“Mask with a few settings,” Kenzie said. She pulled out a high-tech mask, metal around the edges to give a general circular shape to the clear pane for her face, but she didn’t put it on. She held up a disc, then clipped it to the front of her overalls, so it was directly over the pocket at her chest. “This is kind of a costume thing I haven’t finalized.”

“Good,” I said. “Great.”

“I transform,” Chris said. “Changer.”

I made a motion for him to continue.

He sounded aggrieved, like it was my fault he had to explain at all, “I don’t know what else you want. I have a few different forms. They’re inspired by my moods and mental states.”

“You give them names based on what mood or state they’re from,” Kenzie said. “Like Creeping Anxiety and Wistful Distraction.”

“Yeah,” Chris said. “Look, the rest of you know. Explain. I’m going to go change.”

He grabbed his bag and hefted it over one shoulder, then began trudging uphill.

“These forms reflect the feelings?” I asked.

“Very much so,” Sveta said.

“It sounds like he has more than a few forms,” I said.

“Eight or more, as far as I’ve counted,” Kenzie said. “He said a few, but I think he loses track. There’s wiggle room in each form, too. It depends on a lot of factors. Diet, time since he last used a form, if he pushes for something in the middle.”

“He’s strong,” Ashley said.

“He might be,” Tristan said.

Kenzie continued to volunteer information. “The forms tend to come with pretty heavy weakness. Anxiety is quick but fragile. That sort of thing.”

“I think I get it,” I said. “Can I ask why he’s in the group?”

“The drawbacks,” Tristan said.

“The fragility isn’t a drawback?” I asked.

“It’s one. He doesn’t change all the way back.”

“What?” I asked.

Tristan explained, “He changes to one, he gets a little taller, a little stronger, a little more sluggish. He changes to another, gets better eyes, ears…”

“Thus the headphones,” Kenzie said.

“…and less responsive in hand-eye coordination to go with it. He tries to balance, but lately it’s been getting worse.”

“What happens if he doesn’t change?”

“The body stays the same,” Sveta said. “He doesn’t change physically.”

“Which is good.”

“But he doesn’t change mentally either. He says he can’t tap those emotions he’s not using, he can’t think as clearly, his thoughts go in circles.”

“Lose-lose,” I said.

“Something like that,” Ashley said.

I could hear Chris’s approach, now. The sound of branches breaking underfoot, the rustling of under- and overgrowth.