44: Book Three by Jools Sinclair Page B

on the table. I stared at the fire, feeling different than I had just minutes before.
    “I realize that perhaps you do not know of the things of which I am speaking. Not yet anyway. And there are few words to describe it. This kind of love I’m speaking about is another world. And if you find yourself in it, you become part of something that is beyond you. And it changes you. Forever.”
    He stopped for a moment and looked at me, then down at the ground. It was strange hearing his story. I was feeling more than I wanted to, more than I expected. I was understanding more, too and it had left me confused.
    He smiled and looked back over at me.
    “I gave everything up to be with her. I didn’t care that my father had disinherited me, had changed his plans for me to join him in the family business. I enrolled in medical school, like my brother, and we lived on very little. It was the happiest time of my life.”
    Nathaniel got up quickly, stopping in front of the window. He looked out at the night and was quiet.
    “Emma died when I was a resident. With all the powers and procedures and medicines of our modern age at my disposal, I was unable to save her. My world changed in a second, Abby. In that moment the gods cast me out of the light and plunged me into blackest night. An existence filled with utter and unending despair. For years, I was in Hell.”
    I stared at him, suddenly seeing him in a new light. I inhaled slowly. The killer sitting opposite me wasn’t just a monster anymore, a cutout caricature. He was someone who had once been touched by love. And destroyed by it.
    “But my research has provided me with a way out, back to the world of the living. And you have as well.”
    He went over by the fire, resting his arm on the mantle.
    “How did Emma die?” I asked.
    But he didn’t answer. Or couldn’t. He looked at me for a moment and then turned away, walking out of the room, leaving me alone in the library.
     
    ***
     
    Somehow, Nathaniel had made me feel something other than hatred for him. It didn’t change the wrongness of his acts, but it explained what had led him here. What had broken him.
    Love and pain.
    And I knew something about both of those things.
     

 
    CHAPTER 27
     
    It was early when I heard the sound of the lock.
    “Good morning,” Phil said as he walked in. He stood at the edge of the bed.
    “Let’s get going.”
    I got up and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door. I knew what he was here for. I could try and make a run for it as we walked downstairs. Or I could stay in the bathroom and refuse to come out. I washed my face, thinking of my options.
    “Come on, Abby,” he said, knocking on the door.
    I didn’t have a plan. I walked out and stopped. Someone else was now in the room.
    “Hello, Abby. I’m Matthew,” he said. “I’ll be your doctor today.”
    He was a little older than Phil, and had dark hair and a thin, angular face. A chill shot through my body as I looked at both of them. They were wearing scrubs, with masks dangling under their chins.
    “We’ve got to get going,” Phil said, walking behind me and nudging me forward.
    I didn’t move.
    “Look, Abby, we can do it the easy way or the hard way,” Matthew said. He lifted up his hand and showed me the syringe that he was holding.
    “Fine,” I said.
    I followed Phil out the door, Matthew close behind. We all walked downstairs, through the kitchen, and out the side door. I looked for Simon, but he wasn’t there.
    They led me into the guest house. It was much larger than I thought. The room that we walked into was big and open, with high ceilings and tables set up. There were microscopes and test tubes and various machines and equipment in the corners.
    Phil handed me a hospital gown.
    “You can change over here behind the curtains,” he said.
    I changed slowly. My hands were shaking and my head was dizzy with fear. When I came out, there were a few more people wandering around, including the woman