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Lucian’s jaw locked down for a ress required patience of the virtuous level It required someone as able to occupy their body while they waited At least that hat Julia believed as she watched Madeline

The woazed upon the palette of paint Julia had demonstrated with another brush on what she’d discovered wasn’t an actual canvas but several sheets of thick parchment paper

Julia painted what looked like a lopsided stick figure, but that was the best she could do About thirtywith off and now Madeline was staring intently at the blank page, the paintbrush tre in her hand

A mix of boredom and anticipation swirled inside Julia as she sat there She could’ve turned on the TV, but she didn’t want Madeline to beco the paintbrush was probably going to be the only progress she’d make for--

Madeline moved

Julia bit down on her lip as the woman’s hand hovered over the tray of paints After a couple of moments, she dipped the brush into a canister of brown paint and then lifted her hand to the paper Her wrist flicked and a faint line of brown paint spread across the canvas

"That’s it, Madeline," she said as she watched the woman make s"

And it was a what appeared to be small wisps of lines, but still, that was actually miraculous

Maybe even a little too miraculous, whispered a voice in the back of her head

I that, but she had realistic expectations of this endeavor Patients with these kinds of conditions could take weeks and e Even then, it was no small feat

But Dr Flores was of the belief that this was psychological, and if that was the case, physically Madeline could do anything she’d been able to do before There wereon her lip, she studied Madeline as she continued to ith the brown paint After a bit, she changed up the color, choosing a red that reminded Julia of the velvet that covered the chairs in the room Julia had been seated it when she first arrived

As Madeline worked on the painting, Julia was torn betanting to pat herself on the back for thinking outside of the box and being in a state of not believing any of this was really happening

But maybe this was some sort of key that would eventually unlock whatever Madeline was going through and Julia needed to take advantage of that "Do you knohere you are, Madeline?

Her hand stilled over the canvas

Hoping she wasn’ta mistake, she drew in a shallow breath "Do you know you’re ho in the cri the top of the parchment

"Do youdo you knohere you’ve been?" When Madeline didn’t answer, but kept painting, Julia rubbed her pal her knees "It’s okay You just need to know that you’re safe here"

The paintbrush froze, and Madeline appeared to draw in a deep breath Slowly, she turned her head toward Julia The woht blue-green

Julia sucked in a sharp breath as she read the fear in the other wo that She looked terrified, and Julia’s stomach filled with knots

"Madeline--" Julia snapped her aze dart over her shoulder A prickly sensation broke out along the nape of her neck and spread over her shoulders

Breath catching, she twisted around on the stool Her heart lurched into her throat when she saw a stranger standing in the doorway of Madeline’s bedroo to her feet, she planted herself in between Madeline and this htstand Damn it, asn’t it in her pocket?

A trickle of fear dripped like ice in her veins Everyone was gone from this house, so whoever this person was, it was very unlikely they belonged here And that typically wouldn’t be a good thing, but he wasn’t dressed like he was about to whip out a gun and deold bricks He wore a robin’s egg-blue polo tucked into khaki shorts She was pretty sure he earing boat shoes