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Root lay back in the chair, her eyes closed, the bristles on her chin ai" Dashay held the bag by its top edge "Never had to work so hard to get one out"

"Get it out of here," Mãe said

While Dashay disposed of the sasa outside, Mãe and I looked at each other We felt exhausted

I pointed at Root "What are we going to do with her?"

Myto wait until she opens her eyes Then, we’re going to hypnotize her"

Her de effects of the sedative helped

Dashay returned, after washing her hands for five minutes She sat next to ate Root

"Why did you do it?" Her voice was low and even "Why did you try to kill Raphael?"

"I never tried to kill him" Root’s eyes were open wide now, but they had a dazed expression For a ht be now

Mãe consulted the list of questions ritten out moments before "Did you ask Dennis to start the fire at Xanadu?"

"Xanadu" She sighed "Dennis set the canister in the wrong place I told him where to put it He set the fire in the kitchen instead Stupid"

"Where was he supposed to put it?"

"In the doorway of the child’s room" She said it without any emotion

Dashay reached for my hand

"So the fire was meant to kill Ariella?" Myto keep it calm

"Of course You can’t think it was meant for Raphael?" Root’s face seemed to lose shape, suddenly; it spread into sadness "I didn’t aih time! All those years I worked with hi he used to produce the results he wanted"

Mãe glanced back at us, shook her head, then turned to Root again

"So you et Raphael’s attention?" she asked

"And to kill the child A half-breed shouldn’t have survived a fire like that, and she wouldn’t have, if it had been set properly I should have done it orously "I should have known better than to count on Dennis All he cared about was beco a vampire He never paid attention to details"

"That was the deal?" Mãe sounded authoritative again "Dennis would become a vampire?"

"I said I’d ht

"But he botched it I told him that, once we left the unit ‘All deals are off,’ I told hirinned Without question, she was the ugliest person I’d ever seen

"As for Raphael, I gave hih quinine to make him realize he needed new tonic, that he needed me around to make it I hadn’t seen hi Finally, Dashay toldthat she should have kept her reed If she had, we’d likely never have found out about Root’s sasa and her obsession with my father Were they linked?

"So I drove up yesterday And he didn’t seem too bad He talked, and he looked as if he were on the mend" Her eyes moved slowly fro amatch

"Yes, he did look better" Mãe’s voice was so low I could barely hear it "Mary Ellis, did you do soave hiave him an injection?" Mãe’s voice sounded hoarse "What was in the shot?"

"A little quinine," Root said "Not enough to do hih to make hi hiain I’ll save his life" She nodded, sure of her plan

Mãe turned to us "Dashay," she whispered "Call Dr Cho Tell her we need her now"

When Dashay had left the roo else?"

"Ask about the V drug," I whispered

She looked down at her list "Mary Ellis, Ariella gave you a pill to analyze, a pill called Vallanium What’s in the pill?"

"Vallanium is an addictive depressant, a semisynthetic opiate" Her voice was crisp, as if she were reciting from memory "It has the potential to permanently alter brain structure Two capsules daily create adisrupts nor or logical analysis Cessation of use causes severe withdrawal syht of Walker, and I shivered

"You seem to know a lot about it," Mãe said

"I should" Root looked pleased "I helped develop that drug We sold the patent to a group in Miami"

"Ask her about Amrita," I whispered

This one wasn’t on Mãe’s list "Um, what about Amrita?"

"It’s an antidepressant One of the so-called lifestyle drugs, derived fro certain neurotrans selective amnesia Amrita interferes with DNA replication and RNA transcription by alkylation and cross-linking the strands of DNA It renders users sterile"