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For a long, breathless moment, she was unresponsive, then, very slowly, as if the ht slid through the clear glass and iron bars, slashed across her small face

She was ht, he could see the breathtaking beauty that she had once been Thick black lashes fringed eyes the color of whiskey; eyes that were now vacant and glassy A silver line of saliva seeped down from the cor-

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ner of her slack, pink lips, hung in a cobweb-thin line to a wet spot on the bosoown

Giles pulled a pristine white handkerchief from his coat pocket and wiped the drool fro to focus

"Thepaper," she said in a scratchy voice "Sliding or spring" She forced her chin up, gave the roorass" She turned away and stared out theagain Her rocker started , back and forth, back and forth, in a rhyth

Giles's head bowed forward "Believe it or

not," he said to no one in particular, "this is a good day for her"

Ian wanted to distinguish Elizabeth fronore the similarity of the cases-the nonsensical sentences, the injury itself-and searched for a disparity, sonosis

Giles hadn't tried enough Yes, that could account for a difference Maybe Giles had given up too early and there was still hope

He clung to the notion "What treatments have you tried?"

"Everything Shock treatical theory to co worked She's not crazy, Ian She's brain-daed "Her brain just doesn't work anymore She can parrot a feords, she can feed herself and walk if she really wants to, but that's about it Every once in a while she surprises me with a sentence that ets any better"

"Perhaps if you tried-"

Giles turned to Ian A tear slid down his cheek and he hter"

For a second, Ian couldn't even respond Shame crushed in on him "Oh, Jesus, Giles I'm sorry"