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She’s very good at this. Her voice is warm but strong, and she takes in our measure as she looks at us. She’d make a good physic. “What can they do for us?” she asks the Pilot, addressing him not as her leader but as her equal.
“I’m a body,” Ky says. “I’ve got the mutation. I just haven’t gone down yet. ”
Leyna raises her eyebrows. “We haven’t seen anyone standing,” she says to the Pilot. “All the other patients were already still. ”
“Ky is a pilot,” Cassia says. I can tell she doesn’t like the way Leyna is talking about Ky. “One of the best. ”
Leyna nods, but she keeps watching Ky. Her eyes are shrewd.
“Xander’s a medic,” Cassia says, “and I can sort. ”
“A medic and a sorter,” Leyna says. “Excellent. ”
“I’m not actually a medic anymore,” I say. “I’ve been working in administration. But I’ve seen a lot of the sick and I’ve been assisting with their care. ”
“That will be useful,” Leyna says. “It’s always good to speak to someone who has seen the virus and how it works in the Cities and Boroughs. ”
“I’ll return as soon as I can,” the Pilot says. “Is there anything new to report?”
“No,” Leyna says, “but there will be soon. ” She gestures to one of the stretchers. “We can carry you if you need it. ” She’s speaking to Ky.
“No,” Ky says. “I’ll keep going until I drop. ”
“You trust the Pilot very much,” I say to Leyna as we climb up the path to the village. Cassia and Ky walk ahead of us, keeping a steady but slow pace. I know Leyna and I are both watching them. Others in the group keep looking at Ky, too. Everyone’s waiting for the moment when he goes still.
“The Pilot isn’t our leader,” she says, “but we trust him enough to work with him, and he feels the same way about us. ”
“And you’re really immune?” I ask. “Even to the mutation?”
“Yes,” she says. “But we don’t have a mark. The Pilot told us that some of you do. ”
I nod. “I wonder why there’s a discrepancy,” I say. In spite of what I’ve seen it do to people, the workings of the Plague and its mutation fascinate me.
“We’re not sure,” Leyna says. “Our expert in the village says that viruses and immunity are incredibly complex. His best explanation is that whatever causes our immunity simply prevents infection from ever being established at all, which means we don’t get the mark. ”
“And it also means that you’d better not change your diet or environment too much before you find out what makes you immune, or you could get sick,” I say.
She nods.
“That must have taken courage to volunteer for exposure to the mutation,” I say.
“It did. ”
“How many people live in the village?” I ask.
“More than you would think,” Leyna says. “The stones are rolling. ”
What does she mean?
“When the Society began rounding up the Aberrations and Anomalies to send to the decoy camps,” Leyna explains, “more and more of them started escaping to these places, the stone villages. Have you heard of them?”
“Yes,” I say, remembering Lei.
“Now we’re all gathering together in one village, the last one,” Leyna says. “It’s called Endstone. We’re pooling our resources to try to turn our immunity into your cure. ”
“Why?” I ask. “What have those of us who live in the Provinces ever done for you?”
Leyna laughs. “Not much,” she says. “But the Pilot has promised us something in return if we succeed. ”
“What is it?” I ask.
“If we find a cure,” she says, “he’ll use his ships to take us to the Otherlands. It’s what we want most, and the cure is what he wants most, so the trade is fair. And if it turns out that our immunity changes when we leave, we will certainly want cures to take with us to the Otherlands as a precaution. ”
“So the Otherlands do exist,” I say.
“Of course,” she says.
“If you let everyone in the Provinces die, you could take the Pilot’s ships yourselves,” I say. “Or you could wait until everyone was gone and then go in and take their Cities and houses for your own. ”
For the first time, her easy, charming mask slips a little and I see the contempt underneath. “You’re like rats,” she says, her voice still pleasant. “Even if most of you die, there are too many of you for us to overcome. We’re ready to leave you all behind and go someplace you haven’t touched. ”
“Why are you telling me all of this?” I ask her. We’ve just met, so it can’t be that she trusts me yet.
“It’s good for you to understand how much we have to lose,” she says.
And I do understand. With so much at stake, she can’t and won’t tolerate anything that might compromise her goal. We’ll need to watch our step here. “We have the same objective,” I say. “To find a cure. ”
“Good,” Leyna tells me. She lowers her voice and looks at Ky. “So tell me,” she says, “when is he going to go down?”
Ky’s pace has picked up a little. “It won’t be long now,” I say. Cassia is electric, lit up simply because Ky is near her, even though she’s worried that he might be ill. Would it be worth it to have the mutation if I knew she loved me? I wonder. If I could trade places with him right now, would I do it?
CHAPTER 25
CASSIA
When it happens, everything feels sudden and slow at the same time.
We’re walking along the narrow path when Ky goes down to his knees.
