Page 85 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts (Hospital for Immortal Creatures #3)

Amelia

Amelia knelt in the grass, her ankles and wrists bound tightly behind her back.

The Sacreds were coming to life. The serpents on the necklace started to move, twisting as if engaged in a passionate dance.

The strands of the net wound around the Queen’s arm, while the quartz at her neckline glowed, emitting tendrils of smoke that curled towards her collarbones.

The dark fabric of her gloves shifted, deepening to the crimson hue of fresh blood, their surface shimmering with a scaly, lustrous texture.

Beneath one glove, a bright light pulsed – the ring.

The Queen raised the mirror before her face, studying the iridescent colours swirling in the glass with a curious expression.

Her attention then shifted to the pocket watch, its dial alive with the same vivid energy it displayed when it had sent Amelia to Renenutet.

The Queen herself radiated light, connected by threads of power that stretched between the Sacreds, weaving her into a dazzling, otherworldly figure.

The sight was both breathtaking and painful, awakening a sharp ache of longing in Amelia. She should have been the one wielding the Sacreds.

From the depths of her heart, a faint voice whispered: But what would be the point if you don’t have what you truly desire?

The Queen raised her gaze to the sky. “The three timelines have converged. We begin now.”

Amelia’s jaw clenched, her chest tight with fear. Her heart thundered so loudly and fiercely that she feared it might tear her apart. Desperately, she turned her attention to the Sacreds, calling them one by one.

She focused her thoughts on the necklace. Greed.

Her gaze shifted to the quartz at the Queen’s neckline. Envy .

Lust. She envisioned the net coiled around the Queen’s arm. Lust.

Her mind sought the gloves. Sloth.

Pain lanced through her chest as she summoned Mikhail’s ring beneath the gloves. Wrath .

Her eyes landed on the mirror. Pride .

Finally, her focus settled on the pocket watch. Gluttony.

She imagined herself connecting with them, every fibre of her being extending outward. Then she waited.

She didn’t know what she was waiting for, but she dared not breathe, while the relentless hammering of her heart filled her ears.

One beat. Two. Three. Nothing.

The Queen faced the Hospital, stretching her arms to the sky.

Amelia whispered the sins once more, her voice trembling.

Beams of light burst forth from the Sacreds, shooting towards the Hospital. They climbed its windows and arches, bathing the harpies in a searing white glow before cascading down the facade and disappearing into the earth.

The ground beneath Amelia shuddered violently.

***

Mikhail

The forest was a battlefield littered with bullets, blood, and torn entrails. Bodies covered the grass, hung limply from tree branches, and bled onto the jagged rocks below. The echoes of the fight would linger in the mountains for a long time, perhaps even reaching the human world.

It was a sight Mikhail would never forget. Among the fallen were agents he’d spent the last few days with at the winery, as well as familiar creatures who’d once sought refuge at the Hospital. And as much as it ached to acknowledge it, he recognised some of the dead enemies’ faces, too.

They had advanced up the slope, cutting down the Queen’s soldiers one by one, but something – or someone – always seemed to block his path, delaying his approach to the Hospital.

He tore out a vampire’s throat with his teeth and pressed on up the incline.

Finally, the Hospital’s gate appeared through the thick foliage. He took no notice of the building’s peak, now teeming with harpies, nor of the imposing structure that had consumed two centuries of his life. His focus narrowed on the open central gate.

From the cover of the forest, Mikhail scanned the main path and the area around the gate. Something wasn’t right – there were no guards. His eyes moved to the courtyard beyond the open gate. In the centre was the Queen. Then he saw Amelia: a tiny figure lying motionless in the grass.

His heart pounded faster, fear rising in his chest.

In his manticore form, Mikhail charged towards the entrance. He was abandoning the safety of the forest, but was too desperate to care.

“MAGICAL BARRIER!” someone shouted from behind.

He skidded to a halt, claws digging into the earth just before he crossed the metal posts of the gate. The lifeless body of a man lay outside the barrier, the skin on his face and hands black and wrinkled.

Constantine, now in human form, appeared beside him. The sword he’d been wielding hung from his hand, still dripping with blood. Crouching, Constantine picked up a rock and threw it through the open gate. Electricity crackled around it as it crossed to the other side.

“Non-living matter passes through,” Constantine said grimly. “But if you try, it’ll kill you.”

A glow radiated from the centre of the courtyard, drawing their attention. The Queen’s body emitted an intense, multicoloured brilliance, with the light surging outward like ripples in a pond.

A grey-black lycanthrope leapt to their side, landing with a heavy thud.

Blood coated its muzzle, which began to shift and reshape into Presiyan’s familiar human face.

A car screeched to a halt behind them, the tyres kicking up dirt.

Viktor emerged from the driver’s seat, followed by Kathrine in her reptilian form.

“They’ve raised a magical barrier,” Constantine told them.

Mikhail forced down the rising panic clawing at him and shifted into his human form to speak. “That’s why there are no guards. We can’t get through.”

Kathrine studied the barrier, hands resting on her hips. “I should have seen this coming…”

Mikhail’s fists clenched. “I need to get to Amelia! She’s going to sacrifice herself.”

“What?” Presiyan frowned.

“The Sacreds. Activating them will kill her.”

“But didn’t you say the necklace protects her?”

“She lied!”

“She told you that?”

“No, I just know. I have to—”

A low rumble cut Mikhail off. The ground beneath their feet shifted, forcing him to steady himself.

“What the hell?!” Presiyan shouted. A sound like crashing waves echoed through the forest canopy. “An earthquake?”

“No,” Kathrine said, her voice sharp. “It’s coming from the Hospital.”

Mikhail lifted his gaze, trying to make sense of the chaos unfolding before him.

The Hospital was trembling. Its once-mighty facade now appeared fragile, shaking like a leaf against the dark canopy of the night.

The massive columns supporting its central arch wobbled, as if an invisible hand held their foundations and shook them.

Above, harpies perched on the structure, screeching in glee at the chaos.

Shouts of panic echoed from within the building.

“The Queen is doing this!” someone yelled. “She’s going to bring the Hospital down!”

Kathrine’s eyes darted around. “If this barrier is like the one in Kamchatka, the only way to disable it is from the inside. Four draconium stones anchor it. Break one, and the barrier collapses.”

“Where are those damned stones?!” Mikhail’s gaze shifted between the trembling building and the others, frantic for someone to come up with a solution.

If they couldn’t breach the courtyard, not only would he fail to reach Amelia, but the Hospital would collapse before his eyes, burying the hundreds of creatures still inside.

Kathrine scanned the visible area around the Hospital. “The barrier is rectangular, right? I’d assume the stones are inside, one for each of the four corners.”

“The nearest corner is just a few metres away,” Mikhail said.

“Even if you find it, you can’t reach it. The barrier stretches between the four stones, but also—”

“Extends several metres around them,” Presiyan said. “Which means you’d be dead before you even got close to the stone.”

Damn it! Mikhail cast a despairing glance back at the forest, where the sounds of battle still rang out, blending with the rumble of the Hospital. “Where’s Callan? He might have a better way.”

“He’s in the mountains with Jasmina and Mor. They’re holding off the living agents on the outskirts…”

“Holding them off? What’s the bloody point of that if we can’t get past the barrier?” Mikhail snapped.

Viktor stepped forward. “I’ll bring the barrier down. I’ll jump over and destroy one of the stones.”

Constantine stared at him as if the lycanthrope had lost his mind. “You’ll be toast before you even hit the ground on the other side.”

Viktor examined the barrier. “It works like electricity, right? But it’s magic.”

“Which is infinitely worse, in case you hadn’t realised, my friend,” Presiyan growled.

“Not for me. Magic doesn’t affect me.”

“What do you mean, it doesn’t affect you?” Mikhail’s words were followed by another, more violent tremor beneath their feet.

The lycanthrope pointed to the trembling facade. “You’ve seen the tattoo on my back, the one that hides the valknut? I think that’s why magic doesn’t work on me.”

Mikhail remembered it well – a tattoo a man had inscribed on Viktor centuries ago to cover the scar from his abduction.

“The underground cavern in Alberobello,” Viktor explained.

“I was able to transform because the paralysing magic of that witch didn’t affect me.

And when we went to the witch’s house in Byala Voda?

The three of us – Mikhail, Amelia, and I – touched the note that acted as a portal to another realm, but I stayed in place because, clearly, the magic didn’t work on me! ”

“You might have a point…” Constantine’s gaze shifted to Mikhail. “The tattoo must act like a rune – a sigil of protection.”

“Even if he’s right, what’s he going to do once he gets over there?” Mikhail frowned. “The place is crawling with harpies and reptilians.”

“Chosen,” Kathrine corrected.

“Call them whatever you like. Before he gets to the stone, they’ll kill him. The moment he crosses that barrier, he’ll be a target.”