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“A room that used to belong to the Department of Paranormal down in the basement of the post office. Evie and I broke in,” Sam said.
Will blanched. “Did anyone see you breaking in?”
“No,” Sam said. “Why?”
Will let out a deep breath. “Because… because that was a government office and you could be arrested.”
“Still waiting for that answer,” Sam demanded.
“Yes, we all are,” Evie chimed in.
“We thought we could create a generation of extraordinary Americans with extraordinary powers.” Will sagged into one of the club chairs. “We thought we were doing something good for the country.”
Sam was starting to piece together what he’d been trying to ignore. “My mother was sick with me on the boat over from Russia. Rotke singled her out at immigration. Is that how you picked your subjects? Did you camp out at Ellis Island waiting for all the immigrants coming through?”
“We did choose from immigrants, yes,” Sister Walker said. The fireplace lent an otherworldly glow to her cheekbones.
“Would you tell them they couldn’t come into the country if they said no to your little ‘vitamin tonic’?” Sam spat.
“It wasn’t just immigrants.” Memphis’s voice shimmered with anger. “You went after your own people.”
Sister Walker glared. “Did you want to be left out of the new America? Or should those special powers belong only to white folks?”
Memphis had never felt so conflicted. He was appalled by Sister Walker’s choices even as he understood them. “What about Isaiah? My mother wasn’t in the program by the time he was born. How did he…?”
“Sister?” Isaiah prompted.
For the first time since they’d arrived, Sister Walker seemed at a loss. She lifted the poker from its stand, and, though it needed no help at all, she stoked the fire, staring into the flames as she spoke. “It appears to stay in the cells. A mutation that can affect future children.”
“What else does it do to the cells?” In Memphis’s mind, he saw his mother’s gaunt face and cracked lips as she stared up at the ceiling, the cancer eating her up. She had been only thirty-five.
Sister Walker returned the poker to its proper place. “We don’t really know,” she said softly.
Memphis balled his fists at his sides. “You shot our mothers up with this stuff, and you didn’t even know what it would do?”
“We had to be willing to take certain risks—”
“Take ’em yourself. Leave us out of it!”
“Did they know?” Henry said with a rare flash of anger. “Did you tell our mothers what you were doing? Or did you lie to them?”
“We felt it best to keep it quiet,” Will said. “We told them we were giving them vitamins to help with their pregnancies, which was true. Many of those women would’ve lost their babies without—”
“Stop defending it!” Evie said, leaving her seat and coming to stand beside Henry. “They’re human beings, Will—women, not things! You experimented on them—on your own sister—and you didn’t tell them!”
“Not intentionally.”
“What does that mean?”
Will kept his eyes trained on the Persian rug.
Sister Walker’s voice was church quiet. “Will.”
“No,” Will whispered.
“For the last time—tell us the truth!” Evie demanded.
“I administered the formula to James when he was a child!” Will admitted.
