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Ted stumbled into the clinic unsure of what he should be doing. Nixie had sent him to get James, but there wasn’t any point to fetching a doctor now. He found Nick, Wisp and Angus in deep discussion in the hallway. He rushed over to them.
“What’s happened?” Wisp asked.
“The kids,” Ted said shakily. “They’re dead.” Tears ran down his face, and his chin trembled. He couldn’t seem to get a grip on his emotions.
“How?” Nick asked.
“Who?” Angus asked at the same time.
“Greenie and Stinker. They did it on purpose,” he said incredulously. “Why would they do that?”
“Fear,” Wisp said. “A lot of people are scared of what the flu will do this year.”
“So they would rather kill themselves with that loathsome concoction that some miscreant has devised than wait to discover the true outcome?”
Angus sighed. “I’m afraid that is too likely. Frightened people do not make well-informed decisions.”
“But I told them not to,” Ted moaned. He had failed them so badly. They had chosen death over trusting him to keep them safe. And truthfully, he couldn’t keep anyone safe from the flu. “Toad found them. He’s very upset. Nixie’s trying to calm him down.”
Angus gave him a hug. “I am afraid that I have to ask you to put aside your grief for now. We appear to have greater problems.”
Ted found it hard to believe that there could be any problem greater than the death of a child, but he knew that Angus wouldn’t ask lightly. He wiped his face and took a deep breath. “How can I help?”
“It looks like this flu is only hitting women,” Angus said in a hushed voice. He held up a couple of papers. “Phoenix Farm says they have four women down with it, and Adahy wrote to say that Bea and six other women are asleep.”
“Just women,” Nick said ominously.
“Is this engineered?” Ted asked in confusion.
Angus shook his head. “I doubt that there is anyone left with the skill or manpower to do this kind of thing. It must just be this year’s mutation.”
“But that doesn’t make it any less a problem,” Nick said. “Tillie, Ruth, Bridget and Jean have it. I sent someone to check on Eunice, Mary, Inez and Coco. If they are sick, we’ve lost some of our most important people.”
Ted felt swamped with bad news. “But what can I do?”
“The kids,” Wisp said. “They will need to step in. There’s a good chance anyone born after Zero Year won’t get it.”
“Okay. They are happy to help. Tell me what they need to do?”
Angus patted his arm. “Looks like a little bit of everything.”
James started down the hallway toward them, a puzzled frown creasing his brow.
“Now what?” Nick grumbled.
James beckoned to them. Ted followed automatically. His brain was fogged with grief and fear. He wanted someone to tell him what to do in short declarative sentences.
His brother led them into the big ward and over to Tillie’s bedside. She was still asleep, but at the foot of her bed, Snowball had given birth to a litter of dark kittens.
“They’re all the same color,” Angus said.
Ted knew nothing about kittens, but the tone in Angus’s voice gave him a chill. “Is that unusual?”
“That’s an odd color, isn’t it?” Nick asked.
Seven tiny kittens were squeaking and pawing at their mother’s belly. They were all a silvery grey color with long hair. “I think there is a breed that has a bluish color,” Ted said.
Angus peered down at the kittens. “Hmm.” Snowball mewed at him.
“She’s hungry,” Wisp said.
“No wonder,” Angus said. “Seven is a large litter.”
Ted felt that there was a lot more going on than Angus was sharing with them. Angus took a bowl of broth from Tillie’s bedside to offer to Snowball. The cat lapped it up greedily.
“Is this important?” Nick asked testily.
Angus looked up from watching the cat with a twinkle of curiosity in his eyes. “I hope so.”