It’s Dr. Morgan, thought Ariel, still trying to move. She managed to get one arm under her, raising her head slightly off the ground, but her vision swam and she struggled to stay up. When Morgan was controlling Samm, that same thing happened—that was exactly how Marcus and Xochi described it. Dr. Morgan’s here. She has come for me herself, like a vampire in the night. She got her other arm under her and lurched up, still woozy, her eyes wandering in and out of focus. She turned and saw a figure in the darkness behind her, but her leg throbbed and she couldn’t run. “Dr. Morgan,” she croaked, but her voice wouldn’t obey, and the words were meaningless mush. The figured stepped into the moonlight.

It was an old woman, hunched and dark, not a vampire but a wild-haired witch.

“You,” said Ariel.

“Hello, child,” said Nandita. “Come, we must find your sisters. Our world is about to end again.”

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Kira walked in silence through the dark subterranean hall, feeling the weight of the empty syringe in her hand. It seemed heavier now than it ever had when it was full.

“I don’t know you how you do it,” said Kira.

“That much was obvious,” said Vale, “since you kept insisting that I couldn’t do it at all. Now, I think, you have a glimpse of what it costs to be a leader.”

“That wasn’t right,” said Kira. “It wasn’t the right thing to do. But . . . it was the only thing I could do.”

“Whatever helps you sleep tonight,” said Vale. He sighed, and his voice became distant, pensive. “In twelve long years, every hour I haven’t spent tending the Partials and harvesting the cure, I’ve spent trying to figure out how to do it without them. They won’t last forever, but this colony needs to. These children will grow up and have children of their own, and what will save them then? I can stockpile enough Ambrosia for another generation, maybe two, but then what? Even a ‘cured’ human is still a carrier—RM will be with us forever.”

“You have a year to figure it out,” said Kira. “Eighteen months at the most, before every Partial dies and we lose them forever.”

“The expiration date,” said Vale, nodding. “It’s as tragic as the Failsafe.”

Only the Trust knows about the Failsafe. It’s time to confront him. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” asked Kira. “The scientists who made the Partials. The Trust.”

Vale paused in midstep, casting her a glance. When he started walking again his voice was different, though Kira couldn’t discern his mood—was he curious? Defensive? Had she made him angry?

“You know a great deal about what I thought was secret,” said Vale.