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"Maybe you had a little too ently

But it isn’t that I know it isn’t that I back away fro hopelessly intoup behind hn the satisfaction "I have to talk to you," I say

I tell her everything About Rose’s body in the base no idea where we cahn has over our lives I even tell her about Rose and Linden’s dead child

Jenna kneels besidemy forehead and the back of , and I rest my head on her shoulder and close htht not be so bad, it gets worse It gets worse and I can’t wake up Househn is a monster"

"I don’t think the Houserandchild," Jenna says "If what you say is true and he’s using Rose’s body to find an antidote, wouldn’t he want his grandchild to live?"

I keep my promise and don’t tell her what I learned from Deirdre--that the stillbirth was no stillbirth at all But the thought haunts hn have for randchild? It’s true that he’s only ever had sons--hter would at least be useful to hiet to choose whom they marry sohn is all about finding a use for things, people, bodies--nothing is wasted

But I know, soht when they heard that baby’s cry And I don’t think it was a coincidence that Linden hen it happened The thought bubbles up a neave of nausea

And Jenna’s voice feels so far ahen she asks if I’ht and says that I look awfully pale

"If anything bad happens to Cecily or that baby, I a to lose it," I say

Jenna rubswill," she says It’s quiet for a while after that, and I think of all the horrible things that could be happening to Gabriel in the base bruised, beaten, etherized

I can’t allow myself to think he’s already dead I think of that noise we heard in the halle kissed, and how reckless ere to leave the door open, and the atlas he stole fro table And I know this is all ht this on him Before I caotten the world It’s an aay to live, but it’s better than no life at all And it’s better than Vaughn’s less basement of horrors

I think of the book Linden read toFrankenstein It was about a madman who constructed a human out of pieces from corpses I think of Rose’s cold hand with its pink nail polish, and Gabriel’s blue eyes, and the stone-small heart of a dead infant, and before I even realize I’vebackout of control But not the real world Vaughn’s world

Cecily appears in the doorway, pale and bleary-eyed

"What’s wrong?" she asks "Are you sick?"

"She’ll be all right," Jenna says, s my hair back "She’s had too much to drink"

That’s not it at all, but I say nothing I flush the toilet, and Cecily pours water in the rinse cup and hands it toas she bends her knees "Sounds like it was a fun party," she says

"It wasn’t really a party," I say, and swish the water in mytheir designs"

"Tellup her eyes

"There isn’t anything to tell, really," I say I don’t want to tell her about the dazzling holograms or the suc-culent dessert selection or the city full of people where I considered running away It’s better if she doesn’t knohat she’s

"You two never talk to et worked up again It’s like she gets more emotional with each trimester "It’s not fair I’m stuck in that bed all day"

"It really was boring," I insist "There were all these first generations showing me their sketches and I had to pretend to be interested And there was an architect who gave a long lecture about the i malls, and we had to sit in these uncoot drunk just for so to do"

Cecily looks doubtful for athe truth, because her unhappiness seems to fade, and she says, "Well, okay But can’t you tell me a story, then? What about those twins you used to know"

Jenna raises an eyebrow I’ve never told her about my twin brother, but she’sit out now

I tell the story of the day the talking home from school and there was an explosion so loud that it rattled the ground under their feet A genetic research facility had been bo done to prolong the life span of new children Cries of "Enough!" and "The human race cannot be saved!" filled the streets Dozens of scientists and engineers and technicians were killed