“I do, yes.” Nora smiled at her. “Is that the first thing you would like to learn about? The illness that drove you from home?”
“Definitely,” Lucy said, smiling back despite the nervous churning of her stomach. “I was wondering about something particular. I know someone can have polio and not show any symptoms, but still pass it on to other people, right?”
Nora nodded. “Yes, they’re called carriers.”
Lucy’s words came out in a rush, the miles of road in between her and Carter insignificant in her mind if she could deliver him from the hell of loneliness. “So will that person always have polio? Can they continue to infect people until they’re dead?”
“No,” Nora said automatically, and Lucy’s heart leapt in her chest. “The carrier’s body will pass the virus out within a few weeks. They’d definitely need to be quarantined for a while and monitored, but after enough time, the carrier would pose no more danger.”
Lucy shut her eyes against the pounding heat of the lobby, her heart beating in her chest so loudly she wondered if Nora could hear it.
“Morning, ladies.” Lander’s voice bounced off the glass in front of them to reverberate back through Lucy’s bones, reminding her there was still a game to be played, and with more consequences now than ever.
She turned with a smile. “Good morning.”
Thirty-One
Witching with Ben was more tedious than ever, now that Lucy knew she would never benefit from the wells she was marking. Fletcher’s warning about dragging Lynn back over the mountains echoed in her mind, drowning out Ben’s complaints about the blowing sand. With each quiver of the stick Ben drove a flag, and Lucy didn’t stop him even when she was well aware it was the quickness of her own pulse and not the call of water.
“Can we be done already?” Ben whined. “This sand is getting everywhere, and I mean everywhere.” He pulled the band of his pants away from his stomach to illustrate his point.
“Don’t forget this stick still wants to hit you,” Lucy teased, her spirits high enough to put up with Ben’s misguided humor.
He was concocting a smart remark when Lucy spotted a flash of light over his shoulder. “What’s a car doing out there?” Lucy framed her hands around her eyes to keep the sand out and squinted. “The highway’s the other direction.”
“It’s nothing,” Ben said, jamming the diminishing stack of flags under his arm. “C’mon, I’m done with this.”
“What if it’s someone lost, like I was?” Lucy argued, still staring into the distance.
“I said, it’s nothing,” Ben insisted. “But if it’ll get you moving, I’ll tell Dad once we get back and he’ll send a car out.”
“All right,” Lucy agreed, readjusting her pack. “Don’t forget, though.”
Ben’s eyebrows shot up. “You can tell him yourself if you don’t trust me.”
“No. I need to get back and talk to Lynn.”
“About what?”
“Just to check on her,” Lucy lied quickly, alarmed at how easy it was becoming. “She wasn’t feeling well this morning.”
Ben stopped in his tracks and grabbed Lucy’s arm. “Do you mean she was vomiting? Like morning sickness?”
Lucy jerked out of his grip. “No, moron, just like you know, I-nearly-died-in-the-desert-and-don’t-feel-so-great-yet kind of sick.”
“Okay, good,” Ben said, as they started walking again. “You’d let me know if she was, right? Pregnant?”
“Oh, you’ll be the first person I tell,” Lucy said. “Another good indication would be your father’s slit throat.”
“Lynn?” Lucy burst through their door, the news of her early morning discovery about Carter on the tip of her tongue.
“What?” Lynn was resting in the chair, her head leaned to one side, eyes ringed in dark circles. Lucy’s words died on her lips.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Lynn said. “Though I could do without Lander watching every move I make. I’ve got a gun and all he’s got is his eyes, and somehow I feel like he’s got the drop on me.”
“Is there . . . did he . . .” Lucy trailed off, unaccustomed to being the one asking after the other’s safety.
“He didn’t lay a finger on me,” Lynn answered the unasked question. “Though he’s not very good at hiding the fact he’d like to try.”
“Well, he probably doesn’t have a lot of practice with flirting.”
Lynn smiled. “It worries me though. Him and Ben both are used to getting what they want and probably don’t know how to handle it when it doesn’t come easy. We need to get out of here.”
“I need to talk to you about that,” Lucy said, sitting on the end of the bed.
“You want to stay?”
“No,” Lucy said. “I want to go home. For Carter.”
Lynn sat back in the chair. “What the hell are you saying?”