“We can’t,” Roma continued. “Dimitri is still out there with his monsters. I will accept stepping out of politics. I will accept hightailing it out of the way if it’s the Nationalists and Communists colliding against each other. But while we can stop Dimitri, we must.”
Was it even possible at this point? How could they stop him? How could they kill men who turned to monsters when the monsters seemed so indestructible?
Juliette grimaced, her eyes flickering again to Benedikt as if to ask for help. Before she could speak, it was Lourens who cleared his throat, interrupting her.
“You may not need to.” Lourens gestured to the back of the lab. One of the machines had been humming away, lit from the inside. “The vaccine stops the madness, no? It won’t solve the physical monster problem, but it will take away a large portion of their power.”
Roma’s eyes grew wide. “The vaccine is ready?”
“Not at this precise moment. But give it a few days, perhaps. I have the formula. I have the supplies. I can dump it in the whole city’s water supply. No one even has to know that they’re being inoculated.”
“Which means,” Juliette said quietly, “we have done all that we can here, Roma. For the sake of your life, we have to leave. All of us. Right now, before dawn breaks.”
Benedikt finally understood why Juliette’s gaze kept drifting back to him.
“Okay,” Roma said, defeated, in collision with Benedikt’s sudden “No.”
The room fell quiet, nothing but the sound of machines humming. Then, when Benedikt was sure he had summoned everyone’s attention: “Not without Marshall.”
Juliette clicked her tongue. “I was afraid you would say that.” She finally glanced away. “If Marshall is with his father, he is safer than he would be anywhere else.”
“He may be safe, but he will be trapped there for however long. If we’re getting out of the city, out of the country, we get out for good. We’re not leaving him behind.”
Roma made a thoughtful noise. He wiped a smear of dust off Alisa’s cheek, who, to her credit, had remained quiet through all this.
“Benedikt’s right,” he said. “If there is indeed a purge coming, it doesn’t stop with one event. Let’s say Lourens distributes the vaccine. Let’s say the madness disappears and the city returns to relative normalcy. But with this violence on the Communists and the White Flowers . . .”
“The city will never return to normal,” Juliette finished heavily, like she didn’t want to say it aloud.
One purge was never one purge. The Nationalists were not only forcing out all opposition. They also had to maintain their control. No Communist could show their face on these streets again. No White Flower could continue living within the city’s borders, at least not without hiding their identity. The purge would never end.
“So,” Benedikt finished, “we need to get Marshall.”
Juliette tossed her hat off, throwing it to the table. Her hair was a tangled mess. “As much as I agree, how do you propose we do that?”
“I go alone.”
All heads in the room snapped to Benedikt. Even Lourens looked flabbergasted.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Juliette asked. “I just said that all White Flowers seen on the streets upon daybreak will be slaughtered.”
“I am not as recognizable as Roma is,” Benedikt replied easily. “Especially not if I dress as your Scarlets will be. I have already seen them. They are in workers’ overalls, with a band over their arm.” He gestured to his biceps. “They seek White Flowers to execute by looking for White Flowers. Who is to say what I am if I look just like them?”
“It’s a good plan,” Roma said.
“It’s a horrible plan,” Juliette said.
Roma picked up Juliette’s hat. “But all the Nationalists will be on the streets. Marshall will probably be unguarded.”
Juliette snatched the hat back. “Why do you think they have allied with the Scarlets? They always send the smaller men to go do their dirty work, their bloody work. You cannot guarantee that General Shu himself won’t have his eye on Marshall.”
“At the very least, he will not have backup.” Benedikt pushed up his sleeves, heaving an exhale. “We waste time by arguing. It is this or nothing. The two of you cannot even consider following me. Especially into a Nationalist stronghold. You will be hauled off in a blink, no matter how many ugly hats you wear.”
Juliette threw the hat at Benedikt. He dodged easily, though even with Juliette’s deathly aim, the soft article would have bounced off him anyway. The lab fell silent again. Alisa’s eyes darted back and forth, trying to follow the situation.
“Under one condition,” Roma finally said. “If you cannot get to him, you must give up. Marshall’s own father will not put a call out for his head. But if caught, they will execute you.”
Benedikt’s mouth opened to argue, but then, just subtly enough that Roma didn’t notice, Juliette raised her hand to her lips and pressed a finger there, shaking her head.
“I have a contact at the Bund who can smuggle us out,” she said, closing her fist and appearing normal the moment Roma turned to look at her. “Martial law cannot restrict him from sailing to catch fish, but the latest we can depart is noon. Any longer, and I suspect I will be found.” Juliette’s stare was harsh upon Benedikt, communicating alongside her words. “You must meet us at the Bund then. No matter what.”
Benedikt knew what Juliette was trying to say even if she didn’t say it aloud. If he was not there, they still needed to leave. She would knock Roma and Alisa out and drag them if she needed, but she would not risk their lives and let them remain behind for him.
Benedikt nodded, a smile—a true smile—coming to his lips. For perhaps the first time, he trusted Juliette wholeheartedly.
“At noon,” he promised.
Forty
They had boarded up the lab, going as far as to smash one of the windows in advance, so Scarlets passing by would think it already scouted and searched. Any moment now, the bugle call would sound across the city, summoning all those under Nationalist command.
Juliette wondered if any Scarlets mourned. If, in hearing of her death, they had felt a genuine drop of sadness, or if she was merely a figurehead they had been forced to respect. By now her parents had surely poked through her scheme, had received condolences back from the Nationalists about their dead daughter and searched through the house to find her missing. It would not take long to put two and two together and figure that Juliette was the one who had announced her own death.
“Miss Cai.”
Juliette lifted her head off Lourens’s kitchen table. His apartment was at the back of the labs, and after throwing a pile of shelves onto the floor to make the hallways look ransacked, they had deemed it unlikely any of the gangsters or soldiers would find their way here. Still, Juliette had shoved a knife across the door latch, and if anyone was to try barging through, they would have to snap the steel first.
“Yes?”
Lourens passed her a thin blanket. Juliette had trouble reaching for it, only because she could not see where she was reaching. She had been awake for long enough that her vision was starting to blur, and there was only one candle for light, flickering in the adjoined living room. The sun would be up any second, but they had just finished taping the windows of Lourens’s apartment with layers upon layers of newspapers, blacking out the outside and preventing the outside from looking in.