I stared at the beads. They were dark green with specks of crimson red—blood red. Bloodstones, they were called.
Legend had it—or so my parents told me when they gave me the necklace—that bloodstones had medicinal value. That when worn next to the skin, the stones boosted the strength of a person’s immune system, creating an unwelcome environment for toxins and infection. I remembered telling my parents that I thought it was stupid to think that simply wearing a necklace would ward off disease.
I never forgot what they said next. “It’s what’s inside that counts,” I whispered to myself. “You have everything you need to keep yourself safe. One day you will be asked to do something benevolent for someone who doesn’t deserve it. Hold these close to you. They’ll protect your heart.”
“What?” West asked, sitting up beside me.
I shook my head and turned to him. “Oh, nothing. My parents always had these little sayings—words of wisdom they hoped I would live by. I think… I think maybe they knew they wouldn’t be seeing me again.”
West nodded. “I’m sorry.” He squeezed me a little closer.
I stared at the beads again, repeating my parents’ words in my head: It’s what’s inside that counts.
West watched me closely. “It’s a beautiful necklace.”
I smiled. “My parents collected these beads. I have a bunch more of them in a box back at the settlement, and my parents left a ton of them back at our old house. They must have really liked them.”
It was curious, now that I thought about it. Why had my parents collected so many of these beads? “They’ll protect your heart,” I whispered again. Memories flashed before me of heated late night discussions, of my parents taking me to a hospital after one of their trips.
“I think I know what’s missing from Dr. Hempel’s treatment.”
“What? How?”
“I’ve had it all along.” I jumped up. “Remember when I told you the hallway leading to the lab looked familiar to me?”
I nodded.
“My parents took me somewhere after they came home from one of their last trips. The memories are still a little fuzzy, but they’re becoming clearer. It was a hospital. A children’s hospital, maybe. I remember sitting in a conference room around this large table while they showed some doctors the bloodstones. I also have these vague memories of getting a shot. I stayed there for a couple of days… or a week… I don’t know.”
I rubbed my eyes, willing for the memories to be less fuzzy. “No, it wasn’t a shot. It was an IV. And the doctors took blood from me, I think, and I remember… and this memory is vivid.” I turned to West. “I remember the doctors shaking their heads outside my room and my parents looking sad.”
“Why do you remember that so well?”
“Because I thought I was dying. Why else would I have been admitted to a hospital? Why else would my parents keep so many secrets? It was like they were trying to protect me from the truth.”
“Did you ask them?”
“Yeah, as soon as they reentered my room. They hugged me and smiled, and they assured me I was healthier than anyone in the world.” I looked down at West, the pieces slowly clicking into place. “I think I know how to help your sister.”
chapter thirty-six
West
“Dr. Hempel will know what to do,” Cricket said for the fifth time on the short walk to the lab and medical wing. “He has to.” The last three words came out in a panicked whisper.
Then we turned the corner to the main entrance to the medical wing, and came face to face with four armed guards dressed in red hazmat suits.
I stopped abruptly, and Cricket ran into my back. The red suits could only mean one thing—someone else had contracted the Samael Strain.
“Who is it?” I asked. “What’s happened?”
The guards shifted. One of them pointed his Taser at me. “You will both stay back.”
I squared my shoulders. “You will stand down and not point that weapon at me.”
“We have our orders, Mr. Layne. And right now, we don’t answer to you.”
“Answer to me or not, I am not a threat to you. Point the Taser elsewhere.”
Through the hazmat mask, I could see confusion and conflict pass over the guard’s face. He adjusted the aim of his weapon slightly. “Sorry, sir. We only aim to keep you and Miss Black safe.”
Cricket stepped around me, fearless. “Someone else is sick, aren’t they?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Who?” She grabbed my arm in a death grip.
“Dr. Hempel.”
My eyes slammed shut. Cricket rolled into me, burying her face into my chest, and her body shook. I raised my hand and smoothed her hair, then wrapped her in a hug. Her body was rigid against mine.
Then she pulled away, all emotion stripped from her face. She looked up at me with determination in her eyes. “I need to get in there,” she said through gritted teeth. “I need to talk to Dr. Hempel right now.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Black, but you may not enter. It’s not safe.”
Her face hardened even further. She ignored the directive, and instead turned and ran full speed toward the doors. But one of the guards caught her before she even got close to the entrance.
“I have to see him!” she shouted. “Right! Now!”
“Mr. Layne. You must restrain her, or we will be forced to shock her.”
I wrapped my arms around Cricket and pulled her backward. She weighed barely more than a hundred pounds. “Cricket. You have to calm down.”
She crumbled to the ground, and I knelt with her. “You don’t understand,” she cried. “I have to see him before he succumbs to the fever. We might not have much time before he can’t help us at all. Caine said Dr. Hempel was the only one who could help us. And if he falls unconscious before I’ve talked to him…”
I brushed her hair out of her face. “Look at me. It’s going to be okay.”
I wished there was more conviction behind my words. Instead, a heavy feeling of dread and devastation weighed on my chest, like we could very well be witnessing the beginning of the end for New Caelum. The Samael Strain was spreading. It was one thing to have three citizens with the virus, but now Dr. Hempel, our best hope for finding a cure, would be taken from us as well.
Cricket stilled in my arms. She looked up at me, her eyes wide as she sucked in and blew out air with concentrated effort. “Call Justin. I need to see him immediately.”
“No need. I’m right here.” Justin stood behind us, dressed in casual clothes. His hair was disheveled, like he’d just gotten of bed. “My guards had already alerted me to the fact that the two of you were headed toward the lab.”
Cricket scrambled to her feet to face him. I stood behind her, my hand on her back to steady her.
“What exactly do you two think you’re doing?” Justin asked. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“I need to get inside the lab.” Cricket’s hands shook at her sides.
“There’s no need for that. Dr. Pooley has taken over Dr. Hempel’s efforts. He’s confident that he can tweak the treatment to work better than it did on the girl.”
“You mean the girl who died?” Cricket’s voice was somehow devoid of emotion. “Willow doesn’t have much time, Justin. By Caine’s calculations, her organs could already be starting to shut down.”
“And we’re doing everything we can to save her. Now, you should get some sleep.” Justin started to turn away from us.
Cricket rotated her shoulders. “I have the final ingredient we need.”
Careful, Cricket, I wanted to warn. Don’t tell him too much. Something about Justin had always rubbed me the wrong way. I’d always thought it was because he was after my mother’s presidency, but now I suspected it went much deeper than that.
Justin turned back. “What do you mean? How?”
“Dr. Hempel and Caine are both close to a treatment—a cocktail of substances, including antibodies from my blood—bu
t I think they’re missing a key ingredient that may have helped me survive Bad Sam. Something my parents discovered.”
“What are you talking about?” Justin walked closer. “Your parents did absolutely nothing to help us with the pandemic that destroyed our nation.”
“Only because you didn’t give them a chance! They had found the one thing that would help us survive, but you and President Layne shut them out. Their hypothesis was right, but thanks to you, they never got to see it. They didn’t get to see that I survived! And even though no one would listen to them, they risked their lives—and mine, actually—when they left here. But they did it anyway, because they wanted to save our nation.”
“I’m listening. What is this key ingredient?”
“Let me see Dr. Hempel.”
Good girl. Don’t tell him what the ingredient is.
“No. I cannot risk you being around Dr. Hempel.”
“You can’t risk not letting me in,” Cricket quickly snapped.
Justin’s face reddened. He stepped closer, towering over Cricket. “Do not threaten me.” The guards shifted. They all had Tasers in their hands.
I placed a steady hand on my own weapon, for what good it would do. We were completely surrounded and outnumbered.
“I’ve been a threat since the minute you let me enter New Caelum,” Cricket said. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”
Justin cocked his head. A grin played at the corners of his lips. “The council has wanted to locate you for a while now, but Ginger wouldn’t give you up. Said you could be anywhere. But you weren’t just ‘anywhere.’ You were right where she knew you would be. She’d kept your survival a secret.”
“But then Willow contracted Bad Sam.”
“That’s right. She did.” Justin’s jaw hardened. “And the council hijacked my scouting mission.”
I inhaled sharply. “What do you mean by that?” If the council was responsible for infecting citizens of Bad Sam on the inside, had they also infected the scouts they sent out into the settlements? That didn’t make sense.
“We were just supposed to be checking out what was going on with the outside settlements. But then Willow got sick, and Ginger sent West out, too, against the council’s wishes.”
“Why did the council care if I left?” I asked.
If I hadn’t been watching Justin closely, I would have missed the faltering of his expression, although he forced a grin. “You’ll have to ask the council that. But my guess? You’re just too precious. They didn’t want to risk sending you out among the weak and diseased.”
Justin was full of crap. I didn’t think the council cared that I had left. But he was right about one thing. I needed to confront the members of the council. I was starting to believe there might be several versions of truth among the council members. I had a hard time believing that Mrs. Canary was the only council member, former or present, to have disagreed with the council’s recent tactics.
Cricket shifted beside me. “Are you two done? None of this accomplishes anything. I still need to see Dr. Hempel, and I need to see him right now.”
“Like I told you before,” Justin said, “Dr. Pooley has taken over. He doesn’t need anything from you at this time. We’ll let you know after we’ve tested another version of the treatment on our other patient.”
Cricket reared back. “Did you not hear me? I have an ingredient that you need.”
“The only ingredient we ever needed from you was your blood. And now we have that.” Justin pulled his PulsePoint from his waistband. “Now, we have another matter to discuss.”
My fingers twitched at my side. Justin was purposely keeping Cricket from entering the lab, and I had no idea why.
“West, I’m assuming you had no idea that Cricket entered our city with a computer virus attached to her PulsePoint.”
“What? A virus?” I feigned disbelief. An uneasy feeling erupted in my stomach, but I needed to do whatever necessary to get Cricket inside that lab. And right now, I was going to have to play along. “What kind of virus?”
“A virus that appears to be scheduled to take down our air filtration system as of midnight tomorrow.”
I turned to Cricket. “Is this true?” I pleaded with my eyes that she would see through my act.
“Yes, it’s true.” She stared blankly at me before turning to Justin. “It’s also true that a bomb has been placed inside your city that is scheduled to detonate at the same time that the computer virus takes down your air filtration system.”
Justin met Cricket’s stare, but said nothing.
“That’s right,” she continued. “This bomb is filled with six vials of the Samael Strain. It will seep into your air ducts.” The guards shifted behind us; a gasp escaped from two of them. Cricket continued without missing a beat. “All of this can be avoided, though, if you’ll just let me inside that lab to see Dr. Hempel.” Cricket grabbed my arm and willed me to focus. “Willow will die if I don’t get inside that lab and talk to Dr. Hempel before he gets too sick to help us.”
“That won’t be happening,” Justin said. He nodded to his guards. They approached Cricket and took her by the arms. “Lock her in a room next to her knight.”
“What? You can’t do that.” Panic registered in Cricket’s wide eyes.
“I can. You made a mistake by threatening me.” Justin stepped closer to Cricket.
“I came here to help Willow. That’s it. But as of tomorrow evening, I will walk out of here with Dax and my PulsePoint, and you will have everything you need to destroy the bomb that is hidden somewhere inside this city. Or, this entire city will be infected with the virus. It’s your choice.”
Justin smiled. “You don’t have the nerve. That would be murder.”
“Tomato, Tomahto. I see it as self-defense. Not to mention payback. You infected innocent people, so I infect you. I choose what I do in this life. Not you.”
And that was it, wasn’t it? Cricket believed in free will above all else. She needed to believe that everything that occurred in her life was of her own choosing. And New Caelum, my mother, and the council believed the exact opposite. The powers of New Caelum made decisions so that their people didn’t have to.
The fact remained, however, that Cricket’s choices would be extremely limited once Justin explained to the council that she’d arrived inside New Caelum with a weapon of mass destruction.
I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I stepped away from Cricket. With my back to her, I said to Justin, “I had no idea she had done this. Can IT stop it?”
“They’re working on it.”
“Have the guards lock her up beside the other outsider.” I swallowed the desire to cringe at my words. Locking her up took us that much further away from finding a cure. But if I didn’t pretend to take Justin’s side in this, we’d both be locked up—and that would be the end for us. For everyone. At least this way, I had the chance to do something.
And I already had a plan to get her back inside the lab.
“West,” Cricket cried behind me. “You can’t do this. You have to let me inside the lab.”
I couldn’t look at her. If I did, Justin would see the evidence of my feelings all over my face. He’d know that I already knew about the bomb, and I would be locked up right along with her. I squeezed my eyes tight, hesitating only a moment before I began walking again. “It’s late. We’ll deal with this in the morning.”
“West! Think about Willow!” Cricket pleaded. Then, just before I turned the corner and left her in the hands of guards loyal to Justin, she said in the calmest of voices, “You’re a coward. I won’t forgive you for this.”
chapter thirty-seven
Cricket
Hearing West give the order to lock me up was like being tasered by him all over again—except this time, it was a direct shock to the heart.
Justin’s guards didn’t hesitate to manhandle me as they shoved me through the city’s tunnels. At this time of night, the halls were dimly lit in soft sh
ades of green and blue against light gray walls and white tiled floors. West was right. New Caelum was very much like a hospital—sterile and cold, and not somewhere I wanted to live.
We entered an unfamiliar area of the city, which wasn’t surprising since I’d still seen so little of New Caelum. There just hadn’t been enough time. I found myself thinking, Maybe next time, but immediately squashed the thought. I would not be returning to New Caelum.
If I ever made it out of here to begin with.
What was West thinking? He wouldn’t even look at me when he gave the order. How had I misread him so greatly? Or was it just an act? I thought he knew me. Did he finally decide I had gone too far by bringing Bad Sam into his city?
I stretched my fingers wide, then slowly curled them into tight fists, letting my nails cut into my palms. Suddenly I was consumed with the thought that if Westlin Layne truly believed I wouldn’t keep my word and tell his guards the location of the bomb, then he could stew in his anger. Because after all, I wasn’t the one who had brought the Samael Strain back to the people of this country.
After several more hallways, I was completely lost. Even if I’d had the strength to escape three guards armed with Tasers, I’d be caught immediately in this maze of hallways and tunnels.
At last we stopped in front of a glass door, and the guards pushed me through. Inside was what could only be described as a reception area of some sort, and a lady sat at a small desk balancing a pencil on the tip of her finger. The only light in the entire room came from a library lamp on her desk.
The lady stood when we approached, but said nothing. She was dressed head to toe in red, pencil-thin pants and a red blouse that showed just a hint of cleavage. Her jet-black hair was cut in a short bob. Bangs lay flat against her forehead and just about covered her eyebrows. She couldn’t have been more than nineteen or twenty, if that.
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