‘You have always underestimated me, sister,’ Nemertes replied.
‘So you admit it then?’ Jake pressed.
‘Yes,’ Nemertes said, the smile in her voice returning. ‘All the humans will be dead within a month, and we will banish you from the palace, Amathia.’ Nemertes gasped. ‘Get your hands off me, you filthy human!’
‘TELL ME HOW TO CURE IT?!’ Jake yelled.
‘Unhand me!’
‘Release our sister!’ one of the other nereids demanded.
‘Colonel, unhand her,’ Amathia said, her voice sounding defeated.
‘But they know how to stop this.’
‘Nemertes will not respond to violence.’
‘What will she respond to?’
There was a long pause. ‘Water deprivation. Do not give them any more water.’
‘Traitor!’ Nemertes spat.
‘You brought me to this. I promised to protect those children’s lives.’
‘Even if it means your sisters’ deaths?’
‘You do not have to die. You only have to tell us how to end this.’
‘Never,’ Nemertes growled.
Hailey fell back against the wall. She couldn’t believe it. This whole time the nereids were the responsible ones, not some random virus that had magically appeared.
‘Let’s go,’ Aaron said quietly.
Numbly, Hailey peeled off the wall and followed him with Jayden and Alec, who looked as bewildered as she felt. None of them had seen this coming. They’d all thought that as long as the nereids were being watched 24/7, they couldn’t do anything to hurt them. But they were so, so wrong. How did they create and unleash a virus with PET watching them?
Someone yanked her to the side. Hailey blinked. She was standing in Amathia’s classroom. ‘What are we doing in here?’ she asked Aaron.
‘Waiting for Amathia to come back so we can talk to her.’
‘Won’t we get in trouble?’ Alec swallowed. ‘We’re not meant to be here. We’re supposed to be in quarantine—and we were eavesdropping.’
‘I don’t think giving out detentions is high on Amathia’s list of things to do,’ Aaron retorted.
‘I can’t believe any of this.’ Hailey shook her head. ‘The nereids did this.’
Jayden perched on a desk. ‘I know. I’m as surprised as you. But at least we know where it came from now, and I’m sure Aaron’s dad will get the cure out of them.’
‘Yeah,’ Aaron agreed. ‘He’ll make them talk.’
‘What are you doing here?’
Amathia lingered in the doorframe, eyes narrowed.
‘We need answers,’ Aaron said.
‘We heard you talking to your sisters,’ Hailey added, wanting to get straight to the point.
Amathia paced to the other end of the room. ‘You shouldn’t be here.’ She eased into the chair behind her desk. ‘Sit down. I know you well enough to know you will not listen if I ask you to leave.’
Hailey grabbed a chair and dashed to the front, fearing Amathia might change her mind if she thought about it too long.
‘What exactly did you hear?’ Amathia asked.
‘Everything,’ Hailey said. ‘We know your sisters are responsible for Poseidon’s Plague.’
Amathia sighed, and Hailey glimpsed a sadness in her turquoise eyes. ‘I am ashamed to admit they are responsible. But you cannot inform anyone else. If the students knew my sisters did this, they would attack the nereids—even kill them.’
Aaron cocked an eyebrow. ‘And that would be a bad thing?’
‘Yes. If they are killed before divulging the cure, then all hope will be lost. Water deprivation will make them reveal their secrets. For nereids, it is as painful as starvation. Being deprived of water kills our spirit. Nemertes and my other sisters are not ready to die, that much I know.’
‘How long will it take?’ Jayden asked.
‘Days, probably, maybe even weeks.’
‘Weeks?!’ Hailey exclaimed. Does Demi even have that long?
‘We are doing everything possible,’ Amathia assured them. ‘I know it’s hard, but patience is the only way for now—and quarantine,’ she added with a disapproving look.
‘Where are all soldiers?’ Aaron asked. ‘The ones in the entryway were missing.’
Amathia’s features sagged. ‘You don’t know how dire things are, do you?’
‘Dire?’ Alec shifted nervously.
‘The illness has infected almost half the school. There are only a handful of soldiers left, who are spread throughout the floors to maintain quarantine.’
‘Half the school!’ Hailey gasped. It had only been a week. In another week would they all be sick?
‘My throat hurts.’ Alec’s voice came out as a squeak.
Jayden ignored him. ‘Where are they all? The healing wing doesn’t have that many beds.’
‘The healing wing is now the entire fourth floor.’
‘So Demi’s back in our dorm?’
‘You cannot visit her,’ Amathia warned, sensing what Hailey was thinking. ‘It is too dangerous. As is being out of quarantine. Please return now and tell no one what I have told you.’
‘Okay,’ Jayden agreed.
Hailey didn’t move. She didn’t think she could. It was all too much. The nereids were responsible, and now half the school was infected and there was no cure.
‘Come on, Hails.’ Jayden pulled her up by her arm.
Hailey numbly followed her friends into the hallway, none of them speaking until they were back in the entryway.
‘Where to now?’ Aaron glanced up the stairs.
‘What do you mean?’ Alec frowned. ‘Back to quarantine. It’s not safe anywhere else, you heard Amathia. The whole school is practically infected.’
‘I want to see Demi.’ Hailey didn’t care about what Amathia had said. She needed to see her best friend, especially since she might never get another chance.
‘Hailey, that’s Plague Central.’ Alec gaped, looking at Hailey as if she’d just said she was heading for a swim with sea-serpents.
‘I don’t care. I’ve already been exposed to it over and over again. If I get it, I get it.’
‘Well, well, what do we have here?’
Hailey’s fists clenched at her sides when Venus slithered from the main hall. ‘Aren’t you four meant to be in quarantine?’
‘Where are your cronies?’ Hailey asked.
‘The fourth floor,’ Venus said, her voice indifferent.
‘You should be in quarantine then too,’ Alec pointed out.
Venus flicked a blonde curl behind her back. ‘I don’t do quarantine. And I can’t let you four wander around spreading the plague.’ She opened her mouth. ‘GUA—’ Venus only got half a shout out before Hailey grabbed the dust from her pocket and chucked it in Venus’s face. ‘Popsicles,’ she said before her eyes rolled back and she hit the ground, no one bothering to catch her.
‘I hope your head feels like it cracked open when you wake up.’ Hailey marched to the staircase.
She was vaguely aware of Jayden saying something about how they couldn’t just leave Venus lying there, but she ignored him.
Hailey made it onto the off-shoot staircase that led to their common room. A soldier wearing a black face mask stood at the top of the stairs, guarding against anyone trying to enter the fourth floor. She raised her hand. ‘Stop. This level is strictly off limits.’
‘Even to the sick?’ Hailey coughed into her hand.
‘Oh.’ The soldier took a step back. ‘I was told only one of you was coming from the third floor, not four.’
‘There is only one,’ Jayden said quickly. ‘We just wanted to make sure she got here all right.’
‘You three will have to go to quarantine now, since you’ve been in close contact with her,’ the soldier informed them, her voice slightly muffled by the face mask.
‘Okay,’ Aaron said. ‘We’ll go.’
‘Tell Demi we miss her,’ Jayden said.
‘I will.’ Hailey walked past the soldier into what used to be her common room but was now closer to a supply cupboard. Sofas and armchairs were piled high with clean sheets and blankets. Potion bottles covered the desks on the study side, the gleaming liquid inside them sparkling in the light.
‘If you wait here, someone will come and show you to a room,’ the soldier said.
‘No need,’ Hailey told her. ‘I live on this floor. I’ll check into my dorm.’
She steered towards the girls’ dormitories and disappeared inside before the real sick student showed up and blew her cover. A few older-looking students patrolled the hallway, carrying potions and face washers as they disappeared into various rooms. If she had to guess, she’d say they were seniors who had some type of healing gift.
A few spared her a bewildered glance. She coughed and they carried on. She wandered down to her dorm and hesitated, afraid of what she’d find when she opened the door. Demi is strong. She’ll be okay.
‘Hailey?’
Hailey whirled to her right. Kora stood a few feet away, balancing tissue boxes in her hands. ‘Kora, it’s so good to see you.’
The tissue boxes scattered on the floor as Kora pulled Hailey into a hug. ‘I’m so sorry you have Poseidon’s Plague.’
‘I don’t.’
Kora stared at her, frowning. ‘What?’
‘I’m not sick. I snuck out of quarantine. I needed answers, and to see Demi.’
Kora yanked Hailey into another hug. ‘Thank the Tyches. I don’t think I can handle seeing any more of my friends dying.’
‘Who else is sick?’
Kora sniffed, tears glistening in her eyes. ‘Tanzy, Lexa, Brennan, and Elora. It feels like every day someone else I care about is admitted here. And I can’t do anything to help—except give them tissues and water.’
Each name felt like a blow to her stomach. So many of her friends were sick. How many more will end up here. Jayden? Aaron? Alec? Hope? Tahlia? Me? All because of those evil nereids. She hoped they would suffer. She hoped they’d be in so much pain they blurted out where Poseidon’s Plague had come from and how to cure it. And she hoped Amathia dumped them into the sea, forbidding them from ever returning to the palace.
Kora sniffed again and wiped at her eyes. ‘I need to get back to work. You should really go. You don’t want to get sick too.’ She bent down to collect her scattered tissue boxes saying, ‘Say hi to Tahlia for me,’ before disappearing into a dorm.
Hailey didn’t care what Kora had said about leaving. She came here to see Demi, and that’s exactly what she planned to do. She turned back to her dorm, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open.
26
Plague Central
Hailey wrinkled her nose against the stale musty air that engulfed her. Demi lay cocooned in her duvet, surrounded by discarded tissues stained red. ‘Demi.’ Hailey dashed to her friend’s side. ‘Demi.’ She peeled away the duvet covering her face and leapt back with a gasp.
‘Do I look that bad?’ Demi croaked.
‘Your eyes.’ Hailey swallowed around the lump expanding in her throat and fought back tears as she stared at the stream of blood oozing from Demi’s eyes.
‘Yeah, eye blood is so not attractive.’ Her voice was weak, like every word was a struggle. ‘Jayden’s not with you, is he?’ She looked past Hailey.
‘No,’ Hailey said, stepping back to Demi’s side.
‘Good. I don’t want him seeing me like this.’
‘When did this happen?’ Hailey asked, voice cracking. Her friend looked a few breaths away from death.
‘The blood? Um, last night. Madam Mendem’s got the Hecates working on something to slow the bleeding.’ Demi’s eyes fluttered closed.
Hailey’s heart lurched. ‘Demi.’
Her eyes flicked back open. ‘Sorry, I have a habit of dozing off,’ she said, and smacked her lips together. ‘Thirsty.’
A jug of water and glass sat on the floating clamshell by Demi’s bed. Hailey topped the glass up and offered it to her friend.
‘I can’t,’ Demi mumbled. ‘Arms don’t work so well anymore.’
Hailey swallowed her tears and willed her hands not to shake as she lifted the cup to Demi’s cracked lips and let the water trickle into her mouth.
‘Thanks,’ she said after a few sips. ‘So what’s new?’
Hailey returned the cup to the clamshell. ‘We found out the nereids created Poseidon’s Plague.’
‘I hate those nereids.’ Demi entered into a coughing fit, blood streaming down her face from her eyes and dripping onto her white sea-silk sheets.
Stay strong. Do not let Demi see how scared you are, Hailey told herself, plucking a tissue from the box on the clamshell and wiping the blood off Demi’s face. ‘I just wanted you to know Amathia will make her sisters talk. They’ll find a cure. And when you’re feeling better, I’ll help you bash up the nereids.’
Demi attempted a smile, but her cracked lips managed something more like a grimace. ‘That’d be nice.’
‘Hailey?’
Hailey whirled around. Madam Mendem stood in the doorframe, holding a vial of purple liquid that shimmered with silver specks. She placed her free hand on her hip. ‘Hailey, you shouldn’t be here.’
‘I’ve been hearing a lot of that today.’
Madam Mendem tsked in disapproval and moved towards Demi. ‘Here, dearie, drink this. It’ll help with the bleeding.’ She pressed the vial to Demi’s lips.
‘Yuck, that tastes disgusting.’ Demi dragged the back of her hand over her mouth, the sleeve of her pyjama top coming away with purple stains.
‘Sorry, dearie, the Hecates have given up on making their potions taste nice.’
‘I guess I can’t complain.’ Demi yawned. ‘I think I’ll take a nap. Night, night, Hails.’
‘It’s morning,’ Hailey said, but Demi’s eyes were already closed.
Madam Mendem’s face softened with sympathy. ‘It’ll be okay, Hailey.’
‘I’m sick of everyone saying that when things are clearly getting worse. My friend is lying here dying. Blood is pouring from her eyes. Blood! I’m not a nurse or whatever, but even I know that’s a bad thing. Now I want the truth!’ Hailey was hyperventilating by the time she finished. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down, because none of this was Madam Mendem’s fault. She was helping, and Hailey had just yelled at her. ‘I’m sorry,’ Hailey said, opening her eyes.
‘It’s okay, dearie. I know it’s been hard for you. But the truth isn’t good.’
‘I want to know what’s happening.’
Madam Mendem hesitated. ‘At this stage, Poseidon’s Plague is terminal.’
The lump in Hailey’s throat pulsed, and tears slipped from her eyes as her chest tightened with crushing pain, like a serpent was trying to squeeze the life out of her.
‘But we’ve managed to slow it down. Hopefully we’ll find a cure soon. Otherwise, these potions won’t stop the inevitable, only make the end more comfortable.’
‘How long?’ Hailey’s voice was thick. ‘How long before Demi dies?’
Madam Mendem glanced at her sleeping form, Demi’s breaths shallow. ‘It’s hard to say. Judging by the advancement and severity of her symptoms, I’d guess a week.’
The floor fell out from under Hailey, and she slipped into darkness.
‘Hailey. Hailey.’ A voice broke through the darkness, but Hailey couldn’t hold on to it. The darkness was too heavy and it wouldn’t let her go.
A warm tingle caressed her head. It faded away and someone called her name again. This time she managed to open her eyes. Madam Mendem sat beside her. ‘Are you all right, dearie? I healed your head, so it shouldn’t hurt.’
Hailey slowly sat up and touched the back of her head—there wasn’t so much as a bump. ‘I’m fine.’
‘Good. Up we go,’ Madam Mendem said, climbing to her own legs before reaching down to help Hailey up.
‘What happened?’
News? And then Hailey remembered. Demi only had a week to live. She glanced at her best friend, who had slept through the whole commotion. The nereids did this to her. They’d condemned Demi and half the school to a slow painful death. And they could also stop it.
Fury pumped through Hailey’s veins, and she stormed from the dorm. She’d make the nereids talk, no matter what it took.
‘Hailey,’ Madam Mendem called after her, but Hailey didn’t stop.
She marched out of the girls’ dormitories and towards the stairs, where the soldier grabbed her arm. Hailey whirled on her. ‘Let me go.’
‘You can’t leave. You’re infected.’
Hailey tried to tear her arm away, but the soldier tightened her grasp. ‘I was faking it so I could see my friend.’
‘That was stupid. You’re heading to quarantine.’ The soldier’s grip remained firm on Hailey’s arm as she lifted her watch. ‘Got another one coming to quarantine.’
‘Copy that,’ a voice came back. ‘The other three you reported haven’t arrived yet.’
‘They’re probably waiting for this one. Give them five minutes before conducting a search.’
‘Copy that.’
The soldier released Hailey and pointed at her like she was a misbehaving child. ‘Now make sure you go to quarantine with your friends. Otherwise, I’ll drag you there.’
‘Whatever.’ Hailey stomped down the stairs with no intention of returning to the second floor.
She was going back to the nereids’ room. She wasn’t sure what she’d do when she got there. Strangle Nemertes? Punch her? Whatever it took for her to give up the cure.
‘How’d it go?’ Jayden asked when Hailey reached the stairs to the second floor, where the boys waited.
‘Badly. She’s got a week to live, so I’m heading off to beat the cure out of the nereids.’ She moved to go down the stairs, but Aaron’s hand snaked around her wrist. ‘Let me go.’
‘No, you’re not thinking straight. For one thing, my dad is watching the nereids and he won’t let you anywhere near them. And for another, the nereids are pure evil and wouldn’t hesitate to kill you. I don’t think they’ll stand by and let you beat up Nemertes.’
Poseidon's Academy and the Deadly Disease Page 26
