Page 54

Master Ostrum’s eyes were furrowed in concern. “If you had an iron crucible, would you have used it?”

I swallowed, hard. “I just wanted to help.”

He nodded grimly.

“It is good that there was no alchemist there but me,” he said. “Any other, and you might have been faced with an inquiry.”

The punishment for practicing—or even attempting to practice—necromancy was death.

“I’m sorry,” I stuttered. “I didn’t think—”

“That’s the problem,” Master Ostrum said. “You didn’t think.”

“But I’mnota necromancer—”

“And yet, you seem to have a natural inclination.”

I stood up so suddenly that my chair clattered to the floor, protests already bubbling on my lips.

“Peace, Nedra,” Master Ostrum said. “I meant that as a compliment.”

His words surprised me, and I reached behind me for the chair, setting it upright again.

“Necromancy itself is forbidden,” Master Ostrum said, “butstudyingit, knowledge of it, is not.”

His eyes were intent on mine, and I felt the weight of his words settling on my shoulders. This was a test.

“Nedra,” Master Ostrum said, “how long have you been helping me research this plague?”

It felt like all my life.

“And yet,” he continued, “you know as well as I that we are no closer to a cure. What causes it?”

“We don’t know.”

“How is it spread?”

“We don’t know.”

“Is it pneumonic or septicemic?”

“We don’t know.”

“Why does it affect some in the extremities, and others directly in the heart or brain?”

“We don’t know.” With every admittance of our limitations, my voice became more and more desperate until it broke.

Master Ostrum leaned over the table. “Doesn’t it strike you as odd that this much time has passed, and we don’t even know how the disease is transferred?” he said. “It is a simple test. If nothing else,a control group could determine if the disease is airborne or blood-borne. And yet, the answer is elusive.”

I frowned, still not understanding.

“Today, Nedra,” Master Ostrum continued, “you came very close to a form of alchemy few know anything about. And yet I cannot help but think you came closer to understanding this plague than anyone else has to date.”

“What are you saying?” My voice sounded distant, as if someone else were asking the question.

“I am saying that, at least within the confines of this laboratory, we must consider that perhaps the plague is caused not by a disease, but by a necromantic curse.”

He waited for the words to settle on me, a truth I couldn’t dispute. We had been dancing around this idea ever since he had given meThe Fourth Alchemy.