes, but I know Mir well enough already to catch the meaning behind it. He's irritated. Giving me a chance to stay alone with Adélard wasn't the plan.

"Has he always been so friendly?" I intend it as a joke, but my voice appears strained. And I do feel anxious after the drive.

Neither Mir nor Adélard has uttered a word on our way here. I ended up sitting in the back, and all I could do was see Mir's eyes constantly snapping to the rearview mirror to look at me. Still, every time I tried to meet his gaze, he looked away.

"Depends on your definition of friendly." Chuckling, Adélard starts down the hall. "You really don't know how to drive a car? Or did you say it so you could have a chance to take a tour around the morgue?"

"I didn't lie if that's what you're asking."

And that's why Mir's irritated. The plan was for me to stay outside. To avoid any suspicion--since a car parked in a middle of an abandoned street, conveniently under a window, like a midnight thief, doesn't look good--we've agreed that one of us had to drive around and return half an hour later, while two others would go fetching Jasna's body. I was supposed to drive--until I admitted I didn't know how to.

"Why didn't you admit it earlier?" Adélard goes on, his quiet voice piercing the darkness. "Before we've spent two hours on the road?"

So you'd leave me home and take Laverna with you instead? "I didn't think it was so important," I lie with a sheepish smile.

"Weren't you stealing cars for a living once?"

"Stealing cars didn't imply driving them, Adélard."

Ady only laughs in response, he's not irritated but merely amused. He's a much easier person to talk to, easier than Mir. I almost feel guilty for wanting to trick Ady into telling me things about himself he doesn't want to. But I need the truth, right?

As we trudge down the hallway, darkness enfolds us tighter. The building is old, the wall paint peeling. This morgue is definitely not the first choice among all in the city, I get now why it was a perfect place to leave Jasna's body--to hide her, because who would think of looking for a mayor's daughter in this shabby place?

There's not a living soul around, except for a sleepy attendant at the front door reception who we glimpse from around the corner. The skinny man doesn't notice us, napping behind his desk. Of course, he doesn't. I bet he's never heard about a morgue ambush.

"This way," Ady says, taking a left turn after we pass the reception.

I glance sideways at him, conflicted. Adélard strides beside me as though he knows exactly what he's doing, his back erect, his steps sound and confident. He's been here before. And it makes me wonder... If Jasna is his sister, how could he be so calm all this time while she was sleeping in the morgue?

"You did it on purpose, did you, Adélard?" I ask.

Puzzlement flickers across his face as he looks at me. "What do you mean?"

"I knew something was off yet when we were in that park where Jasna's body was found. There was no way that you or Mir wouldn't figure out that Jasna was still alive. And there was no way you'd be so peaceful if you thought your sister was in danger. You two arranged it from the very beginning." Which means you didn't need my help at all. Why am I alive, then? "Why didn't you tell me?"