Page 25 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts (Hospital for Immortal Creatures #3)

“I despise this realm!” She glanced back at Constantine. “Why did I imagine there would be a massive sign at the boundary saying ‘Border’?”

Constantine approached and touched the concealed wall himself. “The witcher could have warned you about this.” Pushing away from the barrier, he inspected the car before ripping out the airbags. “Get in!”

Amelia cast a doubtful glance at the crumpled front of the vehicle. “If anyone sees us in this car…”

“In the dark, it’s fine. Let’s find the laboratory!”

She surveyed the deserted grounds once more. “The witcher said I’d ‘sense’ it when I’m close to the laboratory. I thought he meant an intuitive feeling, but perhaps he spoke literally. I think we need to walk along the wall and search for something in it – a gap.”

Constantine looked up at the moon. “We don’t have much time before dawn. If you’re wrong…”

“I know,” she said.

With their palms pressed against the unseen barrier, they traced their way southeast. They assumed the direction was correct, since the opposite side revealed the slope of Antambazi, crowned by the royal structure.

Just as Amelia’s hope began to wane and the approaching dawn threatened them further, her hand slipped through a void.

She recoiled instinctively, then extended her arm once more.

It vanished into the air, as if the wall had ceased to exist.

No, she wasn’t imagining it. If she hadn’t witnessed this before, she might have thought it was a hallucination. But just as her legs had sunk into the grass above the Temple of the Dead Immortals, this was real.

“I found it!” she whispered, unsure how close they could be to the laboratory. For all she knew, a legion of reptilians could be stationed just beyond, ready to pounce at the slightest sound.

Without a word, Constantine located the opening and disappeared into it.

Amelia was about to follow him when his head reappeared, floating as though bodiless. “It leads into a corridor. I sense no presence. Come through!”

She crossed the wall, stepping into a dark, murky tunnel.

The air carried subtle hints of sea salt and a faint scent of spirits.

Parallel pipes ran along the walls, emitting an unpleasant hissing sound.

Amelia turned to examine the spot they had entered from, finding only a black wall where the portal had been.

She hoped it would grant them an easy exit.

An icy fist clenched her heart at the thought that Mikhail might be here. What if the Queen has used him in one of her experiments? What if she’s testing his endurance to see how much she has slowed his regeneration? She didn’t want to think about General Petrov’s experiments either. He’s dead.

All this while, she’d kept the fear of such possibilities at bay. But now, confronted with the harsh reality, her nightmares threatened to come alive.

Constantine moved closer to her and whispered, “Reptilians have poor vision in the dark. If anything goes wrong, seek the shadows. Stay out of sight and follow any draught or wind to carry your scent away. Reptilians rely heavily on their sense of smell, less so on hearing.”

She nodded and advanced towards the heavy metal door at the corridor’s end.

“The music!” Constantine hissed the moment Amelia raised her hand, just in time to lull the reptilian guard leaning against the wall a few metres ahead into blissful unawareness.

“They probably don’t station their best guards here. I doubt anyone breaks into the laboratory often,” Constantine said, hurrying towards the guard. “Don’t stop the music.”

“You can’t kill him! We’ve got nowhere to hide the body…”

Constantine reached for the guard’s belt. “I’m not killing him. Just taking his torch… and access card.” He slid the plastic card through a device embedded in the wall. A soft click, accompanied by a brief beep, indicated the door was unlocked.

Electric panels hung on the walls inside. Amelia studied the metallic boxes, guessing they supplied power to the entire laboratory. “Cutting the power might cause chaos and delay them…”

Constantine shook his head. “It’ll trigger a commotion and hinder us further. Besides, there’s probably a backup generator.”

Against the wall, sealed containers marked with biohazard symbols were leaning.

She’d expected as much – after all, this was the Queen’s laboratory, where she conducted experiments on the species’ regeneration.

But those biological waste containers… What if she had done something to Mikhail?

Amelia forced her emotions to steady. She needed to remain composed.

They advanced swiftly along the straight corridor, meeting no one. Perhaps the laboratory, like the city above, stirred at sunrise. Whatever the case, time was slipping away.

The corridor forked ahead, splitting into two passages. One was brightly illuminated; the other showed a faint glimmer of light at its entrance before fading into shadow. Amelia’s pulse quickened. Mikhail was nearby – she could feel it.

“This way,” she said, choosing the lit corridor and counting her steps in her head.

She paused at a random door, unsure why it called to her. Her hands trembled with impatience, her breath catching in her throat. She signalled Constantine to swipe the card, then, forgetting all caution, rushed inside.

Light from the corridor spilt into the room, illuminating Mikhail’s limp figure suspended at its centre.

Metal chains bound his arms, and his knees pressed to the floor in a posture that spoke of both restraint and humiliation.

His body was displayed as if to make an example out of him – bare except for a strange cord tightly wound around his chest. The Council’s tattoo, confirming his identity, stretched across his entire right forearm, disappearing beneath the thick cuff encircling his wrist. His head hung low between his shoulders, and matted hair fell over his face, obscuring all expression.

Amelia ran to him and brushed his hair aside. His sleeping expression showed no sign of tension. Despite his pale skin and hollow cheeks, he had no visible wounds, but…

Her blood turned to ice. Tubes pierced both sides of his neck. She grasped one between her fingers and faced Constantine as if he could explain. His clueless look spoke volumes.

She was about to rip the tubes from his veins, but something made her hesitate. Amelia followed them to a machine in the corner. It emitted the infernal hum she’d heard in her vision. What the hell was that device? She’d never seen anything like it in a hospital…

Her focus shifted to the cord around Mikhail’s chest. It must be constricting his breathing even further! She reached out to tear it apart—

Her hand froze mid-air. Mikhail wasn’t breathing. In her vision, he’d been breathing.

She touched his face again. It was still warm.

Her mind stalled. Could I really have lost him in just these few seconds?

“Step away from the manticore!” called a voice from behind.