We were operational in a matter of days.

On the one-week mark of living at the hospital, a series of Pentaban warriors arrived in groups, each bringing with them a Novai. By the time they left and only the patients and members of the designated team remained, I counted six ailing Novai, twelve determined A’li-uud, eight nervous humans, and myself.

As I had absolutely no value medically, I was left to myself for the better part of a day. Everyone else, it seemed, had become engrossed in analyzing each and every Novai in painstaking detail down to a single twitch of a finger. From my observation, those who were brought to us were in what Vi’den had described as the first stage: aggressive, hostile, but still eyeless and disturbingly pale. If the disease fatigued them at all, it was inconspicuous, and they fought their ankle and wrist restraints with vehemence. When a healer approached them, they roared the very same roar I had heard from the escaped Novai in the palace, and I understood with visceral clarity now how imperative Venan’s brutality had been, though it did not diminish the disastrous outcome.

I had not spoken again with Phoebe since our morning on the cot, primarily because the Elders’ illumination on the disease had sent the team into a frenzy of preparation. The hospital became a flurry of activity as kits of essential diagnostic instruments were assembled for convenience, beds were rearranged to establish better patient isolation, and A’li-uud healers flooded the human doctors and nurses with information about the more advanced equipment in an effort to expedite efficiency. I helped where I could, of course, but my motivation was chiefly to contrive moments of interaction with Phoebe, and, thus far, there had been none. She was a victim to the tornado of activity, always spinning about and racing from one room to the other, and I had to find myself content with watching the way her tender cheeks pinkened and her fair hair coiled in her haste.

In my many hours of spare time, I was free to wander outside of the hospital. I did not recognize my surroundings, though it was evident we were still in Dhal’at as massive dunes and an endless sky could be seen in every direction, but I had always considered myself familiar with every inch of my kingdom, and I was frustrated to discover I was not as familiar as I had thought. Ignorance about my location would make my new plan more difficult to carry out.

After the Elders had departed, I had been furious. The level of control they were exerting over me was more than I could tolerate, and their insistence I remain separate from Venan’s predicament was insulting. He may have been annoyingly perfect, always the ideal son and warrior and Dhal’atian citizen, but he was my brother nonetheless, and I knew he was struggling in his prison. I was certain he felt he was rightfully incarcerated; he had been so staunchly devoted to Kharid that he likely felt he deserved nothing less than prosecution to the fullest extent of the A’li-uud law. But I knew differently. I could not let my twin waste away for a crime that was, in my eyes, hardly a crime at all.

Breaking into P’otes-tat Ulti was impossible. It was heavily guarded by both massive walls, impenetrable gates, and more guards than any kingdom across Albaterra could boast. Getting a message into P’otes-tat Ulti, however, was far from impossible. I had done it before, and I would do it again. Of course, the last and only time I had managed to do so was for an accomplice in the black market trade who was jailed for a petty crime, and it was highly likely Venan was kept in a cell of maximum security. To succeed would be a feat in and of itself, but I was determined to try. Regardless of Venan’s feelings about himself in the present, it was crucial he knew what he did was not only well-intended but obligatory, and I was now in a position to prove it.

The day after the Novai arrived, I ventured outside again to investigate my surroundings. I needed to find out where we were in order to execute the next step in my plan: locating one of my prior associates. To most, the swaths of golden sand licking the landscape were far from telling, but my years of training as both a warrior and a criminal had taught me otherwise. Everything was significant, down to the smallest grain of sand to the geometric formations of entire dunes. It was simply a matter of putting together the pieces until I had a complete puzzle.

“Ugh, god.”

I turned to see Phoebe stepping out of the building. She shielded her eyes to shade herself from the sun’s wicked glare and spotted me, fanning herself with her free hand.

“Have you tired of the others already?” I asked with a grin, striding toward her so as not to yell across the distance between us.

She shook her head and said, “No. I didn’t even know you were out here. I just came outside to get some fresh air, but it’s worse out here than it is in there. Aren’t you hot?”

“My answer depends fully on your definition,” I sassed.

Phoebe rolled her eyes, but she smiled despite herself. “Even in the middle of nowhere, you’re still as snarky as ever, huh?”

“Oh, make no mistake,” I said, holding up a single finger and donning my most scholarly face. “There is no nowhere. We are always somewhere; we merely must discover where somewhere lies.”

“How Confucius of you,” she giggled.

I raised my eyebrows and said with amusement, “You will have to excuse me, but it sounded as if you sneezed.”

She laughed again and shook her head. “Never mind,” she dismissed. Tiny beads of sweat were beginning to form along her hairline in the arid heat. I wondered if she could feel them as they shivered on her skin and readied themselves to dribble down her temple. “So, is that what you’re doing in this hellish heat? Trying to ‘discover where somewhere lies’?”

I almost answered in the affirmative, but I stopped myself before I could breathe a sound. To my consternation, I realized I trusted Phoebe. My instinct had been to tell her the truth. While I did not make a habit out of lying, I surely would deceive to keep my schemes and misconducts hidden. Yet, after just a simple question from her lips, I was ready to reveal myself.

She may have enchanted me with her beauty and compassion, but I was not so much of a fool.

“No,” I answered offhandedly. “I did not want to be an imposition while the healers worked.”

“That’s thoughtful of you,” she remarked. I detected a hint of sarcasm in her tone, and her viridian eyes danced.

“I think so too,” I agreed with a smirk.

The door flew open again, though, this time, it was not at Phoebe’s hand. She spun on the spot, kicking up a fan of sand around her ankles and spraying the toes of my boots. A nurse with a long face poked her head through the gap and looked at Phoebe.

“We need you in here,” she said in a rush. She spoke so rapidly I could hardly understand her. “One of the Novai is having a seizure.”