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I knew I hadn’t dreaiving birth to me It was a blatant falsehood I had a sudden inspiration and felt around ers found the locket, proof that iven it to me In my vehemence to show it to Peter, I broke the chain that held it My certainty of what I’d witnessed faded instantly "Here Take this Open it"

I dropped the locket into his pale, too calloused to open the locket easily, but after a few tries he ed to work open the clasp "What can I say?" he asked "You sure were a beautiful baby You and Maisie both"

I reached out and swiped it froe of e The photos ofman with the confident eyes, had disappeared I snapped the locket shut and held on to it for dear life

Another wave of vertigo washed overme to close my eyes "I must be sick," I said, more to myself than to my companions

"I’ you have soht to call Ellen in? Let her do what she does to make you better?"

Even withinto ic never daunts him as it would a normal man?" they demanded silently "Don’t you see that he is no more real than I am?" The question quickly faded, only to be replaced by a sense of his concern for

I didn’t say a word I nodded my assent, but in truth I wasn’t sure if the question I’d answered was Peter’s or Emmet’s Exhaustion overtook me, and I had fallen dead to the world by the time Ellen reentered the room

TWENTY-FIVE

I cliht of myself in the mirror Someone had removed own The kind you get for a holiday present and never end up wearing I sat down on the foot of the bed, trying to pull together the pieces of yesterday, the salass into the dome that had crushed my mother Or had e of her bloodied body rose to ht its way out ofhad been a hallucination, the fear and sense of loss were real enough to ht, and I had somehow dreamed up the whole day That my mother was still alive and I could somehow find an explanation for all of this that would allowthe line

The robe that ith the gown had been laid out over the chair In spite of everything, I realized that I was starving, so I pulled on the robe and headed downstairs to find some breakfast As I ca spoken, but the hushed sound of the words that ca discussed rather than addressed I crept along the hall toward the voices and founddoor that opened into the kitchen

"I blanant and has just gotten in touch with her o and play librarian in the Akashic records"

"I disagree," Iris said "It was much better that you stepped in and controlled the situation, rather than letting her and Jilo stu neither of them could handle on their own"

"But to hallucinate that E to kill herShe’s under tooit there"