“We should get cleaned up,” Gloria said, and she smoothed down her hair. “All of us. That new dress, okay, Bids? And Telly, a couple of your shirts are still hanging in the closet. The reporter lady’ll be here soon, and we’re a family, aren’t we? So we got to look like a family.”

ROWAN

I woke up dripping with sweat. A pile of blankets lay on top of me, a pillow tucked under my head. Near my chin I found a small furry bear, black plastic eyeballs, missing its nose. Carl had covered me up and tucked the blankets around me, just like Gran used to do when I was little.

I expected to see the whole cabin destroyed, but the broken frames were back on the wall, hanging crookedly. The glass had been swept from the floor and rug. Books and torn out pages were piled in the shelves on their sides. Even the board-game boxes had been cobbled back together, fake money sticking out.

Carl had cleaned up everything.

I kicked off the blankets, and my skin erupted in goose bumps. My head throbbed and my eyelashes were weighted with crust. I pulled them apart with my fingernails. When I stood up my neck and my legs ached, like I had the flu. Sunlight slanted over the top of a curtain, and I realized it was late afternoon. I’d been sleeping all day. I noticed the couch had been pulled out from the wall. I leaned over, saw Carl sitting behind there, his forehead on his knees. Girl was lying flat, her chin resting on his shoes. Carl was humming. It was a gritty, sore throat kind of hum that came out in a long stream. Then he sputtered and rapidly sucked in air before starting again.

Girl opened an eye then stretched out a paw. Carl mumbled and grunted and up came his huge head. There were more bits of metal nipped on his beard. He squeezed his swollen eyes together, and when he lifted his hands to rub them I saw that his fingertips and palms were crisscrossed with deep red lines. He was covered in cuts. He must have hurt himself while he was straightening up.

He lowered his hands and opened his eyes. “Magic Boy.” His voice was raspy. “The circuits are broken now.”

“But your hands, Carl—”

“Urh,” he said. “Found the wires. I contained the breach and threw them off our trail. Fixed everything like it was. We’re okay now.” He wiggled his fingers and winced. “It’s secure, Magic Boy. We can stay.”

“Carl,” I said softly. “Do you want a wet cloth or a Band-Aid?”

He shook his head and his shoulders slumped further. I waited, Girl yawned and resettled, and then the humming returned.