“En—N-Nikola!” she whispered, giving up on trying to shake Ampersand back to coherence, keeping her arms protectively wrapped around his neck.

“DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED, LITTLE COUSIN. THEY WILL NOT HARM YOU. I WILL NOT ALLOW IT.”

She refrained from stating the obvious: There are three of them, and they are all bigger than you. She had seen enough to know that, at least where Similars were concerned, the size of their bodies correlated more or less with the size of their power cores, meaning that bigger ones were more powerful. And all three of them were larger than either Enola or Ampersand.

He is delusional, too, she thought. He thinks he stands a chance against them, and we’re all going to die.

She looked down at Ampersand, whose eyes were fluttering, dim, and unfocused. He’d stopped seizing, had descended into something of a “safe mode.” As best she could tell, all his higher cognitive systems, everything from the ability to stand to the ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields to the algorithm that allowed him to understand human language, were completely shut down. The only thing still operating was life support.

The three Similars moved closer, causing Enola to back up so much that he nearly stood over Cora and Ampersand, and the leader spat something at Enola, who responded in turn, assertive but calm.

“THEY BELIEVE BOTH OF US SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF OUR MISERY, BUT OUR BELOVED MOST OF ALL. THEY WILL NOT DO THIS YET, HOWEVER, BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE OUR BELOVED MAY STILL BE WITHHOLDING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE WHEREABOUTS OF HIS NOBLE OBELUS, KNOWLEDGE THEY INTEND TO TRY TO TAKE BY FORCE.”

She looked at the three of them, brilliant in the morning light, which was by now so bright against the salt it hurt her eyes, and that animal fear that so often made her wake up screaming had mutated into anger. “Tell them he is mine. They can’t have him.”

She didn’t expect Enola to relay that message, but it looked to her like he did, which only seemed to confuse the three Similars. For the first time, the leader looked down at her, its intensity nearly knocking the wind out of her. The three took a step toward her but halted before they could get anywhere, seeming to hit an invisible wall. On instinct, she held Ampersand closely, half expecting him to wake up and reveal his secret plan that would save them.

Again, the Similars tried to move, but couldn’t.

“What do we do?” she asked.

“DON’T BE AFRAID, LITTLE COUSIN. I WILL MAKE THEM LEAVE.”