The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) by Gwyndolyn Russell (100 best novels of all time .txt) 📗

those bastards down, then you should just kill me. I won’t live my life in a cage.”

Reaper frowned. What more could he say? He left the room, locking the door behind him. He was going to conduct some research. The fleebeeron were keen about writing everything down. Surely there would be something about Monleura in the database.

Surprisingly, I was feeling better. Whatever it was must have passed through. I debated going to see the doctor, though it would still be a good idea. Fenris was supposed to go as well and since he was still following me, I took him there. Reynold’s was far too excited about it. She barely acknowledged me! She was stuck on Fenris, taking every chance she could to examine him from head to toe.

“Doc.” I said. “Doc! Slow down!”

Fenris rolled his shoulders to make his cloak fall over the front of his frame.

Reynolds pulled away and smiled at me.

“Lieutenant Marshal! When did you get here?”

“I-I’ve been here.” I stuttered. Did she really not see me walk in?!

“Oh! I’m so sorry. Are you hurt?”

“No. I don’t think so.” I cleared my throat. “It’s come to my attention that I may need a checkup. I’ve been feeling ill as of late, at least until we left that planet. I’m actually feeling better. I suspected it could be due to Fenris. Or radiation from the core.”

Reynolds hummed, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

“It’s a possibility!” She smiled. “Since we know nothing about Fenris here, he could be housing bacteria we’ve never even heard of. I would have isolated him sooner, but he is so hard to find!” Her lips pursed together. “You said you were feeling better though?”

“Yeah. I still want to make sure. Fenris is here for a checkup as well, to be safe.”

“Oh, this is wonderful! Please, you have to let me study you, Fenris! You look absolutely marvelous! I can’t tell what is machine and what is flesh.”

“About that.” I waved at her. “He spoke earlier.”

“What?! Why didn’t you say that sooner?! What did he say?”

“Valkyrie. He said he was valkyrie.”

Her lips parted. She stared up at Fenris, arms crossed under her chest.

“Wow…”

“Doc?”

“Come with me! Let’s sit you two down in the isolation ward for now.” She pivoted on her heels and led the way into the back of the medical bay.

She was bouncing with excitement. Like a kid in a candy shop. She waved for us to sit down on the foot of two gurneys while she looked over her tools on a far counter. I crossed my arms over my chest to wait patiently, sitting there on the plush mattress. Fenris had taken a seat on the other gurney which began to squeak under pressure. After a moment it cracked, the steel snapping apart. Half of the gurney ripped away, deforming the upper half while where Fenris sat crashed to the floor. The creature barely touched the ground before he turned around to see what had happened.

He visibly retracted.

“What the fuck?!” I almost jumped out of my seat.

Reynolds had turned around to stare in awe.

“Oh my! These are made with ardrizi in mind! How could it have broken?”

It made me think about my leg when it broke. From what I heard, he simply stepped on it in the fight. No wonder it had broken so badly. Fenris must have weighed a ton!

That incident must have made up Reynold’s mind. Start with the basics.

“I think you both need a full check up! Come! Liam, could you please demonstrate for Fenris?”

“All right.”

Basics. Measuring height. Weight. There was a simple machine tall enough for an ardrizi, or raven, that did both. It required standing on the scale while a separate metal arm was lowered to the top of the head. I honestly thought it was a bad idea.

Sure enough, it was. The moment Fenris put a single foot on the scale, the whole machine burst out with weights and wires.

Reynolds oohed about it. Everything that creature did fascinated her to no end. She went about the rest of the examination, using me like a guinea pig in case Fenris had never been through something like this. Yet he sat there silently, doing exactly as he was asked. I must have been there for moral support. I never felt so ignored in all my life. Maybe I was just the control in her research.

I could tell when she saw Fenris differently. It never seemed to line up when his form changed for me. Whenever I saw the humanoid form, she saw the wolf. She pulled back for a double take each time. She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve, adjusted her glasses, then went back to work as she saw fit.

She took temperature, external, internal. Skin samples. Saliva samples. Well, she tried to. When she attempted to scrape anything off Fenris, she got nothing. In fact, with the slightest pressure, her tool snapped. She caught something interesting that none of us saw before.

“What is this? A chain?” She cradled his arm out to better see it in the light.

I leaned closer to see it as well. Sprouting out from his wrist was iron and silk, like that of a chain. Maybe it was a rock. The chain was oddly textured, bumpy, yet soft and satiny like precious fabric. It hung loose under his wrist before digging into the metal of his forearm just to pop out a couple inches up.

Looking at the rest of him, the chain was wrapped all around him. It dug into his body repeatedly, but could be easily traced.

“He’s... grown into it. Around it.” She breathed. Her lip quivered as she bit into it. “You were tied up?” Those big eyes watered.

Fenris dragged his arm from her. His head dropped to look away. A painful memory.

“No wonder you don’t move much. It must hurt…” She wrote something down on her notepad. “Maybe I can cut them off? Not sure I can… I can’t even get a needle through, or a scalpel.”

“Why’s