Except it’s not true. If we’re going to work together—the two of us, or the two species—we have to trust each other. We can’t start that relationship with a lie.

She shook her head. “I’m not a human.”

“You said you were.”

“I thought I was,” said Kira, “for my whole life. I grew up with them. I still feel human. But I’m a Partial.”

“Partials link,” he said simply. “Partials don’t age. You don’t look like any Partial model I’ve ever seen.”

“I was a new model,” said Kira. “A prototype for a new line, after the war. That’s why Dr. Morgan wanted to study me, because she thought my DNA would help her cure expiration. But it didn’t work. I don’t have any of your heightened abilities—none of the strength, none of the reflexes, maybe some slightly accelerated healing. And I can link, sort of, but only one way.”

Green looked shocked. “You mean you can . . .” His mouth hung open, and he covered his mouth and nose with his hands, almost like he was protecting his breath. “You mean you can link me but I can’t link you? You can feel everything I do, without giving anything back?”

“Not all of it,” said Kira, though she was definitely linking him now: a confused mixture of shock and disgust. She realized that as naked as she felt knowing Green knew her secret, he must have felt even worse knowing that she could shamelessly, imperceptibly, unstoppably eavesdrop on his every emotion. The Partials were accustomed to sharing everything with one another, living in a permanently communal emotional state, but to have that state invaded by an outsider—one who didn’t share her own emotions in return—must feel like a violation.

“I’m sorry,” said Kira. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I should have.”

“Just . . . run,” said Green, breaking back into a jog as he ran past her up the road. “We need to get out of here before anyone notices we’re gone.”

Kira followed him but kept a respectful distance where she couldn’t link him. Even so, running in his wake, she caught the occasional whiff of confusion or sadness or fear.

Samm never reacted like this, she thought, but he had time to get used to it. We practically lived together for weeks before we found out I was a Partial. And Heron . . . who knows what Heron thinks about anything? She used to deal with humans all the time, so maybe it’s not a big deal for her.

But it is a big deal. To Green, and likely to others.