Then, every square inch of the two-way mirror that lined the room bloomed into blackness like film stock melting on a projector, charring the glass as if it were made of plastic, and there was a low-frequency hum, so low he could more feel than hear it, that rattled his bones. Kaveh continued to reach for the door, but couldn’t move, could hardly breathe. He heard Luciana cry out, but she was similarly frozen in place.

Then the low-frequency hum slowed, the air thinned. He could breathe. He could move. He reached for the door, expecting it to be fused in place, but was surprised to find it unlocked. He flung the door open, and the first thing he saw was the blood spatter, which flowed in erratic lines like a Jackson Pollock. It took a moment for his conscious, logical mind to accept that it wasn’t as much as it looked like, not even a pint of blood, and a pint spread out over the floor looked like far more than it actually was.

She was lying next to it, her eyes glassy and looking to the ceiling. Ampersand was back in his position in the corner, but tense now, a rattlesnake warning any on-comers to stay back. Kaveh didn’t wait for permission but ran to Cora, Luciana at his side, grabbing the wrist that had only seconds earlier been gushing blood everywhere. There was blood still all over the wrist, up and down her arm, some even spurted onto her shirt and neck, but the gash was gone. There was no evidence that she had ever injured herself. What had she told him? He’s very good at repairing human bodies.

He felt someone push him out of the way and nearly fought back, nearly tackled the person shoving him. It was Kaplan, who, without a word, picked Cora up and carried her out of the room.

* * *

“Absolutely not,” said Kaplan, barging into the doctor’s small office, Kaveh right behind him.

Dr. Gene Hossein, the doctor on staff, took the phone away from his ear and slammed it onto the cradle. “She is a danger to herself, she’s going. I’m calling in a 5150.”

“And what the hell is she going to tell the doctors in a mental hospital?” demanded Kaplan. “‘I stabbed myself to provoke a catatonic alien into fixing me’?”

“I don’t care what she tells a mental ward psychiatrist,” said Hossein. “And either way, if she goes into excruciating truthful detail, they won’t believe her.”

“She is the subject of the most widely circulated photograph in the world right now!” thundered Kaplan. “Yes, I think they might believe her.”

“Anything she tells them will be protected by HIPAA,” said Hossein. “And either way, to reiterate, after a point, we have to care more about the human cost than what does or does not get leaked.”