“Scared,” Nox said.
But even scared seemed like too small a word.
Nox’s smile vanished, and he flicked a look up like he’d heard something.
“What’s wrong?”
“I… nothing.” Nox rubbed his chest.
Confusion mixed with a hollow cold filtered down the connection between them. One was Nox, the other? “What is that?” Luca had no doubt Nox would know exactly what he talked about.
“I don’t know.”
“It’s coming from the Anubis, isn’t it?”
Nox nodded, but his expression said he wasn’t sure.
“Is it still hurting?” It hadn’t felt like pain, but then the Anubis hadn’t experienced it until the Rakta.
“No, more like…” A vee formed between Nox’s eyebrows. “You know that feeling you get when you walk into a room to get something but forget what it was?”
“Who doesn’t?” Luca had been a pro after going through his second round of chemotherapy.
“It’s like that, but bigger. Instead of forgetting something, it realizes what it’s lost.” He shook his head. “Go take Dr. Dante his water. I’ll make you breakfast.”
“Make him some too, if you don’t mind.”
“I will.”
Luca carried the glass back into the dining area. Dr. Dante had reacquired the notepad Seung had given him and scribbled numbers and words on a page.
Luca set the water in front of him. When he didn’t look up, he scooted it closer.
Dr. Dante startled. “Oh, sorry, I was—”
“Thinking.” Luca grinned.
“Yeah.” Dr. Dante drank until half was gone. “Thank you, I needed that.”
“Nox is fixing breakfast.”
“Good, you should eat.”
“So should you.” Luca sat beside him. “What are you writing?”
He tapped the tip of the pen against the paper, leaving ink freckles. “I’m trying to figure out how many of those curs might have Paul Dekker’s neurons in their heads.”
“You think there could be more?”
“Depends on if they only used samples from Paul. Most likely they didn’t. Especially if they were in batches but there’s no telling how many of them were made—”
“Maybe you shouldn’t worry about it?” Luca took the pen from Dr. Dante and laid it on the table.
Dr. Dante took another drink of water. “I have to worry. Whoever made those curs changed the VrK. And if they changed it once, what else could they do?”
“Okay, but maybe not right now.”
“You don’t understand, Luca. If I’m right and the DNA fragments from humans makes the VrK possible to people into curs, it might not stop with the VrK.”