The entire city of Olympia prepared for a feral attack. Never in the thirty years since they’d founded the safehold had a threat of such magnitude arisen. Gabriel had not returned, and the nocturnals had to wait for darkness before they could take to the sky.

Hyenas took up positions at the base of the mountain. They were the first line of defense. The second line, further up the mountain, was led by Rathbone. He had refused to stay behind in the city, the last line of defense. He placed some of his troops in trees, for cover and for the view it afforded, and other soldiers built makeshift parapets.

Rebecka focused on fortifying the city, while Aiden, Pippa, Abby, Salvatore and the new nocturnal creature known as Ryan remained in the lab, serving as Jack’s personal guards. Jack knew they had found the cure, though the scientists worried that the effects might be only temporary. Jack assured them the cure was permanent. The problem was how to administer the cure to thousands of ferals. Considering that thousands would soon be swarming the city, the problem was a pressing one.

“What if we save as many ferals as we can and inject them as we create the cure?” Doctor Timothy Adel asked.

“There isn’t enough time and not enough solution,” Jack said. “But I believe I can create it synthetically, by cloning the girls’ blood cells.”

“But we don’t have any more test subjects,” Dr. Angelica Adel said.

“And it doesn’t solve the problem of how to administer it more quickly,” Abby noted.

Rebecka came in, and Pippa asked if she had heard from Piper.

“She’s still waiting for Gabriel to return.”

Rebecka turned to Jack. “I want to apologize for drugging you and masking our scent. I know in my heart that we can trust your nocturnals. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t have dropped the smoke bombs.”

“Smoke bombs!” Abby cried out.

The group stared at her.

“Jack, didn’t you say earlier that you can tap into the knowledge of the three fathers of the nocturnals?” Abby asked.

Jack nodded.

“And didn’t you say that they created the original feline virus—an airborne virus?”

“Yes.”

“So isn’t it safe to say that you can tap into their knowledge to figure out how to administer the cure not as an injection but as an airborne cure?”

The doctor’s black spheres widened from circles to ovals. “Abby, that’s brilliant! And we can use smoke bomb canisters to administer the cure among large groups of ferals!”

Abby nodded and smiled.

Night came and with it the arrival of the nocturnals. They landed around the building harboring their leader. The doctor lifted his head, sensing their presence, then went outside.

Piper had returned to her children. “He should’ve been back hours ago,” she said.

“If anyone can make it back safely, it’s Gabriel,” Rebecka said as Jack reentered the building, Ryan at his side.

“The ferals are much closer than we thought,” Jack said.

“How close?” Rebecka asked.

“They’ll reach the base of the mountain before dusk tomorrow night, which means we’ve got to work fast to create an airborne cure, or else it will be total devastation.”

“Surely we can handle a few thousand ferals,” Aiden said.

“Try tens of thousands,” Jack said. “My nocturnals say the ferals are swarming together from the south and the east, and their numbers are growing.”

“Did they say anything about the storm?” Piper asked.

“They did,” Jack replied. “The storm is coming. It’s already raining in the foothills, and it will be upon us shortly. Our first line of defense is most likely drenched by now.”

“The rains will dampen their sense of smell,” Pippa said. “They might not sense the ferals until they’re on them.”

“I’ll send more men with firearms to the first line with the hyenas,” Rebecka said. She departed to dispatch more men.

Jack returned to his work, knowing time was short. With the aid of Olympia’s doctors and scientists, and dozens of city workers delivering gas canisters to the small hospital lab, they worked together to clone the cure, then convert it to a gas. By morning, they had successfully made fifty gas grenades, each capable of affecting two hundred ferals.

“This isn’t nearly enough for the swarm that’s coming,” Jack said. “We’ll need more canisters. I believe I can inject teargas bottles with the cure as well. Your lines of defense can use the teargas for both controlling and curing the ferals.”

“What about our own men?” Rebecka asked. “Will they be affected? Will a werecat return to a human? Might humans become sick?”

“No,” the doctor responded.

“How do you know?” Timothy Adel asked. “We haven’t tested any subjects other than the ferals we injected.”

“Because I know,” the doctor said.

The prophetess Mariana entered the room. “We are close, I can feel it,” she said. “I’ve heard that there will be thousands of ferals upon us soon. The prophecy is being fulfilled.”

“We should have enough of the cure to slow them down,” Jack said.

“That’s good news,” Mariana said. With that, she left the room.

“She claims she’s psychic,” Piper said. “I have my doubts.”

“Why is that?” Jack asked.

“Because the original prophecy said the time was still another year away. When I requested leave of absence to search for my children, she seemed agitated but then supported my request before the council. Before I left, she told me she had another dream that the prophecy would happen sooner, so I’d better hurry.”

“She’s not a prophet,” Jack said. “She wanted you to hurry to get you killed. She conceals lies behind her eyes. I can sense it. I sense that she’s the cause of the feral infestation, but I can’t probe her mind to prove it. It’s as if she’s blocking me from entering her thoughts. But I know she’s upset that we’ve created the cure.”

A humanly inaudible frequency swept across the air, bringing Jack, Aiden, Pippa, and Abby to their knees. Excruciating pain filled their minds, driving them toward rabidity.

“What’s wrong,” Salvatore yelled as Rebecka ran to lift Jack from the floor. Unlike the hybrids, he couldn’t hear the sound.

“Some sort of frequency,” Jack rasped. “The prophetess—find her.”

Salvatore, Piper, and Rebecka darted from the door, the two werecats morphing as they ran. Piper and Salvatore sniffed the air and found Mariana’s scent. It led them to a small, heavily guarded prayer room.

“The prophetess Mariana wishes not to be disturbed,” a guard said. Rebecka kicked the man, and the others backed away as Piper and Salvatore bared their teeth. They swept into the room and found it empty. The werecats sniffed out a set of stairs hidden behind an altar. Mariana was at the bottom of the stairs, twisting a dial on a large electronic machine.

The prophetess turned and hissed. Rebecka smashed her face and dropped her to the ground. “Destroy the machine,” she shouted to the two werecats beside her. Piper gave her a look of uncertainty. “Just do it!”

In seconds, they reduced the machine to a pile of rubble.

“What was it?” Salvatore asked.

“It produced frequencies to keep ferals away,” Piper said.

“Apparently she adjusted it to draw them here, which is why I had you destroy it,” Rebecka said.

The woman lying on the ground began to stir, and Rebecka nudged her with her foot. “Why, prophetess? Why did you do it?”

“Because I’ve had other visions,” the woman croaked. “Horrible visions. It’s better we all die and let the ferals take the city. Eventually, they’ll die out on their own. If we save them all, we’ll repeat the same mistakes our forefathers made. We’ll experience global destruction again and again.”

“That’s not your choice to make,” Piper said. “I think a meeting before the council will correct this fault.”

“It won’t correct it,” Rebecka said. “But it’ll put her away for a long time. That is, if the rest of us survive.”

Piper took the prophetess Mariana before the council, while Rebecka and Salvatore returned to the doctor and the others. Destroying the machine had ended their distress.

“She reprogrammed a frequency generator we had for repelling ferals,” Rebecka explained to Jack. “She recalculated it to attract them. It’s probably been drawing them for months.”

“All we can do now is keep making more canisters,” Jack said.

“I’ve been thinking, Jack,” Abby said. “If we cure some of the ferals, won’t the uncured attacked the cured?”

“It’s a possibility. What do you suggest?”

“I suggest we pull back the hyenas, let the ferals cross the bridge into that large clearing and then gas them all at once. We could mask the men with the un-scenting salve like they used on you, then hide out in the trees. We keep our defensive line above the clearing in case some ferals make it through.”

“I like it,” Jack said. “If it works, we can save thousands on both sides. But the salve won’t stick with all the rain. Still, we’ll apply it anyway.”

“I’ll contact Rathbone,” Rebecka said. “If this works, the population of Olympia is going to skyrocket.”