A bump on the side of the box drew everyone's attention back down. The mouse was stumbling. There was a bead of blood coming out of its ear, bright against its white fur. The other two scientists hurried over. As we watched, the mouse fell on its side, hemorrhaging and convulsing, blood trickling from its mouth. It didn't move again.
Everyone's eyes flicked to me.
"I'm sorry," Nisha said. "We thought we had it."
I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, snapping a few strands of hair caught in one of the new bandages. "Do you need more of my blood for the experiments?" I said, forcing a smile.
• • •
We gathered in the parlor again.
"No," Jack said without preamble. "Absolutely not."
It felt like the moments right before a plane took off. You're hurtling along the ground faster and faster, so fast you can feel what has to happen next. Things were careening toward an end.
"Even if they find something that doesn't kill the mouse, we can't inject you until it's been thoroughly evaluated," Stellan added. "Any drug goes through years of trials before it's tested on humans."
Jack nodded. For once, the two of them were in agreement.
I watched the dust swirling in the morning light through the window. The curtains in here were wide open. "We've followed the clues for a long time, and this is where they've led. If we were supposed to go to a new place, or solve a new puzzle, we'd do it."
"But this is not-" Jack started.
I cut him off. "I could have taken myself out of the equation to stop this earlier, and now the whole world is in danger. It might not be my fault, but it's my blood. I have to seriously consider it."
"And if it doesn't work, it's my blood that could-" Stellan couldn't seem to say the words.
Luc had gone to make some calls, and now he came back into the room, Rocco on his heels. As soon as we'd left Russia, we'd given word to Rocco that his undercover days in the Saxon household were over. Lydia would know Omar hadn't worked alone. "There may be another factor to consider," Luc said. "I just heard that over half the families have accepted the terms and plan to sign the treaty."
"What?" We seemed to all say it at once.
"I was surprised as well," Luc said. "It's not all of the families yet, but many of them are giving up their power for their people's lives."
That was something I hadn't expected.
"That's it, then," Stellan said. "If the whole world isn't going to die, we let the Circle fend for themselves. We could leave some of your blood with the scientists, and eventually they may develop a viable vaccine. Or not, and the Saxons run out of the virus at some point. And we wash our hands of it. We leave. We go to some secluded island and-" He met my eyes. "We go to two different secluded islands. On opposite sides of the world so even if they find one of us, they won't be able to weaponize us. And that's it. That's the end."
"But if they sign the treaty and give all that power to the Saxons . . ." I said.
"The Saxons, for lack of a better term, rule the world," Jack finished.
I twisted my locket. "If we had a vaccine, we might be able to get it out before they sign. Keep half the world from dying and keep the Saxons from becoming dictators."
"The Circle aren't that weak," Stellan argued. "They'll fight back, eventually. Diadochi wars were happening even in Alexander's time. Clashes between Circle families aren't new."
"But what if-" I started.
Stellan turned to me. "What if this kills you?"
We all fell quiet.
Elodie sighed. "Until they have something that works on the mice, it's irrelevant. What's not irrelevant is our Monsieur Dauphin here." She ruffled Luc's hair with a sad smile. "We're supposed to be there in an hour, so while we keep praying for a miracle, we'd better get going."
• • •
There was a ceremony for when the head of a Circle family died, to pass leadership to the next generation and honor the dead. It was supposed to be performed within a day of the death. Even after Lydia's declaration of war, we carried on with Luc's.
In a normal situation the whole Circle would be invited, but technically, only one family had to be present as witness. Stellan and I sat in the front pew in black clothes we'd gotten from the Dauphins' well-stocked closets. We hadn't talked to each other since the conversation about the vaccine experiment. It hadn't exactly been an argument, but it had felt like it. I pushed a stray strand of hair behind my ear. I had it pinned up, hiding as much of the pink as I could, to look sedate enough for a funeral.