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And then he’ll be gone too

It doesn’t h to keep any of us alive

Chapter 25

In the month before my escape, I spend all of round, and I wander the orange groves I play olf alone And bit by bit, theof my planned escape, I lie on the tra as my body moves This was Jenna’s favorite place to be, her own island

It’s here that Cecily findssome snowflakes as they fall She says, "Hey"

"Hey"

"Can I come up?" she asks I pat the empty space beside along?" I ask

"Househn," she says, a little unhappily

It’s the only explanation necessary She settles beside hs

"What now?" she says

"I don’t know," I say

"I really didn’t think she was going to die," she blurts out "I thought she had another year, and by then there’d be an antidote, and" She trails off I lie on my back and watch her breath and mine fade into the cold air

"Cecily," I say "There is no antidote Get that through your head"

"Don’t be so pro-naturalis very hard He has a theory that the probleenerations were conceived artificially So if a baby is born naturally, that baby can be fixed through"--she pauses, trying to reht break theh cruelly I don’t tell Cecily thatan antidote, and that I have a hard tihn could possibly have the same motives that they had I don’t tell her about Rose’s body in the basement, and that Jenna is probably down there too, locked up in a freezer or dissected into unrecognizable pieces

"He’ll find an antidote," Cecily repeats firmly "He has to" I understand her denial Her own son’s life depends on Vaughn’s i I shakesnow tumble and swirl from an all-white sky The world seems so clean if you only look up

"He has to," Cecily says again She sits overmy view of the clouds "You have to stay here and let hi to run away Don’t think I don’t know"

"What?" I say, sitting up

She grabs my hand in both of hers and leans closer to me in earnest "I know all about you and that attendant I saw him kiss you"

That noise in the hallway "That was you?" I say My voice sounds strange and far away, like I’ a conversation between two people I don’t know

"He was distracting you froone, you’d realize what a good husband Linden is You would see thingsfun at those parties?"

It hurts to breathe, suddenly "You’re the one who told Househn"

"I did it to help you," she insists, squeezingout for your best interests That’s why Housened to another part of the mansion"

I rip et as far from her as I can, but for some reason I can’t move from this spot "What else did you tell hiive me credit for," she says

"You and Jenna had your little club that I was never a part of You never told , but I’ you to see that attendant And that’s no good Don’t you see? Linden loves you, and you love hi to find the antidote and we’ll be here for a long, long time"