CHAPTER 4: THE DOCTOR'S DISSECTION

The smell of rotting petals clung to Doctor Holloway's surgery as Julian pinned Daisy's twitching root-legs to the examination table. The dog-that-wasn't-a-dog whimpered through lopsided jaws, her tail still wagging, scattering decayed violets across the floor.

"Christ," Holloway muttered, scalpel trembling. "Its veins are willow roots."

Julian's wedding ring burned against his finger—Sabrina's matching band had been glowing amber all morning. He should be with her, should be stopping whatever new horror Lyra was whispering in her ear. But this—

This was love too.

Protection. Understanding the enemy.

The scalpel plunged.

Black sap gushed across the steel table, carrying with it:

Three human molars (too large to be a child's)

A scrap of blue fabric (from Tommy Higgins' shirt)

A single pearl button (identical to the ones on Sabrina's nightgown)

Daisy yowled—a sound too human for any beast—and Julian felt it, the vibration traveling up his arms to settle behind his ribs where the thorns had once grown.

Holloway stumbled back. "This is no animal. It's a construct. Someone wove this thing from—"

The door slammed open.

Sabrina stood framed in sunlight, her hair wild, her lips parted around panicked breaths. The bodice of her dress was splattered with fresh sap.

"Lyra's missing," she gasped.

Julian was moving before conscious thought, knocking over the tray of surgical tools. The last thing he saw before following Sabrina into the street was Daisy's violet eye rolling to track him, her root-tongue licking across broken teeth in a grotesque parody of a smile.

CHAPTER END: The examination table lay empty behind them, the restraints chewed through, the window smeared with paw prints and tiny handprints.