The emotional turmoil I’d endured since that night when I first saw Nathaniel Strider was unbearable. Happiness, love, heartache, terror were not emotions to be swirled together within the course of a day. But I seemed to be dealing with all of them at once and not just one day but every day. And the new details of my life were the cream on the top of the insanity. No doubt, the gang Strider had warned Goose about had taken their revenge on the boy, an act of brutality the thieves would soon come to regret. A sickening feeling swept through me, and a bitter taste rose in my throat. I closed my eyes to shut out everything. I fell asleep for hours and was woken by a light knocking at the door. “Strider!” I flew to the door and opened it. Dr. Bennett stood in the hallway with a candle stick. “Strider has not returned, but I wanted you to see something in the lab.” The gas lamp glowed, painting the colorless walls with the geometric shadows of bottles, jars and equipment. He placed the candle stick directly behind the microscope and sat down to make some adjustments on the device.
