EMBER’S POV

Queenie’s smile is gone now. She walks beside me in silence for a few seconds, rubbing the sore spot at the back of her head again, but this time she looks distracted rather than annoyed.

“Maybe because there is nothing a doctor can do. If she really has to take something from other people to keep herself functioning, then maybe the maids were the treatment.” Her mouth tightens. “She can heal everybody else because everybody else gets sick in ways she understands. Whatever is happening to her might be something completely different.”

I look at her, and the unease that has been crawling under my skin suddenly sharpens....