Ruins

“Does it really matter how?” asked Xochi. She looked at Haru. “How long do we have?”

“We don’t know that, either,” said Haru. “She’s probably traveling slowly to stay hidden. I don’t know how big a nuclear warhead is, but I can’t imagine it’s easy to haul around. That said, your group is traveling even slower because of the children. If you want to get to a safe area, you have to start now.”

“We can’t just leave,” said Isolde. “If we’re caught in the fallout, Khan might die, but if we don’t get to that lab, he will die. I’ll take my chances in the fallout.”

“I . . .” Madison’s voice trailed off, soft and guilty. “I can’t take Arwen into danger.”

The room was silent. Ariel looked from one mother to the other, feeling trapped in a vise.

“You know I’d follow you to the ends of the earth if I could,” said Madison. She looked up at Isolde, her eyes wet with tears. “I’d do anything to help your baby, but I can’t just think about myself anymore. I have to save Arwen, and if that means . . .” She closed her eyes. “I think we need to split up.”

“We can’t do that,” said Haru.

Madison fumed. “I won’t drag Arwen into danger—”

“I’m not saying that we should,” said Haru. “I’m saying we need to get out of danger, all of us, together.” Isolde started to protest, but Haru shouted her down. “I know you want to help your son, but your plan to do that is a long shot anyway. If you can make it through the Partial army, and if you can find this lab, and if Nandita can find a way to fix him—that’s too many ifs. It’s completely unfeasible. Come south with us, get clear of the blast, and we’ll find another way to help him—”

“If we wait that long, he’ll die!” shouted Ariel.

“Not too loud,” said Xochi. “We’re trying to stay hidden.”

“We’ll never find another lab like the one on Plum Island,” said Isolde. “It’s self-sustaining, it’s self-powered, and it was designed to work with diseases. If we’re going to save his life, we do it there.”

“We should split up,” said Senator Hobb. His face was solemn, and Ariel saw in him a spark of the old Hobb, the charismatic leader who led the island through the worst days of its civil war. He looked at Haru. “You take your wife and child, and anyone who wants to go south with you. Meet up with the other refugees and get off the island. I’ll take Isolde and Nandita to their lab, and we’ll catch up with you as soon as we can.”

“You’ll die,” said Haru.

“Then I’ll die protecting my son,” said Hobb. “It will be more than worth it.”

“I’m staying with Isolde,” said Ariel.

Xochi nodded. “Me too.”

“That means I’m staying as well,” said Kessler, and looked at Xochi. “I’m a mother too, you know.”

“That’s not the same,” said Xochi, but Kessler shook her head.

“Just because I don’t like you very much doesn’t mean I don’t love you,” said Kessler. “I raised you for ten years; you’re my daughter whether you like it or not.”

“I’m so sorry, Isolde,” said Madison, wiping tears from her eyes. “I wish I could go with you.”

“Protect Arwen,” said Isolde. “You’re doing exactly what I’d do in the same situation. It’s okay.”

“I love you, Isolde,” said Madison, and wrapped her adopted sister in a mournful hug.

Isolde hugged her back. “I love you too, Mads.”

“I won’t make anyone else come with us,” said Hobb, addressing the four Defense Grid soldiers in their group. “These girls have handled themselves just fine this far; you can do more good following Haru back south, rounding up as many humans as you can.”

“Then we leave first thing in the morning,” said Haru. “Rest while you can, because we have a lot of ground to cover.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Kira’s map showed a prison. It was near the shores of Candlewood Lake, on a long southern finger of water called Danbury Bay. That, she determined, would be the most likely place for a group of rebel Partials to set up their headquarters: The same defenses that kept the prisoners in could be used to keep the enemy out, and the Ivies would be well set up to fight off Morgan’s forces. She left the trail she’d thought of as safe, winding through the residential streets instead of the forested strip between them, hoping to avoid any more of the terrifying warning markers—and the people who’d set them. She still didn’t know what to think of the Ivies, and when she finally met them she wanted it to be on her terms.