“They know where Six is,” he told Nemo.

“I heard,” Nemo said. “I ran into Nine and Lexa on my way up here. That’s great. I also heard you’ve got magic blood.”

“I’m a miracle of science,” Max said.

“I’m really happy to not be carrying that thing around anymore,” Nemo said. “I can’t even imagine having one of those crawling around inside my head, eating pieces of my brain or sucking up my Legacies or whatever it is they do.” She stopped talking and looked at Max, her eyes wide. “Sorry, I forgot you have one—”

“It’s okay,” Max said. “Anyway, I think it’s dead, or at least it’s not doing what it was doing anymore. I’m getting my telekinesis back. Watch.”

He tried once again to move the glass. This time he succeeded in pushing it to the edge. He was concentrating on shoving it off and onto the floor, when a nurse appeared.

“Can I interrupt you for some blood?” he asked Max.

“More?” Max said. “How much do you need?”

“Only another gallon,” the nurse said. “Maybe two.”

Max groaned and held out his arm. “Just bleed me dry, leech man.”

As the nurse tied the rubber tubing around Max’s arm and started looking for a vein he said, “Tell you what. After this, how’d you like to come down and see what we’re doing with all this blood?”

Max shut his eyes and grimaced slightly as the nurse slid a needle into his arm. “Deal,” he said.

Once the blood was drawn, Max got out of bed and he and Nemo followed the nurse out of the room, into the hall and into the elevator. This took them down to the level where the labs were. There they walked into an office filled with equipment. A woman was seated at one of the desks, looking at something through a microscope.

“Dr. Fenris,” the nurse said. “This is Max and his friend Nemo.”

The woman looked up. “What a pleasure,” she said, standing and holding her hand out to Max. “I was just looking at your remarkable blood.” She then shook Nemo’s hand. “And thanks to you, we have a specimen of the parasite we’re dealing with.”

“Does Max’s blood really kill it?” Nemo asked.

“Well, the antibodies his body produces in response to the parasite neutralize its effects,” Dr. Fenris explained. “That in turn keeps it from feeding effectively on its host. So, yes, it will die. The important thing as far as we’re concerned right now is that we think the antiserum we’re working on will do the same to the parasite in another infected person.” She looked at Max. “I understand some of your telekinesis has already returned.”

Max nodded. “It’s getting stronger and stronger,” he said.

“That’s excellent news,” the doctor said.

“So, if we can get your antiserum to Six and Sam, they’ll be back to normal?” Nemo asked.

“Hopefully,” said Dr. Fenris. “Assuming the parasite hasn’t developed too much.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked her.