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She’s very good at this Her voice is war, and she takes in our ood physic "What can they do for us?" she asks the Pilot, addressing him not as her leader but as her equal

"I’one down yet"

Leyna raises her eyebrows "We haven’t seen anyone standing," she says to the Pilot "All the other patients were already still"

"Ky is a pilot," Cassia says I can tell she doesn’t like the way Leyna is talking about Ky "One of the best"

Leyna nods, but she keeps watching Ky Her eyes are shrewd

"Xander’s a medic," Cassia says, "and I can sort"

"A medic and a sorter," Leyna says "Excellent"

"I’ in administration But I’ve seen a lot of the sick and I’ve been assisting with their care"

"That will be useful," Leyna says "It’s always good to speak to someone who has seen the virus and hoorks in the Cities and Boroughs"

"I’ll return as soon as I can," the Pilot says "Is there anything new to report?"

"No," Leyna says, "but there will be soon" She gestures to one of the stretchers "We can carry you if you need it" She’s speaking to Ky

"No," Ky says "I’ll keep going until I drop"

"You trust the Pilot very e Cassia and Ky walk ahead of us, keeping a steady but slow pace I know Leyna and I are both watching the at Ky, too Everyone’s waiting for the oes still

"The Pilot isn’t our leader," she says, "but we trust hih to ith him, and he feels the same way about us"

"And you’re really immune?" I ask "Even to the mutation?"

"Yes," she says "But we don’t have a mark The Pilot told us that some of you do"

I nod "I wonder why there’s a discrepancy," I say In spite of what I’ve seen it do to people, the workings of the Plague and its mutation fascinate me

"We’re not sure," Leyna says "Our expert in the village says that viruses and immunity are incredibly complex His best explanation is that whatever causes our i established at all, which et the mark"

"And it also e your diet or environment too et sick," I say

She nods

"That e to volunteer for exposure to the mutation," I say

"It did"

"How e?" I ask

"More than you would think," Leyna says "The stones are rolling"

What does sheup the Aberrations and Anomalies to send to the decoy ca to these places, the stone villages Have you heard of the Lei

"Noe’re all gathering together in one village, the last one," Leyna says "It’s called Endstone We’re pooling our resources to try to turn our immunity into your cure"

"Why?" I ask "What have those of us who live in the Provinces ever done for you?"

Leyna laughs "Notin return if we succeed"

"What is it?" I ask

"If we find a cure," she says, "he’ll use his ships to take us to the Otherlands It’s ant most, and the cure is what he wants most, so the trade is fair And if it turns out that our ies e leave, ill certainly want cures to take with us to the Otherlands as a precaution"

"So the Otherlands do exist," I say

"Of course," she says

"If you let everyone in the Provinces die, you could take the Pilot’s ships yourselves," I say "Or you could wait until everyone was gone and then go in and take their Cities and houses for your own"

For the first ti mask slips a little and I see the contempt underneath "You’re like rats," she says, her voice still pleasant "Even if most of you die, there are too many of you for us to overcoo so me all of this?" I ask her We’ve just met, so it can’t be that she trusts ood for you to understand how much we have to lose," she says

And I do understand With so ht cooal We’ll need to watch our step here "We have the same objective," I say "To find a cure"

"Good," Leyna tells me She lowers her voice and looks at Ky "So tell o down?"

Ky’s pace has picked up a little "It won’t be long now," I say Cassia is electric, lit up sih she’s worried that he ht be ill Would it be worth it to have the mutation if I knew she loved ht noould I do it?

CHAPTER 25