Chapter 3

When I got home, Goben was seated next to the big bed. Ma huddled on top of the covers, eyes bloodshot and skin sallow. He looked at me when I walked in and said, “Sember, Ma doesn’t look so good. Do you think it might be . . . what those other people have?” Ma convulsed into a coughing fit, then settled back into her pillow. I came closer. A sheen of sweat covered her face, and her eyelids were heavy when she looked at me. “Sember,” she said with a weak smile. “Sweet Sember . . . ” “I’m going to find Ruba,” I told Goben and rushed out the door. I headed straight for the cabin where the quarantine had been set up. Ruba hardly left it now, so chances were good I’d find her there. When I got there, the table that used to sit inside was now outside. I peeked through the doorway and found bedrolls laid across the floor from one wall to the other. The bed had been pushed against the wall next to the front door. A pungent, rank smell made me crinkle my nose. Ruba was wiping a damp cloth across the brow of one of her patients when I knocked. When she looked up, I could tell she was exhausted. “You shouldn’t be in here,” she said. “Whatever this is . . . it’s spreading.” “Ruba, how does this sickness start? I think my mom may have it. She has a fever, and started coughing today.” When her face fell, I already knew the answer. Her voice was thick with sympathy when she said, “I’m sorry, Sember. That’s exactly how it starts.” I rubbed my arms and glanced around the room. “Has anyone gotten better?” “I’m afraid not.” Six—soon to be seven—people lay on the floor. Some were sleeping, some were groaning, but they all had sickeningly pale skin with rashes in varying degrees of severity. The one in the far corner was the worst, with rashes that had turned black. My chest tightened, squeezing at my heart as I thought about my mother getting worse. “What can we do?” I continued rubbing one arm. “Nothing I try seems to work. We need Siena.” I deflated, hating the feeling of being helpless. Useless. There was no way to reach Siena. She always came back, but the amount of time she spent away often varied, depending on how many tribes needed her help. A sudden fit of coughing and wheezing erupted from the corner. The man with the black rash doubled over on his side, blood oozing from his mouth. My stomach turned. “Can I keep Ma at home? I don’t have to bring her here, do I?” Her lips pursed with doubt. “Just tell me what to do, and Goben and I will take care of her.” She hesitated a little longer, then relented. “Try to keep her fever down. And give her soup. She needs to keep her strength up.” I nodded, then bolted out the door. * * * Another week went by, and still no Siena. The awful red rash had made an appearance on Ma’s neck yesterday. We’d been doing everything Ruba told us to. I was in charge of the soup, and Goben kept the cool compresses going because, let’s face it, cooling things isn’t my forte. Then Pa started feeling warm. He had come home after repairing a cabin, and now he lay next to her, sweating and looking dazed. Then I discovered Nirrin had started coughing. This disease was smashing through Foresthome, and I feared no one was safe. I paced the room, but no matter how often I checked on my sleeping parents, they weren’t getting any better. There had to be something I could do. “I’m going to see if there are any new developments,” I told Goben, who was rinsing a rag in a bucket of water. He nodded, eyes tired and face scruffy. This was hard on him too. When I got to the quarantine cabin, two people were carrying out a body. I recognized it as the man from the far corner who had the blackened rash when I first visited Ruba. “What happened?” I asked Ruba when I found her. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes, heaving a long, heavy sigh. “I fear this disease is fatal.” For the first time in my life, my blood ran cold. My parents and my friend now tread on the same path toward death. I couldn’t allow that to happen. But what could I do? I wasn’t a healer. That was Siena. I began to resent her for abandoning us. Foresthome needed her desperately. What was taking her so long? Why didn’t she want to be around us anymore? Was she too important now? My fingers twitched as the agitation began simmering through my veins. I’d already run and practiced that morning, but I desperately needed to blow off steam now. When I reached the lake, I broke into a sprint. I ran as fast as I could, as if escaping from the unfolding calamity at home. My parents were dying, and there was nothing I could do. Nothing! The helpless feeling gnawed at my insides until I felt raw and worthless. I pushed myself even harder, picking up speed. I completed my circle around the lake in record time and was catching my breath when I heard someone say, “Hey.” I looked up and saw Dozan sauntering toward me. I tried to smooth the red frizz away from my face. “Hi,” I replied in between gulps of air. “Extra lap today?” I nodded. “I needed it.” He tilted his head. “Problems?” “My parents are sick.” His expression softened. “I’m sorry to hear that. It seems to be going around. Even the last tribe we traded with had a lot of sick people.” “So it’s not just here?” If this was hitting the tribes too, then it was no wonder Siena was taking so long. He shook his head and kicked a pebble. “I wish there was something I could do,” I said, more to myself than to him. He unexpectedly stepped forward and pulled me into his arms. I stiffened. I barely knew this boy. He looked at my lips, which made me feel weird. Very weird. Like there was something magnetic about this boy that I wanted to reach out to. Like I wanted to kiss him. Then his head closed in, and I quickly scrambled out of his arms in alarm. “What are you doing?” My voice sounded as shaky as I felt. How could I want this guy? And how dare he? Did he go around kissing all the girls he met? “I’m consoling you,” he said simply. “Maybe you should go console Nirrin,” I spat out and stalked past him, still confused by my physical reaction to this guy I hardly knew. Dozan could go suck a toad. Agitated all over again, I stormed away from the lake and began picking my way through the forest. I followed a hunting trail away from Foresthome, annoyed that my lake sanctuary was now constantly invaded by Dozan. What was he doing there, anyway? Stalking me? That whole fishing thing must be a pretense, because he never caught anything. And did he really just try to kiss me? I shook my head, trying to clear away the confusion. Did he like me? How could he? I had a huge pile of Things That Don’t Attract Boys going for me. And what about Nirrin? Wasn’t he into her? She had the curves and the giggles and the beautiful long hair. My hands curled into fists, and I had to inhale a deep breath to calm myself. Maybe I should head out and look for Siena, so I could tell her to come home. Foresthome needed her. I needed her. Looking for her would be something I could do, and it would remove me from this very flammable forest before I did something stupid. Again. I stopped short, blinking for several seconds. Was that her? Surely I must be hallucinating. I was just wishing too hard for it. Right? But there she was, with her straw-colored hair, and those pale blue eyes. Siena. Or a conjured image of her anyway. I blinked, unsure I could trust my eyes. Then she smiled, and I knew. She was real. “Siena!” I hurled myself at her like a desperate child, nearly knocking Remi aside. “Oh, Siena, you’re back!” Her arms curled around me, and I smiled as I collapsed into the familiar hug. I clung to her, relief washing away my churning worries. Everything would be okay now. Siena would fix everything. She finally pulled me away to look into my eyes, her penetrating gaze full of concern. “Sember, what’s wrong?” I hadn’t realized I’d been crying. I couldn’t remember the last time I cried. “My parents are sick. Really sick. People are dying. I’m so glad you’re back!” I threw my arms around her again before pulling myself together and wiping my eyes. She glanced at Remi and furrowed her brow. “It’s here too?” I nodded. She sighed heavily and visibly drooped. “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered. Remi caressed her shoulder and murmured, “We’ll think of something.” “What do you mean you don’t know what to do?” I asked, puzzled. “You can heal them, right?” “Only temporarily.” She ran an agitated hand through her hair. “I can’t seem to get rid of it. I alleviate the symptoms, but they always come back. The tribes are desperate, but I can’t stay with them forever.” My gut clenched at the gravity of the situation. “It’s a plague, unlike any we’ve ever seen,” she said grimly. “And I think it’s just going to get worse.”