Hailey swallowed. Things really had changed. When they’d initially hidden the necklaces, they’d never expected an incurable disease to break out. And it made sense that PET needed to get other Asclepiuses in. This might be the only way Demi could get better, and Hailey could always find a way to slap another neutralising bracelet on Hart later if she needed to.
‘She’s lying.’ Aaron cut off Hailey’s thoughts. ‘Quarantine means no one comes in, and no one goes out. They can’t risk spreading the illness to the outside world. She wants you to give her the necklaces or her powers back so that as soon as the disease is gone, she can get reinforcements to remove everyone.’
Hart glared at him. ‘I should have left you to die on that island.’
She reached for the pillows and blankets.
Aaron touched her hand lightly. ‘I don’t think our overseer will appreciate you taking away our things. So unless you want a big argument on your hands, I’d leave them.’
Hart’s glare turned deadly, but she drew her hand back.
‘And we saved ourselves,’ Hailey added. ‘All you did was get us back to the beach quicker than it would have taken us to walk.’
‘Brats,’ Hart hissed and stomped towards the doors, her loud footsteps stirring a few of the sleeping students.
‘That was close,’ Alec said. ‘I was ready to tell her.’
‘Me too,’ Jayden agreed.
‘They’re expert manipulators,’ Aaron said. ‘Never trust anything they say.’
25
Quarantine Breach
Hailey stood in a long line of students, clutching a letter she’d written to her mum. The students before her handed their letters to the three PET members standing at the front of the line. The soldiers skimmed through them before squirting them with a clear potion that left the hall smelling of disinfectant.
Getting to write to her mum was the only thing keeping Hailey sane at this point. Three slow days had ticked by in quarantine, and things were getting worse. The disease, which everyone now called Poseidon’s Plague, was confirmed as contagious, which meant Hailey wasn’t escaping quarantine anytime soon. But she wasn’t even safe locked up in the gym. Seven students here had developed Poseidon’s Plague and been sent to the healing wing, while another thirty students had been admitted to quarantine.
Hailey wanted nothing more than to sneak out and visit Demi. Her gaze drifted to the left, where Madam Grayson sat in a chair beside the doors, cross-checking a list against a stack of textbooks beside her. There’d be no getting past her teacher.
Cough, cough, cough, cough. The girl in front of Hailey broke into a coughing fit, sending the students in line scrambling away from her.
Scorpion was one of the soldiers checking letters. He sprayed the disinfectant potion around him before lifting his watch to his mouth. ‘I’ve got another one coming to the healing wing.’
‘Copy that,’ a voice replied.
The girl stopped coughing. ‘It’s just a cough,’ she protested, fear creeping into her voice.
‘Go to the healing wing,’ Scorpion ordered.
‘It’ll be okay,’ Madam Grayson assured her, opening the gym doors.
The girl glanced back at the students in the gym, as if expecting someone to stand up for her and demand she get to stay. No one moved. The girl hugged her arms and vanished outside.
‘Keep the line moving,’ Scorpion barked as students wandered back towards the soldiers.
I can’t take this anymore. Hailey couldn’t keep watching students fall sick and get shipped off to the healing wing never to be seen again. She needed to know what was happening. She needed to know why there was no cure yet. And she needed to see Demi and make sure she hadn’t gotten worse.
‘Next.’
Hailey realised Scorpion was talking to her. She shoved her letter into his hand and returned to the corner Jayden, Alec, Aaron, Tahlia, and Hope sat in.
‘At 8am you started travelling from Point A at a rate of six miles per hour. Two hours later, a sphinx began tracking your scent, moving at a speed of twenty miles per hour. How long will it take the sphinx to catch you?’ Alec read from a textbook, while everyone else began scribbling down equations.
‘I need to get out of here.’ Hailey dropped to the floor.
Jayden glanced up from his notebook. ‘What?’
‘I need to find out what’s happening. I can’t just sit here day after day hoping they’ll tell us they’ve found a cure.’
‘I want answers too,’ Aaron agreed, tossing his notebook aside.
‘It’s not exactly an easy place to escape,’ Tahlia pointed out, inclining her head towards the three soldiers checking letters and Madam Grayson.
‘Yeah, we should just stay here,’ Alec said. ‘I don’t want to risk Slater catching us.’ He shuddered.
Hailey narrowed her eyes. ‘You don’t want to know whether they’re any closer to finding a cure? Or how this whole thing started?’
‘They’ll tell us if they know anything,’ Alec countered, placing the open mathematics textbook in his lap. ‘And it’s safer for us in here. If we break quarantine, then we risk getting sick.’
‘Alec, you’re a Heracles. You’re meant to be brave, not a coward,’ Aaron snapped.
Alec’s shoulders slumped.
‘If anything, it’s probably more dangerous in here.’ Hope’s gaze flicked to a student coughing near the front of the gym.
‘You don’t have to come, Alec,’ Hailey told him. ‘The three of us can go.’
‘No. You’re not leaving me behind. I am brave.’ He straightened up.
‘Okay then.’ Aaron lowered his voice. ‘We’ll need a distraction. Ideas?’
Hailey glanced around, trying to work out what kind of distraction would draw the students, Madam Grayson, and the soldiers’ attention. Her eyes settled on Riley and Charlie sitting in the middle of the gym, under one of the floating orbs of light. I bet they’ll have a good idea on how to cause a distraction. ‘I’ll be right back.’
Hailey leapt up before anyone could question where she was going, and crouched down beside the twins and Ava. ‘So me and my friends need help getting out of here. Interested?’
Riley rubbed his hands together. ‘A jail break? Count me in.’
‘What do you want us to do?’ Ava asked.
‘We need a distraction, and I thought Riley and Charlie might have an idea.’
Riley met Charlie’s mischievous gaze. ‘Thinking what I am?’
Charlie’s lips quirked up. ‘Definitely.’
‘Everyone ready?’ Hailey said as she and the boys found a spot closer to the doors.
‘Hailey, wait.’ Tahlia was scurrying over to her with Hope.
‘I’m sorry, but the more of us there are, the bigger chance of us getting caught,’ Hailey said, thinking Tahlia and Hope wanted to tag along.
‘I know.’ Tahlia reached down for Hailey’s hand and blew a pile of gold dust into it. ‘Just in case you run into any trouble.’
Hailey slipped the dust into her jacket pocket. ‘Thanks.’
‘Good luck,’ Hope said.
Hailey glanced at Riley and Charlie, who stood by the art supplies at the opposite end of the gym. She nodded at them.
The art supplies burst into flames.
‘FIRE!’ Ava’s voice rang clear in Hailey’s head. The students swivelled in the direction of the fire and began shouting, leaping to their feet and backing away from the growing flames.
Scorpion and the other two soldiers sprinted towards the fire with Madam Grayson, while Hailey slipped through the unguarded doors with Jayden, Alec, and Aaron, and snuck down the deserted hallway, quickly turning down another hallway lined with classrooms. Hailey hurried towards the staircase at the other end, but paused as she passed Madam Norwood’s classroom.
‘Hailey, we have to go,’ Aaron prompted. ‘It won’t take the soldiers long to put the fire out.’
‘We can get answers here.’ She pushed open the door.
The room was empty. Or at least it looked empty, but Hailey figured if Madam Norwood was anywhere, it would be in the Hecate room—especially since the whole place smelled of herbs, a clear sign of potion brewing. Hailey marched towards the last archway on the right, where five older students stood behind the two tables that ran across the room, each of them measuring out ingredients and adding them to their bubbling cauldrons.
‘… kda svatnareat nara iatnav,’ the girl closest to the archway chanted, waving her hands over her cauldron, which hissed and spat, the glowing liquid inside changing from clear to shimmering purple.
Madam Norwood stood near the vial cabinet on the right wall, where handwritten signs hung at various points on the shelves reading: Fever Diminsher, Nausea Fighter, Cure 14, Cure 36…
‘Madam Norwood,’ Hailey said.
Madam Norwood turned around, her eyes narrowing behind her glasses. ‘Hailey? What are you doing here?’ She gazed behind her. ‘What are you all doing here? You’re meant to be in quarantine.’
‘We broke out,’ Aaron stated the obvious.
‘We needed answers,’ Jayden added.
‘Sorry,’ Alec squeaked. ‘We’ll go back.’
Aaron grabbed him by the shirt when he tried to leave. ‘Not before we find out what’s happening.’
‘Please,’ Hailey begged.
Madam Norwood’s face was stern. ‘Not in here. This is a clean zone.’ She ushered them back over to the classroom half of the room. ‘I shouldn’t be telling you anything, but if it means you’ll go back to quarantine, I’ll tell you what we know—which isn’t much. We’re still working on a cure. The best we’ve done so far is alleviate symptoms, but the illness keeps progressing and spreading quickly.’
‘Is there anything we can do?’ Hailey lowered her voice as she added, ‘Like give you a necklace so you can get outside help?’
‘Hailey,’ Aaron rebuked her.
‘We can trust Madam Norwood. She’s not PET.’
‘We can’t risk spreading this illness to the outside, especially when there’s no cure yet. It would be an epidemic,’ Madam Norwood said. ‘You need to return to quarantine. It’s the one thing I agree with PET on.’
‘Okay.’ Jayden nodded. ‘Thank you.’
‘Yeah, thanks.’ Hailey’s voice was empty. Madam Norwood telling her there was no cure at this stage wasn’t what she’d wanted to hear, or that the disease was progressing. Does that mean Demi has gotten worse?
Aaron touched Hailey’s arm and steered her back into the hallway.
‘Where are you going, Alec?’ Aaron asked when Alec turned to go back down the hallway.
‘Um, quarantine, like Madam Norwood said.’
‘No, we’re going to find out more from Amathia.’
‘Where do you think she is?’ Jayden asked. ‘The healing wing?’
‘Let’s try her classroom first,’ Aaron said. ‘If we go to the healing wing, we’ll definitely get caught. We’ll save it as our last option.’
Cautiously, they headed for the staircase, keeping against the wall as they approached, just in case a soldier was around. But the staircase was unguarded. Thank the Tyches it’s all going to plan so far, Hailey thought, reaching into her pocket as they descended the stairs and pulling out the sleep dust. While they hadn’t run into a soldier so far, there were always two on guard in the entryway. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to hit them both with the sleep dust before they called for backup, but she’d damn well try.
The entryway was deserted.
‘That’s weird.’ Aaron scratched his head. ‘There’s always soldiers here.’
‘Maybe they’re on lunch,’ Jayden offered.
‘No. They wouldn’t leave before being replaced.’
‘Let’s just be grateful they’re not here,’ Hailey said, sliding the dust back into her pocket. ‘It’ll make getting to Amathia a lot easier.’ She took the lead down the left archway, peering around each corner to make sure every hallway was PET-free, which they were.
The emptiness unnerved Hailey. PET is always everywhere. Why aren’t they guarding anything anymore? Where are they? Hopefully Amathia would have an answer for her. Hailey was heading down the hallway to her classroom when the Ancient History door opened.
‘Why are we stopping?’ Alec whispered as they halted. ‘She’s right there.’
‘Wait.’ Hailey watched Amathia head in the opposite direction of where Hailey and her friends lurked. ‘Let’s see where she’s heading. We’ll learn more from eavesdropping.’
They tailed Amathia, keeping far enough back that they only caught glimpses of the hallways she turned down. It soon became obvious she was heading to see her sisters. Hailey wondered why. To make them help her find a cure? That will never happen.
They reached the hallway to the left of the nereids’ room and hid in the same spot they had when they’d been spying on Jake. Voices drifted through the open door.
‘Ready to talk yet?’ Jake’s voice was edged in barely controlled rage.
‘We do not answer to humans,’ Nemertes retorted.
‘I am your sister, you will answer to me.’ Hailey had never heard Amathia sound so furious before. ‘Tell us what you’ve done.’
‘Nothing.’ Hailey could hear the smile in Nemertes’s voice.
‘You lie!’ Amathia snapped. ‘I demand you tell me the truth.’
‘Or what? You’ll hold us as prisoners? That has already transpired.’
‘Or we’ll cause you great amounts of pain,’ Jake threatened. ‘Now TALK!’
‘We have been imprisoned since the illness broke out. Why do you believe us responsible for it?’
Aaron stiffened beside her, and Hailey’s jaw dropped. Responsible? She’d never imagined the nereids were the ones who’d caused the disease, but it made sense. They wanted to get rid of the students and teachers, and releasing a highly contagious incurable disease seemed like a pretty good way to empty out the palace.
‘Because you threatened to kill the humans in the palace if I didn’t expel them myself,’ Amathia said. ‘I never thought you would actually do it though.’
‘You have always underestimated me, sister,’ Nemertes replied.
‘So you admit it then?’ Jake pressed.
‘Yes,’ Nemertes said, the smile in her voice returning. ‘All the humans will be dead within a month, and we will banish you from the palace, Amathia.’ Nemertes gasped. ‘Get your hands off me, you filthy human!’
‘TELL ME HOW TO CURE IT?!’ Jake yelled.
‘Unhand me!’
‘Release our sister!’ one of the other nereids demanded.
‘Colonel, unhand her,’ Amathia said, her voice sounding defeated.
‘But they know how to stop this.’
‘Nemertes will not respond to violence.’
‘What will she respond to?’
There was a long pause. ‘Water deprivation. Do not give them any more water.’
‘Traitor!’ Nemertes spat.
‘You brought me to this. I promised to protect those children’s lives.’
‘Even if it means your sisters’ deaths?’
‘You do not have to die. You only have to tell us how to end this.’
‘Never,’ Nemertes growled.
Hailey fell back against the wall. She couldn’t believe it. This whole time the nereids were the responsible ones, not some random virus that had magically appeared.
‘Let’s go,’ Aaron said quietly.
Numbly, Hailey peeled off the wall and followed him with Jayden and Alec, who looked as bewildered as she felt. None of them had seen this coming. They’d all thought that as long as the nereids were being watched 24/7, they couldn’t do anything to hurt them. But they were so, so wrong. How did they create and unleash a virus with PET watching them?
Someone yanked her to the side. Hailey blinked. She was standing in Amathia’s classroom. ‘What are we doing in here?’ she asked Aaron.
‘Waiting for Amathia
to come back so we can talk to her.’
‘Won’t we get in trouble?’ Alec swallowed. ‘We’re not meant to be here. We’re supposed to be in quarantine—and we were eavesdropping.’
‘I don’t think giving out detentions is high on Amathia’s list of things to do,’ Aaron retorted.
‘I can’t believe any of this.’ Hailey shook her head. ‘The nereids did this.’
Jayden perched on a desk. ‘I know. I’m as surprised as you. But at least we know where it came from now, and I’m sure Aaron’s dad will get the cure out of them.’
‘Yeah,’ Aaron agreed. ‘He’ll make them talk.’
‘What are you doing here?’
Amathia lingered in the doorframe, eyes narrowed.
‘We need answers,’ Aaron said.
‘We heard you talking to your sisters,’ Hailey added, wanting to get straight to the point.
Amathia paced to the other end of the room. ‘You shouldn’t be here.’ She eased into the chair behind her desk. ‘Sit down. I know you well enough to know you will not listen if I ask you to leave.’
Hailey grabbed a chair and dashed to the front, fearing Amathia might change her mind if she thought about it too long.
‘What exactly did you hear?’ Amathia asked.
‘Everything,’ Hailey said. ‘We know your sisters are responsible for Poseidon’s Plague.’
Amathia sighed, and Hailey glimpsed a sadness in her turquoise eyes. ‘I am ashamed to admit they are responsible. But you cannot inform anyone else. If the students knew my sisters did this, they would attack the nereids—even kill them.’
Aaron cocked an eyebrow. ‘And that would be a bad thing?’
‘Yes. If they are killed before divulging the cure, then all hope will be lost. Water deprivation will make them reveal their secrets. For nereids, it is as painful as starvation. Being deprived of water kills our spirit. Nemertes and my other sisters are not ready to die, that much I know.’
‘How long will it take?’ Jayden asked.
‘Days, probably, maybe even weeks.’
‘Weeks?!’ Hailey exclaimed. Does Demi even have that long?
‘We are doing everything possible,’ Amathia assured them. ‘I know it’s hard, but patience is the only way for now—and quarantine,’ she added with a disapproving look.
Poseidon's Academy Box Set Page 53