Page 30 of Land of Shadow

As it turns out,it takes 8 hours and 24 minutes before I even catch sight of her. Fatima did her best to shoo me out and back to the lab, but I refused. Instead, I pushed my way into the Oval Office and camped out on one of the sofas. Candice (an enabler, god bless her) brought me lunch—a decent ham and swiss sandwich with the freshest potato chips I’d had in at least a year—and I used the government Wi-Fi to spend some of my time researching my lab mates, their work, and their discoveries, and the rest going through more CDC data on failed vaccine trials. I should’ve recognized Gretchen’s name from journals. She was one of the lead epidemiologists when news of the virus first emerged. Her work at Stanford paved the way for ramping up safety protocols and screening for the plague at ports of entry. Wyatt isn’t quite as high profile, but he’s done solid work in microbiology and virology going back several years. Evie and Aang are similarly credentialed. Out of all of them, I’m the least experienced. No wonder Aang wants to kick my ass.

“Georgia!” Juno hurries in, Vince at her back. “What are you doing here? Fatima said you’ve been here all day.” She has the nerve to look at me like I’m out of line. LikeI’mthe problem here.

“Where have you been?” My question comes out far shriller than I intend.

She walks to her desk and sits down, already settling in as if she’s been here for years. “I’m the president, Georgia,” she says in a lecturing tone that sets my teeth on edge. “I have endless responsibilities. That’s where I’ve been. You have responsibilities, too, and they aren’t being met when you’re sitting here pouting or whatever it is you’re doing.”

“What?” I explode, instantly on my feet. “What the hell are you talking about?” I’m yelling. I don’t fucking care that I’m yelling at the president in the Oval Office. “You send me off somewhere else, all my stuff is there, you had zero intention of me ever staying with you at all. You sold me out to Valen, a total stranger, like I’m someone you can whore out? And then you ran away on a fucking helicopter? What is wrong withyou? What the fuck is going on?”

“I’ll just uh …” Vince backs out and closes the door.

I’m standing over her now, right in front of her desk. “Andresorts? For blood? I don’t need any fucking blood, what I need is my sister!”

She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, the room going silent as I swallow down the rest of my fury as best I can. I could handle her being an ass, or being hard on me, or being anything other than this. Because whatever is happening between us right now, I don’t understand it. And when I don’t understand something, I will pick at it and pull it apart and study it until all my questions are answered. Or I’ll die trying.

“Why aren’t you talking to me?” I say more quietly this time. “You’ve never been like this before. Secretive and, and … What the hell is going on?”

She meets my gaze, and finally,finallysome of her façade is falling away. No snide expression, no irritated set of her lips. “You know, when Mom and Dad adopted you, I didn’t understand at first. I didn’t know why I wasn’t enough for them, why they wanted to adopt—and a little white girl at that.” She laughs lightly and drops her hands into her lap. “But then, my teenage hormones kicked in, and I was so happy to not be the only one anymore. Mom wouldn’t hover so much, and Dad would be wrapped up in whatever sport you chose to play or instrument you were learning. I’d be able to make my own way.” She looks up at me. “But that’s not what happened. Instead,I’mthe one who invested in you, who loved you, who taught you how to shoot a basketball, how to read music, how to kick creeps where it hurts. You became mine as much as theirs. Maybe even more, especially after they passed.”

“Stop trying to soften me up!” I turn my back and walk away. “That’s what this is, isn’t it? You bringing up Mom and Dad and?—”

“No.” She stands and comes around her desk. “No, I just want you to know that maybe the things I’m doing—maybe they don’t make sense. But these decisions I’ve made, they’ll help you. They’ll help everyone. And in the end, they’ll bring us closer.”

“What decisions?” I turn back to her. “What have you done? Blood resorts? Me reporting to Valen? I need the truth from you, Juno. I’m fucking tired of begging you to level with me. This isn’t like you! I want answers. If I don’t get them …” I let out a frustrated sigh that seems to deflate everything in me.

She sighs heavily. “This is the only way it could work, the only deal Valen and his people would accept. I agreed to give him access to you and your research in exchange for samples of his people’s blood.”

“And the blood resorts?” I can’t even say the words without sneering.

“Those were the second part of the deal. Access to you and the resorts are what I gave up so that we can find the cure.”

I whirl on her. “You sold me out.”

“No.” She shakes her head and reaches for my hands.

I pull away. My entire body is cold, my blood thumping sluggishly in my ears. I’m caught in a trap; one I can’t see the inner workings of. What does Valen want with my research? Is Juno telling the truth even now? Or is there more?

“I didn’t sell you out, Georgia.” She speaks faster now. “You’ll be safe. They’ve promised me that you won’t be touched—not by the dangerous factions of their own people, President Gray’s maniacs, or anyone else. You’re the most protected person in this city. Maybe more so than even me.”

“Wouldn’t want the prize cow to stop giving milk, is that it?” I both love and hate the way she flinches from my words.

“Georgia, please.” She reaches for my hands again. “I’ve told you from the start that you’re going to be the one who ends this crisis. These deals I’ve made—they’ve given you what you need to do it. Don’t you see?”

“The deals—you mean putting people into these blood camps. For what?” I ask. “Why didn’t you tell me about them and what the hell are they?”

She looks away. “The same way we need their blood to survive, they need ours.”

“What?”

“Valen’s people need our blood. It’s totally harmless.” She glances away. “A short vacation and a few blood donations, and we’ve met that part of the deal.”

Foreboding has already made a home in my chest, like a bird building a nest. Stick by stick, Juno is adding to it, making it sturdy for whatever horrid egg is on its way. “Who are his people? Is that where you went today? To meet with them?”

“Yes.” She presses her lips tightly together, then adds, “I met with Gregor.”

“Who is he? Where? Where do they come from?”

“I can’t answer any of that.” She shivers for a moment. “I don’t know where they come from. I’ve only ever met him at locations of his choosing. He’s …” Her grip tightens on mine. “They’re dangerous people. Not people—I-I don’t know what they are, really.” She steps closer, her voice going lower. “I thought maybe once you could look at their blood, you’d tell me. This has all been so that you could get a closer look, so you can help with more than just the cure.”

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