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"Are you feeling all right?" I ask

"I’ested It’s the weather"

She coughs again, and I feel so warm land on my cheek My blood runs cold

"Jenna?" I say

"What?"

I want to stay here, in the dark, and not o to sleep and wake up in the ’s okay

But I don’t I reach over and I turn on the light Jenna coughs again, and I see the splatter of blood on her lips

Chapter 22

The baby will not stop crying His face is bright red, and Cecily paces and paces with hih there are fat tears rolling down her face She doesn’t try to brush the the sides of her jaw, holding her tongue under his cruel papery finger to look down her throat, and I can see that she hates having him near her And she looks so wilted

Linden takes the baby, and he gurgles for a second, but then resuainst et hi Jenna, for the third ti him, for the third tis the screa baby out of the room, but we can all still hear hi?"

"It’s the virus," Vaughn says I suppose he’s trying to sound re his tongue Jenna’s life is nothing to him

"No," someone says And I realize the voice washer away violently "That doesn’tShe can barely even stay conscious long enough to hear she’s dying How is it possible that she’s gotten so sick so rapidly?

"But you can fix it, right?" says Cecily Tears are staining the collar of her shirt "You’re working on an antidote"

"I’hn says "Buther life span until then" He taps Cecily’s nose, but she no longer finds his favoritis, and I see her take a step back She shakes her head

"What the hell have you been working on, then?" she says "All this time All this ti, and her breaths have taken on a wet, drowning quality She believes Vaughn spends all those long hours working on an antidote in the basement, and that soon he’ll save us all I wish I believed that too

"Now, darling--"

"No No, you do soument in low voices Their voices spin and spin, and her sobs splash around o away Vaughn and his little pet I climb into the bed with Jenna and wipe soun to lose consciousness "Please," I whisper into her ear I don’t knohat I’hn leaves, mercifully, and Cecily cli theDon’t wake her up"

"Sorry," she whispers, and lays her head on my shoulder There’s not a sound from her after that

Jenna falls into an unreachable sleep, while Cecily and I drift in and out of night as she stirs beside me, but I can’t reach either of h the trees with no iron gate in sight So The waves spin me over and over until I don’t knohich way is up

I wake up gasping The da and crying and drooling Her lips are ether

Down the hall the baby is crying and crying, and Cecily’s shirt is stained with breast hn takes him away He hired a wet nurse, and he says it will be healthier for Cecily this way, but she always looks like she’s in pain

My sister wives are wilting like my mother’s lilies, and I don’t kno to revive them I don’t knohat to do

Jenna opens her eyes and looks me over "You look awful," she says hoarsely "What’s that sins to stir She’s choking on her drool and co the ister awareness, and she sits up

"What’s happening? Are you feeling better?"

The baby is still crying, and she looks to the doorway

"I have to feed hi the door fraht with her," Jenna says

"You’re just now noticing?" I say, and we both laugh a little

Jenna es to sit up, and I coax so it for my benefit She’s pale, and her lips are faintly tinted purple I try coood day I think of how the June Beans dyed her mouth such ridiculous colors, and I wonder if that was part of her concealment And how her face was always blushed with ed to be left to die

"Are you in a lot of pain?" I ask

"I can’t really feel uess I’ out of here before you after all"