“Pricked your finger? Who are you, fucking Sleeping Beauty? Hold out your hand.”

Mrs. Redmond grabbed my wrist and dragged the knife across my palm, opening a deep gash. I screamed as she shoved my hand into the enclosure. Blood rushed from the wound and spilled across the surface of the Heart.

This time it did more than shift inside the glass enclosure. The Heart contracted, then flushed pink on the rounded bulbous lobe where my blood had fallen. Ribbons of red rippled down the stalks that snaked into the dirt. And then, as slivers of moonlight filtered down from the hole in the ceiling, the Absyrtus Heart began to beat.

CHAPTER 29

CHAPTER 29

The Heart beat like it remembered powering a flesh-and-blood body. The steady pulse was audible and reverberated in my bones. The fresh infusion of my blood pumped through its stalk and down into the ground.

“Pull it up,” Mrs. Redmond ordered.

I’d barely brushed one of its dried and crumbling leaves before and it made me feel like I’d broken every bone in my hand. How was I supposed to uproot it completely?

Mrs. Redmond backed away from the enclosure. Desperate as she was, she knew its power, and she was afraid of it. I thought of tossing it at her. I was sure it would kill her, but Mo wasn’t back yet, and I didn’t know who Mrs. Redmond had waiting for her to return.

I reached in and grasped the base of the plant, my hand still oozing blood. Blistering cold numbed my palm. One hard tug, and the Heart’s roots broke from the soil. The icy cold spread up my arm and into the right side of my chest. The shock of it took my breath away. I stumbled, falling onto my knees, dropping the plant. It continued to beat, flopping around on the floor like a fish out of water.

“Get up!” Mrs. Redmond barked.

I grabbed the Heart, tripping up the steps as the cold invaded every part of me. It had spread to the side of my neck and face. A wave of nausea washed over me. I leaned against the damp rock wall to steady myself as the Heart dangled from my hand, bits of earth and blood dripping from its freshly exposed roots. Mrs. Redmond screamed at me to keep moving.

Staggering up and out to the Poison Garden, I fell to my knees, dropping the Heart and clutching my chest. The numbing pain began to subside—but not before Mrs. Redmond was threatening me again. I picked up the plant and the cold intensified. I couldn’t catch my breath.

Lurching forward, I managed to make it to the moon gate before I had to put the Heart down again. Mrs. Redmond ripped off her mask and stood over my mom, who had rolled over, clutching her head, still dazed. Mrs. Redmond grabbed her under her arms and pulled her to her feet.