expectantly, waiting for the third taker. White, fluffy wolf cubs were hardly a tough sell… But I really was not expecting Aiden to suddenly call out, “Can you… give Kailyn and me a minute?”
“O-Of course,” I said. I stared at them as they rose and headed swiftly out of the Dome.
I exchanged a glance with Sofia. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement, and the same surprise that I felt.
The couple returned a couple of minutes later, hand in hand, both with huge grins on their faces. “Derek,” my father-in-law said, “Kailyn and I will take the third cub.”
“Sold,” I said, bringing a hand down against the table. “Good. So if we assume for now that Bella and Brett will take the two ogres, then that leaves us with the gray babies… Until we figure out what they are, I suppose they should probably stay in the hospital.”
We had no idea what kind of species they belonged to. For all we knew, they could be dangerous. We would have to do some investigation at some point in the future. Since not a single person on the island knew what they were, we would need to make a trip with them to The Sanctuary to ask if anybody there knew. But none of this would happen for some time, as we had to move on to more urgent matters first.
“All right,” I said, rubbing my hands together. “Moving on… Let us talk about the antidote first. We have managed to discover it thanks to Lawrence and Dr. Finnegan.” Lawrence was not here at present; he was still in the hospital with my granddaughter. “We have figured out the mixture that is required to cure the Bloodless disease and have recorded Grace’s entire transformation on camera—courtesy of Xavier…”
Xavier nodded my way.
“But the first problem we face,” I went on, “if we want to stand any chance of distributing this antidote en masse, is how do we replicate it? There are a number of issues. First, we have only five vamp-Hawk boys—against who knows how many thousands of Bloodless roaming America.” And other parts of the world. We had to make America our starting place, since that was the most severely affected.
“We have enough trees, so that is one ingredient solved,” I said, “but then there are three other suspected plant-based ingredients.” I looked to the Hawks among us, then to Corrine. “Corrine, I believe that you kept a sample of each of those ingredients, correct?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Could you please fetch them now?” I asked her.
She vanished, and less than a minute later, she reappeared holding three almost empty test tubes.
“We suspect that these are plants from Aviary,” she told the Hawks. “See if you can identify them by their smell.”
She handed them to one of the Hawks, who sniffed each of the tubes before passing them to the others who had attended the meeting. Their brows lowered in thought.
“Well?” I asked. “Any idea?”
Killian, who’d been seated at the end of the line of Hawks and was still holding the tubes, said, “Definitely familiar.”
“I have some ideas,” Tidor added. “But we need to return to Aviary and do some investigation before getting your hopes up.”
I feared that along with the trees, the hunters might have destroyed the rest of the ingredients, too. Though I found it hard to believe all of these other plants would also be isolated to that same area. It seemed too far-fetched. But there was no point in speculating.
“Will you return there now?”
The Hawks nodded, and rose. “Yes,” Tidor said. “We will return and let you know our findings.”
“Ibrahim.” I addressed the warlock, sitting a few seats away from me. “Would you mind going with them? It will make transport much faster.”
Ibrahim agreed.
“I suggest you take every single Hawk here on this island with you, in case you find the ingredients. If you do, you should bring as much back as possible.”
The Hawks gathered round Ibrahim and a few moments later, all of them had vanished from the
“O-Of course,” I said. I stared at them as they rose and headed swiftly out of the Dome.
I exchanged a glance with Sofia. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement, and the same surprise that I felt.
The couple returned a couple of minutes later, hand in hand, both with huge grins on their faces. “Derek,” my father-in-law said, “Kailyn and I will take the third cub.”
“Sold,” I said, bringing a hand down against the table. “Good. So if we assume for now that Bella and Brett will take the two ogres, then that leaves us with the gray babies… Until we figure out what they are, I suppose they should probably stay in the hospital.”
We had no idea what kind of species they belonged to. For all we knew, they could be dangerous. We would have to do some investigation at some point in the future. Since not a single person on the island knew what they were, we would need to make a trip with them to The Sanctuary to ask if anybody there knew. But none of this would happen for some time, as we had to move on to more urgent matters first.
“All right,” I said, rubbing my hands together. “Moving on… Let us talk about the antidote first. We have managed to discover it thanks to Lawrence and Dr. Finnegan.” Lawrence was not here at present; he was still in the hospital with my granddaughter. “We have figured out the mixture that is required to cure the Bloodless disease and have recorded Grace’s entire transformation on camera—courtesy of Xavier…”
Xavier nodded my way.
“But the first problem we face,” I went on, “if we want to stand any chance of distributing this antidote en masse, is how do we replicate it? There are a number of issues. First, we have only five vamp-Hawk boys—against who knows how many thousands of Bloodless roaming America.” And other parts of the world. We had to make America our starting place, since that was the most severely affected.
“We have enough trees, so that is one ingredient solved,” I said, “but then there are three other suspected plant-based ingredients.” I looked to the Hawks among us, then to Corrine. “Corrine, I believe that you kept a sample of each of those ingredients, correct?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Could you please fetch them now?” I asked her.
She vanished, and less than a minute later, she reappeared holding three almost empty test tubes.
“We suspect that these are plants from Aviary,” she told the Hawks. “See if you can identify them by their smell.”
She handed them to one of the Hawks, who sniffed each of the tubes before passing them to the others who had attended the meeting. Their brows lowered in thought.
“Well?” I asked. “Any idea?”
Killian, who’d been seated at the end of the line of Hawks and was still holding the tubes, said, “Definitely familiar.”
“I have some ideas,” Tidor added. “But we need to return to Aviary and do some investigation before getting your hopes up.”
I feared that along with the trees, the hunters might have destroyed the rest of the ingredients, too. Though I found it hard to believe all of these other plants would also be isolated to that same area. It seemed too far-fetched. But there was no point in speculating.
“Will you return there now?”
The Hawks nodded, and rose. “Yes,” Tidor said. “We will return and let you know our findings.”
“Ibrahim.” I addressed the warlock, sitting a few seats away from me. “Would you mind going with them? It will make transport much faster.”
Ibrahim agreed.
“I suggest you take every single Hawk here on this island with you, in case you find the ingredients. If you do, you should bring as much back as possible.”
The Hawks gathered round Ibrahim and a few moments later, all of them had vanished from the
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