“We had a plan, Rayan. Mother has a plan. The woman is not important, only her cooperation is important. Violence is unnecessary, she can simply join the cluster and contribute her credentials and knowledge voluntarily.”

Edison lurched away from the hatch, watching Piero’s hand clamp hard over Rayan’s shoulder. They were still learning about the strange connection between them, but there was no doubting that proximity strengthened that bond. All in one place like that, they had made themselves vulnerable. Piero and Rayan, he knew, were the most lost to the Foxfire, and now he looked on in horror as Rayan gritted his teeth, fighting but helpless, as it took control of him, too.

“You’re sick,” Edison snapped at Piero. “You let that shit rule you? You’re a coward.”

“We rule over you, too,” Piero—the Foxfire—told him.

Pain seared through Edison’s head, and he heard Misato cry out in alarm before dropping to her knees. She put both hands over her face, shivering.

“I never let you do it,” Edison shouted through the hot knife slicing through his brain. “I never want you to do it.”

Rayan’s head snapped up suddenly, frosty white blazing out from his eyes. “Violence is unnecessary. We can gift her bliss. Connection. This is the compromise.”

“No.”

“What is she to you? A little crush? Aw.” This was new. This was Piero’s shithead attitude mixed seamlessly with the alien’s intentions. His eyes were pure white. His voice was his own. “What is she to you? We’re your crew. Your cluster. Listen to your mother.”

Crew. Cluster. None of it meant anything anymore. Rosalyn was the most human thing on the ship, and that was worth saving. Not one more person was going to experience this; Edison was going to fight through it no matter what, he decided, even if he was the only anchor keeping the ship from blowing away in the storm. On the floor next to him Misato wasn’t giving up, though her shoulders trembled harder and harder.

Warm, tempting tendrils licked at the edge of his pain. If he just gave in, the suffering would be over and he could sink into the Foxfire’s influence like a waiting bath.

“No,” he repeated. “No.”

Edison charged at them. Moving made it easier to resist. Running with all of his weight behind one shoulder, he forgot about arguments and reasoning. It was not an elegant solution but a solution nonetheless. Misato stumbled to her feet, grunting in agony as Edison rushed by her, catching Piero off guard. He was already off balance, leaning so hard on Rayan, and now it was easy to aim right at his armpit and send him reeling back toward the door.

There was a loud crack as they collided, and Rayan spun away, managing to land against the wall and huddle there, his eyes still wild and silver.