Vespers Rising (The 39 Clues #11)(9)

“But why?” Jane asked.

He cleared his throat. “Maria … Maria would worry if she knew. Now go. And guard these packages with your lives.”

To his relief, the children obeyed. Nervously, they clutched their newfound treasures and headed for the house in a group — looking for once like they had a united purpose.

Olivia turned toward him once they were alone. “Gideon, I don’t like this plan.”

“We agreed —”

“And I will support you, but there must be another way.” She rubbed her stomach as if it had begun to hurt. “There are … there are factors we haven’t discussed.”

Something in her voice troubled him. “What do you mean?”

“I just …” Whatever she was going to say, she apparently changed her mind. “We can’t simply leave this island for Vesper to take. It’s our home. It’s been your family’s home for generations. And the ring. I know you said never to speak of it, but —”

“I will send it with you to the mainland,” Gideon promised, though the idea chilled his blood. Olivia was the only person he’d told about the ring’s terrible secret, but asking her to carry that burden seemed unconscionably risky.

“You have to take the children away,” he said. “Vesper will never stop. Even with my new strength, I can’t fight an entire barony. Our best hope is to get far away from him and convince him that my research went up in flames so it’s beyond his reach forever.”

“But the research is in your head, Gideon. How will you get away —”

Gideon leaned forward and kissed his wife. She smelled of wholesome things: sunlight and clean wool, fresh baked bread and rose petals. He had not told her just how sick he was. It was all he could do to stay on his feet, to control the trembling in his limbs. Even if he finished the serum, he doubted it would be in time. His heart was near breaking, but he managed a smile. “Trust me, sweetheart. We will all be together again.”

Before he could lose his nerve, he turned and walked toward the house, where his laboratory waited.

It was near midnight when Gideon realized he would not live to see the dawn.

He’d spent the entire day collecting his equipment, accounting for every scrap of research. He’d kept out only the essential beakers and distillation equipment for the final iteration of the serum. Every so often he’d turn and watch the drops of fluid traveling through the glass tubes with painful slowness. He wished he could speed the process, but there was simply no way.

In the meantime, he had prepared his last line of defense. He’d mixed niter, coal, and sulfur, pitch and acid — using all his alchemical training and his newfound quickness to create one final, deadly compound. Now sealed vats of explosive were placed around the laboratory, strung together with fuse wire of gunpowder-coated rope. On the table, his oil lamp burned with a low blue flame. A windup timepiece turned gears that held the end of the fuse, bringing it ever closer to the fire.

In the morning, Gideon would visit Damien’s manor again. Hopefully, the serum would be done by then, and Gideon would be healthier, ready to take on his old friend. He would try to keep Damien engaged in negotiations for at least an hour — enough time for his family to get a head start on the mainland. Eventually, Damien would grow impatient and demand to see Gideon’s lab. Gideon would stall as long as possible, then reluctantly agree. If his timing proved correct, they would be almost to the laboratory when the time-delayed fuse ignited. Twenty explosive vats would erupt simultaneously, turning the house into an inferno, reducing this lab to a mound of ashes. There would be nothing left for Damien to find.

Perhaps Gideon could escape somehow later on, bide his time pretending to work for Vesper. He could find a way to reunite with his family eventually. Or if not … he would do whatever he must to keep Damien from getting the serum.

And the ring. Gideon cursed himself. He’d forgotten to give Olivia the ring, which was almost as important, almost as dangerous as the master serum.

He’d explained its secret to Olivia long ago and warned her that Damien Vesper should never possess it. She’d argued many times that the ring shouldn’t be kept under Lord Vesper’s nose, but Gideon felt he had no choice. He couldn’t let something so dangerous out of his sight. Gideon had told Olivia to downplay the ring’s significance should Damien ever ask about it.

Tell him it has sentimental value, he’d suggested. Perhaps an heirloom from your family, which you gave to me as a token of our marriage.

Now he would have to give her the ring and hope she could take it to safety.

Gideon looked around one more time, taking stock of the place where he’d worked so many years. The laboratory took up half of the house’s ground floor, but it might as well have been a separate building. A small side door led into the house proper, though Gideon usually came and went through the back exit, which led straight to the meadow. While Olivia and Maria kept the rest of the house well scrubbed and tidy, they were not allowed in the lab. For safety, Gideon forbade anyone but himself to enter. He kept the doors locked, thank goodness. If Maria had had a key for the lab, she might’ve given Lord Vesper much more information.

The lab’s oak-beamed ceiling was low and blackened from years of smoke. Shelves of chemicals and racks of tools covered every bit of wall space. The waist-high worktables were cluttered with bowls and vials, and the room had no chairs. Gideon never sat while he worked. His spirit was too restless. He would pace between projects, checking on several boiling vats at once. Olivia often teased him that he cooked six times more than she did and still couldn’t make a decent stew.