“I can’t,” she whispered. “Not even to save the world.”
And then Gavin was behind her. He took her gloved hand in hers and raised it again. “All right?” he said.
Alice bit her lip and nodded. Her gaze met Edwina’s, and Edwina shut her eyes, her arms still spread. Together, Gavin and Alice pulled her hand back, and together they slashed down.
Edwina’s clothing and flesh parted like a ripe strawberry. A dark and terrible gash opened up, and Edwina fell backward onto the deck. She thrashed and convulsed. From the wound poured not blood as Alice expected, but millions of insects. They buzzed upward in a cloud, their tiny bodies blinking phosphorescent green.
“Fireflies,” Gavin said in his hoarse voice.
“The jar!” Dr. Clef shouted.
Gavin reacted. He swept the open jar through the cloud and caught a small section of the cloud inside the glass, then clapped on the lid. They flitted around inside.
Click batted at some of the free-flying ones, then backed away, back arched. Dr. Clef slapped his arm. “Ouch!” he said. “They bite!”
“It’s how they spread the cure,” Alice said. “And each person they bite will spread it to other people when he coughs or sneezes, until the cure goes through the whole world. A disease to cure a plague. It just doesn’t work on clockworkers.”
Gavin held up the jar. “Why did she want us to keep some?”
“So we can take them to Europe and elsewhere, I think,” Alice said. “It’ll spread the cure faster.”
Edwina’s body fell still. It lay, small and shriveled, on the deck. Alice knelt by her as the fireflies descended into London. For better or worse, this single woman had just changed the entire world, and no one would ever know who she was. Alice tried to close Edwina’s empty, staring eyes, but they remained stubbornly open. A piece of canvas descended to cover the body.
“I hope Madam doesn’t mind,” Kemp said.
“Thank you, Kemp,” Alice told him. “You always know what to do.”
“Madam,” Kemp said.
Gavin took up his place at the helm again. “Where should we go?”
“China,” Alice said. “We need to go to China.”
The propellers started up again, and the airship glided forward. “Why China?”
“Phipps said the cure had been discovered and suppressed more than once, and China has its own clockworkers-Dragon Men. They may have a cure for clockworkers.” She managed a smile, though it came out sickly. “We must remain optimistic.”
“I can do that,” Gavin said, “if I’m with you.”
“How will we go to China?” Dr. Clef asked. “I do not think even I can learn Chinese so quickly.”
“We have a friend.” Gavin produced the silver nightingale from his pocket. “Feng Lung was the last person to touch this besides me. I hope it works.” He pressed the bird’s left eye. “Ambassador Lung and Feng Lung, this is an emergency. I need to invoke the favor you owe me. Meet us where Feng Lung and I first became friends.”
Gavin tossed the nightingale into the air. The tiny messenger angel fluttered its wings and skimmed away.
“To tell you the truth, I find myself relieved,” said Ambassador Jun Lung. “Your difficulty solves a problem for me.”
They were standing at the crossed pathways where Gavin had first rescued Feng from trouble all those months ago. Alice and Gavin faced Jun and Feng while Kemp busied himself with a shovel near Edwina’s canvas-wrapped body. For once, he didn’t complain. Click stayed on the airship, which had landed on a nearby field. Dr. Clef stood a few feet away, clutching the sack he had salvaged from the Third Ward. He had offered to stay on the ship as well, but Alice didn’t trust him enough to leave him alone. Night was lifting like raven wings, revealing soft light beneath. The chilly air rang with traffic sounds from the distance. London was nearly awake.
“What kind of problem, sir?” Alice asked.
“I have come to the regretful conclusion that my eldest son is unsuited for statecraft.” Jun bowed his head briefly, his hands folded within his sleeves. “He is talented at language, but often fails to choose his words wisely.”
“My father is correct,” Feng said without a trace of embarrassment. “I would start a war between our countries.”
“So you would like us to escort him home,” Gavin said.
“Precisely.” Feng winced and slapped his neck. A bit of green came away on his fingers. “I do not remember London suffering from biting insects at this time of year. Is this normal?”
“We would be pleased to take Feng home, Ambassador,” Alice said, ignoring the question. “Can he leave-”
“Immediately, yes,” the ambassador said. “I believe certain people of ill repute are already seeking him, and diplomatic immunity would not be helpful.”
“We should go ourselves,” Alice said. “I’m sure Phipps is rallying the Third Ward to look for us once the sun rises, and it’s still dark enough for plague zombies to-”
“Look!” Dr. Clef pointed.
Half a dozen plague zombies, possibly those once controlled by Edwina, shambled toward them over the grass. Their arms were outstretched, and thin skin hung in tatters ragged as their clothes. One of them was a child, perhaps six or seven years old. Alice and the others backed away, toward the ship. Then the first bright beams of sunlight came over the horizon and struck the zombies full on. They flinched, but, instead of fleeing for the shadows, they stopped. Identical looks of wonder crossed their mottled faces as the sun slipped gold slowly over their bodies and faces. They faced the dawn and let the light wash over them. Even as Alice watched, some of their sores stopped weeping, and their bloody tears ceased. The child jumped once, then twice. Then he smiled.
“It’s working,” Alice whispered. “Oh, Aunt Edwina! Oh, Father! It’s working!” She hugged Gavin, who whirled her around with giddy joy. “It’s working!”
“I do not understand,” Feng said. “What is working?”
Tears were streaming down Alice’s face. “I didn’t think I could be happy again, but I am! Can you forgive me, Gavin?”
“What for?” he asked, laughing.
“For being happy, even when you’re. .”
“Sick? Alice, I never want you to feel sad or guilty. I love you always.” He kissed her. “Let’s fly.”
The Lady of Liberty skimmed steadily over the English Channel. Gavin stood at the helm, feeling every creak of the ropes, every movement of the deck. The fresh, clean air washed over him, and the sun shone overhead. His back bothered him not at all. He should have been tired, but he wasn’t. Alice was sleeping belowdecks, as was Feng. Kemp was in the galley attending to lunch, and Click, perched on the tiny bowsprit, was pointedly ignoring the seagulls that screeched at him. Gavin should have felt frightened or unhappy about the disease rampaging through his brain, but he didn’t. He was back where he belonged at last, Alice was with him, and they were heading off to explore a new land. What more did he need? He tipped back his head and sang:
With a host of furious fancies whereof I am commander,
With a burning spear and a horse of air to the wilderness I wander.
And still I’d sing bonny boys, bonny mad boys, bedlam boys are bonny,
For they all go bare, and they live by the air, and they want no drink nor money.
A hatch opened, and Dr. Clef climbed out with a machine under one arm. He stumped over to Gavin and pushed his goggles up to his forehead in a way that reminded Gavin of Old Graf.
“That workshop you have below is primitive and dreadful,” he spat. “How am I going to re-create my poor Impossible Cube without a decent laboratory?”
“You’re lucky to have a laboratory at all, Doctor,” Gavin pointed out. “What is that?”
“My first attempt. I have tried to find ways to stretch across to other universes to find my cube, but all I did was reach back to old hypermagnetic frequencies. Look at this nonsense.”