[ASYLUM. ASYLUM. ASYLUM. ASYLUM.]

Then it became clear what was happening; this wasn’t a coordinated request, this was a rebellion. None of the Fremda group except for Esperas and Ampersand were supposed to communicate with humans, but Woodward and Bernstein had apparently decided enough was enough; it was time to break out of their rigid caste system.

[ASYLUM. ASYLUM. ASYLUM.]

Stevie was on her feet in a second, ushering the two toward the door nearest to them. All of this happened so quickly that no one had noticed Ampersand’s initial stumble, but everyone saw him collapse onto the floor.

[ASYLUM. ASYLUM. ASYLUM.]

Cora jumped in front of him as he struggled to stand back up, straining like a four-hundred-pound bird that had been shot out of the sky. She grabbed the sides of his head below his eyes, tilted his face toward hers.

[ASYLUM. ASYLUM.]

The screeching continued even after Woodward and Bernstein had been ushered into the hallway. Brako and Esperas turned their attention to Ampersand. Esperas moved behind Brako, and spoke:

[That one is diseased. That one is dangerous.]

“Come on, we have to get you out of here,” said Cora, straining to lift Ampersand’s head up in the hope it would help him stand. “Someone open the door!”

Everyone stared at her, dumb, even their military escorts, until Luciana leaped to her feet and opened the door directly behind Ampersand. Cora grabbed him by his wrists and pulled him toward the open door. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Brako make a move toward them, then felt a forceful electromagnetic blast, one that shielded her but hit Brako, shoving him against the opposite wall and pushed him right through the drywall.

By now, Ampersand was coherent enough to move, but not coherent enough to do much else. He was trying to slip into invisibility as Cora dragged him down the hall, bewildered humans gawping as patches of his body slipped in and out of invisibility, sliding all over him like splotches of paint.

The Similar wasn’t following them, even if half the Department of Health and Human Services was, alongside their dopey military escort. She made it to the door of his lair, bypassing most of the usual rituals. First the door key card. She could do this, she could hold it together. Second door, thumbprint. Fuck the fucking paperwork, the bureaucrats could handle that. Then they made it inside, and she closed the door behind them.

“Take us out of here!”

Out of the carapace on his back slid the liquid metal casing that he used to transport himself within the Earth’s lower atmosphere. It slid over him as he lowered himself to the floor, pulling her close as he lowered into a crouch, covering them both in the liquid metal and in darkness.

Then she opened her eyes, and they were on the floor of her bedroom, the setting sun sending bright red rays through the dust that hung in the air. She took in a loud gasp of air, pushing Ampersand off her. The gasp, the loud noise, frightened him, she could feel it.