My mom took a deep breath. I knew this was going to be hard to listen to, and I took Fang’s hand.

  “They’ve been working for years on developing a form of avian flu that has a terrifying ability to quickly mutate and has been manufactured to mimic other, even deadlier, viruses, ebola among them.” Mom looked me in the eye, letting her words sink in. “The virus is called H8E, but it’s known among the 99 Percenters as ‘The Finisher.’ ”

  “So we’re more susceptible to it because we’re bird kids?” I asked.

  “No, actually,” Mom said, smiling. “It seems counterintuitive, but because of your mixed DNA, you kids have a natural immunity to it that we haven’t seen in any other species. Of course, Ella and Nino and I, and some of the other enhanced kids—and Jeb, of course—aren’t immune.”

- Nevermore: The Final Maximum Ride Adventure, chapter 77