Kindling by Kathleen Jennings

Author:Kathleen Jennings
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Small Beer Press
Published: 2024-01-04T17:05:55+00:00

The doctor, short and gingery, regarded Aria narrowly when Officer Gray brought her in to the theatre. It was late at night, but even so, very few people seemed to be on this floor. The doors were poorly signed. Not so much a secret wing as an unobtrusive one. Hidden by being unremarkable, like boundaries in a city, and families in the world.

“This is Doctor Payne,” said Officer Gray.

“My own name,” said the doctor, with a voice like sand, as if used to mockery and the hint of a smirk in the policewoman’s voice. “Do you know who this is?”

Jeremy lay on the table, at once too pale and too bloodied under the unnatural light. His shirt had been cut away and his eyes were almost entirely closed.

“He told me his name is Jeremy Lantern,” said Aria. “It isn’t his real, own name. Whatever that is, I think it’s been hidden for a long time.”

“Do you now?” said the doctor dryly. “Frankly, it was a good shot, he should be dead, and I’m not a miracle-worker. But between your devilry, Miss Winter, and whatever your Mr Lantern did with his name, he hasn’t quite died. Not that I’d say he’s alive. Look at this.” The doctor’s hand, powdery in its translucent glove, touched Jeremy’s shoulder and brought away a piece of him—a shard, like broken porcelain.

Aria wanted to hide her face against someone’s shoulder, but the policewoman was the only candidate and she was not a comforting presence.

“Our friend here doesn’t seem to be showing up on any records,” continued the doctor, glancing once at Officer Gray for confirmation. “It happens. Stray bodies get dragged in more often than you’d think, although usually they aren’t so well dressed.” The remains of Jeremy’s silvery suit were dark with drying blood.

“From what I understand,” the doctor went on, “you’re likely to be the only one who cares whether he lives or dies. And the only one to raise a stink about it, which is all you people seem to be good for. That’s why you’re here. Oh, don’t look alarmed, I’m a doctor. Do no harm, and so on. Open the window, Claudia, just in case.”

Officer Gray complied. There was a crisp wind, and to Aria the traffic sounded very heavy for so late. She sensed it moving through the night, up to starlit mountains or along the shore of a moonless sea.

The doctor opened Jeremy’s chest, lifting the cold skin away as if it were dead leaves and snapping open the ribs like pale twigs. Aria, light-headed, leaned against the door. Officer Gray was watching the procedure with sardonic interest and folded arms. The doctor’s gloved hands reached into the cavity of Jeremy’s chest, lifted out something small and grey and set it on the bed. It sat on the blue sheets for a moment as if stunned, then shook itself—a tiny bird, bedraggled and forlorn.

Aria straightened. “Jeremy?” she whispered. But if it was Jeremy, it gave no sign that it knew her.

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