Chapters (86)
A rustle of skirts announced Olympe kneeling beside her, peeling off her gloves. A ring of scars circled each wrist like a delicate bracelet scorched into her skin.
‘Stay back,’ she warned. Then she held her hand out to the kindling and sent a ripple of sparks over the twists of paper and splinters of wood. They caught with a pop and the smell of ozone. Within a few seconds, the fire was glowing.
Ada nodded to her hands. ‘That must come in useful.’
Olympe blushed purple and quickly pulled her gloves back on.
‘Can you only do that with your hands?’
‘No. But it’s the easiest to control there.’
‘Do you mean if I touch another part of your body, I might get a shock?’
Olympe’s expression tightened, and she nodded. ‘Docteur Comtois always wore special gloves to protect himself.’
Ada rolled that sentence around in her mind for a minute. She imagined this so-called doctor fumbling with thick gloves lined in sheepskin as he sewed Olympe’s gloves to her dress, pricking her delicate skin so tiny red beads of blood blossomed along her wrist.
She shivered. Poor girl.
‘Do you remember the first time you were able to use electricity?’
‘No – I mean, I think I was born this way. When I was young I didn’t have so much control. I’d shock people that I didn’t like. It wasn’t on purpose, but when I got angry or upset it felt as though all of my insides were moving too fast, rubbing against each other, and then before I could control it, someone got hurt.’ She tucked her hands under her arms. ‘My mother always told me it was natural. A cat will scratch someone who steps on its tail. Maybe I am beastly like that.’
Olympe looked away for a moment, a flush of grey and purple across her cheeks. Then she seemed to gather herself again and turned back to Ada.
‘I’d like to sleep now. Please give my apologies to the others.’ On the threshold of the bedroom, she paused. ‘And thank you. I think I should have said that earlier.’
Ada’s expression clouded over. ‘There’s nothing to thank us for. Yet.’