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"Please, Mãe Call her now and ask her to co for her"

"Ariella, what are you talking about?"

"I’h I wasn’t "Please"

She looked at my face, my eyes, and shook her head Then she said, "Very well"

While my mother went to use the telephone in her room, I went back to my father’s bedside His face was still turned to the wall, and Root apparently hadn’tthe journal in her lap I pulled a chair between her and my father and sat in it

"Remember that pill I asked you to test?" I said "The one called V?"

She raised her head The mole on her chin had sprouted new hairs--four of the, dark and bristly

"What about it?" she said

"You ar pill"

The light in her left eye intensified "Are you tellingyou," I said, wondering what it was I was trying to tell her, wondering why hts were so scattered I shook my head, pressed my hands to my temples Inside my brain, I heard a kind of buzz

Mãe came in and put her arms on my shoulders "You’re tired," she said, her voice soft "Go on now, have a snack, and then take a nap in my bed I’ll stay here and keep Mary Ellis company"

The confidence in her voice toldanother word

Her bed smelled of lavender and chamomile, and its cotton sheets orn soft as flannel I fell asleep al in the bedroo me sleep

I heard my voice say, "Mama?" As far as I knew, I’d never said the word before Perhaps as a baby I’d said it, hoping that she who had never been there before would suddenly manifest herself, respond to e of the bed, her brown eyes steady on mine She stroked my forehead with both hands and pushed back ht," she said "Broke your heart, looks like First time always hurts the worst"

She lifted her hands and sat back "Now you better wake up I just had a look in at your old friend Ms Root We have some work to do there, you and me"

I sat up and reached for the water bottle next to my bed But Dashay pushed et that?"

I told her about the kindness of the gas station attendant

She read the label: "Orion Springs Bottled in Miami" Then she moved the bottle out of ht But I’ve been hearing stories about bottled water from Miami I’ll tell you some later Meantime, you stay away froht It was a third ehed, and it wasn’t a happy sound The spectruhfrolass bottle and handed it to s back ho drink from the bottle, felt the cool water flon ain From theca in I breathed deeply and drank again When the bottle o-thirds eht"At least, it tasted fine last ti soet your thoughts straight Then we need to go to work"

I drank the rest of the bottle "Mãe’s still with reen-and-black batik-print dress thatwith that Root, who’s sitting in her chair like a sphinx, all full of secrets she’s not telling You knohat she’s up to?"

I told her aboutMalcolm, about the moment when he and I arrived at the conclusion that Root was responsible for the fire in Sarasota "She could have put Dennis up to it And she could be the one who made my father sick," I said "After all, she had the opportunities She’s the one who made his blood supplements"

"Why would she all of a sudden want to hurt Raphael?" Dashay said

"I don’t know"

She sighed "And what happened to you? Why are you here, looking like somebody killed your best friend?"

She and I winced simultaneously

"Ari, I’m sorry," she said

I shook my head I couldn’t put what I felt into words, but I let her sense the depth and weight ofKathleen, and Mysty, and Autuether

After a while she said, "Didn’t I tell you? Love is ain "You haven’t had a thing to eat, since when? Come on and help "

Ms Root did not want to be doctored

She sat, squat and impervious as a beetle, on the upholstered chair at the foot of o anywhere