Arsenic for the Soul Read Online Free PDF Page A

Vivian only shared her
evening meals with her mother. She would inevitably glance at the
head of the table and sink a little deeper into her chair when her
father’s spot was empty.
    When she visited him in the hospital,
he seemed a subdued version of the man who always chided her about
responsibilities. But how could he not feel that way when so much
surgery and medication dulled his mind?
    He turned away from the window and
smiled at Vivian.
    “ Do you remember what I
told you before you were accepted into this program?”
    “ Well, you said a lot of
things, most of them falling somewhere in the realm of studying
every night, ending my social life, and no dating for two years.
You’re an absolute tyrant.”
    “ Well, yes, there was that,
but you’re forgetting the most important part. I hoped it would
stick a little better than my tyrannical edicts, but maybe you need
a gentle reminder. You’re a capable woman and I see so much
greatness and potential in you. Don’t let anyone discourage you
from your dreams. It won’t be easy at first but you’ll find your
way, one day at a time. Your mother and I have faith in
you.”
    “ I didn’t know the drugs
made you this sappy, Dad. Thank God they’re taking you off that
stuff in a few days. You’ll be back to your grumbling self in no
time.”
    In truth, she couldn’t imagine she
would be standing here today. So many obstacles once barred her way
to this program, but she clearly overcame them. In spite of it, her
first day in the hospital was hardly what she
anticipated.
    She recalled the woman who died in the
ER and the strange lesions on her limbs. She would wager her life
that it wasn’t caused by drug use or infection.
    Whatever the mystery ailment was, it
didn’t sit well with her. Crenshaw was too quick to write it off as
drug use.
    She refused to accept his narrow
explanation—it didn’t matter if he was a brilliant surgeon or
not.
    Keung studied the furrow of her
daughter’s eyebrows and the simmering discontent.
    “ Is something troubling
you?”
    The biting doubts flowed from Vivian
and she smiled at her father.
    “ Nothing I can’t
handle.”
     
     
     
    THREE
     
     
     
    The icy winds chased Camilla into the
foyer of Florenci Apartments. The doors whipped shut behind her
with a gasp of ice-chilled air. Camilla was instantly cocooned in
the warmth of the Victorian-esque building. On any other day she
would have gushed over its nostalgic charm.
    Today it bore a haunting resemblance
to Vesely Manor, and that comparison did little to tame her
nerves.
    The indoor garden sprawled before her
looked like a darkened forest in the buzzing lights. Tongues of
wind hissed through the vents and flicked her hair.
    The cage elevator chimed as it settled
on the first floor and yawned open. The skeletal doors slammed shut
behind her heels as soon as she entered. Camilla felt like a canary
in a cage before she was served up to a diabolical creature. Was
there any worse feeling than a sense of entrapment? Perhaps that
was why she refused to work in a cubicle.
    More perturbing than cramped spaces
was the thought of being watched from afar. She couldn’t escape the
feeling that someone had been watching her earlier at the manor
ruins.
    She could hardly blame a curious
passer-by for pausing to stare at the cremated ruins and wonder
what it looked like in its glory days. Before the manor perished,
it lured its fair share of tourists and trespassers. Stories about
a ghostly woman wandering the gardens on winter nights only added
to the allure.
    Of course, she had always been lured
there for more sentimental reasons. Luckily for her, Uncle
Sebastian possessed a spare key to the estate. The Vesely Manor
provided a quiet place to think when Camilla’s life seemed overrun
with worry. It was a refuge that offered escape from the bustle of
Prague, even if she felt the chill of her ancestors at her
back.
    It connected her with a part of her
past that she longed to understand,