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“I already spoke with Evie. Medra’s not accounted for.” Kage looked sympathetic. “I’m sure she’s with Blake. She’s probably fine.”
“What about my mother? She’ll be in her quarters all alone.”
“Your mother’s smart. I’m sure she won’t open the door unless she knows it’s safe. As it is, I’m sending out a small group of Avari to check the halls. They’ll also do a sweep of staff quarters. If she’s still in her chambers, they’ll bring her back here,” Kage promised.
It was the best I could hope for. I nodded, a lump in my throat.
“Florence,” Rodriguez called. He beckoned for me to come over.
They’d shifted Jacklyn’s body onto a table. Linen sheets had been placed over her head and lower torso. He and Healer Elycia had cut open her chest. I stared down as thick, treaclelike blood oozed slowly out, glistening like dark oil.
Elycia touched a glass rod to the substance, watching as threads of clotted gore stuck to the tip as she lifted it away. “I’ve never seen blood behave like this.”
“The blood isn’t this thickly clotted when the victim is alive. It can’t be,” I said in disbelief. “That would kill them.”
“No,” Rodriguez agreed. “It’s only when the blood is exposed to air—or upon death. Of course, we’d need more victims to tell for sure.”
I grimaced. “I’m fairly certain you’ll get your wish.”
“This isn’t an ordinary illness, that’s clear.”
Elycia was nodding. “I agree.” She looked afraid. “There’s some-thing magical in origin here. There hasn’t been a plague capable of infecting a highblood in … well, I can’t think of when.”
“A cure may be beyond us,” Rodriguez muttered. “But if we can slow down the clotting, keep the victims from reaching the stage in which they turn rabid …”
Elycia opened a drawer and began laying out bundles of herbs. Silver lamium, red sap, ironwort. All anticoagulants.
“We’ll need to sedate anyone infected immediately,” Rodriguez said.
“And restrain them.” It was Kage. He’d come up to stand behind us.
Elycia nodded. “I’ll mix some sleeping drafts. Heavy ones.”
“What about mirthleaf?” I blurted out.
Rodriguez’s brows drew together. “Mirthleaf is an antitoxin. Not a coagulant.”
“I know. But what if the plague isn’t a real sickness at all? What if it’s a toxin, something alchemical that spreads by bite?”
Rodriguez hesitated—long enough that I knew my idea wasn’t completely absurd. “You’d need samples. And to test reactions.”
“We may as well throw everything we have at this,” Elycia said quietly. “It won’t hurt.”
He nodded. “True. Very well, Florence, prepare a mirthleaf tincture. If anticoagulants don’t work, you’ll test it and see if the mirthleaf has any effects.”
Neville purred at my ankle, as if he approved. Squaring my shoulders, I set to work, determined to focus only on the task at hand as I desperately tried to put my fear for my mother and Medra from my mind.
Easier said than done.
CHAPTER 28
MEDRA
Are you safe?
I’m safe, I told my mother. For now.
The Drakharrow tower felt too quiet now that the screaming had stopped. We’d gone through the entire tower, checking every room, securing it top to bottom. Blake had stationed Fourth Years on every stair landing, and another group were convening in the common room to receive orders and work out a rotation schedule. Anyone who wasn’t a guard or a warden was to remain in their room with the door locked and barred. Things had calmed down a little—and yet there was still a sense of panic in the air. All of the students had families outside of the school, whether in Veilmar or in other parts of Sangratha. And right now, no one knew just what was going on out there.
