“Let us help you unravel this,” Steven said. “You saw the video of your interrogation when you were a child. You know how you, your grandmother, and the others who were abducted were implanted somehow with technology that we still don’t understand. To be used as weapons to be tested on the people of this planet. And you…”

“I’m the conduit. Yes. I heard it in that video. And my grandmother said the same.”

“She did?” Blue asked.

William turned back to her. “She would never talk about Argentum or what happened. But in a very bad moment after my grandfather died, I overheard her tell her friend that I was a conduit of some kind. That if triggered, I could cause her to do something terrible to the people around her. It’s why I had to run. I couldn’t risk her safety, or our family’s.”

“That must weigh heavily on her,” Blue said quietly.

“She doesn’t know that I overheard her. She probably assumes I figured something out. I hated isolating myself, but if anyone would understand, it would be her.”

Blue slowly looked over to Lily. “If she knew about that little girl over there and had the chance to talk to her like I did … she would certainly come to the same conclusion. In my talks with Lily—and she is still extremely guarded—she explained that she’s desperate to protect you.”

“Protect me?”

“Rudd debriefed me on everything that happened. Quincy filled in the rest of the blanks of what happened in that cotton field. Poor Lily, she won’t talk about it. But she did say some things. She doesn’t understand why she’s able…”

“To kill,” William said.

“She says she isn’t doing it intentionally. The way the bodies of those agents were described to me by Rudd … she’s making them sick. In an instant. So sick that they’re dead within moments. What the abducted from before were implanted with … is nothing compared to what Lily is able to do. She told me she does it because she thinks she’s protecting you. She says you want her to do it.”

“But, I’m not…”

Blue reached out for his leg. “She says she felt it at that cotton field and at the airport. Even in the agent’s car in Memphis. All she knows is that she feels your fear and anger. She told me what happened when you were in the back seat of the agent’s car. She says she saw him holding you, and she was going to kill him to save you. But she heard your voice, telling her to stop.”

William watched Lily dip her toes in the water. “I think I did. That particular agent seemed like he honestly wanted to protect me. I didn’t want him to die.”

Blue smiled sadly. “Your connection with her is extremely strong.”