“HE SEEKS OUR OTHER COUSIN, OUR NOBLE OBELUS. NOBLE OBELUS IS BEING PURSUED BY MULTIPLE PARTIES. DOES OUR DEAR BELOVED KNOW? PERHAPS HE DOESN’T. NOBLE OBELUS AND HIS THREE SUBORDINATES, THE THREE SUBORDINATES DID LEAVE THIS PLANET, ONLY TO LEARN THAT NOBLE OBELUS STILL LIVED. THEY WERE INSTRUCTED BY THEIR SUPERORGANISM TO RETURN, WITH NOBLE OBELUS ALIVE AND INTACT.”

“The Obelus Similars are still here?” She stood up, ready to bolt, like Obelus’s three subordinate Similars might be hiding in the shadows.

“THE THREE OBELUS SUBORDINATES DO NOT SEEK TO KILL THEIR FORMER SUPERIOR; THEY SEEK TO CAPTURE HIM AND RETURN HIM TO HIS AUTOCRAT, ALIVE.”

“Are they looking for Ampersand, too?” she asked. “Dear Beloved” could only refer to Ampersand.

“THEY HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED ONLY TO RETRIEVE NOBLE OBELUS.”

“What’s he saying?” asked Kaveh. Cora ignored him.

“ONLY WHAT WILL OUR DEAR BELOVED DO WITH HIS OBELUS ONCE HE RECAPTURES HIM? KEEP HIM ALIVE, INDEFINITELY? I DO NOT BELIEVE HE HAS A PLAN. AND THAT IS GOOD, LITTLE COUSIN, FOR THEN HE WILL LET OBELUS RETURN TO HIS AUTOCRAT, AND HE WILL JOIN ME.”

“Join you for what?”

“JOIN ME IN DEATH.”

She was stone still, not believing what she was hearing. She could feel Kaveh staring at her, watching the look of growing horror on her face.

“SHALL YOU BE JOINING US, TOO, LITTLE COUSIN?”

Her eyes stung, and she backed away from the creature toward the mouth of the cave.

“FREE ME.”

She backed away quicker, leaving a confused Kaveh behind. “No.”

“What’s he saying?” asked Kaveh, starting to get irritated. “What’s going on?”

“He’s asking me to let him go.”

Enola’s head jerked against the restraints, fast and unnatural, and at last, his eyes seemed to come into focus, more like Obelus’s than Ampersand’s. They had that oil-slick iridescence, blues and purples like a cloud nebula. “I asked you to free me.”

“I can’t do that, even if I wanted to, I can’t. Please don’t ask.”

“IT IS NOT MY ENDEAVOR TO HARM YOU. ONLY TO ALLEVIATE MY OWN PAIN. THIS I CAN DO, BUT ONLY IF YOU FREE ME.”

“I’m telling you, I can’t.”

“FREE ME.” The voice was filling with static.

“I said no!”

Then the static turned into a cacophony, shrieking like a thousand untuned violins. She clapped her hands to her ears, screaming and stumbling outside.

“What is it?” Kaveh was beside her.

“Get it out!” she cried. “Get it out!”

“Get what out?”

“In my ears! The earbuds! Get them out!” she begged, the sound making her feel like she was detaching from reality.

Kaveh whipped out his pocketknife, flipped out a pair of tweezers. He said something to her, but she couldn’t hear him. He gestured for her to get on the ground.