Boneseeker Read Free

closing the distance in seconds.
    With a toss of her head, the tumult of curls flips from her face. Her blue eyes are vicious. And beautiful.
    “I am a better scientist at twenty than half your staff of port-swilling, armchair-philosophizing, smoking-jacketed morons. All debate, no action.”
    Earnest gasps behind me. My arms tense, Stygian’s eyes go wild and bright.
    Father puts a placating hand on her shoulder. “Arabella….”
    She shrugs it off.
    “John, you know it to be true.”
    His fingers land back on her shoulder and squeeze . “Arabella, decorum, remember? Surely all those lessons we taught in the parlor have not been forgotten?”
    She averts her glare and her chest heaves, taking in huge, calming breaths.
    Stygian’s color rises to rival Arabella’s; his black eyes murderous.
    He speaks over her head, as if ignoring a naughty child’s behavior.“Besides her obvious impulsive nature, she is a woman . Not all the men on board the steamship shall be museum employees, and I cannot vouch for their characters. She will be in danger.”
    Father’s responding smile is wry. Arabella’s head rises and their eyes lock in unspoken communication.
    Father turns to Stygian. “You need not worry about her safety. Arabella is not like other girls.”
    “Yes, I am wholly aware,” he spits, viper-like. His eyes narrow to slits as his stare bores onto her, dripping venom.
    A protective surge flares in my chest and my teeth grind together.
    Father interjects, “Henry will also be on the voyage. I know he would be willing to assume responsibility for her safety.”
    I nod, stand ramrod straight and square my shoulders. We’re almost nose to nose as he unleashes the black look on me.
    “Is this true, Mr. Henry Watson?”
    “Of course.”
    Arabella’s jaw pops open and snaps shut, as my father claws her shoulder.
    “We will convene on this matter in a week’s time. Put it to a vote with the museum council.”
    Stygian spins on his boot heel and exits the lab, eyeing the splintered door as he rounds the corner.
    I exhale, relief flooding through me.
    I turn, and smile at Arabella. “What went wrong? With your experiment?”
    Arabella is not relieved. Arabella is trembling all over.
    She whirls, heading for the hallway. Yelling over her shoulder, “I. Don’t. Need. Protection. From any man .”
    She stomps out the door in the opposite direction as Stygian. And is gone.
    The lingering black smoke is the only proof she was ever present.
    All three of us stare at the spot she’s vacated.
    “Boldness, be my friend,” father murmurs.
    I keep my gaze straight ahead, but can’t help my smile. “It will have to be.”

Chapter Two
     
    Beliefs, shaken
     
    Bella’s Laboratory
    Arabella
     
    I stiffen as footsteps draw close, echoing down the hall. My eyes dart around the state of blackened, sooty chaos that was once my lab. Two hours later, at least the smoke has cleared.
    I extract a tiny femur from the box of bones, spinning it round through my fingers and sigh. “At least the specimens were spared.”
    I force my eyes from the partially erected skeleton and toward the entry.
    Footsteps echo off the hallway’s high ceilings and stop, as if the visitor is pausing.
    His tall form steps through the doorframe, overcoat drenched from the downpour lambasting my windows.
    Henry . My heart does a strange little flip in my chest, resulting in a cartwheeling rhythm of beats.
    I’ve never been apt with words. I think in pictures, as my father before me.
    Since my unusual childhood, my mind visualizes my feelings as the organ of my heart, sequestered in a metal box. Its outside covered with countless locks and bolts.
    To keep everyone out . To love is dangerous.
    It now throbs against the confines of its chamber.
    Henry removes his hat, spinning it in a self-conscious circle in his hands. His hair is darker than when we were children. It was almost white-blonde. And his eyes….
    “Your eyes. I don’t remember them being