Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
My mouth drops open at the sheer magnitude of the lie. “You can’t promise something like that.”
“I can.”
My hands go cold, my throat tight. “No, you can’t. There’s no cure, Juno. None. You know this. The best you can do is create a vaccine to prevent it or find a way to treat the symptoms. But Sierravirus survives as a parasite on host cells—good cells that are invaded. The only way to kill the virus is to kill the human cells it’s inhabiting and preventing replication. Which, in turn, kills the human you’re trying to treat.” I’ve explained it to her—hell, the CDC has explained it to all of us before the news stations went dark. They still have repeating radio broadcasts, and even went so far as to air drop pamphlets on all the major cities detailing the best ways to stop the plague’s advance while also describing its methods of attack.
“Now it’s time for you to realize I’ve been paying attention to you, too.” She gives me a tight-lipped smile. “You’ve told me all this before—the virus invading the healthy cell and sucking it dry. I get it. But what I’m proposing isn’t the science we’ve known in the past.”
“Then what?” Baffled is too mild a word for what I’m feeling right now.
“Do you remember the man you met in my office months ago, the one—”
“The one you’ve been super secretive about? That one?” I snipe. The one I think about every day. The one who I’ve asked around about, though no one seems to know a damn thing about him.
“Yes.” She ignores my tone. “Valen Dragonis and his people have a cure.”
I scoff and stand, my heart thumping perilously against my ribs. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.” She rises, too. “He showed me what he can do. He showed Vince, too, if you don’t believe me. They can stop this thing in its tracks. Or, at least they can if they have the right scientists to work on the cure with them.” She stares pointedly at me.
“Me? You’ve dragged me into this conman’s game? Just because he said he could cure the plague? Have you lost your mind?” I gawk at her. “What the hell, Juno? You can’t promise people a cure based on bullshit. False hope is worse than no hope!”
“Keep your voice down,” she scolds.
“Cancel the press conference.” I hurry to her door and turn toward her. “You can’t go down there and tell the world you have a cure when you don’t.”
“That’s not what this is.”
“That’s exactly what this is!” I grab the handle. “I won’t let you do this. When people realize you’ve lied to them, they’ll tear you apart. Don’t you see that? Even if you made a mistake, even if you didn’t mean to lie—they won’t care.”
“Georgia.” She adopts her stern tone. “You have to trust me. You wanted advance notice, and that’s what I’ve given you. I know what I’m doing. Now, move out of the way.”
“No!” I brace myself against the door. “Not a chance!” Standing up to Juno is no easy feat, but I’ve had to do it a few times in my life. This one is no less scary.
She walks over to me, her heels practically stomping. “Georgia, move! I mean it.”
“You’re having a mental breakdown or something. I should take your vitals.” I try to remember where I put my emergency kit. Each word sends my sister’s glower into deeper and darker territory. Still, I barrel ahead, “I don’t know what’s happened, why you’d believe this sort of crap, but I can check you out, and if you need—”
A knock cuts through my words. “Georgia?” It’s Vince, his gruff voice vibrating through the wood.
“What?” My voice seems an octave higher. Shrill and panicked.
“Take a breath and open the door. Everyone downstairs can hear the shouting.”
“I won’t.” I spread my arms out wide, as if that could keep Juno from thrashing me. We didn’t fight much when we were younger, but there was the ‘last of the Oreos’ incident I remember vividly. To this day, I still proclaim innocence of the theft, though the only thing that stopped Juno from murdering me that day was our mom.
“You will.” Vince tries the handle.
“Georgia, move.” Juno’s glare is hotter than the sun in July.
Vince jiggles the handle with more verve. “I know it all sounds a little nutty.”
“A little?” The shrillness is still there. The fear.
“Would I let your sister walk into danger?”
“No.” I have as much faith in that as a religious belief. Vince’s entire life revolves around keeping Juno safe.
“Do you trust Juno?” he asks.
Vince agreed to this? I feel like my eyebrows are in my hairline and my mind is a buzzing hive of confusion. “Yes, but—”
“No ‘buts’, girl.” He’s even gruffer now. “Do you trust her or not?”