couldn’t see her, but I could feel Mother Morevna’s presence looking out, watching over all of Elysium.
The guards shrugged and led us to the much shorter line at the next well over.
Desperately, I scanned the tops of the walls, looking at the new graves, squinting for names. But I didn’t see Lucy’s name, not on this side of the wall.
The crowd parted, and in front of us, four men in dusty white uniforms, with dust masks, carried a stretcher across our path. There was a man on it, lying still, mud-vomit on his shirt. But they were headed toward the jail, not the hospital. There must be too many people in the hospital now, I thought, worry reaching up and squeezing my heart.
“Can I go?” I whispered to the guard. “To the hospital? I think my friend is there.”
The guard looked at the line, then across to the hospital. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching, then gave me the nod to go ahead.
I ran all the way to the hospital, and when I got there, the waiting room was so full that there was no room to stand, let alone sit. Fear rose over everything, so thick I felt I could almost touch it with my hands. People of all ages, all colors, all genders sat or stood or leaned against the walls. Guards, factory workers, farmers, cowboys, all wearing cloth dust masks. In a sad, sick way, I thought, Here’s our equality. Here, our fear made all of us truly, horribly equal. Who could escape Death, after all? Who was immune to this outbreak?
“Excuse me,” I said, approaching the desk. The nurse was one I’d never met before and she looked at me with tired, rheumy eyes over her dust mask. “Lucy Arbor… is she here?”
But the nurse cocked her head to the side and looked at me, confused.
“Lucy Arbor? Our nurse in training?” she said. “You just missed her.”
My heart leapt. I ran outside and looked around, scanning the crowd for her colorful kerchiefs, her bright dresses. But all the faces, kerchiefs, dresses were drab and dust colored. My heart sank. Surely she had seen me coming, or else why wouldn’t she have used the front door? It was as though she had just vanished. Worse, like she was avoiding me.
By the time the girls came back from training, sweaty, tense, and covered in dust and ash, Asa too was completely drained. He had spent all day with Rosa. He had made her breakfast, read to her, done a few magic tricks, made her lunch, read a few passages from a book, and assured her that, yes, Olivia would be coming back today.
“Olivia!” Rosa shouted, running into Olivia’s arms.
“Thank you,” Olivia mouthed over Rosa’s shoulder. “So much.”
“You all right, Asa?” Sal asked, though she didn’t look all right, herself.
“Yeah,” he said. “Just… glad y’all are back. Taking care of her full-time is hard work.”
“Looks like you did great.” Olivia beamed. She came over and gave him a peck on the cheek while Rosa wasn’t looking. (“Ooooooooooh!” said Judith.)
Asa sighed, went to the washroom, closed the door, and locked it. Then he let his human form unravel, conserving as much magic as he could. He looked down at his daemon arms, hands, claws. They were as alien to him now as his human hands had been only a short time ago. He would miss living.
Suddenly, Asa smelled the familiar, unmistakable scent of mercury, and a dark, familiar voice wrapped itself around his brain.
Having a little trouble, are you, O great one chosen by my Mother? Death said.
“I’m fine,” he said under his breath. “No thanks to You. I know what You did when Sal and I fought. You destroyed the Sacrifice building, didn’t You?”
You can’t prove that, She said. And even if you could, it wouldn’t change anything.
“Are You just here to gloat?” Asa asked. “I thought Death would have better things to do.”
My, my! Your time as a human has made you awfully saucy! said Death. But no. I am here to make you an offer—a very good one, I might add.
“I doubt I’d be interested,” said Asa.
Oh, I don’t know about that, said Death. It wasn’t so long ago that you were out in the desert, crying out for my Sister to hear you. Well, I am not so hard-hearted as She is. I am offering you a chance for humanity. Leave this temporary realm and go to the real world,