“Elizabeth!” he snapped. “Do as I say.” The animatronic girl stopped moving at once, looking startled, and for a moment almost seemed to tremble. Jessica held her breath, wondering if anyone knew, or cared, that she had just heard the exchange. The girl immediately regained her composure, her eyes relaxing, then opened the drawer and took out a pair of rubber gloves, which she fitted easily over her metal hands. He settled back, and the girl came to him and bent over to press a button on the side of his chair. The chair made a pneumatic hiss and reclined, flattening out like a bed, and the girl placed her foot on a lever at the chair’s base. She stepped on it, and the chair jerked upward. Afton made a pained grunt, and Jessica winced reflexively. The girl hit the lever again, yanking the chair up another inch, then stopped and flipped the monitor back on. It began to beep again at slightly irregular intervals, and she levered the chair up rapidly, jolting Afton’s frail body as it rose. The girl darted her eyes from the monitor to Afton and back again, attentive to his vital signs. When the chair reached waist-height, she stepped back, apparently satisfied. Afton let out a rattling breath, then lifted his hand an inch to point at Jessica.

“Come closer,” he said. She took a small step, and he curled his lips in a smile or a sneer. “I want you to watch what happens next,” he said.

“What’s going to happen next?” Jessica asked, hearing her own voice shake.

“How did the creatures at Freddy’s move, of their own will, with no outside force controlling them?” he asked mildly. He tilted his head, waiting.

“The children were still inside. Their souls were inside those creatures,” she said, the words brittle. She felt brittle, like if anything touched her now, she might easily break apart.

Afton sneered again.

“Oh, Jessica, come now. What else?” She closed her eyes. What is he talking about? “What else was inside them, to bind their spirits so inseparably to the bear, to the rabbit, to the fox? How did they die, Jessica?”

Jessica gasped, covering her mouth with both hands, as if she could stop herself from knowing, as long as she did not speak. “How, Jessica?” Afton demanded, and she lowered her hands, trying to steady her breath.

“You killed them,” she said, and he made an impatient sound. She met his eyes again, not flinching from the empty socket. “They died in the suits,” she said hoarsely. “Their bodies were bound inside, along with their souls.”