Page 12 of Land of Shadow

“That confident?” I peer into her eyes and try to figure out where this is going. As usual, she gives nothing away. She’s bulletproof, made to lead. Her only tell right now is the swampy state of her hands. “Can you pre-shock me with your big plan now? I don’t want to be the last to know.”

“I know you’re fed up with the secrecy.” She sighs. “I don’t blame you one bit. I’ve been meaning to tell you more. Everything’s just been so crazy, and I honestly didn’t know how you’d take it. It’s … it’s a little hard to believe. I didn’t believe it at first.”

“That bad, huh?” I don’t like the sound of this.

She shakes her head the slightest bit. “Remember when I told you I needed a platform to win this thing?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “You’ve been saying more rations, more meds, more help for people suffering with terminal cases of the plague.”

One of her eyebrows ticks up a bit. “You’ve been paying attention.”

I shrug. “I hear things when slinking along the hallways and stealing scientific gear.”

“Yes, those things are definitely needed. That’s a strong platform, but not a ‘landslide’ platform.”

“Okay, so hit me with the big idea. Is it free everything? That would be great. I mean, I don’t know how that would work, but if everyone could just survive together instead of the government trying to make things the way they used to be and pretending people care about interest rates and car emissions or …”

Her withering look stops me cold.

“Just an idea.” I shrug. “Sheesh.”

She clears her throat, more unexpected nerves. “If I’m elected president, I can guarantee my administration will find a cure for the plague.”

My mouth drops open at the sheer magnitude of the lie. “You can’t promise something like that.”

“I can.”

My hands go cold, my throat tight. “No, you can’t. There’s no cure, Juno. None. You know this. The best you can do is create a vaccine to prevent it or find a way to treat the symptoms. But Sierravirus survives as a parasite on host cells—goodcells that are invaded. The only way to kill the virus is to kill the human cells it’s inhabiting and preventing replication. Which, in turn, kills the human you’re trying to treat.” I’ve explained it to her—hell, the CDC has explained it to all of us before the news stations went dark. They still have repeating radio broadcasts, and even went so far as to air drop pamphlets on all the major cities detailing the best ways to stop the plague’s advance while also describing its methods of attack.

“Now it’s time for you to realize I’ve been paying attention to you, too.” She gives me a tight-lipped smile. “You’ve told me all this before—the virus invading the healthy cell and sucking it dry. I get it. But what I’m proposing isn’t the science we’ve known in the past.”

“Then what?” Baffled is too mild a word for what I’m feeling right now.

“Do you remember the man you met in my office months ago, the one?—”

“The one you’ve been super secretive about? That one?” I snipe. The one I think about every day. The one who I’ve asked around about, though no one seems to know a damn thing about him.

“Yes.” She ignores my tone. “Valen Dragonis and his people have a cure.”

I scoff and stand, my heart thumping perilously against my ribs. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.” She rises, too. “He showed me what he can do. He showed Vince, too, if you don’t believe me. They can stop this thing in its tracks. Or, at least they can if they have the right scientists to work on the cure with them.” She stares pointedly at me.

“Me? You’ve dragged me into this conman’s game? Just because he said he could cure the plague? Have you lost your mind?” I gawk at her. “What the hell, Juno? You can’t promise people a cure based on bullshit. False hope is worse than no hope!”

“Keep your voice down,” she scolds.

“Cancel the press conference.” I hurry to her door and turn toward her. “You can’t go down there and tell the world you have a cure when youdon’t.”

“That’s not what this is.”

“That’sexactlywhat this is!” I grab the handle. “I won’t let you do this. When people realize you’ve lied to them, they’ll tear you apart. Don’t you see that? Even if you made a mistake, even if you didn’t mean to lie—they won’t care.”

“Georgia.” She adopts her stern tone. “You have to trust me. You wanted advance notice, and that’s what I’ve given you. I know what I’m doing. Now, move out of the way.”

“No!” I brace myself against the door. “Not a chance!” Standing up to Juno is no easy feat, but I’ve had to do it a few times in my life. This one is no less scary.

She walks over to me, her heels practically stomping. “Georgia, move! I mean it.”

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