He crouched by Iris and uncapped the syringe, but his hand shook too much as he held it near the crook of her elbow. He straightened and drew deep breaths until he leaned down again, this time, injecting the antidote into Iris’s arm. Arun then moved to Lingyi’s bedside and did the same.

Victor and I stood at the feet of their beds, silent, like witnesses in some ancient ritual. Arun joined us after he was done, fists clenched at his sides. “Now we wait,” he said.

“How long before we know?” I asked, my eyes never leaving the girls’ pallid faces.

“If the nanobots do what they’re supposed to, it’ll take a few hours for them to stunt the existing H7N9S viruses in their systems. Then it’s a matter of waiting for their immune systems to take over.” Victor folded his arms across his chest. “We’ll know within eight hours how this will go.”

Victor threw an arm around Arun, and Arun let him. “They’ll be all right,” Victor said, trying to sound confident. “They’re strong. They’ll pull through.”

Arun slung his arm around my shoulder too, so we stood together, like oath brothers. My heart felt heavy. I wanted to believe him.

•  •  •

We stayed with the girls. Their complexions remained pale, with a bright flush in their cheeks. Both began to shift more in their beds, sometimes mumbling incoherently, or moaning as if in pain. They succumbed to ragged coughs, even in their sleep. Half-conscious, Iris’s eyelids fluttered once, and I took the opportunity to prop her up gently, giving her water to drink. She opened her eyes fully after she finished the cup, but they didn’t focus on me. Instead, she turned her head toward Lingyi, and a small whimper escaped from between her lips, a weak noise that I would never have expected from her. Iris, who was unfazed in any situation, who seemed indestructible. Quick to wink and smile, quick to rebel, but always emotionally distant somehow. Closed.

I laid her head gently down, and her lashes flickered again, as if she was struggling to remain conscious. Then, with obvious effort, her arm snaked out from beneath the thin sheet, damp from her sweat, and she reached over to clasp Lingyi’s forearm. Lingyi didn’t stir. Iris’s fingers worked slowly, like a lumbering spider, toward Lingyi’s wrist, before gripping Lingyi’s hand in her own.

Iris let out a soft sigh, and her eyes closed. But she never let go of Lingyi’s hand.