August

July 21

Three days. That was all it had taken. Henrik had been impressed with the thing himself. Three days, and the first young man had been completely changed. The speed with which the new serum worked was astounding. But what was far more important - the mark of genius, the hand of Providence, the intervention of something wonderful - was that the second young man had begun to change, too.

~:~

Three days and still, Will Mackenzie had not been back. The guards gave no information, and they'd had no contact with any of the familiar representatives since he'd disappeared. Ren had tried to be brave the first day, for the children, but on the second he'd broken down so badly that orderlies had come to remove him. They had explained to Sean and Adrian that such an emotive response could be having negative effects on the health of his fetus, and whatever other issues might be going on, successful carrier pregnancies remained a priority for the Union.

Sean had argued with them and tried, unsuccessfully, to calm Ren down, but in the end they had superseded his authority and taken Ren out on a stretcher. The younger children had begun to cry; Normand and Adrian tried to quiet them, not wanting to attract the attention of the orderlies to them as well.

After they had gone, and Adrian had taken Matthew and Devin away for a calming bath, Normand turned to Sean.
"I'm glad I'll never become a carrier." he said, his voice vehement. "I'd rather be dead than be like that."

~:~

Henrik and Anthony broke out the best bottles of champagne they had to celebrate the success of the new formula. Dinner was laid out in the courtyard, and the house was lit up with torches. Mahir had been the one to make the call to the Union - "It's about damn time" had been the response, but it was good enough for them because it meant that they had won.

Al-Aera's men had snuck some of the house wine into the orchards - the sheikh had noticed, but let the indiscretion pass. Mahir and Anthony had been back to their usual selves, and spent half of the afternoon holed up in their bedroom, having instructed the children to knock at Phidias and Henrik's instead.

Denis, Josef, Cary and Amin had finally sent word that they would arrive in Wafra that week, and the news of their return sent another wave of excitement through the house. Phidias, for his part, had been feeling better than he had most of the month, and did his best to join in the revelrous air, playing horseshoes out in the courtyard with Tyson, helping to make dinner with Mahir, and even indulging Henrik in a more private celebration, mid-day in his office.

Al-Aera watched the celebrations with a detached air that Phidias wondered at, but ultimately ignored, too absorbed in the celebrations himself. There was a break of fever in the house now - a lifting of the dark veil that had held the house in thrall in the past weeks. The matters of the day - Ghali, Al-Aera, Cadmus, could be spoken of now, addressed with great attention because there was no meaner beast lurking - no larger monster.

Anders had spent most of his time in the kitchen, helping with the meal - preparing some kind of small animals he had brought in himself from a hunt. Phidias had been watching his stepson carefully since the kidnapping, and saw that although Anders appeared to be in good spirits, he drank little, ate less, and spoke to almost no one. Cadmus had been much the same. At some point, Phidias had gone into Henrik's office, looking for Mahir, and had discovered Caddy crying into the edge of his sleeve. Explanation had revealed that Anders hadn't spoken to him since Ghali had been taken, and Caddy feared that the silence between them was becoming too thick to wade across.

Phidias hadn't had many words of comfort to offer to that - he only held Caddy while he cried that it wasn't his fault, it wasn't his fault.

~:~

"Well? What'd the loony say?" the vice-president asked brusquely, striding into the observation room. On the other side of the glass, Will Mackenzie lay unconscious.
The attendant interrogators snapped to attention, then offered,
"He told us there might be a leak, sir."
The vice-president raised an eyebrow.
"A leak? Where? Did you put someone on it?"
The interrogator nodded firmly.
"Yes, sir. There was an incident, about 12 years prior - a kid in the compound gained partial knowledge of a number of the rituals they used in Dothan. He attempted to perform one of the ceremonies himself, failed, and was excommunicated. Mackenzie said he had seemed unstable when he left, but didn't seem to know how he'd gotten the knowledge or where the kid - sorry, the man - might be now."
The general grunted.
"Well. Did you get a name?"
The interrogator nodded smartly, eager to deliver the information.
"Yes, sir! Name is James Andrew Milton."
The general clasped his hands behind his back.
"And he's the only leak?"
"Only one that Mackenzie reported."
The general mused over this as he looked through the glass at the beaten man before him.
"Good. Find him."

~:~

After the meal, Al-Aera approached Henrik across the courtyard. Sensing his mood, Henrik stiffened, and Al-Aera stepped forward so that they were shoulder to shoulder and linked arms with Henrik, closing the space between them to create some degree of privacy.
"We should speak." he said, simply.

~:~