That afternoon, Aida greeted Yumi at the airport, relieved to see a familiar face. “We’ve got this,” Yumi assured her asthey hugged, but Aida knew her friend was just putting on a brave face.
Yumi, fresh from the upheaval of her layoff, threw herself into the task of finding Pandora with a renewed vigor. The next few days were a blur of code, maps, and endless cups of coffee as she tirelessly scoured digital landscapes for any trace of the elusive IP address or any information she could find about MODA.
Reports of the virus’s spread grew more alarming by the day. Flights from China were no longer allowed into the country, significantly reducing the number of tourists in the city. Italy had confirmed more cases, and the sense of anxiety in the city was palpable. The growing concern over the virus tempered the usual bustle of the city. At coffee bars and in shops, conversations were dominated by the latest updates and speculations, especially about the growing number of cases up north, in Lombardy. But when the government shuttered theaters, cinemas, and gyms across the country for at least a week, worry really began to set in.
It was amid this backdrop of uncertainty that Luciano arrived in Rome a week after Yumi. “Bellissimo!” he exclaimed that night when Yumi opened the door and ushered him into the apartment. “I like your style,” he told her as he admired the colorful decor.
Aida had to laugh. Yumi had complained about the place since the first trip back in December—it was all style over substance. It looked great, but the plumbing was wonky, there was limited counter space, and the furniture was, for the most part, pretty uncomfortable. But it had a prime location, a particular charm, and Felix had somehow wrangled a discount from his friend for the new extended stay.
“So this is the mighty Luciano!” Felix said, coming forward to greet the Collector.
“I’m not sure how mighty I am.” He laughed.
“How long are you here for?” Felix asked.
Luciano handed over his coat to Yumi. “Not quite two weeks. Till the fifteenth. Then they are sending me to a little townoutside of Paris, Tonnerre, to catalog the happiness at some Renaissance-era châteaus.”
“I’d agree with mighty,” Aida said as Luciano folded her into his arms and kissed her cheeks. They held on to each other a beat too long, eliciting snickers from Yumi and Felix.
“Where does MODA think you are now?” Aida asked Luciano when they pulled apart. With Yumi in town, it was common for Aida to spend time at her apartment, so while she masked what the gods might hear, she didn’t try to obfuscate her location.
“In for the night, watching TV in my uncle’s apartment—well, I suppose it’s my new apartment. Although I’m glad to be here with you instead of watching the news. Have you heard the latest?”
Felix grunted. “I have. Which is why I brought this.” He lifted up a grocery bag that was sitting on a nearby chair. The group followed him into the kitchen, where he pulled out a bottle of gin, some limes, and tonic. Several pizza boxes sat on the counter waiting.
“What was the news?” Yumi asked as she started to cut up the pizzas and dole them out in pieces, American style.
“It’s bad,” Luciano warned. “They’re closing all schools and universities in Italy until at least the middle of March.”
“Damn it,” Aida cursed. “This is Disa’s doing, I know it. The prophecy about the Colosseum is coming true.”
“Rome hasn’t fallen yet,” Yumi said.
Felix began shaking the drinks. He made an attempt to sound upbeat. “There have been lots of viruses and diseases in our lifetime, and it’s always been okay. I mean, Ebola, mad cow. They’ll figure it out.”
“I fear you may be too optimistic. They can’t contain it in China, and I don’t think Italy is doing much better,” Luciano said. “Do you ever recall this sort of quarantine?”
After her conversation with Pippa last week, Aida had immediately looked up everything she could about the virus and came across the videos of the Chinese quarantine. One stillhaunted her, of half a dozen men in white hazmat suits forcibly removing a family from their apartment to take into quarantine. Since then, she had been glued to Reddit news feeds on the growing crisis.
Felix set a gin and tonic in front of Aida, and she had to stop herself from downing it in one gulp. “Didn’t you have an opera date canceled when they closed the theaters?” she asked him.
He winked at her. “We still had the date. We just skipped the theater.”
“Of course. I should have guessed.” Aida’s laughter was cut short by her watch buzzing. She glanced at it to see a text from Trista.
“Merda,” Luciano cursed at the same time. He was scrolling through his phone. “My aide says our quarterly MODA meeting has been canceled.”
Aida dug her phone out of her pocket to see that Trista’s message was the same. “But the meeting isn’t until the end of the month. Have they ever canceled meetings before?”
“Not while I’ve worked for them.”
“It’s definitely not a good sign.” Aida sighed. “I wish Sophie would give us more news.”
“Have you tried reaching her?” Felix asked.
“Yes, every day. There’s only silence. I don’t know what they really expect us to do at this point. We can’t find Pandora, and we’re just measly humans. How can we do anything? Especially in the face of something like a virus?”
Felix lifted his glass. “We change the subject to something happier, that’s what we do. Let’s live in the present. Let me propose a toast. To friends!”
