“Fortunately for us, Tahlia disabled her own support system several weeks ago, to see what would happen. The blooming accelerates after the supports are gone, giving way to a process she calls ‘flowering.’ Because of that accelerated process, it’s not possible to bring the supports back. There’s no room for them.”

I scowled. “This is a lot of prologue. I’d like the text, please.”

“Your body needs blood to live. You don’t make blood anymore.” Jeff walked over and set the cooler next to me. “We’re carnivorous plants. Hooray for us. I suppose all those Little Shop of Horrors jokes Toni was making weren’t too far off after all.”

I stared at him.

“Stasia named her cat ‘Seymour,’” commented Mandy. “Think she knew on some level?”

“She knew she wasn’t a vegan, and she knew she liked her meat rare,” said Graham. They both had a teasing, jocular note in their voices, like they’d known how difficult this was going to be for me, and wanted to make sure I came through it as easily as possible.

“We eat people?” I squeaked.

“What did you think you were invading our planet for? The weather?” Lucas finally moved toward me, a scowl on his face and his hands balled into fists. I couldn’t think of the last time I’d seen him that angry. “You’re coming here to eat us. To steal our world and eat us. How do you think that makes us feel?”

“I never lied to you.”

“You didn’t say ‘Hi, my people are on their way to eat you,’ either.”

“Ignore Lucas, he’s in a bad mood because Roxanna told everyone he’d been harboring an alien in his house, and that makes him a sympathizer.” Mandy looked coolly at Lucas as she spoke. “Then she dumped him. In the middle of a dinner party. It was incredibly embarrassing, and if I were him, I’d probably still be locked in my room. But he’s not, because his friend was in trouble, and he needed to help. He’s not as much of a dick as he seems, even if he is pissed off.”

“I didn’t know we were coming here to eat you,” I said. I stroked the cooler unconsciously. It wasn’t hard to guess what had to be inside, not with all this talk of blood. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t my idea.”

“Do you think that makes it better?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know a lot of things. I don’t even know what day of the week it is, or where the invasion is, or when it’s going to happen.” Part of me—a large part of me—hoped it would happen soon. I could no longer pass for human without a long-sleeved shirt, and a glance at Jeff’s green face was enough to tell me even that wouldn’t be enough for much longer. My time as a member of this planet’s dominant species was slipping away, replaced by new identity as an invader.

“It doesn’t.”