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“I’m sure one day won’t matter too much,” he said. “But take them now, just in case, along with this morning’s dose.”

I gaped at him. He wanted me to take three pills at once? That was insane. After not taking any at all for so many weeks, I would probably turn into a zombie if I took that many in one go.

I shook my head. “I can’t take three.”

Dale narrowed his eyes. “You can, and you will. Do you want me to report this?”

“No. Please don’t,” I murmured, taking the three pills from him. The last thing I needed to do was stir up trouble.

I took a deep, shaky breath as I handled the pills, trying to channel some of Mason’s strength from afar. I could handle this. The drugs would probably just make me a little foggy and sleepy, and the effects would eventually pass.

Worst case scenario, I might feel a bit sick and be forced to spend the day in bed. I would miss all my work if that happened, but that was okay. Mason was in town contacting the authorities right now, so it wouldn’t matter if the place was messy. It would be raided today anyway, if all went well.

I swallowed the pills and followed Dale’s command to open my mouth and stick my tongue out so he could determine whether or not I’d actually taken them. He nodded when he saw my empty mouth, and then he headed out to the next girl’s room.

I felt fine for the next few hours. I helped make breakfast, and afterwards, I washed the dishes and wiped down all the kitchen counters before starting on the floors. My mind felt sharp, lucid. I worked to the best of my ability, diligently carrying out my tasks as I waited and prayed that Mason was successfully sorting everything out in Amiens.

Around ten o’clock, my reality began to shift. One minute I was standing in a hall with a bucket and mop, and the next I was on the other side of the shelter. My legs were shaky, weak, and I could barely see three feet in front of me.

I blinked, trying to make the blurriness fade. It finally went away, and my vision was sharper than ever, as if I’d emerged from a thick dark mist and stepped into a clear desert with endless bright sun lighting everything up. But there was no sun here. So what was that light I kept seeing out of the corner of my eye?

I took a deep breath. It’s just the pills, I told myself. They’re making you woozy and irrational, but you can get through this.

At least I hoped I could. Already, I could feel my sense of reason and rationality slipping.

I slowly walked down the hall and looked over at a clock to see how much time had passed since I started feeling odd. As I watched the seconds tick by on the clock face, I was suddenly struck by a disturbing feeling. I felt as if I’d been staring at it for twelve hours, but it was only ten past ten. Only a few minutes had passed since I finished mopping. I knew that, and yet somehow, the rest of my brain had become untethered from the dimension of time, and I was convinced it had to be evening already.

Had I fallen asleep? Was I dreaming again?

I tried to test all of my senses, but I couldn’t seem to muster any brainpower to do so. All I registered was a faint foul odor somewhere in the air. I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.

Then I saw it, in the doorway to Elena’s old room. It was her. A ghost. She stared at me with heavy-lidded eyes and a slack jaw. Her jutting cheekbones made her look skeletal, and her gray skin was lined with silvery scars.

I screamed and covered my eyes. A moment later, Lauren was by my side, touching my arm and speaking to me in a soothing tone. “Jolie, what’s wrong? What happened?”

“I saw… I…” I barely choked out the words as I pointed toward Elena’s door with a shaky finger.

“Saw what?”

I opened my eyes. There was nothing in the doorway but a gray-handled broom and dustpan. The pills were making me confused. Making me hallucinate. It was worse than I thought it would be.

“Nothing,” I mumbled. “I just don’t feel well. I’m dizzy and I keep seeing things that aren’t there.”

“You should have some water,” she said. She took my arm and gently guided me down the hall.

The farther we walked, the more deranged I felt. None of this seemed real. I was completely losing my marbles.

I spotted Martha a moment later, heading in our direction with a stack of dirty plates from the children’s mid-morning snack time. “Hey, Martha,” I said, overcome by a sudden urge to know if she’d overheard anything yesterday and if she subsequently intended to turn me or Mason in. I stopped and jabbed a finger at her chest. “Did you say anything about me?”

She looked confused. “Like what?” she asked.

“You know what.” My voice was slurring now.

She furrowed her brows. “Is she okay?” she asked, looking at Lauren.

Lauren shook her head. “She isn’t feeling well. She’s behaving really strangely.” She leaned forward and began to whisper, but I heard everything she said anyway. “She said she’s seeing things. I’m worried.”

“Oh, no.” Martha put the plates down and pressed a hand to my forehead. “No fever. I wonder what’s going on.”

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