Prologue
New Orleans, Louisiana. 1911
It had been a horrible trip.
She had waited nearly three hours for her train. The weather had delayed it and it was nearly quarter to eleven before she arrived at her destination. New Orleans was an ugly city built within the swamps and quagmires of southern Louisiana. Being that this was her first trip to the United States, Nora had expected to be awed and inspired by this new country. America was known as the land of freedom and opportunity. Darwinism had been flourishing here and she had hoped to learn mountains of new information from the boffins in the states. However, her travels had become far less than satisfactory. Not only was her train terribly late, but the weather had gotten even worse.
"S'last stop, ma'am." Came the familiar drawl of the cabin boy. He smiled at her from the doorway of her train compartment. "We're at the City Station, miss, so the captain has ordered all passengers off. We won't be heading for downtown until morning."
Nora narrowed her eyes at the small dark skinned boy. His complexion was black as pitch but when he smiled it revealed teeth as white as a dove's feathers.
"The ticket I purchased is for complete travel and service to downtown New Orleans." She complained. "Why must I get off now?"
The boy continued to smile at her but she could see the annoyance flickering in his eyes.
"The bridge is flooded." He explained. "I'm sorry ma'am, but the beasties can't swim through a flooded bridge. They'll drown."
"Very well, then I suppose I shall have to walk the rest of the way."
"But miss! There isn't any way across!"
She ignored him, snapped up her umbrella and commanded him to retrieve her luggage.
Ten minutes later, Nora was crossing the railway bridge into town. The Louisiana storm continued to roar through the sky, sending sheets of frigid water into her face and hair.
Her bowler hat was gone, long blown away by the ferocious wind and her boots were completely soaked through. All she had was the feeble lady's umbrella she had purchased back in London. The tiny cotton parasol was probably dumping more water on her instead of blocking it away, but she didn't have the heart to leave it behind.
When she finally arrived at Dr. Norton's house on the far side of the hill just past the cemetery, she almost broke his door down she was so miserable.
"Good heavens, Dr. Barlow! What on earth are you doing out in this mess! We didn't think you'd get here until morning." He ushered her inside and slammed the door behind her.
"It's been a long trip." Was all she could say.
He smiled at her and gave her a warm pat on the back. "I'm just delighted that you made it at all." He beamed.
Soon he had his maid sent for dry clothes and hot tea. Nora thanked him generously before he escorted her to his laboratory in the back of the house.
"It's a shame that you didn't bring Tazza."
"Yes, I miss him dearly. But the poor thing would have been miserable in all this rain."
"It does take some getting used to. The locals love it. They actually feel let down when the sun is shining." He shook his head in bewilderment and flashed another grin. She politely nodded but couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable around Dr. Norton's pleasant ambiance. The man had been through a horrendous tragedy and it was strange to hear him speak so cheerfully, especially when it concerned the local people.
Dr. Arnold Timothy Norton was a long time friend of hers. They had been colleagues at the university and he was one of the few men that treated her as an equal. Most of her class had seen her as the foolish girl with dreams too big for her ability. Women weren't supposed to be doctors, even if they were the granddaughters of historic figures.
But Arnold had respected her. Due to his low upbringing he was treated poorly himself. The students and professors of London University were cruel and pompous, but that hadn't stopped Nora from her studies. She earned a doctorate degree in only six years (far less than most of her male classmates) and had published her first book at the mere age of twenty. Needless to say she had stunned most of London's elite scholars who now treated her like the brilliant individual that she was.
Arnold had also succeeded wonderfully. He had several prestigious awards and had created a species of fabricated frog that could record a person's voice for hours on end.
Together they had exceeded everyone's expectations, creating a bonding friendship between them that had lasted for years. Even after Dr. Norton had moved to New Orleans to continue his research, Nora still had kept in contact with him. She continued to write, even when he fell in love with a beautiful assistant and married her. And he had faithfully continued his letters to her when she had married Alfred Barlow two years ago. It had been a long distance relationship, and they had never actually spoken face to face in eight years.
Unfortunately it was a heartbreaking misfortune that brought Nora across the ocean and back in the company of her old friend. He still looked the same at least. His dark ebony hair was shiny as ever and his black eyes glittered at her. Even his smile brought the same warmth to her cheeks that she had long forgotten.
She had expected him to be sad, even tearful. But Alfred Norton was the epitome of delight.
Strange. She thought. For a man to be so happy after the death of his wife.
She had only met Mrs. Norton once. A delicate, blond, southern belle, Molly Norton was everything to her husband. Nora had never expected Arnold to fall for an American woman, but Molly was delightful. Everyone who met her loved her. She was a native to New Orleans who studied medicine at the local hospital. During her clinical education she had been assigned to Arnold's laboratory as an assistant where the two immediately fell in love. They had been inseparable ever since.
Two weeks ago Nora had received an urgent message via lizard. It had stated that there had been a terrible accident. Mrs. Norton had left work one late October evening. She never made it home.
They found her body the next morning washed up on the shore of the river. Somehow she had fallen into the murky depths and drowned. Her purse, wedding band and pearl necklace were missing. The message lizard had described it as an accident, but the papers had it chalked up as a murder. She had only been twenty five years old. It made Nora cold just thinking about it.
"I came as soon as I could." She said, interrupting herself from her morbid thoughts. "When I got the message, Arnold, I nearly cried myself silly. Poor Molly. I can't tell you how sorry I am."
He sat down next to her at the little wooden table. There were no other signs of furniture in the laboratory, only large glass tanks that stood from ceiling to floor. Each one was packed with thousands of amphibious creatures swimming about in the greenish light of a glowworm lantern.
"There is no reason to be sorry, Nora." He grinned at her again. The exuberance on his face made her shudder. "Molly has passed on to the next stage."
She nodded. "I guess it is best to think of it that way. I was never very religious, but I'm sure if there is a heaven she would be there."
"No, Nora." He shook his head. Dr. Barlow frowned.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I don't mean that she's passed on forever. Just that she's been….transformed, so I should say, into the next stage."
Nora felt suddenly very uneasy. There was a different gleam to Dr. Norton's eye, like a man who had just witnessed a miracle.
"I don't think I understand what you're saying."
"Of course not!" He laughed, batting the air with one hand. "It's very difficult to explain. I'd have to show you. Follow me."
Frightened, but very curious, Nora watched him rise from his chair and gesture her into the next room. It was a darker and cooler enclosure about the size of a small bedroom. Most of the floor was occupied by the largest fish tank she had ever seen. It was nearly as large as the entire room and nearly half a meter taller than her. The water was murky so she couldn't make out what was inside, but it looked like a large motionless creature.
"One moment, let me adjust the lights." Arnold snapped his fingers and the glowworms inside the tank brightened until the contents inside became ghastly clear. Through the glass and aquamarine water, Dr. Barlow made out the figure of a woman floating in the water. She wore a white shroud that enveloped her body and drifted lightly in the water like a jelly fish. Blond hair flowed and sparkled in the light around her as a stream of bubbles erupted from her nose and mouth. Entranced, Nora took a step closer and screamed.
It was Molly, or what was left of her. There was no question that the woman was dead. Her skin was blue as bone and her hair that flowed around her was falling out of her scalp and drifting around the tank like thin golden eels. The burial garment she wore clung to her like a spider silk and her limbs were stiff with rigor mortis.
Nora had seen plenty of cadavers in her day. That was how a young doctor studied biology. She prided herself as one of the few women who didn't startle at the sight of a corpse.
But this was different. Molly was no longer just a corpse, she was more than that.
Unable to stop herself, Nora took one more step closer, her nose practically touching the glass. Beneath the water and the bubbles pouring out of the cadaver's mouth, Nora thought she saw the fingers move. Not only that, but the fingers were webbed. Another look at the feet concluded that the toes were webbed as well.
"But…..HOW?"
"Amazing, no?" Dr. Norton chimed from behind. "I mutated her genes. Spliced her DNA with that of a bullfrog. And with a little bit of luck I was able to save her."
"SAVE HER!" Nora's face was purpling. She turned abruptly to face Arnold, her own toes squeaked in the rain water that still sloshed around in her boots. "Are you telling me you altered human life threads!"
Arnold shrugged. "Human biology is a small step away from our animal cousins. I would think you, Miss Darwin, of all people, would understand."
She gave another scream. "In case you have forgotten our very first lesson in genetics, Dr. Norton, one is never, NEVER, supposed to adjust the life threads of human DNA. It's illegal and unethical! Let alone," She pointed back at the corpse. "You are using it for dreaded taboo of RAISING THE DEAD!"
Norton only smiled. "I was afraid this would happen." He sighed and gestured to the door. "You are a dear friend, Nora, but if you can't even try to understand the good I have done, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Nora didn't move. She held her fists at her side and glared at her old friend. Was this the same man she had been writing to for years? Or had he changed into a completely different person? His coal black eyes glittered at her in the lamp light until she finally pulled her gaze away and turned her head toward the large fish tank behind her.
This is a miracle. She thought. He's finally found the secret for cheating death. She gazed at Molly for a second longer, just long enough to see the corpse's head turn slightly and Molly's eyes snap open to stare right at her.
Nora didn't stay a half a second longer. She shoved Dr. Norton out of her way, ran through the laboratory, up the steps and out the front door and back into the storm. She ignored the rain and hardly noticed that she had left her umbrella and suitcase back at the house. Instead she ran all the way back to the train station where she promptly ordered a one way ticket back to Boston. There, she would depart on the next airbeast to London, and hope never to return to Louisiana again.