“I’m coming to get you.” Then he hung up.

She snapped the phone shut, keeping her free hand up over her head as though Ampersand might hit her. Leaning over the bed, his body easily transversed its width, and he was practically on top of her. “What happened?”

“The man. Your hostage. He was in the cave with Enola. He had one of your earbuds.”

“Oh, God, what did you do to him?”

“Why was he there alone? Why are you here? How did he get the earbud?”

“He asked me for it,” she said, exhaustion prickling the corners of her eyes. “He said he wanted to talk to Enola. I didn’t think he’d do it right away!”

“You freed your hostage with no guarantee of his silence.”

“I . . . thought he might be a valuable asset. He’ll keep quiet as long as he thinks there’s something in it for him. You didn’t hurt him, did you?”

He just stared at her with his inscrutable alien gaze.

“Ampersand!”

“No. He returned to his vehicle.”

She let out a sigh of relief, throwing off the comforter and heading into the bathroom to pee and get a glass of water. When she returned, Ampersand had parked himself right in the middle of the bed like he was settling down to watch his stories on TV, tucking his hands under him daintily in that deerlike pose.

“Are you going to just leave Enola there in that cave?”

“I have no choice until I locate Obelus.”

“Yeah, about that,” she said, remembering what Enola had told her right before he had filled her ears with every tuning violin in history. “Enola said Obelus’s three Similars are still here, looking for him. Is that true?”

“Yes. Obelus’s subordinates returned upon direction from their Autocrat.”

“Enola said they want him alive.”

“I believe that the most likely instruction.”

“So what can I do? How can I help?”

“You cannot help me.”

“I’ve done it before.” She gestured to the pulse emitter, which she’d left in easy reach on the bedside table, just in case. “That’s why you made that thing for me, isn’t it? I’m on your side. Don’t do this alone. Let me help you.”

“If the American military becomes aware that Obelus’s Similars are still on Earth, they will respond with force, which will only result in more human deaths.”

“You’ll have a better shot at finding Obelus if the U.S. surveillance panopticon is involved.”

“If the surveillance apparatus finds him, then his Similars will find and extract him immediately. If you intend to disclose the truth of Obelus to the militarists, I will prevent it.”