Babel ignored him. She looked to Marcus, who grew instantly uneasy under her gaze, more so than with any of the other aces who huddled around them. She wasn’t impressive-looking, and he knew her powers weren’t deadly. But still, she scared him the way his high school librarian always had. She made him feel like he was about to do something wrong and she knew it before he did. “I appreciate what the boy did for Joey, but the situation with Mollie is graver than a single finger.”

Joey smirked. She held up a single finger, but not her pointer.

“This information is above your pay grade, but it’s nothing about her body that truly needs healing. It’s her mind, and that’s a complicated thing. I don’t—”

“Not complicated,” Olena said. The ace didn’t seem to invoke the same timidity in her. “Simple.” She placed her hands on either side of Nurassyl’s head, roughly where his shoulders should have been. “He’s a healer. Body. Mind. No difference to him. I know this. He took the madness out of me. I don’t even remember it. Nothing.”

“You don’t remember it?” Babel didn’t seem to think that was a good thing. “That won’t do. Mollie needs to remember. She needs to know what’s happening and why and how urgent the situation is. If this healing results in amnesia, there is no deal.”

Marcus found his voice. “Screw that! The deal is already the deal. We brought him to you, showed you what he could do. We’ve held up our side of this.” Looking to Nurassyl, he said, “You can heal more people, right? Make Bugsy better? Soothe Mollie’s mind? Not take away all the memories, but just make her a little better?”

The boy blinked his large eyes. He smiled. In what sounded to Marcus like perfect mid-Atlantic American English, he said, “Yes, Marcus. I can do it.”

“Good boy,” Marcus said. He wanted to hug the kid. And why not? He did hug the kid. “So, Babel, we’ve got a deal. Nurassyl heals your aces. You let his family and his entire village in here. We’ll stay out of your way. That’s the deal, though. Right, Nurassyl? It’s the village or nothing.”

Nurassyl nodded. “Village or nothing,” he said. He primly folded his tentacles together and waited, his big eyes on Babel, making it clear just where he stood.

Bugsy laughed. “He’s a cheeky little negotiator, this one. Admit it, Babel, he’s got a good hand here.”

“You want to save the world?” Marcus asked, feeling the momentum of it. “Then you need this kid. What other choice do you have?”

Babel was a long time trying to come up with one before she snapped, “Fine. Bring her in.”

Bugsy began, “Hey, I said I was—”

“Bring her in!” Babel repeated. “Mollie first. Lesser actors after.”

Olena said, “Wait. You didn’t say you agreed. You must say it. Nurassyl does his part. The village is safe. Say it.”