Chapter 37 · The Kids Go Quiet

"Put the vial down, Mira."

Silas caught her wrist before the glass touched the table. His fingers locked around her hard enough to stop the shake in her hand, but not hard enough to hurt. Not yet.

The vial sat between them, no bigger than her thumb. Black liquid clung to the glass and moved in slow, lazy threads. Every few seconds, it gave a tiny twitch, like it had a pulse.

Behind Mira, twelve children sang through cracked lips.

Same three notes. Same broken rhythm.

Nora stood by the iron gate, white-knuckled around a ring of keys. "Mira, don't fight him in here."

"He's the one fighting me." Mira twisted against Silas's grip. "Let go."

"You smash that, and the only sample we have is gone."

"You ordered the quarantine furnace lit."

Silas's jaw tightened. "I ordered the infected blankets burned."

"You ordered the room cleared if the song got louder. That means the children."

His eyes cut toward the beds. The singing crawled over the chamber walls, thin and wet. One little boy had his hands pressed over his ears. It did nothing.