“Imagine that,” Chris said. “You in love. That’s like saying a trash fire is hot. That poor Chicken is going to get burned.”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure. They get me in ways nobody else has. I think there’s a way forward, even if I am a trash fire.”

“You aren’t,” Sveta said.

“Okay, thank you. Anyway, it’s neat. That’s your catch-me-up on the happenings of Kenzie.”

“The inherent humor in seeing you get thrown in the clink is the only thing holding my interest right now.”

“And Ashley—what?”

The guard was turning Kenzie around. Her turn.

Out of sight, Kenzie pitched her voice higher to be heard. “Ashley’s actually really neat to be around in whole new ways nowadays. She’s grown and she’s warmer sometimes, and she’s still super cool.”

“A compliment from you is like herpes from a hooker, Kenz. It’s a given.”

“I think you’d be surprised. She’s changing and she’s trying to change, and even if I only get breakfasts—”

The guard barked at her.

“He’s saying to stop talking,” Marquis supplied.

“How do you say ‘that won’t happen’?” Tristan asked. “She’s a talker.”

Marquis paused, smiled, and said a single word.

The guard heaved out a sigh.

“I think that was ‘can’t’,” Marquis said.

“Thanks,” Tristan said.

“Anyway! She’s trying, she’s cool, and even if sometimes all I get to see her is breakfasts and sometimes-hangouts I love being a part of it.”

“I miss you too,” Ashley said.

“Gag me,” Chris said.

“And um, Chris? Cryptid? Lab Rat? Whatever you want to be called?”

His expression changed.

He hadn’t known we knew.

“Um. I get it. I know how frustrating it is to be unable to change, no matter how hard you try. And I know it’s scary too, and lonely.”

“You never got that,” Chris said. “That I don’t get lonely.”

“You do, though. Because ever since we showed up all you’ve done is be angry and push and prod, like you’re trying to prove something. The world’s moved on and you’re stuck being whatever you are and it doesn’t matter how much you change on the outside because on the inside? You’re still a miserable little fucknugget.”

It was, in any other circumstance, the kind of line that would have seen Chris guffaw, laugh, say something.

Silence followed.