“Hit him again!” I shouted.
“He’s in a wheelchair!” Elizabeth cried.
“He means to kill us!”
I lunged to the side and tried to snatch up Polidori’s devilish cane, but from the bottom of his chair, from all sides, sprang long wickedly sharp blades. One very nearly impaled my leg as I leapt up onto a worktable, sending glassware shattering.
“Look out!” I shouted to Elizabeth. “His chair’s spiked!”
Polidori snatched up his cane and turned on Elizabeth. He was a demon in his chair, riding it like a malevolent barbed steed, driving her into a corner.
From the table I grasped a heavy flask full of vile-smelling liquid and hurled it at Polidori. It shattered against his skull. Instantly his wig began to smoke and melt, releasing acrid vapors. He gave a cry and ripped the wig from his head. On his bald scalp a few red welts were already blooming.
Cursing, he swerved away from Elizabeth and launched himself toward the sink. It gave her the chance to run clear, and together we rushed to Henry, still sprawled on the ground, though moaning now. Alive! I shook him roughly.
“Henry, get up! Get up!”
His eyes opened blearily. I looked around in a frenzy and saw Polidori with his head bent under the water pump, trying to flush the acid from his flesh.
“We must go!” said Elizabeth, helping me pull Henry to his feet. “The elevator!”
“Not without the elixir!” I said.
I snatched the poker from Elizabeth and ran toward Polidori.
Before I reached him, he whirled his chair round to confront me. His face was livid with acid burns, and anger emanated from his face like a kiln’s heat. I stayed well back from the chair’s wicked blades. I could not see his cane. Polidori’s hands slipped into the large pockets of his vest, no doubt concealing the flask of elixir, for it was no longer in his lap.
“Give it to me,” I said, poker held high over my shoulder. “It contains only my marrow. It’s useless to anyone but my brother.” My stomach churned. “Or was that a lie too?”
“Indeed it was. Any marrow would suffice.”
We’d merely been Polidori’s pawns, used to gather ingredients-used to sacrifice our body parts. I felt a rage building inside me, and I welcomed it.
“You monster!” I spat.
“I did not want it to be this way, young master,” he said, with a trace of what seemed genuine ruefulness. “My plan was to make two doses of the elixir. One for your brother. One for myself.”
“Why didn’t you, then?” I demanded.
“You did not bring me enough lichen from the tree.”
With a sick heart I remembered how I’d forced Elizabeth to abandon her task before her vial was full.
“We had no choice,” Elizabeth said. “There was lightning, and the vultures!”
“I completely understand,” said Polidori. “But the result was that I had ingredients for one dose only. The good news, for you, young master, is that I only needed to take two fingers, and not four.”
“The elixir’s mine! Give it to me!”
“Very well,” said the alchemist.
Both hands flew from his pockets. In the palm of one was a mound of yellow powder. In the other was some kind of tinderbox, which was instantly aflame. He raised the powder to his lips and blew, igniting a comet of fire that streamed toward me.
I scarcely had time to fling an arm across my face before I was engulfed. Vile fumes seared my nostrils and choked me. Something struck me hard, and I crashed to the floor, rolling over and over to put out the flames-but, amazingly, I was not alight at all. The flame had spent itself seemingly without scorching me. Coughing, I staggered to my feet and saw Polidori hurtling toward the elevator, bellowing and swinging his brutal cane to clear Elizabeth and Henry from his path.
Fury obliterated my pain and exhaustion. I ran and, with a roar, threw myself at the back of his wheelchair. My weight tipped it, and it slewed wildly before toppling over, spilling Polidori facedown onto the floor. For a brief moment I almost pitied him, his withered legs thin and quivering as he scrambled to turn himself over.
“Victor, he has the elixir!” Henry cried.
Polidori’s back was to me, and I had to run around him to see that the vial was indeed in his hands, and he was pulling at the stopper.
I lunged and knocked it from his grasp. In shared horror we both watched as the vial hit the flagstone-but did not break. Then I felt his fist slam into my jaw and drive my head back.
With stunning speed he dragged his body atop mine, and had my neck locked in one powerfully flexed arm.
“You will not deny me this,” he hissed. “You will not deny me the chance of being healed.”
I writhed and flailed, but his wrestler’s grip closed ever tighter around my windpipe, cutting off my air.
“Get me the vial!” he shouted at Henry and Elizabeth. “Or I will break his neck!”
My injured hand plucked uselessly at his arm. My vision swam. My heart kicked violently, and suddenly a great weight fell upon me and I had air, and gasped to fill my lungs.
Henry, the poker gripped in his hands, towered over me. Polidori’s senseless body was toppled upon my chest. I pushed him off, and Elizabeth helped me to my feet.
“Well done, Henry,” I croaked.
“Have I killed him?” he said. He was trembling.
“He breathes,” I said. “Where is the elixir?”
Elizabeth held the vial up before me, and we all turned and ran for the elevator. Inside I stared at the confusion of dangling ropes and pulleys. I cursed myself for not paying more attention when Polidori had worked them.
“This one, I think,” Elizabeth said, pointing.
“Henry, your help,” I said. We seized it and pulled, but nothing happened. In a frenzy I began tugging at others.
From the cellar floor came a groan.
“He’s stirring!” cried Henry.
“I’m sure it’s this one!” Elizabeth said, jabbing a finger.
“You already pointed at that one!”
“Yes,” she said, “because it’s the right one.”
“It does nothing! Look!”
“There was a lever or a brake he pulled first,” she muttered, looking around wildly, pushing at things.
Henry’s icy hand gripped my shoulder. Polidori was lifting his head from the floor. I wished we had brought the poker. He glared at us. I had never seen such determination or malice. He flexed his arms and began walking toward us on his fists with terrifying speed, dragging his body behind him.
“Try now!” Elizabeth cried.
Polidori was not fifteen feet away.
We heaved at the rope, and this time felt the elevator’s frame shiver and lift a few inches off the floor.
“Again! Don’t stop!” I cried, for Polidori was very near the threshold. He lunged, his right hand straining for the edge of the elevator floor, but Henry and I gave a mighty heave and hoisted ourselves just out of reach. We heard his strangled curse of defeat.
“He cannot get us now!” panted Henry.
We kept hauling at the rope, but were so exhausted that we rose more slowly with every pull. My right hand was of little use, and the pain in my wounds was brutal. A rivulet of sweat ran into my eye.
Even with the three of us, we could barely budge the elevator. How could it suddenly have become so much heavier?
And just as I understood, an arm darted up over the edge and slammed down on the floor. Like some horrific white spider, the hand hopped about, and before I could dance clear, it fastened around my ankle and dragged me off my feet. I landed with a thud and grasped the rope for dear life, for I was being pulled hard.
