The Daughter of Doctor Moreau(52)

“I’d be surprised if he had given it to you.”

“I can still obtain it.”

“How?”

Carlota took a deep breath. It scared her to say it, but she did. “From his notebooks in the lab.”

“Would you be able to do anything with that?”

“I don’t know. My understanding of his work is rudimentary. But I should try, should I not?” she asked, disliking how shrill her voice sounded, how much it resembled pleading.

Lupe was still fluttering around the room. Finally, she returned to Carlota’s bedside and took the chair her father had been occupying earlier.

“I’ll tell you something, but you must keep it a secret. Will you?” Lupe asked, in the same tone she used when they were little and there was talk of some small mischief they might commit, like gorging on sweets.

“Yes, of course.”

“There is a path nearby that goes straight to Juan Cumux’s camp. It is well hidden, no one can tell it’s there. But if you know the signs you can find it.”

“He lives there? Juan Cumux?”

“If not him, one of his trusted men. Carlota, if Cachito and I and the others were to head there, they wouldn’t be able to catch us. We could go far after that. We could go southeast, to the lands that are controlled by the rebels. We’d be safe there.”

“But would they be friendly to you?”

“I think so. You could come. Why, Montgomery could come if he wants to. He might be able to help us get around. We could head into British Honduras. There’re precipices and creeks and places to hide. I’ve read so, in the newspapers, and Montgomery has said as much, too.”

Lupe looked so happy it made Carlota’s heart hurt. She wondered if she could do what she had promised. Not only to discover the formula, but to then be able to reproduce it. Furthermore, to somehow assist the hybrids in their flight. It would be a betrayal of her father. Carlota might bicker with Montgomery or flounce off when Lupe irritated her, but she did not talk back to the doctor. She did his will. They all did.

“What if you could remain safely in Yaxaktun?” Carlota asked.

“How? The Lizaldes don’t care about us. You heard them at that dinner. Talking about money, about how expensive Yaxaktun is and how little profit they can see coming from it. If they close this place down, what do you imagine they’ll do to us?”

She thought of Eduardo’s green eyes and how he’d told her to ask him for anything, and she’d told him she wanted Yaxaktun. He’d called her bold, but then he’d also kissed her. He liked her, and what was Yaxaktun to him? It was one farm, not much when one considered his vast fortune. It could be the same as giving her a hair comb.

“It might not come to that. Take the tray and sit here, sit with me and hold my hand,” Carlota said.

She clutched Lupe’s furry hand, felt the claws hidden in their sheaths.

“Are you feeling unwell again?”

“It’s a bit of a fever, like when I was small. My father said to rest.”

“Then I should go and let you rest. Unless you want me to call the doctor?”

“No, don’t bother him,” Carlota said. “I’ll sleep and I’ll feel better by the morning.”

“Very well.”

They sat together for a while. After Lupe left, Carlota tossed the covers away and stood in front of the mirror. The light of the candles made her reflection appear strange. She had that curious sensation, once again, that there was a crack, a seam, inside of her. She ran her hands down her neck, looking for a flaw she could not see. Her fingers, in the mirror, looked very long, the nails almost too sharp and the eyes…

She leaned forward and saw her eyes, bright, almost glowing. But it was the light of the candle, and when she angled her face differently the effect vanished.

She could hear, outside, the fluttering of a moth, and inside someone was walking down the hallway, and when she closed her eyes she could almost smell…was that Montgomery walking around? But it was her imagination. She couldn’t smell anything from inside her room.

She went to the door and pressed a hand against it, listening intently. The steps had stopped. She waited for a knock to come, but there was nothing, no sound. Then the steps began once again. He was walking away.

She thought to open the door and ask him what he wanted.

But instead she went to the table, blew out the candles, and slipped back into bed.





Chapter 16


    Montgomery


“She’s always been like this, though the past few years have been good to her,” Moreau said, waving Montgomery’s anxiety away as they spoke in the sitting room, white curtains fluttering with the breeze. “It’s nothing more than a matter of changing the dose of her medication.”

“But the way she looked, doctor. I’ve seen her fatigued before, but this was entirely different. I’ve never seen her like that.”

Moreau was standing before the parrot’s cage, and the parrot stared at him, cocking his head. The doctor glanced at Montgomery, sounding almost bored. “Fatigue, swelling of the joints, low fevers, headaches, hands feeling numb. It’s a constellation of symptoms that may come and go. I’ve told you so.”

Moreau was acting as though Carlota had simply stubbed a toe rather than collapsed into Montgomery’s arms. It perplexed him, and even though he could tell Moreau didn’t want to keep speaking about the incident, he pressed on.