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“Any update on the testing?” I asked Kerr as Molev wrapped the ice pack in a soft cloth.
“Yes. Daisy is perfectly healthy. No signs of her cells succumbing to the infection.”
Immense relief flooded me. And not just for the baby. For all of us women sleeping with the fey. While not letting myself dwell on it, the moment I saw the baby, I’d understood there was a very real possibility that I could end up evolving into an infected like Sarah had.
“The doctor has been looking at the rest of the samples all night,” Kerr said. “She confirmed that every female having sex with a fey is immune, like Daisy, and has asked for new volunteers that she can monitor. Females who have not had intercourse with a fey but who are willing to start so the transition can be studied.”
While Kerr explained, Molev set the wrapped ice pack on a soft chair and led me to it. I sat gingerly. The cool lump was a little uncomfortable at first but started doing its job quickly.
“The samples from the existing females are too similar to ours,” Kerr continued. “The doctor believes that, by analyzing the change as it happens, she will find the answers we need.”
I considered the big picture for a moment.
“We need to approach this carefully. Yes, we need the cure, but we need to think about after the cure, too, when we recruit for this.” I glanced at both fey. “We told the people with us that we were bringing them here to improve relations…that the people outside of this community were suspicious of the fey and their intentions. How is it going to sound to them if we start asking people to have sex with the fey in the name of science without proof? While we can speak to our people and let them know what’s going on and what we need, I’m afraid that might make them feel singled out and start them questioning why we really brought them here.”
I thought of Roni and wished we wouldn’t have shipped her off with Brog already. She would have been an ideal choice for this assignment.
“Instead of only targeting the women we brought, we should spread the word to everyone. News travels fast here, right? Then we let the people know everything. Daisy’s birth. The variation in her eyes. The confirmed immunity in her and the other women with fey partners. Rather than making it about sex, impress the significance of what the researchers believe that immunity means. That a cure is possible. For everyone. Then let it be known that the doctor is looking for volunteers so we can pinpoint what she was missing in her previous trials.
“By spreading the word to everyone, the newcomers will feel included in the community rather than that we’re trying to use them right from the start. The existing community will hopefully begin to understand what the fey are trying to do—which is to save everyone—and we might get more volunteers that way too.”
Kerr and Molev both nodded their agreement.
“Will we have any trouble finding fey volunteers?” I asked.
Kerr and Molev shared a look.
“Any female who is willing to do this will have her pick of fey,” Molev said.
“Okay. Then, rather than having the fey speak to the women, I think it should come from another woman. Let me get dressed and—”
Molev’s hands on my shoulders kept me sitting.
“Ask Emily to spread the word in Tenacity,” Molev said to Kerr. “See if Mya is willing to speak with the females here. We will start speaking to the females who arrived with us after Andie has eaten.”
My mind drifted back to how he’d “fed” me last night, and I winced as I clenched around nothing. Molev could only be partly responsible for my current condition. I’d absolutely played a part in it as well.
However, once Kerr left, Molev told me to stay where I was, got himself ready, and made me a real breakfast. While I watched him move around the kitchen, what Kerr had revealed sunk in.
“I’m immune too, then, aren’t I?” I said.
Molev grunted. “You have a grey mark on your inner thigh.”
I looked. The spot was light and no bigger than my thumbnail. If I hadn’t been looking for it, I would have thought it was a bruise from the night before.
“It changes nothing,” Molev said, handing me a plate of waffles.
“It changes everything,” I said. “It means we have a better chance of surviving this. Even if it’s still minuscule, it’s bigger than it was before.”
We ate, and when I stood again, I felt like I could walk without a limp.
After dressing, we left the house and went to Mya’s parents’ home. They were hosting a few of the women. But more importantly, Julie knew where the rest were being housed.
The women weren’t ignorant of the situation with the researchers or life in Tolerance. It turned out the fey liked to talk, and the women we’d brought with us had been more than willing to listen. Through them, Molev and I learned that over twenty-five human-fey couples already existed, and over half of them were newly expecting. We also heard that one of those couples was a throuple. No one batted an eye at it. In fact, the news that the researchers had proven the immunity of the women in those relationships only made that woman’s relationship status make more sense.
But more than that, I was surprised to hear a few of the women admit they were already interested in a certain fey when we brought up the researchers’ request for volunteers. The only thing holding the women back was the uncertainty of whether or not the attraction was reciprocated yet. They assured us that, if it was, they wouldn’t mind being monitored if something happened.
We sent those women to Eitri’s house for initial blood work and left with a list of homes to visit. It took until lunch to meet with everyone and explain what was happening and what was needed, and why.
