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and staring at the pill without picking it up.
                  “Is it detectable whose blood it is?” Norah asked, not sure if she should speak up but she was too curious not to.
                  “If we had ever met the person who the blood belonged to, it would be easy to tell but, if I am correct, none of us have. I would much like to know who it belongs to because we were not aware there were others like ourselves in the area,” the other man spoke up. He had Norah recount what she knew about Mauve, just as Jack had a few days prior. When she was done, they all sat around the table silently as the music and chatter of people penetrated the room. Norah, not knowing what to do, threw back her drink in a quick and nervous manner. She jumped, startled and surprised when someone on the other side of the curtain came to bring her another one so quickly after she was finished with the first.
                  “What should I do then? Should I keep seeing Mauve? Should I stop taking the drugs I’m given?” Norah broke the silence as panic was setting in with the sureness of their response that she was secretly swallowing pills of blood and an unknown drug. More than that, if Mauve was doing this intentionally, what was the end game? Did she want to hurt Norah specifically or was she just a bystander? If she did, was it possible that if she found out that Norah knew what she had done, she would hurt her or would she just run away?
                  “I think you should keep up appearances. We’ll investigate this Mauve. Until we have granularity about her and her the game she’s playing, it wouldn’t do to act concerned. Just keep it business like normal,” Jack offered up. His hand snaked around her wrist and gave it a comforting squeeze as if he knew she was internally struggling. “You might not be the only one she’s feeding blood to. If there is one thing I can’t stand, it is not being given the choice to do things in life.” He looked angry enough that it was easy to tell he was talking about his own past.
                  “I’ll do what I can but she’s very intuitive. I’m not sure if I can keep up a façade for too long.” Norah felt their conversation coming to a close. Her nervousness had subsided while Jack gripped her arm but when he pulled away, it was slowly crawling back into her skin without anything else to focus on. Tipping a third drink back, she got up to leave. “You can have that pill.” Jack followed her back down the hallway towards the entrance where she’d stood, overlooking the crowd.
                  “You don’t have to leave just because the conversation ended. I wouldn’t mind if you stayed for a while.” He leaned back against the wall nonchalantly.
                  “Who were those two men at the table? They seem wise beyond their years.”
                  “They are very wise which is why I asked them to come. James was the one in the tunic and Carlen was the one in the zip-up hoodie. When I left my real families home, I ran into James and he took care of me. He taught me a lot about the world. I might have become a bad person if it wasn’t for him.”
                  “I don’t see it. It must have been another life entirely. While I don’t understand the help I’ve received exactly and I can tell there are lot of secrets being kept from me, I am still very grateful for everything.” Norah had to fight to keep her hands at her sides to refrain from touching her cheeks to feel for redness or heat. She had to be blushing in embarrassment. Being the damsel in distress wasn’t her style.
                  “Please don’t worry about it. In fact, let’s have a drink before you go and forget everything.” He smiled, trying to make her feel at ease.
                  “Another wouldn’t hurt. I live within walking distance so you don’t