“I believe so,” Nick said. “Alchemy circles can move through matter, but it’s difficult and requires more power than even this has. It also hasn’t been done in the last century.”
“Because the last time it sheared off half a building,” Zahide muttered.
“You’re talking like this thing is alive, like it’s making these decisions by itself,” Falk said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but alchemy requiresan alchemist. You know, the person who controls the magic spell. Right now, I only see two alchemists here, and we’re just taking their word about what’s going on.”
Parker bristled, pulling his teeth back from his lips. “Listen here,Captain. I don’t know how many times the Gang Squad has saved the world, but let me tell you that these two have done it, like, three timesjust this year. So if you want to pull out your ‘ruler’ and have a measuring contest, I can tell you frompersonal experiencethat not only is Nick’s bigger, but he can pull off one hell of a Hail Mary pass. So, if he says this is a parasitic circle that jumps from person to person like it’s mono being passed around at an eighth-grade birthday party, then he’sright, and you’re the guy that gets killed next in that iPhone horror movie!”
“Was that a threat?” Falk stepped forward, but before Nick could move, Robin Keating stepped in.
“That was a continuation of the metaphor you used earlier.” She looked at Rios. “If every time my client attempts to answer hypothetical questions, he’ll be accused of a crime, I’m going to have to advise him to stop helping.”
“No,” Rios said firmly. “We all understand that, as an alchemist of his caliber, Detective King is uniquely qualified to help us with this unprecedented threat. And Mr. Ferro is…”
Rios trailed off, frowning, before turning to Captain Tate.
“Ferro’s the guy I want in my foxhole,” Captain Tate said.
“Okay, well, with that metaphor added to the pile, can we poison the parasite? Give him a pill wrapped in bologna like a dog with worms?” Parker looked at Nick, eyebrows raised. “Isthere some other way to stop the circles or at least freeze them until you can find a long-term solution?”
“No.” Nick shook his head. “Alchemy stasis spells have never worked that accurately, and there’s no guarantee the magic on him would stop if we puthimin stasis.”
Parker’s eyes lit, and he asked urgently, “What about if we froze time?”
“Froze what now?” Falk said.
Nick opened his mouth but closed it, frowning as he considered the implications. “That might work, but it’s not a long-term solution.”
“No, definitely not along-term solution,” Parker agreed. “But it would give us a few more minutes.”
“As a last resort,” Nick said. “Even if we freeze time, we can’t?—”
“Drain the circles, yeah, yeah.” Parker nodded. “Okay, well, last resort. Freeze time. No biggie.”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “Parker…”
“Have we tried talking to it?” Parker asked.
A confused silence settled over the group.
“Talking to it?” Rios asked. He turned to Lawless. “Have we tried talking to it?”
“The alchemy circles?” Lawless said, her eyebrows going up. “No. Before they showed up, we were still acting under the assumption that this was a disease. Now that we’re considering it a parasite, there’s a whole other slew of procedures we need to follow.”
“I want to try talking to it,” Parker said. Then, like he was making a statement and not asking for permission in the middle of a major crisis, Parker started walking up to the door, about to unzip the clean room.
“No,” Nick said, grabbing Parker’s elbow. He tightened his hand, remembering the moment of absolute clarity when he saw his own name inscribed on a circle.
“Nick,” Parker said, voice low. “We have to try something.”
“I know,” Nick said. “Iknow. I just don’t want you going in there. Not when we only have a short amount of time before it spreads.”
“You said it yourself, this thing is alive, and I cantalkto things that are alive,” Parker’s voice dropped to a whisper, and Nick was reminded of every time he walked into a room to find Parker arguing with the light in the lamps or coaxing a few more minutes of warmth out of the water in the shower.
“Not from inside the room.” He turned to the captains. “I feel comfortable turning the A/C back on. Parker and I are going to try to talk to the parasite from the observation room.”
“Oh, great! They’re going to go talk to analchemy circlefrom the viewing room!” Falk threw up his hands.
“Falk,” Rios said. “Go get the A/C running.”
