Still, it felt good to be going home, no matter what awaited him there. If the cops didn’t grab him he’d head straight to Jokertown. He’d take Father Squid to Our Lady of Perpetual Misery. Father Squid had said it was a sanctuary. Now it would be his sanctuary forever after.

Maybe, Marcus thought, it’ll be mine, too.

“Father,” Marcus said, “I’m taking you home.”

Michelle opened her eyes. Looking down at her was Joey. There was a fresh bandage on Joey’s forehead where Mollie had taken a bite out of her eyebrow.

“About fucking time you woke up.”

Michelle started to sit up and discovered that she was weak. Her hands instinctively went to her body to check for fat. She felt hipbones and ribs, then stopped. Time enough to put fat on later. But she hurt. She still hurt.

“There’s someone here to see you,” Joey said. There was an odd tone in her voice.

Michelle shoved herself up. She saw a joker girl sitting in the corner. Michelle took her to be fourteen or fifteen, about the age Michelle had been when she’d been emancipated from her parents. The girl wore faded jeans, low-cut Converse Chucks, and an American Hero T-shirt.

She had high cheekbones, wideset brown eyes, lush, full lips, and coppery dreads down to her waist. Her skin was the color of obsidian. Antennae rose from her forehead. When she stood, large, iridescent wings partially unfolded from her back.

“Adesina?” Michelle asked. It couldn’t be. This couldn’t be her daughter. But she knew in her gut that this strange girl was Adesina.

“Hey, Mom,” her daughter replied, walking to the edge of Michelle’s bed. Her voice was recognizable as Adesina’s, but it was deeper and more resonant. Instead of a puppy-sized insect body, Adesina’s figure was human in size and shape save for four vestigial insect legs along her torso. She’d cut slits into her T-shirt to accommodate them.

“You’re so different,” Michelle said. She reached out and touched Adesina’s cheek. It wasn’t soft and warm anymore. It was cold and hard.

“I’m still the same on the inside. I’m still your daughter. You’re still my mom.”

“And you saved me,” Michelle said as her hand fell away from Adesina’s face. Guilt washed over her. “In the catacombs. You shouldn’t have been there. All the things you must have seen…”

“It’s okay, Mom.” Adesina gestured to her body. “See, I’m fine. And you’re okay now, too.” But there was a slight tremble in her voice.

She’s not fine at all, Michelle thought. A hard lump formed in Michelle’s throat, and she tried not to cry.

All Michelle had wanted was to protect Adesina. That was her responsibility. It’s what mothers did. They kept their children safe. That was what everything had been for.

Going to Talas. The terror. All the death. Aero.

But she hadn’t protected Adesina at all. If she had, then there wouldn’t be this stranger standing next to her bed. The stranger her daughter had had to turn into to survive.