Hollowpox The Hunt for Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend Page 0,154

strawberry whip, looking anguished. Finally she whispered, ‘I’m glad you’re awake. We had a little party here for you, hoping it might wake you up, we were all so worried. What you did … it was really brave. And things are better now, without any new Hollowpox patients coming in. I just wish …’ She paused to take a bite of a peppermint cream. In the dim light, Morrigan thought she saw tears shining in her eyes. ‘I wish there was something we could do for the ones who are already here.’

‘I know,’ Morrigan said darkly. ‘I thought—’

But she didn’t quite know how to finish that sentence. I thought I’d cured them? Or worse – I thought Ezra Squall had cured them? It seemed outrageously foolish now, to have believed he would keep his word.

‘Jupiter said they’re not giving up,’ she went on. ‘They’re still looking for a cure.’

‘I’m sure they are,’ said Anah. ‘I’m sure Jupiter and Dr Bramble will keep looking for as long as it takes. But Dr Lutwyche wants the Hollowpox task force to disband. As far as he’s concerned, the threat is over. He’s furious about all the space and time and resources the unnimals – I mean the Wunimals – are still taking up. Sorry.’ She winced a little at her slip of the tongue. ‘He wants things back to normal, and Morrigan … you know I want the Wunimals to be all right again, but … they’re just not. Almost three-quarters of the teaching hospital is a quarantine zone now. More of the infected are waking up every day and it’s overcrowded and unhygienic and … well, it smells like a—’

‘Don’t say it—’

‘—zoo, I’m sorry, but it does!’ Her face flushed but she met Morrigan’s glare defiantly, continuing in a fierce whisper. ‘Listen. All the medical staff and assistants were called to a meeting this afternoon. This is strictly confidential, but … it was about what happens next.’

‘And? What happens next?’

‘Please don’t tell anyone I told you. There’s nothing you can do, I just thought you’d want to know in case … in case you wanted to say goodbye to your friend. The foxwun, what’s her name?’

‘Sofia.’ Instantly, Morrigan’s eyes prickled. ‘Is she awake? Is she …’

She couldn’t finish that question, but Anah nodded miserably, and she had her answer. Not a foxwun any more, then.

She swallowed painfully. ‘What do you mean, say goodbye?’

‘They’re going to start moving them tomorrow, so we can begin a deep-clean and get the hospital fully operational again. The Wunimals Minor are all still asleep, they’ll be moved to their own special ward until we know exactly how they’ve been affected. Dr Bramble is putting together a small team to care for them.’

‘And the Majors?’

‘Some of them will go to the unnimal husbandry facilities in the Practicalities Department here on Sub-Three—’

‘What?’ Morrigan shrieked. Anah’s hand shot out to cover her mouth, but Morrigan pulled it away and whispered, ‘Like farm unnimals?’

‘—and some will go to the Nevermoor Zoo to be cared for by professionals who can – Morrigan, sit.’ Morrigan had jumped out of bed and was pacing up and down, breathing hard. ‘We’re not unnimal carers here, we don’t know how to give them the best—’

‘Then they should go to their families!’

‘And some of them will!’ Anah paused, biting on her lower lip. ‘To the families who … who want them back. If they can provide adequate care. That’s what Dr Bramble said.’

That made Morrigan stop pacing. The families who want them back. She pressed a hand to her chest, squeezing her eyes shut tight.

Would some of their families not want them back?

Who was Sofia’s family? Morrigan felt suddenly wretched. She’d never asked.

‘Where is Sofia now?’

Anah sighed. She seemed to regret having told Morrigan as much as she had, but it was clear she was in this now. ‘Still in the quarantine wing. Ward 4A. Now listen carefully, because if you want to see her, you’ll only have a very brief window.’

Morrigan had memorised Anah’s instructions for sneaking into Ward 4A without getting caught, and her friend had crept back out into the hallway to go home, and ever since then she’d been counting down the hours until her very brief window arrived.

She’d used the time well. She’d vowed revenge on selfish Dr Lutwyche. She’d fumed silently about Dr Bramble the hypocrite, who supposedly wasn’t giving up on finding a cure, but was happy to ship a bunch of inconvenient Wunimals off to the zoo in the