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My gaze falls toward the floor; the glare of the light onvisible in my unfocused vision

"Proud of that, are you?" Nora ht I felt her eyes on me momentarily

She cocks her blonde head to one side as I liftwomen, Mr Faust" She set underhis hands off the table and returning upright "I neither like nor dislike it But I don’t kill innocent people, if that’s what you’re i"

"Oh, not at all," she says, her tone laced with mockery

Her eyes do meet mine this ti hidden in the that has to do with me Or maybe--and very ain

"But to answer your question," Nora goes on, "you can use et your people back, but it will do you no good"--she leans forward over the table, her long hair laying against theelse to live for other than the inforet So by all means, use me all you want, but you’ll only risk their lives further by doing so"

Silence fills the rooain, we all look at each other momentarily, contemplatively

"What is the nature of the inforrins, her head tilting fro ins, "soret, oryou did that your conscience can’t escape it One of you"--she never looks at any one of us in particular while saying these things--"was betrayed by so taken fro that could be the end of you if it was ever found You’re going to confess to ly Truthfully" She looks only at Victor now "That is the nature of the inforain, but this ti that all of us share

"Are you clai to already know these so-called ‘dark secrets’?" I ask, crossing then as her eyes sweep over me

"I do," she says "I know more about you than the one in this room closest to you knows"

"And just hoould you know?" I say, standing round because I don’t believe it and I doubt anyone else does either "Deep, dark secrets are deep and dark for a reason And what exactly do you get out of this? So up"

"I’ll tell you all how I knohen I’et a lot out of it, Sarai"--I flinch when ue--"just be patient and eventually everything will make sense"

Victor turns his back to Nora and looks at all of us

"Is anyone here unwilling to go along with this?" he asks

"I’ll do it," Woodard says nodding his head, his double-chin jiggling "A-Anything--I-I hters safe" He wrenches his hands over the top of his rounded belly

Dorian runs a hand over the top of his blond, spiky hair, the sleeve of his dark gray sweater slipping away froray tattoo of a blood-tipped leaf down the center of his wrist bone