Page 75 of Land of Shadow

“Both, if I had to guess.” I move closer, all of us forming a huddle. Not the least bit suspicious to have a group of people whispering in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue. “They want us to find the cure so we can?—”

“Save their food source?” Wyatt suggests.

I look at him with new eyes, ones that see through the shaggy, record-playing stoner to the brilliant scientist he is. “Exactly.”

“So it’s a win-win. We get to live, they get to keep on eating us.” Evie’s nose wrinkles. “That’s really not a win for us.”

“It’s worse. So much worse. They want to take over. They’ve been hiding their existence forever, but now that humanity has dwindled so much, they feel like it’s time for them to take the reins.”

“I’m guessing they won’t be merciful overlords?” Gretchen says.

“No. They’re uncaring, unfeeling monsters. Their leader has given me a deadline. If I don’t find the cure in the next few weeks, I’m done.” I shudder as the truth spills out of me. “They’ll use me against Juno. Hurt me.”

Evie notices me shaking, and comes to my side, wrapping an arm around my waist. “That bad?”

“Yes. I think—” I don’t want to say more without knowing for certain, but it’s right there staring us in the face. “I think the blood resorts are forthem. I think the people who go there… The vampires are using them like cattle. Feeding off them.”

“You’re lying.” Aang shakes his head. “No way.”

“Yes. It tracks. Think about it.” Wyatt scrubs his whiskery chin. “We kept wondering why the hell they wanted to stockpile blood for plague experiments. There it is. Plain as day. It’s not for us. It’s for them.”

“No.” Aang steps back, his chin trembling.

“Aang?” I ask. “Are you okay?”

“What is it?” Gretchen asks. “Aang, what’s wrong?”

“Idrine signed up. I told him not to, and he said he wouldn’t go if he was chosen. He promised.”

Aang’s partner. The only thing that Aang has ever talked about that’s made him smile warmly.

“Then he’s fine.” Gretchen rolls up beside him. “He’s not there.”

“He hasn’t been answering.” Aang has gone pale in the warm sunlight. “The cell towers between here and there have been spotty for months. We only have the landline. I’ve called but there’s been no… He’s—” His voice breaks. He breaks away and hurries back down the street, his sob echoing off the empty buildings.

“Aang!” Evie calls and goes after him.

“What do we do?” Gretchen looks up at me.

“The only thing wecando.” Wyatt’s tired eyes are sad, his shoulders sagging. “We keep working. We find the cure.”

“So the vampires can use us?” Gretchen hisses.

“So we can survive.” Wyatt sighs. “That’s step one. If we don’t live through this plague, we’ve got nothing. We have to solve it.”

“We do,” I agree. “But we can also do more. We can find a way to stop them.”

Gretchen’s eyes light up. “That’swhy you’ve been trying to destroy the cells.”

“Exactly.”

“Anything work?” Wyatt asks.

I look up at the fading blue sky smudged here and there with wispy clouds. “Just this. The sun. Nothing else.”

“Shit.” He straightens. “I guess I’ll get to work with the classics. Silver. Garlic. Maybe some holy water. When you said ‘think outside the box’ I didn’t know you were talking miles outside. But I’m always down for a challenge. Supernatural or otherwise.”

I take both their hands and squeeze. “We can’t talk about this anywhere. Understand? If the vampires realize all of you know …” I still can’t bring myself to tell them about Candice.

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