Sailor nods and we leave the room.
“Rye? Grace is a god. How did this virus affect her?” Sailor asks.
I look at her and see the understanding on her face. She knows but she wants to believe she’s wrong. So, do I, but she’s not. This is really happening.
“Because this is no normal virus. It means Pestilence is here. And for him to have killed Grace, he had to have gotten to her personally. He had to have laid his dirty fucking hands on her.”
“If he got to her, that means…” Sailor says, trailing off, still not able to bring herself to say it.
“It means the war has officially begun,” I finish for her.
Sailor and I find the others and we leave the clinic. I lead them to a side street where it’s quieter and try to tell them the news. The words won’t come and I just stand there, mute, looking at the team. Sailor slips her hand into mine and speaks up.
“Grace is…Pestilence got to her,” she says.
“But she’s okay, right?” Aziza says, in a voice that tells me she doesn’t believe that for a second.
Sailor looks down at the ground and shakes her head. Silence falls over the team for a moment and then Mel chokes out a sob. We come together as a group, holding each other. There isn’t a dry eye in the group as sobs fill the air. I let everyone take a moment. They need it. I need it. The moment stretches out, going on too long. We have work to do, a horseman to hunt down, but I don’t have it in me to order everyone to stop feeling their grief. How can I order that when I can’t do it myself?
Finally, Sunday steps away and addresses the group.
“Guys, I don’t want to sound like a dick, but we have to put the grief to one side for now. Grace will get the send-off she deserves, but not now. Now, we have to find the bastard who did this to her and end him.”
I look at Sailor, so strong and yet so fragile. She isn’t ready for this. She wipes the tears angrily from her cheeks. She looks at me as though she can read my mind.
“I’m ready for this,” she says. “I didn’t think I was, but then Dr. Hill told us what happened, and something in me just, I don’t know, clicked into place. The horseman fucked with the wrong person. And I’m going to make him pay.”
“We’re all right there with you,” Aziza says. “This is personal now.”
“How do we find him though?” Mel says.
“We don’t. He knows who Sailor is now. Who we are. He’ll come to us,” I say.
Mel nods. “I heard from one of the nurses that there’s going to be curfew. We need an excuse to hang around town until then though.”
“The town hall,” Jinx says. “I heard they’re taking bottled water and fruit around to the more vulnerable residents. They’re struggling to get volunteers to deliver the packages. If we volunteer, we have a reason to be here.”
I nod my head. It’s as good a plan as any.
“Let’s go,” I say.
We head toward the town hall. Sailor hangs back a little and I fall back beside her.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“I will be. I’m ready for this. But I’m worried about my dad,” she says.
“Give him a call,” I say. “He’ll be worried about you too. Just tell him we’ve been evacuated and told to stay in the cabin.”
Sailor nods and gets her cell phone out. Adam answers almost immediately. I can hear the conversation as I walk beside Sailor.
“Sailor. Thank God you’re okay. Where are you? I’ll come and get you,” he says.
“No, Dad,” she says. “The sheriff wants everyone inside. Are you at home?”
“Yes, but—”
“Stay there where it’s safe. I’m at the cabin with the girls. One of the deputies brought us home. He told us to stay here until further notice. I’m safe here, I promise.”
“I don’t know, Sailor,” he says.
“Dad, listen, I get that you’re worried, but the cabin is the safest place to be right now. It’s not even in the town,” she says.
“Yeah. You’re right,” he says. “Promise me you’ll stay there.”
“I promise.” Sailor winces. “I love you, Dad. Be careful.”
“I love you too, Biscuit,” he says.
She hangs up the call. She looks so scared and I want to make her feel better. I nudge her with my shoulder.
“So, he’s okay then, Biscuit?” I tease her.
She elbows me, laughing. “He’s fine. And don’t even go there.”
“Biscuit though? Really?” I laugh.
She shrugs.
“I know right? He’s called me that ever since I was a little girl. My friends in New York were convinced he picked it up off Shadow Hunters,” she says.
“What the hell is Shadow Hunters?” I ask.
Sailor laughs and shakes her head.
“It’s a TV show. Honestly, Rye, you are so clueless. My friends used to tease me about it all the time. My dad had no idea who they were talking about of course, he’s about as up on teen trends as you are, and when they explained, he declared that they’d clearly picked it up off him as he’d been saying it for longer.”
“Hey, I’m not clueless. I just don’t watch sappy teen shit.” I laugh.
Sailor laughs with me.
“When this is over, you and me are going to binge watch every season of the Shadow Hunters and Riverdale and then we’re going to have a Harry Potter marathon. I’d say Twilight as well, but I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” she says.
“I can’t wait,” I say sarcastically.
We catch up with the rest of the team as they reach the town hall. Ya-Ya and Aziza head inside to offer our services.
“You know they’re going to say no right?” Sunday says. “They’re not going let a bunch of teenagers wander the streets when they think it might not be safe.”
Aziza and Ya-Ya come back loaded down
