William exhaled. “It’s stronger than you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“I dream of her.”

“You do?” Steven asked.

“Just her eyes. About a year ago, I started having these nightmares when I moved to Little Rock. I dream of awful things, in different places. Fires, storms, shootings, people suffering. But just days ago, in the nightmares, I started seeing the eyes. A different single pair at each disaster. I often see people dying at a hospital, and when I do, one pair of deep brown eyes watches as well. Lily’s eyes.”

“My God.” Blue’s hand cupped her chin. “William, this is important. Just one pair of eyes? In each disaster?”

“I think so.”

“That’s what we’ve theorized,” she said.

“Here’s what we think,” Steven said. “The original people who were abducted and were later taken away by those ships … we think they were ultimately determined to be … flawed. You read the letter Blue wrote as a young woman, about the woman causing the hurricane, how her ears seemed to bleed?”

“I read about it in so many other cases. It was horrible seeing what became of them once they were triggered,” Blue shivered. “Once their abilities were unleashed, they were vegetables afterwards. Comatose. Those ships arrived in Argentum and in every place in the world where the SSA had collected them. Those people were picked up like broken toys and taken away. What happened to them, we may never know. But seeing Lily … we think we understand the next phase.”

“The next phase?”

“You’ve seen Lily—her ears don’t bleed, she doesn’t cry out in pain. She’s enhanced. As soon as she’s triggered, she ignites without warning, as easily as batting an eye. And then she continues on, as if nothing happened. We believe those lights from the heavens a year ago were the abductions of new people. The subsequent lights a day or so later were them being returned. Lily came from North Dakota, which is at the center of the spike in diseases. I believe here in the South, another is causing the hurricanes. Another is causing the uptick in violence on the East Coast, and yet another the fires in the West. And you, William, were drawn to the center of them all. You are the conduit.”

William rubbed his forehead. “And this is all happening through me.”

“We don’t know that for sure. But you’re obviously connected to them. It’s why the SSA wants to bring you in,” Steven said.

“And they should.” William placed his hands behind his head. “We’re all dangerous. They should lock us up and throw away the key.”

“No,” Blue said. “That’s not the answer. After talking with Lily, and knowing your connection to her … I wonder if you are the answer. The way to stop it all.”

“How can I stop it if I’m starting it?”