She brushed past Prudence, limping into the dining room, where she found the other girls clustered around a metal pot filled with the gruel. They jostled with each other to stick their bowl into the pot. On the other side of the dining room, the boys gathered around a pot of their own, elbowing and shoving each other for position.

"Stop! You can't eat this. It's poisoned!" she shouted.

No one heard her. She charged into the group of girls, knocking bowls to the floor. Hands clawed at her, trying to force her back. "You can't eat this. He's trying to kill us all!" she screamed. Someone wrapped an arm around her throat and dragged her away from the pot. She elbowed her attacker in the ribs but the girl didn't let go.

"Why should we believe you?" Phyllis growled in Samantha's ear. "You're the one who got us locked in here to start with." The fighting over the gruel escalated into pushing and hair-pulling. Samantha continued struggling against Phyllis, but in her weakened state couldn't free herself.

Then the grip around her neck loosened, replaced by a tender arm across her shoulders. "Come on, let's get you back to bed," Prudence said. "When everyone's done I'll bring you some food and you'll see there's nothing to worry about."

"No, Prudence, you can't. You can't eat this. You have to believe me."

"How do you know?"

"I've tasted it before, in a dream. Or maybe it wasn't a dream. It was so real, like I was really there."

Prudence put a hand to her forehead again. "Samantha, you're ill. You need some rest."

"No! You can't let this happen, Prudence. You can't let him do this!" Prudence started to lead Samantha back towards the bedroom. Samantha looked across the room to where the boys had begun taking swings at each other to get their share of the food. In the midst of the fighting, little Wendell crawled along the floor with a bowl.

"Wendell, don't!" Samantha broke away from Prudence and raced across the dining room, her pain forgotten. She reached Wendell as he raised the bowl to his lips. She dove forward, the tips of her fingers knocking the bowl from his hands.

"That was mine," Wendell said. "Get your own."

She grabbed the little boy by the hand. "I'm sorry, but you can't have any of that. It will kill you."

"What do you know? You're just a stupid girl."

"Wendell, please, you have to believe me. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you." She pinched his cheek, prompting a shy smile from him. "Let's go."




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