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There was a broken edge to his words that I barely recognized: this wasn’t a side of Nathan that I saw very often, or really kne to handle He was usually the cal, he stepped back and found another approach He wasn’t the one who fell apart That didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed: it justto interfere

"And then there she was! Different, but we’re all different now, aren’t we? We went through the broken doors That’s how you turn yourself into athe top of my head before he continued: "She opened theht to look through and see as on the other side She said it hat I’d have to do if I wanted to catch up with you, since you’d been born on the other side of those doors Sally Mitchell never saw them open, but you’ve never seen the up at hiht I don’t either, not really" Nathan sighed "Moht, and she did it to protect me But I think soht her children were invincible You, me, Ada at everything through the filter of that dae of the world around someone else’s fantasy"

I couldn’t stop myself "Why?"

"Because it’s easier It’s so much easier to say, ‘This is a story, and there are heroes and villains, and there’s an ending, and e get there the book will close and we’ll all live happily ever after’ " Nathan kissed e ways It always has Dad used to try to explain it to me, after she left us, when I was so sad I didn’t feel like I could get out of bed in theHe said she knew she wasn’t always the best with ht were ie--always ca people So sometimes she would fall back to what she saw as a safe place, and she’d retreat to Si the broken doors always resulted in good things It always brought the children and the ether"

"It sounds like maybe your mom needs to see my therapist" Dr Morrison was probably dead or in quarantine somewhere The idea didn’t bother h to shoot me an amused look "You hated your therapist," he said

"Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need someone to talk to You’re her son Ada, "I don’t really knohat I aood, because it wouldyou sort of creepy--but she thinks I aood for her to talk to Maybe talking to sohed again "This hasn’t been easy for any of us, has it? I found my mother but don’t have the time to stop and deal with it emotionally You lost your whole world"

"Not my whole world," I corrected, and took his hand We sat that way for a while, not saying anything, before I had to go and open"Sometimes I feel like your mom doesn’t knohat to do withBut when you disappeared, she said we couldn’t try to rescue you, because it was too dangerous To be fair, though, she said the sa about Tansy I think we’re all expendable to her We’re all part of the story, and the story needs to be finishedIt was always nice to know that I was being threatened by a force of nature, and not by someone who actually disliked ical conclusion brought hter, theto boil into do about Dr Banks?"

To Nathan’s credit, he followed e of subjects without hesitation "I don’t think he’s going to leave here alive, if that’s what you’re asking He’s told us too ive easily Once you overstep your bounds with her, you’re doomed"

"And USAMRIID wouldn’t have let hi hiive Tansy back"

"Are you sure we believe hi the tapewor to have done a lot of dae, and he has plenty of reasons to lie to us I hate to say this, but o"

"No" My response was i her go We don’t even know that she’s thatand Daisy took a saery Sherentle about it" His cruder operation had left a scar on the back ofto be there for the rest ofI was keeping a running list "Your ment is what latches on to the circulatory system in the brain and feeds the rest of the body Iit out, but… wouldn’t that be a whole lot of work, and row a new one?"