Her father had shown her the answer the day he left her behind. The day he turned her over to the Somalis and asked them to care for her.
In their own self-serving ways Gary and even Marisol had demonstrated the truth of the answer. Every survivor, everyone who had lived through the Epidemic had shown her the answer. The whole living world was the answer. It had been for twelve years.
The next day. The only thing more important than apocalypse was what you did afterward. What you chose to do when the world stopped making any kind of sense.
'The next day,' Sarah repeated. 'That's the answer. The one thing more important than the end of the world is the next day.'
The eididh itself bent and curved around the correct answer. Sarah was pulled sideways through space and time and plunked down on the flatbed, right where she'd been before. Ayaan was there, and all the ghouls, and the transfixed Mael Mag Och. Except none of them were moving. Sarah looked down and saw that her flesh was back, though she wasn't breathing.
'I've stopped time for a few seconds, at least time as you perceive it,' Nilla said. She stood beside Sarah, perfectly clean and enfleshed in her white clothes. Where she sat Sarah was at eye-level with Nilla's belly button, which was surrounded by a black sunburst tattoo. She looked up and saw Nilla looking down at her. 'We have no time left to waste. You'll need the sword, the noose and the armband. The relics, right? The Tsarevich knew that Mael was up to something and he figured out the right spell to truly trap him in that jar. He sent his best lich to collect them'Amanita, I'm sure you remember her. She was after the three items he needed to really bind Mael. Then you beat her to them. That was a really good thing, Sarah. It's going to save us now. So show me the relics and let's get started.'
'I, um,' Sarah said, actively pulling breath into her lungs and then pushing it out again, 'I had the relics, yes. I still have the armband and the noose''
Nilla interrupted her. 'What about the sword? The sword is the most important part. It's the only relic he bonded with in this epoch. At the height of the spell you have to drive the sword right through his brain. Yeah? Because that's what binds him. I mean, it's kind of obvious you need the sword. Please, Sarah, tell me you have the sword.'
Sarah bit her lip. 'They took it away from me when they captured me. It could be anywhere.'
Time was already stopped. It couldn't get any slower. But it tried.
'Oh.' Nilla squatted down next to Sarah. 'Oh.'
'I could look for it,' Sarah suggested.
Nilla shook her head. Her hair slid across her ears, her cheeks. 'No, sorry. Not unless you could find it in the next thirty, forty seconds. He's that close to dispersing the Source. I mean just maybe, like, against all odds you could find it in that time. But we can't really take the chance.'
'Oh,' Sarah said. 'I guess I failed. I guess we lose.'
Nilla shrugged. It was the most drawn-out, elaborate shrug that Sarah had ever seen. It involved the lich's whole back and it took her up onto tiptoes for a moment before it started falling back. 'Well,' Nilla said, finally.
She was winding up to something. 'What? What is it?' Sarah demanded.
'There's another way. But it sucks. For me at least, it really sucks.'
'Yeah?' Sarah thought she saw a sigh coming on. A long, extended sigh. 'Yeah?' she demanded. 'You killed the Tsarevich pretty easily. You could do the same to Mael Mag Och.'
'Well... sort of. Except... the Tsarevich was stuck in the one body. Mael isn't. His consciousness right now is kind of inside the Source. He's trying to end the world here'killing his body won't even annoy him.'
Sarah rolled her hands, trying to make Nilla get on with it. It didn't work. 'Yes, and?' she finally asked. 'What do you propose instead?'
'Breaking the circuit. I'm only able to get so close to the Source by making myself invisible. It cancels out my own aura so even the Source can't detect me. Otherwise I'd be burnt to a crisp by now.'