Freakling by Lana Krumwiede Page B

the temple?”
    Cadavers as in bodies? Bodies as in dead? Taemon shuddered. Dead bodies had to be the most taboo thing in Deliverance. For good reason. Besides healers and midwives, no one was allowed to know what the inside of the body looked like. It was too much knowledge for a psi wielder. If you knew how the body worked, you might try using psi on the inside of the body. You could hurt someone like that — someone like your brother, who made you so mad you couldn’t stand it anymore.
    The front door clicked. Someone was in the waiting room. He’d rather not be caught eavesdropping. The voices came from a room on his left, so Taemon leaned on the nearest door to the right. It was locked.
    “There you are!” Taemon nearly jumped through the roof, but it was only Moke who came from the waiting room.
    “Don’t scare me like that.”
    Moke grinned. “A little jittery your first time in the crematorium? Can’t imagine why.”
    The voice from the room grew louder. “We will discuss this no further. The decision is made.”
    With a questioning look, Moke turned to Taemon and mouthed, “Who?”
    “Naseph,” Taemon whispered.
    “We’d better get out of here,” Moke whispered back. Taemon could not agree more. He was about to turn toward the front room when Moke used psi to open the door Taemon had been leaning against. They both stumbled into a dark, cool room.
    “We’ll wait here until they leave.”
    “Is it safe?” Taemon asked.
    Moke chuckled. “Yeah. Nobody’s allowed in here. This is where we keep the cadavers until the healers’ guild picks them up.”
    The answer sent chills across Taemon’s skin. “They were talking about taking cadavers to the temple.”
    “What? That can’t be right,” Moke whispered. “Only healers are allowed to have cadavers. You know, to train new healers.”
    “Your da seemed pretty upset,” Taemon said. “What would the high priest want with —?”
    Before he could finish the sentence, the door opened. Moke’s father and Elder Naseph stood in the doorway.

Elder Naseph’s face hardened. “What sacrilege is this? Boys allowed to view cadavers?”
    Taemon looked over his shoulder. Light from the hallway spilled into the room and revealed two white sheets that covered whatever was lying on the tables. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was under the sheets, but Taemon refused to name it in his mind.
    Moke’s da shook his head and used psi to pull the boys into the hall. “This is my son and his friend. They are
not
allowed in there.”
    “Yet there they were. Do you understand how vital this is, Brother Daveen?” Elder Naseph’s face was red. The cords in his neck stood out. He was shaking enough to jingle his beard trinkets. “No one can have access to cadavers. This community’s safety depends on protecting the sacredness of the human body. If you can’t safeguard these bodies, someone else will take your place.”
    Moke’s father bowed his head. “I understand. I’ll be more careful.”
    Taemon and Moke tried to slink down the hallway, but Elder Naseph yanked them backward with psi. Taemon felt his chin being pressed upward, forcing him to look at the incensed priest.
    Elder Naseph turned to Moke first. “You I can overlook. After all, you will work here someday. But you!” Now the priest trained his angry glare on Taemon. “You could go to the asylum for this. Have you been there? Seen what the serum does?”
    Taemon shook his head. The serum was a drug that caused disorientation and delirium. It was given to dangerous criminals to make them unable to focus, unable to use psi.
    Taemon felt his collar tighten around his neck as the priest continued. “It’s not pleasant, I assure you. We’re watching you, boy. You are this close to experiencing the serum firsthand.” He held his manicured, bejeweled fingers in front of Taemon’s face.
    Taemon tried to nod, but the upward pressure on his chin allowed little more than a tiny bob. Maybe the