Part 2: The Doctor Who Returned From the Past
Takoda read the terror in Isabel’s expression before she spoke.

“Tell me what your father knew.”

Isabel placed the damaged notebook on the table.

“Years ago, certain physicians were studying substances capable of weakening the human body without causing fever. My father discovered their work and tried to stop it.”

“Who were these physicians?”

Isabel swallowed.

“One of them was named Edwin Voss.”

Takoda suddenly stepped backward.

“That was the doctor at Sorrow Creek.”

The revelation struck Isabel harder than she expected.

Voss had supposedly disappeared six years earlier after Samuel Mercer accused him of conducting secret experiments.

Yet he was alive.

And he had somehow reached Takoda’s daughter.

Isabel examined the remaining pages. Her father had described a possible treatment involving carefully prepared medicinal compounds, but the crucial formula was missing.

Then Naira whispered something.

“The doctor told me I was special.”

Takoda hurried to her side.

“What else did he say?”

“He said my father would bring me to the woman in the mountains.”

Isabel froze.

Naira continued weakly.

“He said she would know what to do.”

The cabin suddenly felt unbearably small.

This had never been a coincidence.

Voss had deliberately sent Naira to Isabel.

Before anyone could speak, one of the warriors stationed outside shouted a warning.

A lone rider was approaching through the darkness.

He carried no visible weapon.

Only a leather medical bag.

When the stranger dismounted, Isabel recognized his pale face immediately.

Edwin Voss stood outside her cabin, smiling.

“Good evening, Miss Mercer.”

Takoda moved toward him, but Voss raised one hand.

“I would advise against doing anything foolish. Your daughter still needs what I brought.”

He lifted a small glass bottle filled with amber liquid.

Isabel stepped onto the porch.

“What have you done to that girl?”

Voss smiled again.

“Nothing your father didn’t help me discover.”

Then he looked past her, toward the fireplace.

“I see you’ve been burning his notebooks. How unfortunate.”

He lowered his voice.

“Because before sunrise, you’ll have to decide whether to save Takoda’s daughter—or finally learn what your father was hiding from you.”