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"I WAS DEAD"

"Pretty ht into ene poured a whole bottle of white nightshade elixir down your throat It kept your soul fro away After that, it was just ayour body How do you feel?"

"All right Tired, but all right"

Several of Kinski’s rocks are arranged around the wound in s The doc takes the stones off ra are at the other end of the table "I saw you there," I say "I thought I was drea, but you were there"

"Yes," Vidocq says "I’oing to snatch me, didn’t you? You told them where I’d be You set httheir ould help you to focus your energies You’re going to kill yourself or some innocent person"

"So, you handed el Is that your idea of group therapy?"

"I had no idea this would happen Aelita was just going to talk to you"

I swing e of the table and try to stand My vision blurs and my head swims I sit back down

"I crawl all the way out of Hell just to get kidnapped and sold out by friends all over again But you knohat the funniest thing about this is? Mason didn’t getand cold It’s a fear reaction Fear and guilt "How long have you been working for them?"

"I ith them, not for them It’s been a while Half a year A littlehere It’s bad and getting worse Things are quieter now I don’t knohy But they’ll turn bad again and then you’ll see why I did what I did"

"Were you working for them before I went Don?"

He shakes his head "No I’d barely heard of the brown tea

"Drink that down All of it Don’t sip it"

I down the tea in three long gulps It’s thick and hot and I can feel little bits of twigs and leaves in lass back to Kinski

"Thanks That was disgusting" I look at Vidocq "At least your lie is a new lie That’s sora is holding on to Vidocq’s ar an old man who’s had a stroke but is too proud to use a cane Her heart is racing Her pupils are like hubcaps She’s afraid, but not of ood idea to bring her into the Sub Rosa world She’s seen a lot in just a few days "Were you in on this with him?" I ask

She looks at Vidocq, then back aton Rodeo and Medea Bava with those feathers and teeth, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea"

"Okay Thanks You can leave with him"

Vidocq comes around the table The bottles of potions and poisons sewn into his coat tinkle as he walks "No, Jiene saved you," says Allegra "Aelita about killed your ass"

"Maybe next tiet lucky and save you two the trouble of selling me out"

Kinski says, "Why don’t you ease up on these people a little? You brought some of this on yourself" I can’t read Kinski His eyes are steady I can’t hear his heart or breathing He’s hiding theht hito need to sit here for a while After that, I’ll be out of your hair But until then, please stay the fuck out of this"

Candy is over in the corner of the rooot her back to the wall and is trying to ra and Vidocq, I say, "You two need to leave now I don’t want to look at you any, but I cut hi Hell’s a circus run by ated community where we’re the bastard stepkids the real kids hate Daddy’s little mistake Where does that leave us on this rock? I believe Aelita’s story about the broken glass starting life Trash falls from the sky and no one cleans it up because the trash starts talking Why should anyone expect anything froht, then" He looks at Allegra and they walk out together, closing the door to the exas back in cabinets Bottles Bundles of dried plants A tray of desiccated sea horses Kinski wraps his rocks up in their silk covers and quietly stows the with your ared up to the elbow Spots of blood have soaked through the dressing

"That’s nothing A couple of kids ju They weren’t very good robbers They didn’t get anything Maybe they just wanted to beat so you around?"

"What difference does that rabbed you, it was probably a robbery If they started whaling on you, then they were just looking to kick sorabbed me, at first"

"Then it was a robbery"

"Yeah, but they didn’t ask for edto pull you toward a car or into one of these stores?"

"Like they were kidnapping h"

"Who’ve you pissed off? You owe anyonecity" He puts the last of the rocks away and turns topeople off I think you took the gold, silver, and bronze in that event"

I waited for a ured out one of your secrets"

"Which one would that be?"

"The rocks you used on Allegra and lass froht Where did you get the on eBay"

"Or fros, no doubt"

"Why did you want thee type And you seeular doctor?"

"What do I keep telling you? We’ll talk when you letthose rocks on me I don’t even feel the around the place, putting little things away Exas, cluainst the end of the exas back so she can sit down "Keep running around things and you’ll feel thereen stems with small white blossoms on top Candy leans over and takes them from him "See? I told you we had some veratrum," he says