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Peri wouldn’t take it until he put it down and her reality and her i felt dead when she picked it up "This isn’t mine," she said as she set it on the eaudy as a talisman"

On sudden impulse, she pulled the picture of her and Jack out froainst the shell A slow smile crossed her face, and Jack put his hands into his pants pockets, rocking froether It felt right, but her smile faded as she recalled Howard and … Taf, was it? She hadn’t reh it was obvious they reotten them

"It’s okay, babe," Jack said as he shifted the picture so the crease down the middle wasn’t so obvious "You’re too tense to remember what day it is I used to have to wait al anything back This is nor anyway Maybe all it took was time

"That looks like a real talisman," he added, his hands on his hips as he looked at the bent picture "Too bad Silas folded it You want me to fix it?"

"You can do that?" she said, and he ran a finger down the picture, ht, an odd feeling spiraling up through her Breath held, she picked it up, her e Her treer traced her contented smile, and as she wished for that same peace to find her now, a memory of Jack and herself unfolded itself in herto the rain

"Peri!" Jack exclaimed as she shuddered The heat of a thousand summers sla of ancient words, felt the haze of raw alcohol fermented from the roots of plants she’d never seen before, s that they were touching the ages, part of an endless circle

It was a memory, a real memory, and she clutched the picture to herself "Oh, Jack," she whispered, not wanting to open her eyes and see the cruel travesty that Silas had cursed her with Jack was dead She didn’t remember how, or when, but she knew that she had loved him and he had been her anchor

Allen was the i the truth It had to have been a memory knot, but instead of fear, it filled her with hope Silas was right

Jack …

Peri’s eyes opened, and she sobbed once--only once--at the hallucination, his head bowed as if he was feeling the sa out he’d lied to her for three entire years It hurt looking at him--even if it really wasn’t him "You once loved me," he said softly as she propped the photo up with the reverence she reserved for her talisht Allen was lying to her Bill was lying to her She wanted Silas to be telling her the truth, but thatwas almost too scary to think about They could et out of here before theyshe wasn’t

Suddenly she had to find out "I have to get out of here," she whispered