I knew that voice.

Margot, fight.

What a ridiculous suggestion. I couldn’t possibly. There were enough drugs coursing through my body to take down a full-grown giraffe.

Fight, the voice said.

Mom?

I surged up out of the mud, knocking Laura off balance, and came out of the water coughing and choking, spitting up cold mud. There were bits of dead grass and algae between my teeth.

“Mom?” I called into the night as Laura sat up.

“Lie down,” Laura said sharply.

I felt something surge through my body—adrenaline, rage, and a sense of righteousness.

“Don’t touch me!” I shouted. I got to my feet, feeling like a swamp beast.

Laura was unimpressed. She came closer. She reached down to grab me by the hair—

I shoved her so hard she went flying and landed in the dark water.

I began to back away.

Laura struggled to her feet and started toward me again.

I shoved her a second time—and as I did, I noticed something. In the front pocket of her jacket was a second small syringe.

How many doses did she think it was going to take to get rid of me? I was almost flattered.

She came close enough for me to grab it, and then I pushed her away. As she flailed, I pulled the cap off the syringe, and when she came at me once more, I plunged it into the spot where her neck met her shoulders.

She gasped and grabbed for her neck as if she’d been stung.

“You’ve been giving me this stuff for a long time,” I said. “Maybe I built up a tolerance.”

I saw her eyes make a panicked sweep of our surroundings—the first sign that she was losing her balance.

“You probably don’t have a tolerance, though,” I said, stepping toward her.

“Stay away from me,” she hissed.

My body might as well have been made from wood, but I kept moving. “You’re a coward,” I said. “You can’t make people do what you want, so you just try to shut them up.”

“Stop!” she said. “What are you doing?”

She seemed to think I was going to kill her—which I wasn’t. In fact, if she’d fallen into the water I would have dragged her out.

But I did plan to knock her down hard enough so she wouldn’t get back up.

I moved slowly, steadily, in her direction, and she continued to scrabble away from me, rendered silent by her fear and the sedative coursing through her veins.

Finally we reached the corner that held Lily’s grave.

Laura knew where we were. She glanced over her shoulder and made a strangled screaming noise.

The grave was covered in a thick, lush blanket of lilies, their faces wide open.