UnBound - Neal Shusterman Page 0,70

Eyes are lost in one’s face, do you not think? But imagine them in the palms of your hands. How much more useful they would be!”

“Are those my choices?” Colton finally asks. “Eyes in my hands or albatross wings?”

Rodín frowns. “Do you have something better? Something you dream you could be? Something the human body cannot do in its natural, inferior form?”

Colton takes a deep breath. What possible variation of awful could he propose? Something that would keep most of him intact? But more important, something that would take a long, long time to prepare.

He imagines the albatross wings, which leads him to think of a Pegasus, which leads him to think of—

“Centaur.” He cannot believe he’s even considering it, much less saying it out loud.

The doctor laughs. “You reach for the stars, yes? Centaurus, the brightest constellation in the southern sky. Like me, you are enamored with the mythological. This I can respect.” The doctor taps his chin thoughtfully. “I’ve thought of it before, of course, but such an endeavor is fraught with complications. The spine must bend at a sharp angle; the central nervous system must be effectively fused—and the operation itself? Risky. Very risky.” He looks at Colton a moment more, then he slaps the table. “But if you’re up for the challenge, then so am I!”

He rises, full of excitement, and Colton begins to laugh. He finds none of this funny, and yet still he laughs and doesn’t know why. The doctor takes his laughter as a sign of some sort of connection.

“We shall find a horse of the proper size. Chestnut, I think—to match your hair. It will take several weeks to infuse human DNA.”

Several weeks. That was the reprieve Colton was hoping for! Colton is ready to congratulate himself on his own cleverness, until Rodín says:

“But first we must give you a larger heart. I’ll make that this week’s priority.”

“What?”

“You can’t expect a mere human heart to pump all the way to your hindquarters.”

“No—but . . . but won’t you need time to infuse it with human DNA too?”

“Usually yes—but I happen to have the heart of a bull already prepared. I had plans to make a pair of minotaurs to stand on either side of the palace entrance—but that can wait; this is so much more exciting.” Rodín claps his hands in delight. “What a wonder we will create!”

Dizzy now, Colton holds on tightly to his chair, praying he can get off this ride before its terrible conclusion.

4 • Kunal

The bed this boy has made for himself is worse than any the doctor could have devised. Kunal thinks his mind must be broken, like that poor Russian girl. Or maybe he truly does fancy himself as the makings of mythology.

The first procedure—the heart transplant—is scheduled for Friday, just three days after his arrival at the Green Manor. The boy’s heart will be sold on the black market, and in its place will be a beef heart more than twice its size.

Kunal is there as the doctor has his second conversation with the boy. The preoperative discussion. “Of course we’ll have to enlarge your chest a bit,” Dr. Rodín casually tells him, “but that’s simple enough.”

Kunal watches Colton, but he shows no hint of a reaction. How could he not be terrified? Kunal was terrified when he was the focus of the doctor’s attention—but then Kunal didn’t volunteer. He was selected.

Perhaps that’s why this American boy is treated differently from the others.

“You will lock him in his room at night, but allow him to move about the manor during the day,” Rodín instructs Kunal. “But keep a close eye on him. Escort him wherever he goes.”

“Why, Dr. Rodín?” Kunal dares to ask. “Why he get no chains?”

The doctor looks at him, affronted. “You question me?”

“Only to understand.”

Rodín sighs. “This boy will most certainly die. If not after this procedure, then after the next. Progress cannot be made without the experiments that fail, no? But I admire this boy’s bravery. The least I could do is allow him his humanity for a day or two.”

Kunal does not like the idea that he is now the valet to some spoiled American kid—but knowing what he’s in for softens Kunal’s judgment just a bit.

The next morning Kunal gives Colton the grand tour of the Green Manor—or at least the places that Kunal is allowed to go. The library full of mildewing books. The shrine—for before men resided in this place, the gods did. And the veranda, which