Answering Macon’s question, I said, “Yes.”

“What about a short sweep?” Odd asked me, returning.

“No.”

“Why not? We need more information.”

“Because they’re armed with darts filled with the new plague and have been busy using them. Do you want to join the others who are dying in the infirmary?”

“No.” Odd scratched his chin. “How did the Skeleton King get the plague virus?”

“From Tohon, but I’ve no idea if he stole it or if Cellina gave it to him. If she did, it means they’ve teamed up.” A horrible prospect.

“Why team up? With the ability to spread the plague to her enemies, she could infect the Skeleton King’s entire army.”

“Perhaps she’s too squeamish to engage in biological warfare. Maybe they worked out a treaty. Does it matter? He has it and it’s an effective way to win a war.”

“But it’s risky. Even though you said this new strain has to be injected, what’s to stop us from...” he gestured to the patients “...collecting their blood or spit or whatever and using it to infect his army?”

I stared at him in amazement.

He held out his hands as if in surrender. “What did I say?”

“Odd. You. Are. A. Genius!” I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

“I am?”

“Yes. Danny,” I yelled. “Grab a couple syringes and come with me.”

“Okay.” Danny rushed over to the supplies.

“What did I say?” Odd repeated.

“I’ll explain later.”

I hurried to the stage-three patients with Danny right behind me.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“They’re suffering from the new plague. The one that has to be injected.”

“Yeah, we know that.”

“It’s the same one Prince Ryne had.”

“So?”

I stopped just inside the cavern. “So I survived the new plague.”

“Didn’t the Peace Lily save you?”

“After I died.”

“Uh, Avry, dying is the opposite of surviving.”

I waved his comment away. “Technically it was the combination of the serum and Kerrick’s magic touch that brought me back.”

“Still not following you,” Danny said.

“I might have built up a resistance to the plague. Like after you get the stuttering cough once, you never get it again? The Healer’s Guild had been doing research on the reasons for that before the plague.”

“Oh, yeah, you mentioned it in your journal. Do you think this is the same?”

“It might be. I’d assumed the reason I couldn’t heal Yuri of the plague was because of the Peace Lily serum in me, but what if it was something else? Isn’t it at least worth a try?”

“I guess. What do we have to do?”

“Help me draw my blood,” I said, gesturing to the syringes in his hand.

“Oh.”