“We’d be in custody for a couple of days at the most,” said Kessler, “then everyone hunting us would be dead, and everyone they worked with, and we could race to Plum Island without having to stop and hide every few hours. We might be able to cure him sooner.”

“You are not using my son as a weapon!” said Isolde.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” said Haru. “That’s why we’ve been following your trail all over the island—we have to get off now. There’s no time to attack the Partials and definitely no time to visit some lab.”

“If we don’t get there, he’ll die,” said Nandita.

“If we don’t head south as fast as we possibly can, he’ll die anyway,” said Haru. “You heard about the rocket attack in Plainview?”

Ariel nodded. “The soldiers thought we did it.”

“Wrong place at the wrong time,” said Haru. “That was the first strike of a military campaign designed to distract the Partial army and lead them north, away from East Meadow and everything south of it. We’re evacuating every human we can: out of East Meadow, off the island, and then down the coast as far as we can get.”

“We can’t run away from the Partials,” said Xochi. “We need their pheromones to cure RM.”

“I’m sure some of them will follow us,” said Haru. “There’s not going to be anywhere else to go.”

“What are you talking about?” demanded Ariel. “What’s going to happen?”

“Former senator Marisol Delarosa is carrying a nuclear device to White Plains,” said Haru. “The radius of the fallout will include a lot of Long Island—we don’t know how much, or where, so it’s safer to just be gone. Traveling north and east toward your lab is just following the wind, and taking you farther into trouble.”

“How on earth did she get a nuke?” asked Kessler.

“Does it really matter how?” asked Xochi. She looked at Haru. “How long do we have?”

“We don’t know that, either,” said Haru. “She’s probably traveling slowly to stay hidden. I don’t know how big a nuclear warhead is, but I can’t imagine it’s easy to haul around. That said, your group is traveling even slower because of the children. If you want to get to a safe area, you have to start now.”

“We can’t just leave,” said Isolde. “If we’re caught in the fallout, Khan might die, but if we don’t get to that lab, he will die. I’ll take my chances in the fallout.”

“I . . .” Madison’s voice trailed off, soft and guilty. “I can’t take Arwen into danger.”

The room was silent. Ariel looked from one mother to the other, feeling trapped in a vise.