Scientific Fantasies (Wattys2015)

Chapter Seventeen

Telling Sam hadn't been easy. And at first, he hadn't believed her. But after she'd showed him, after they'd both seen the clear wound so close to the parrot's heart, no one could deny it. The specimen that Sam had worked so hard on was dead. All his effort and time had been for nothing.

When the others heard, they were all in shock, and it made for a quiet meal that night. Instead of eating in the dining hall as they usually did, they'd opted to eat alone, in their shared quarters. Sam was still pale, still staring at the floor as if he couldn't believe what had happened. He still hadn't really spoken. Aiden was sitting next to him, neither of them speaking as they ate, but Natalia knew that they would be comforting each other. Both of them had worked so hard on the specimen to make sure that he was fit for showing. Linda and Natalia went through the motions of preparing their dinner automatically, almost unfeelingly. And after the meal, when everything was clean and away, and they were still doing nothing, Natalia curled in the corner of the couch, trying to bury her shock and grief in her book, hiding her face with it. She couldn't hide the tears that fell. But she couldn't let it rule her. She couldn't look at her colleagues, either. If she did, she knew that she would break down, and she wanted to be alone for that.

She was always alone when she grieved.

It wasn't long before her colleagues went to bed. Still no one had spoken, and she didn't break the silence. She stayed where she was, her book forgotten in her hands, until the darkness that settled over the room was complete. She could barely see a thing, and she didn't care. But she couldn't stay where she was. Instead, she got to her feet, carefully making her way to the hallways, and walked to her lab. Hopefully she would be able to find something there that would keep her hands busy.

To no surprise of hers, both her experiments were still awake. There had been too much commotion for her to expect them to sleep. Not after finding the parrot dead. Before she'd gone to find Sam, she'd fitted the restraints on both of them. She couldn't risk them panicking and injuring each other or themselves, but neither experiment had been happy with it.

The dark eyes of the falcon watched her unflinchingly as she tried to ignore him. She needed to keep herself busy. But there wasn't much she could do. She didn't feel up to testing either of them, and as she glanced over at the falcon, still chained in his corner, she knew that neither of them would cooperate with her right now. She thought she could see grief in his eyes, but she didn't look at him for long. She couldn't bear it.

"You killed him."

She swallowed, refusing to turn around. "No, I didn't. Ingvar did."

There was silence behind her, and she glanced over his shoulder. She couldn't look away from him now, even though she knew that he was furious and in pain. She knew that the chain was digging into his wrists, very close to breaking the skin again. She knew that he would be straining to release his wings, fighting to get them free to snap through the air as he had been made to do. His eyes were pleading, the only sign that he would allow himself, but she shook her head slowly, sadly. She couldn't do anything.

"I can't," she whispered.

He pulled at the chain again, the metal links biting into his wrists, and pointed with his chin to the bloodstain at the doorway. "That." He sighed, his voice bitter with sorrow, and looked at her again. "That is what ignorance does."

She couldn't disagree with him. She knew that it was true. Even so, she turned away from him, and his accusations, his sorrow. It was too much for her to bear right now. "Surely you knew about it," she whispered. "Surely he gave some indication."

"He knew he wasn't needed. He chose not to tell."

Her whole body froze, and she fought to breathe. "How?"