Charlie heard John cough from the room behind them, and relief rushed through her. He’s going to be okay. He’s alive. Elizabeth glanced back as though considering him, then trained her eyes on Charlie and took two deliberate steps forward.

“Charlie!” John called from outside.

“It’s okay, John,” Elizabeth answered, her voice indistinguishable from Charlie’s. “I’ll be right out.” Instantaneously, she looked like Charlie again, not the grown-up Charlie she had been masquerading as, but Charlie as she was really, a mirror reflection. She shifted awkwardly, her eyes darting back toward John for just a moment, then gave Charlie a cruel smile. “How far do you think I could get with him before he noticed?” she whispered.

“You’re right, Elizabeth,” Charlie said. Elizabeth’s smile faded. “I was never supposed to be here.”

“No?” Elizabeth took the last step, closing the distance between them. She gripped Charlie by the neck, pressing up against her.

“Neither of us were.” Charlie gripped the rag doll close to her chest. Elizabeth frowned in confusion, then peered over Charlie’s shoulder, seeing the robot standing directly behind her. Charlie flinched her other hand, which was behind her back, doing something unseen with a quick motion. A metal pulley screamed.

Charlie closed her eyes, hugging the doll, and when the knife went through them, it did not hurt.

Elizabeth gasped as the blade plunged through her, too, sounding almost human. Charlie saw Elizabeth’s face, rigid with shock, then it was gone, replaced by the smooth metal plates of her robotic form. Sparks burst in the air above her as Charlie’s vision began to fade, and the smell of hot plastic came to her from very far away.

“It’s not fair.” Elizabeth’s voice sputtered with static. “I never had a life.”

Charlie struggled to take in a breath, still clutching the rag doll to her chest. She reached for Elizabeth’s dangling hand clumsily and caught it; Elizabeth looked at her confusedly, and Charlie strained to pull her hand up to the rag doll. Fumbling, she closed Elizabeth’s fingers around the doll, then, still holding her hand, Charlie pushed with the last of her strength, sliding the doll across the four-inch stretch of blade between them until it rested against Elizabeth’s chest. Charlie tried to smile, but everything was dark; she had forgotten how to see. Charlie felt her head fall forward, and could not pull it up again. Elizabeth twitched for a moment longer, rattling the blade that pierced them both, then her head slumped forward, too, resting against Charlie’s forehead.

Charlie! John was screaming her name. CHARLIE!

I love you, too. The words didn’t come, and then there was nothing at all.

*  *  *