Chapter 27 #2
Kage’s eyes flew to the headmistress’s bed, his expression instantly one of horror.
“She wasn’t bitten,” I said immediately. “I was there. She was injured but not bitten.”
His shoulders seemed to sag in relief. “Fine. Only the bitten.”
One of the First Year boys began to cry. “Please, my lord, don’t do this.”
Neville had begun padding between the First Years, pressing his nose to their ankles and sniffing.
“Get out of my way, Rodriguez,” Kage said roughly. “I’ll do what I have to in order to protect my house.”
My eyes widened. “Wait—look!”
Neville had plopped down on the floor amongst the First Years and begun licking one paw. He was purring.
“He’s not afraid of them. What if he can smell it? The sickness. He growled at Jacklyn. He must have known she was infected.”
Kage looked skeptical. “He’s an animal.”
I shot him a look of disbelief, and he crossed his arms.
“That’s different.”
“Fine. But fluffins have healing abilities,” I insisted. “They can sense things we can’t.” I turned to Rodriguez. “Tell him.”
The professor looked doubtful. “You seem to know more about these creatures than I do.” He looked at Kage. “But we were both there when …” They exchanged a glance.
“When what?” I demanded.
“When Neville told Nyxaris to save you,” Kage answered.
I stared. “He what?”
“That’s what it looked like to me, too,” Rodriguez agreed. “I think that fluffin spoke to your dragon.”
Medra hadn’t told me that. Nyxaris, did Neville tell you to save me? To bond with me?
I am well, thank you for asking. The dragon sounded cross and slightly bored. I am perched at the top of the tower. Not that anyone has bothered to ask after my whereabouts.
I’m well, too, I said quickly. We’re in the Avari infirmary.
Yes, I can tell you are not in mortal danger … at the moment, he said dryly. A pause. The fluffin did play a part. He … sang to me. Reminded me.
Reminded you of what?
That it would be good to have a rider. That you were worthy of life.
Thank you for listening to him, I whispered. I took a deep breath and looked at Kage. “Lunaya once told Medra and me that there were stories of fluffins appearing in times of great upheaval.” I raised my arms and gestured. “Look at what’s happening here.”
“That’s not exactly evidence, Florence,” Rodriguez pointed out.
“You want evidence?” I said, my voice rising a little. “Let’s take Neville down to the Avari common room. So far, all of the infected have been highbloods, not blightborn. Haven’t you noticed?”
Kage and Rodriguez looked at one another.
“She’s right,” Rodriguez said finally. “The ones who attacked the First Year infirmary had broken into the tower. They weren’t blightborn.”
“The Bloodguard who attacked Neville. The girls who were … feeding back in the hall,” I listed. “They were highbloods, too.”
Kage’s eyes narrowed. He seemed to be weighing possibilities. “Fine. Let’s go. You and the fluffin. Down to the common room. If the infection is in this tower, we need to find it.”
I swallowed hard. “Right.” I went over to Neville, scooping him back up. I ran my hand over his head. “You’re up, little one,” I whispered. “We need you. Please help us. I’m counting on you.”
Kage’s boots pounded down the stairs. I followed, still bare-foot; I hadn’t even had a chance to run back to my room and fetch shoes yet. In my arms, Neville had gone tense and still. His nose was raised to the air as if he were tracking a scent.
The Avari common room was packed shoulder to shoulder. I could tell many students had come out of their rooms to see what was going on. The moment Kage strode in, all talk died down.
“You can do this,” I whispered to Neville. “I know you can.”
The fluffin gave a tiny yap. Kage nodded to me.
I set Neville down on the carpet. For a moment, he stood there, sniffing.
Then, he gave a low growl and padded straight towards a lanky Second Year standing by the hearth talking to a friend.
I recognized the boy—it was Andrew, the same highblood who’d asked if he could take Neville home for his little sister.
I bit my lip, hoping Neville wasn’t simply holding a grudge.
Kage marched over. “Injuries?”
Andrew stared at the House Leader.
“Are you injured?” Kage demanded.
Andrew shook his head, but his hand, I’d noticed, had crept up his sleeve. Neville’s growl deepened to a snarl. Kage seized the boy’s wrist, yanking the fabric back. A piece of gauze, hastily knotted, was wrapped around Andrew’s wrist, dark with blood.
“I was with Jacklyn,” he stammered. “Jacklyn wanted to see the healer, but I told her I was fine. It’s just a scratch.”
Kage’s eyes were hard. “A scratch? Or a bite?”
Andrew said nothing.
“When did this happen?” Kage asked.
“A few hours ago. I’m fine, really.” He glanced at me, as if seeing me standing there for the first time. “Is Jacklyn all right?”
“Jacklyn’s dead,” Kage said shortly. His dagger flashed—clean, merciless.
A single thrust beneath Andrew’s jaw and he toppled, like a puppet with cut strings.
Screams tore through the room. Someone began to sob.
Kage wiped his blade, then turned around and raised his voice.
“If anyone else here is hiding a bite, step forward now. To hide a bite is to endanger this house. Come to me now, or I’ll let the fluffin find you, and I promise you, things will not go so quickly as they did for Andrew. ”
Kage’s Second, Evie, stepped forward. “Jacklyn and Andrew were the last ones back. After that, there was just you and the professor and—” she gestured at the First Years “—the rest of them.”
Kage nodded grimly. “Good. Inspect them for bites.” He looked around the room. “Listen to me carefully. House Avari is now in lockdown. There’s a plague.”
Immediately highblood eyes swept towards the blightborn students who’d entered with us accusingly.
“It is not a blightborn plague,” Kage said immediately. “High-bloods are the ones in danger of infection.” He looked at me. “Shen, tell them what we know.”
I stared at him. “Me?” When he nodded impatiently, I quickly cleared my throat. “Bites seem to be the catalyst. Based on what we just learned from Andrew and Jacklyn, it can take hours before the infection sets in. A person’s eyes go milky white. Then they … well, attack. Go berserk.”
“Is there a cure?” someone yelled.
I glanced at Kage. He nodded very slightly.
“There may be,” I said, trying to make my voice carry.
“If you’re bitten, you need to come to the infirmary at once.
” I was sealing their fate either way. Either we would find a cure or some kind of a treatment or …
or Kage or someone else would finish them.
Still, I knew the House Leader was right. The infection was spreading too rapidly. We had to contain it, even though the means of doing so might have to be terribly ruthless. Otherwise there’d be nothing left of Bloodwing to save.
Kage spoke briefly to his Second and the wardens, then I followed him back to the infirmary.
When we got there, Rodriguez was tying a bandage around Regan’s head.
She was sitting up in bed. Her long blond hair had fallen out of its pins and hung around her shoulders.
She looked very young and frightened, far too young to be a headmistress of a school like Bloodwing.
Kage moved so quickly. One moment he was by my side, the next he was crouched down beside her bed. “How are you feeling?” he asked her, his voice surprisingly gentle.
“Like a brick fell on me,” Regan complained, frowning and touching a hand tentatively to her bandage.
I gave a little laugh, not quite hysterical. “That’s because one did. Maybe more than one.” I walked over, and she looked up at me. “You saved me. You saved Neville. Thank you.”
She glanced away, looking uncomfortable. “Brocklin was being a complete idiot. What on earth could have come over him?”
“A plague,” I said. “He didn’t know what he was doing.”
As Kage began to tell her what was going on, I moved to where Rodriguez and Elycia were standing together at a table, talking in low voices. “Do you think there’s a cure?” I said directly as I approached them.
Rodriguez looked up. “Well, certainly not yet. And who knows how long it could take to find one. In the past, blightborn plagues haven’t been solved overnight. It can take weeks, months. Years.”
That didn’t bode well. “We need something quickly. People are panicking. Kage has sealed the tower. But the rest of the school …” Medra. I still had no idea where she was. “I’m going back to my room,” I announced. “I have to check for something.”
Kage looked up as I moved towards the door.
“I’ll be right back,” I promised. “But Medra …”
He stood up. “She’s not here, Florence.”
“What?”
“I already spoke with Evie. Medra’s not accounted for.” Kage looked sympathetic. “I’m sure she’s with Blake. She’s probably fine.”
“What about my mother? She’ll be in her quarters all alone.”
“Your mother’s smart. I’m sure she won’t open the door unless she knows it’s safe. As it is, I’m sending out a small group of Avari to check the halls. They’ll also do a sweep of staff quarters. If she’s still in her chambers, they’ll bring her back here,” Kage promised.
It was the best I could hope for. I nodded, a lump in my throat.
“Florence,” Rodriguez called. He beckoned for me to come over.
They’d shifted Jacklyn’s body onto a table. Linen sheets had been placed over her head and lower torso. He and Healer Elycia had cut open her chest. I stared down as thick, treaclelike blood oozed slowly out, glistening like dark oil.
Elycia touched a glass rod to the substance, watching as threads of clotted gore stuck to the tip as she lifted it away. “I’ve never seen blood behave like this.”
“The blood isn’t this thickly clotted when the victim is alive. It can’t be,” I said in disbelief. “That would kill them.”
“No,” Rodriguez agreed. “It’s only when the blood is exposed to air—or upon death. Of course, we’d need more victims to tell for sure.”
I grimaced. “I’m fairly certain you’ll get your wish.”
“This isn’t an ordinary illness, that’s clear.”
Elycia was nodding. “I agree.” She looked afraid. “There’s some-thing magical in origin here. There hasn’t been a plague capable of infecting a highblood in … well, I can’t think of when.”
“A cure may be beyond us,” Rodriguez muttered. “But if we can slow down the clotting, keep the victims from reaching the stage in which they turn rabid …”
Elycia opened a drawer and began laying out bundles of herbs. Silver lamium, red sap, ironwort. All anticoagulants.
“We’ll need to sedate anyone infected immediately,” Rodriguez said.
“And restrain them.” It was Kage. He’d come up to stand behind us.
Elycia nodded. “I’ll mix some sleeping drafts. Heavy ones.”
“What about mirthleaf?” I blurted out.
Rodriguez’s brows drew together. “Mirthleaf is an antitoxin. Not a coagulant.”
“I know. But what if the plague isn’t a real sickness at all? What if it’s a toxin, something alchemical that spreads by bite?”
Rodriguez hesitated—long enough that I knew my idea wasn’t completely absurd. “You’d need samples. And to test reactions.”
“We may as well throw everything we have at this,” Elycia said quietly. “It won’t hurt.”
He nodded. “True. Very well, Florence, prepare a mirthleaf tincture. If anticoagulants don’t work, you’ll test it and see if the mirthleaf has any effects.”
Neville purred at my ankle, as if he approved. Squaring my shoulders, I set to work, determined to focus only on the task at hand as I desperately tried to put my fear for my mother and Medra from my mind.
Easier said than done.