“I don’t care how a person acts around their peers or out in public. Get them around a kid who is starved for love, and you will see the ‘real’ them come out. People either detach and become distant or they open up. And I’m telling you, I’ve never seen anyone give of himself like Siaka did for those disadvantaged, attention-deprived kids. He was a hero. The real deal.

“So whatever questions you might have...” Arthur looks at me intently, “I can assure you he is worthwhile. The best of people. You can trust him, Louis. Don’t let doubt, especially self-doubt, get in the way. If I’ve learned anything in the last few years, it’s been to not let the details get in the way of something profound. Whatever that something may be.”

“I don’t,” I start, but falter. “I’m not sure...”

“Don’t respond,” he replies. “Just think about it. And now, shouldn’t we be getting on with the patient supervision? Because right now, I can feel that cat piss coming back up, and things are about to get ugly.”

Chapter Fourteen

The next week races by. Day three after Arthur took the potion, he reported having blurred vision, but admitted it could as easily be attributed to an extra-strenuous workout with Ambrose.

After Arthur’s month-long blindness, Bran instated a daily sight test on top of taking pulse, temperature and blood pressure. I recorded this information in the notebook until a few days in, then Liv launched the Beta version of our new communication platform. That meant I could enter the data for Bran and Siaka to check in real time.

I have to hand it to Liv. For a platform created completely from scratch instead of using coding software (thus hack-proof, she claims), it works like a dream.

With much foot-dragging, she labeled the gateway page, “Alliance Network,” the official name chosen by Bran and Gaspard. Liv argued it sounded like a Facebook group for World War II buffs and referred to it as “C2C” in her texts and emails.

Siaka finally pried its meaning out of her. “You know B2B communication. Business-to-Business?” she asked. “Well, this is Curers-to-Corpses communication. As in healers and the undead. Close second choice was D2D, Doctors-to-Dead Guys. Get it?”

We got it. And since it was catchier than “Alliance Network,” after a few days, C2C stuck.