Kiva didn’t respond, though she did feel as if a weight had lifted off her chest. At the same time, she was alarmed, since the fact that she feared Naari leaving meant she’d grown closer to the guard than was wise. But she also had no idea how to reverse that, how to put a stopper in the friendship that had somehow formed between them. Worse, she didn’t know if she wanted to. And therein lay the real danger.

It wasn’t surprising that, in her desperation to believe her family was coming for her, she’d latched on to another source of comfort, of familiarity. Her family—and the rebels—had let her down by not arriving before the second Trial. That didn’t mean they weren’t still out there, strategizing another plan to free both Kiva and Tilda, but Kiva couldn’t ignore the resentment brewing within her, the sense of abandonment that had been creeping in for ten years. She still loved her family, of course she did. But she couldn’t deny how disappointed she felt—and had felt, for a decade. Her growing relationship with Naari had helped to cover that, to stifle it deep down.

. . . And her growing relationship with Jaren, too.

“What’s on today’s agenda?” Naari asked as they passed the barracks and continued along the path.

Grateful for the distraction, Kiva answered, “All the farms—animals, including dairy, as well as vegetables and grains.” She ticked off her fingers as she spoke. “And the slaughterhouse.”

Naari whistled through her teeth. “That’s a lot.”

“We need to catch up, since you all decided to become overprotective nursemaids on me yesterday,” Kiva said pointedly. She knew they’d meant well, but people were dying. Just as they had nine years ago. Just as her father had. She refused to see anyone else she cared about fall victim to this illness. “If I get enough samples today, I’ll spend tomorrow testing the rats. I think that’s the best way to do it.”

“A day of collecting, followed by a day of testing?”

Kiva nodded. “That way I’ll lessen the risk of missing any symptoms, or confusing any of the test subjects. I’ll narrow the options down place by place until we find the origin.”

“We may get lucky and today will be all you need, if it comes from the farms.”

“That’s the hope,” Kiva said. “The sooner we figure out where it began, the sooner I can look into stopping it.”

“How?”

Heaving her bag of collection flasks higher up on her shoulder, Kiva wondered what her father might have done, but came up empty. “I’m not sure yet. Once I know the origin, that’ll hopefully give me an indication of what’s needed to treat it.”

“What if it doesn’t? What if you can’t figure it out?”