“Then at least you’ll have a head start.” I felt a pang of guilt. This was going to leave only Toni and David to flesh out the menu. Four plant people and two humans was a very different balance than four and five.

But it wasn’t going to last for long. That was why it had to change.

“Stasia, please.”

“No.” I stepped forward, grabbing his hand and kissing it fiercely. It had been days since we’d made love, but in that moment, it felt like I could remember every time he’d ever touched my skin, every brush of his body against mine. It should have been overwhelming. Instead, it felt like coming, however briefly, home. “I love you. I love all of you, in different ways—even you, Lucas, you asshole. Get out of here.”

“What if we tell the authorities where to find you?” Lucas demanded.

“Then you tell the authorities,” I said. I shrugged. “I don’t know that I care anymore. The armada is coming. You don’t want to be here when it arrives. Now will you go?”

“I’ll see you again,” Graham promised, pulling his hand out of mine.

I forced myself to smile. “I know,” I said, and stood there watching as he threw the truck into gear and drove away, rolling for an impossibly long time down the stretch of road between us and the curve of the nearest mountain. Then the land dipped beneath the tires, and they dropped out of sight, heading for freedom, heading for the future.

Everything seemed suddenly very real to me. The sun baking down on my skin was a furnace, and I knew it was encouraging my vegetable heart to grow and digest what little life was left in my stolen humanity. The air was virtually motionless. What little wind there was seemed entirely devoted to blowing sand against my uncovered ankles. I realized with a start that I wasn’t wearing shoes, and more, that my feet didn’t hurt. I looked down. The driveway was covered in small stones, like every other piece of smooth ground I’d seen in Arizona. Cautiously, I lifted one foot and twisted it so I could see the bottom.

The skin had sloughed fully away, replaced by a textured expanse of brown that looked almost like bark. I poked it. The feeling transmitted sluggishly, more concept than actual sensation. I closed my eyes and lowered my foot again.

Staying behind had been the right decision. Getting them out of here had been the right decision. The fact that both currently felt so very wrong didn’t matter. I’d done the right thing. I had.

Eyes still closed, I turned and walked back to the house.