Chapter 32 · I wasn't planning to

"I wasn't planning to."

From behind the door came a child's voice.

"Doctor Kade?"

Mira's heart kicked hard.

"Who is that?" she called.

"It's me."

The voice belonged to Tavi, the smallest boy in the quarantine ward. He had been singing for four days. His throat should have been too raw for speech.

Mira reached for the handle.

Silas grabbed her hand before she could touch it. "No."

"That's Tavi."

"It may sound like Tavi."

"I treated him."

"And I watched three guards hear their dead wives calling from a sealed room. They opened the door. None of them came back out."

Mira looked at the black iron. "You never told me that."

"You never asked."

"I asked what was beneath the west tower."

"You asked what was useful."

"Children are useful now?"

His face tightened. "Don't twist my words."

"Then give me better ones."

The voice behind the door giggled.

"Doctor, he says you have to come in."

Mira's skin prickled. "Who says?"

"The man with the empty mouth."

Nora made a small choking sound.

Silas went pale.

Mira turned to him. "What does that mean?"

He reached for the door bolts. "We leave."

"You know what it means."