We have no such thing as family talk, only family lies. “She knows about Mama. About Brando,” I say, as Saxim bites her lip, one hand held behind her back, the other holding fast to Tai’s other hand.

Teddy’s eyes flick up to mine, reptilian. I shove my free hand into my jean pocket to still it.

“I need to sit,” Tai says, releasing me and Saxim and nodding at the four folding chairs in the corner of Dad’s room. “Let’s all sit and be comfortable.”

That’s the last thing we’ll be. But I see the genius in it. Teddy moves to open the chairs, ever the dutiful uncle, and her eyes meet mine before traveling to her pocket. She’s fiddling with her phone while he’s distracted, unfolding them. As if she’s recording the conversation.

And when we perch ourselves in the chairs, Tai’s now closest to the door. She removes her heeled shoes with a mournful sigh.

Preparing.

“Your cousin Brando is unbalanced,” Teddy says, once we’re seated. “We had to protect you from him. He wanted to hurt your mother. He’s the one who sent those letters I showed you.” He settles further back into the chair, which creaks. Mina’s beeping continues. “Mina, can you do that elsewhere, and then grab us some cold coconut waters or something?”

Mina’s panel chirps assent and scritches out of the room.

I have a thought then: what if Brando, Mama’s young nephew, was her vampyrrhic boy? What if he was the one who lavished her with seemingly unconditional love in the form of his letters—deep, terrifying wells of truth, so different from the pretty lies she received from the other men around her—until little demons forced him to make a terrible mistake?

And then I think of the fact that Teddy thinks of himself as the vampyrrhic boy.

Teddy looks up at us, his eyes glassy, and I nibble on my lip.

“Mireille was sick,” he says. “I knew she was … unbalanced, too, on account of how let down she was by the institute’s and Hero Pharm’s failures. I tried to tell her there was no such thing as perfection, but she wouldn’t have it. I just didn’t understand how sick she was for a long time.”

Tai and I look at each other, numb, trying to glean how to feel from the other’s expression. My hands curl into self-protective fists.