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"I wondered when I’d see you"

Lore drew a stool to the edge of the cot The man was a shadow of a shadow, a shell of bones His flesh, a sickly yellow, possessed a damp, translucent appearance, like the inner layers of an onion

"I guess you noticed," she said

"Hard not to"

"Don’t try to cheerthat, and it’s already getting old Nohat’s this I hear about you not eating?"

"Hardly seems worth the bother"

"Nonsense Let’s scoot you up"

He was too weak to rise off theposition and wedged a pilloeen his back and the bulkhead

"All right?"

He offered a faint, courageous smile "Never better"

On the tray were a cup of water and a bowl of porridge, also a spoon and cloth She draped the cloth over Greer’s chest and began to spoon the porridge into his ly, as if these simple actions required treood a her off She wiped his chin and held the cup of water to his lips He took a s her She had noticed, while feeding him, a basin at the foot of the bed, stained with blood

"Happy now?" he asked, as she put the cup aside

She alhed "What a question"

"Michael picked you for a reason That’s no less true now than it was thirty-nine days ago"

Suddenly the tears ca to tell people?"

"You’re not going to tell theure it out Probably a lot of theestured to the bedside table "Open that drawer," he said "The top one"

Inside she found a single sheet of heavy paper, folded into thirds and sealed ax For several seconds she just looked at it, dumbfounded

"It’s frohed al--it was only paper--but it felt like far rave She wiped her face with the back of her wrist "What does it say?"

"That’s between the two of you All he told me was that you weren’t supposed to open it until we arrived at the island His orders"