Morok

Chapter XXV. Lavender Cookies

"I have made an unforgivable mistake," Elise told Zora as soon as she opened the door of her attic apartment.

Usually, she would come in the evening and disappear with the first rays of sunlight, drawn away by the strange aversion to intimacy that made the young doctor feel ashamed and feeble. Elise's stubborn denial of her supposed 'weakness' annoyed Zora. But all she could do was repel her self-deprecating lover with her sharp comments about Elise's need to conform and hide all that made her unique.

This time, Zora was prepared to ask if Elise had forgotten anything at her place but stopped mid-word. The air around Elise was filled with ozone, followed by invisible lightning—a current dark and dangerous, not to be trifled with. Zora frowned as if flogged by the sense of urgency in her voice.

"Mistakes can be corrected unless they have caused death. I am good at solving strategic problems."

"You are good at that because you are insane, Zora. You lack any instinct of self-preservation and are focused on a singular goal," Elise blurted out without much reflection. "That is why you are uniquely suited to be Talented."

"My incompetence does help," Zora said with a hint of irony, ushering Elise into the room with the old round window overlooking the still sleepy Ringstrasse.

"Your incompetence does help," Elise repeated, landing on an old chair in front of Zora. "My competence has landed me in a situation I cannot control."

"Gorenski?" There were few other options Zora could think of.

Elise nodded. "I have been trying to understand the nature of my growing connection with Morok, keeping a journal...."

She did not need to finish her sentence. Zora knew.

"Gorenski has found your notes, formulas, or whatever research you were doing...." Watching Elise, Zora swallowed a lump in her throat. Despite the effort, the lump did not disappear, migrating to her lungs and pushing her ribs. One thing did not make sense to Zora. "You are many things but not careless, Elise. How? How do you know that Gorenski knows?"

"I know." Elise became so pale that she almost disappeared into the white background of the wall. "I know whatever happens in the Archive, Zora. I sense it. The paths from the White City and back.... he's losing control of them."

"The Archive is choosing you."

Terror seized Zora's heart as realization crawled into her mind, oppressing reason, instigating the dark envy she could not accept even in the silence of her soul. The Archive chose Elise as the Curator. As if to confirm her thoughts, Elise pursed her lips.

"It is...a throb inside the muscle of my heart. I can't understand its nature. Not yet."

"And you can't stop it," Zora concluded.

"No. I can't. And I will be a disastrous Curator since I am unfit for the job. I am nothing like you or him. I will be incompetent."

A bitter chuckle was all Zora could master, squeezing her hands behind her back, hoping Elise would not notice. Zora would have given her life for the position Elise had so quickly discarded. Unfair. Absurd. To watch someone else fulfill your dream...was unbearable.

Did Gorenski want to be the Curator? Zora never knew. Remembering the bitter, desperate undercurrent of his words when he said, 'She can't see the pictures,' Zora thought he did not cling to the position—only to the power it granted. What he wanted was posterity. And nobody could recognize and accept someone so unreal, so twisted—except for Zora.

Her unique mind was the key to Gorenski's defeat. His flaws and dreams could bring his downfall. But was Zora ready to stand by Elise's side despite desiring the position as much as she desired the woman before her? She could never have both. She had to choose.