“What if it continues to be true? What if you continue to work for the government while not working for the government?” Jack says, and Nora says, “And what if we join you?”

“We?” Isaac says.

“The three of us become the four of us,” Jack says. “We work together.”

“Work together how?”

“The wrong people are in charge,” Jack says. “Instead of running, what if we stay? What if we work—from inside the system—for change?”

“The four of us,” Isaac says.

“Or maybe even the five of us,” Nora says and nods at Director Ricketts.

“No,” Isaac says and the vines tighten around Director Ricketts on reflex. “No, that’s not a good idea. She’s dangerous.”

“She doesn’t have to be,” Jack and Nora say. They look at Mia, and she steps forward. “We can . . . change her mind?”

He understands then. It is as he said before: the girl is a cooperator.

“It’s exactly what I told them at the hospital,” Isaac says. “To save the patients, we need to infect the infection.”

“Yes,” they say.

He doesn’t know if they’re asking him or telling him, but the invitation feels right, and he gives them a nod.

The girl approaches Director Ricketts, who struggles against her bindings and flinches away from her touch. “She doesn’t want to hurt you,” they say, their voices harmonizing.

The girl gently pulls the vines away from her face, unzips the hood of the hazmat suit, ungags her mouth. Her lipstick has smeared. Her hair is wild with dirt and leaves. She spits out a white petal and then unleashes a torrent of words, trying to threaten, then bribe, then beg. This goes on for a minute, and no one responds, and her words bluster away into a choking sob.

The parents join Mia. They put their hands on Director Ricketts’s shoulders, holding her firmly in place. It is only when Mia opens up her palm and displays a fresh eruption of mushrooms that Director Ricketts begins to scream for help, help, help. But no one can hear her. The helicopter, fifty yards away, continues to idle its engine, ready for a quick takeoff.

Her words are muffled by Mia’s hand clapped over her mouth. Jack pinches her nose. Nora holds her still. Eventually Director Ricketts has no choice but to swallow. They release her—and she coughs and pants and hangs her head. Minutes pass. They wait patiently. Maybe they can hear the sound of helicopters and boat engines buzzing in the near distance.

When Director Ricketts finally lifts her face, her expression has calmed and her gaze locks on them each in turn and she says, “Let’s begin again.”

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Katherine Fausset and Holly Frederick at Curtis Brown and to Noah Rosen and Britton Rizzio at Writ Large for closing deals and coaching along the business end of the Comet Cycle.