"Yeah. Lap of luxury, fallen into it. And did you see the big room half done up in decorations? We’ll be able to use them for Pan’s party."
"Much as I liked that apartment, there are some definite advantages to this move. And we have enough food to last us maybe for the rest of the year."
"Pity we’ll be leaving it behind." At Madeleine’s confused look, Noi continued: "Once the fuss from this hunt dies down, we really need to get out of this city. No matter the problems we’ll have dealing with the uninfected, it’s clear that you – all of us really, but you particularly – are way too interesting to the Moths. We need to get out of dragon range."
"But can we do that without anyone helpfully pointing me out while I’m still within reach?"
"If Nash’s sister has come through, then the Moths will have been flooded with sightings – a few more won’t hurt. Though a judicious makeover is probably a good idea. A tub of peroxide should dent your serious arty girl look."
Emily’s voice rose, small but defiant: "How can we fight if we run away?"
Noi blinked as the girl turned to her, then said: "Leaving doesn’t stop us from returning. To fight, we need to both learn to confidently control all these fancy new powers, and come up with a plan. Getting out of the city will buy us the time and freedom to do that."
"If we leave, we won’t come back." Emily spoke with a furious certainty. "We’ll be like the rest of them, cowards waiting two years for it to be safe again. Don’t you want to make the Moths pay?"
"You know I do." Noi was a rock against the tide of Emily’s anger. "I want it enough to not run shouting at them before I’m ready. They’ve taken everything that was precious to me away, and I will find a way to hurt them for that. I know you miss your family, Mil–"
"No!" Their mounded quilts were pulled away as Emily sat up, her slender body rigid with ever-increasing anger. "I don’t miss them! You think they’re dead, don’t you?"
After a swift, astonished glance at each other, Noi and Madeleine struggled into sitting positions. Noi reached out, hesitated, then changed direction to take Emily’s gloved hands in her own.
"I did," she said. "They’re not?"
"They left." Two words and a world of emotion. "When the dust started, they went straight to my brothers' school and then out of the city. I couldn’t even get home – a girl from school took me to her house. My parents are the worst people in the world."
The tears came, bringing with them violent, wrenching sobs, and Madeleine and Noi could only clasp Emily between them until the storm had eased.
"Emily." Madeleine shied away from asking if the girl’s parents even knew she was alive. "You know that, whatever happens, we won’t leave you behind. We’ll come for you."
"No you won’t." The words had an exhausted, bitter certainty. "I know it’s all a lie, just play-acting to make each other feel better. The Moths will get us one by one, just like they got Gavin, and we can’t do anything at all."
"You’re underestimating us there." Noi spoke with quiet assurance. "We know that we can fight. I’m sure we could hurt some of them. It’s just a matter of hurting them effectively which we’ve yet to figure out." She stroked Emily hair. "I think you’re not being quite fair to your parents as well."
"They left."
Noi took a deep breath. "Millie, when the dust came, my Dad was up at Kellyville, well away from the cloud. He drove back in. The traffic was madness, people driving the wrong way down the roads, and it took him hours, but he got home. My Mum, and my Nonna, and all his brothers, they yelled at him, called him stupid, but he said he wanted to be with us, whatever was going to happen.
"I guess maybe it helped Mum, him being there. And because he got sick later than the rest of us, he was able to look after everyone, for a little while. And, with Mum and all his brothers and all of our family gone, maybe he would have preferred to not have to be around afterwards. But me, I’d rather still have a Dad."
"Th-that’s different."
"If you say so. And it’s different again to get ourselves out of the reach of the Moths until we can find a way to hurt them. Nor is it just play-acting to give it your best shot. And that’s what we’re going to do. I’m not going to guarantee that we’ll win, but I promise you we’ll try." She paused, studying the stubborn set of Emily’s shoulders. "About time for breakfast, don’t you think? Ah, and check-in time – almost missed it." She fished a tablet computer out of one of the bags set alongside the mattresses.
Keeping devices off was more about preserving battery life than the possibility of being tracked, but it still gave Madeleine an uneasy feeling as Noi, complaining about the poor signal, slid off the bed and held the tablet toward the door.
"Pass me the thermos?" Madeleine said to Emily, and was pleased to find the tea clinging to a lukewarm state. They set out a miniature feast as Noi reported that the challenge was still underway.
"Next check-in time at seven," Noi said, returning to accept a cup. "Science Boy says if it goes much past that we might have to risk opening the doors to try and cycle the air, and we’re to keep alert for any headaches, muscle twitches, or turning new and original colours. Anything to report?"
"Just cold," Madeleine said, around an oatmeal biscuit. "I’d hate to be in Pan and Nash’s shoes."
While the Southern Sky had four restaurants, it had proven to own only three walk-in refrigerators, with both ground floor restaurants catered out of the same kitchen. Fisher was in the top floor restaurant’s refrigerator, and Min in the one on the Mezzanine level, while Pan and Nash were stuck with the biggest freezer at its warmest temperature setting. Since the warmest temperature setting of the refrigerator was still making Madeleine wish for another hot shower, she hated to think how they were coping with the long night.
"Do you feel sleepy?" Noi asked. "I’m tired, but it might be because I kept waking up and stressing."
"Not sleepy," Emily murmured.
"Cold aside, I’m fine," Madeleine said. "Energetic, even. I usually wake up feeling good after feeding Nash. Don’t know why."
She dusted away crumbs, and they packed their leftovers, then took turns using one of the large lidded buckets Noi had found and emptied during their hurried preparations. For all they’d thought they would have plenty of time between arriving and their deadline of an hour before the challenge, they’d barely been ready. With no password for the hotel’s computers they’d been unable to code the card-keys to access the higher floors, and had been limited in their movements until the discovery of an unlocked security room on the Mezzanine level which, along with master keys, had provided camera views of much of the hotel.
Fisher’s hunt for wheelie bins and caustic soda had taken even longer, and dumping entire containers of bathroom cleaner in after they’d been filled had produced an eye-stinging reek, which thankfully had lost its edge by the time they’d rearranged their hiding places enough to fit both the bins and mattresses hauled down from the hotel rooms, along with some wilting pot plants from the foyer. How much difference the bins would make to carbon dioxide levels was something Fisher hadn’t been willing to guess, beyond insisting that in theory they should help.
She’d wanted to kiss him before they locked themselves away. She’d planned on it. And hadn’t even managed an exchange of meaningful glances, though she’d known it could well be the last time she would see him. Too tired after the long night, and having Nash drain off much of her energy. Too new at all this to seize the right moment.
"Noi," she said, after they settled back down under their quilts, "did you see if any other Sydney Blues had been captured?"