I doubted that was true. It seemed more likely that people were usually forced into taking this test, just as we were. Nobody would beg for seconds, no matter how good it tasted.
When she'd finished, Della handed him the cup back. "I don't feel any different."
"As I said, miss, it takes an hour." Then his eyes shifted to me. "Your turn."
I stood and gingerly tested my ankle before putting any real weight on it. The tenderness was still there, but the swelling had gone down quite a bit, and even the rash wasn't too bad anymore. That was a relief. With only a slight limp, I walked over to him and took the cup.
"How many people who take the drink show up with symptoms?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Plenty of people pass this test, including a family of nine just yesterday. If you're not sick, we'll know soon enough."
"One hour. If I don't show any symptoms, I can go home?"
"One hour."
I sniffed the drink, but couldn't recognize the smell as anything I was used to. It wasn't fruit, or herbs, or even spirits. Just ... unfamiliar.
"Drink it," Della said impatiently. "I'll be home eating a fine breakfast of egg dumplings before you've even taken a sip."
I glared at her and then swallowed it all in one gulp. One hour.
Warden Brogg took my cup back and then disappeared into the building. I had wondered at first about why our cell was not guarded, especially after Weevil had proven how easy it was to escape. But during the night, it had begun to make sense to me. Wardens weren't immune to this disease any more than the rest of us. They were simply forced into the job. I might be afraid of what the wardens could do, but they were just as afraid of me, maybe more.
Della was back on her side of the cell now, staring at me to see if I'd explode or spontaneously burst into flame or whatever the contents of that cup were supposed to make me do. I stared back, determined to be equally rude.
"How bad is the Scourge for you grubs?" she asked, rebraiding her hair as we talked. It made me wonder if I should try braiding mine instead of letting it hang in loose tangles over my shoulders. "Has it affected many people?"
"None of our people have gotten it."
"Someone has to be first," she said. "When you fail the test, all the grubs will know your name, how you're the person who brought the disease to them."
I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came. It was true that I had always hoped for a day when everyone knew my name. But not for this reason. Not for being the one who brought disease to the river country.
"I know several Scourge victims," she said. "A lot of times it takes our workers, sometimes even our best ones, the ones that you'd never think could get sick. But that doesn't explain why you grubs haven't been affected. I mean, you're dirtier than any of our workers."
Now I started finger-combing my hair. "Maybe the disease doesn't care about dirt."
She sniffed, as if that was too absurd to deserve a response. "Lately it's been moving into families like mine. And the scary thing is that who gets it seems so random. I shouldn't be here."
I felt like arguing that point, reminding her that she probably wouldn't be here if she had not slapped me last night. If the wardens truly believed I had the Scourge, after seeing her touch me, they had no choice but to test her too.
I definitely felt like reminding her of that, but I didn't. She looked too much the way I felt--scared, confused, and lonely.
So instead, I asked, "What were you doing in that boat last night?"
She opened her mouth, closed it, and then sighed. "I suppose it doesn't matter if I tell you now. One of our workers is a boy named Jonas Orden, who did all sorts of odd jobs around our home. I don't think of him as a worker, though. We were friends. He was taken away with the Scourge about three weeks ago. I knew it was only a matter of time before I started to feel sick too."
I felt like backing as far away from her as possible, though there was nowhere for me to go. "Wait--you already have the Scourge? You called me down to help you, asked me to carry you through the water, all the while knowing you are sick?"
"I'm not sick right now. I'm just ... worried." She shrugged. "And anyway, you came down to my boat, knowing you're probably sick too."
There was nothing I could say to that. Though my intentions were good, to respond to a cry for help, it had been a mistake on my part to get so close to someone else. If I did have the Scourge, if I had exposed myself to it ... No, I couldn't let my mind wander there. The test would answer those questions soon enough.
Della continued. "I knew that once I started to show symptoms, I'd be taken away too, sent to
the Colony like a common person. So I decided to run away, but I didn't get far in the boat before I realized I'd never survive on my own. I didn't even know how to row it! So I changed my mind and meant to go home, but the boat had already started down river. I couldn't let my father find out I tried to leave. He'd ask why."
"If you were already exposed to the Scourge, then why do you hate me so much?" I asked. "I didn't give it to you."