Cassie uncapped the water on her side, unwrapped a bar, and met me at the foot of the bed. We sat and ate our snacks and stared at the framed Japanese dragon on the wall. This was so much better than the Krispy Kremes and coffee in the break room inside that warehouse of horrors with Malia. I wondered if I’d see her again, and hoped not.

“I’m exhausted,” Cassie mumbled with her mouth full of goo.

I sighed, feeling like a sail with no wind. A guitarist with no pick. A father with no son. The only movement in the room was our chewing. The only sound our swallows.

“We’re going to have to fight,” she said.

I had known that from the beginning. “I thought you said aggression would only antagonize them.”

“Fighting and antagonizing are two different things.” She had not stopped staring at the dragon.

“What are you now, Bruce Lee?” I said.

She smiled without turning. “Steven Seagal.”

“We’re fucked, then. That guy is an overweight cop in Louisiana.”

Cassie took a sip of water and so did I. I shivered as the damp T-shirt turned my body cold. Too bad I’d left my damn duffel bag with a spare change of clothes behind.

“I wish I knew who we were fighting,” I said.

“Anyone who tries to keep us from Rox.”

“Yeah, well. Height and reach may help. Weight class, preference of weapon. That sort of thing.”

I wondered where the camera was positioned in this room. Not that it mattered. Best to assume you’re always being watched.

“Life is war,” Cassie said.

“I thought you said life was love.”

“Life is love. And love is fighting.”

“I thought love was letting go.”

I opened another granola bar and split it in two.

Cassie scooted closer to me, our bodies now touching. “In the Bhagavad Gita,” she said. It’s a Hindu scripture. I’m telling you, this is what she does. “Krishna, who is like the embodiment of God, is preparing His disciple Arjuna for battle. Arjuna looks out at the army he is being commanded to fight and sees within it his brothers and sisters and friends, men, women, and children. ‘How can I fight them?’ he asks, thinking it would be better to surrender or run away than kill everyone he loves. Krishna answers by showing Arjuna His true form. And it’s the most ferocious image you can imagine. His eyes are like angry suns, his mouth is a blazing furnace. Arjuna sees warriors gnashed to small bits inside Krishna’s teeth. He’s terrified. He thought Krishna was the source of all love, and wonders why he’s presenting such a frightening image of Himself. And then Krishna says, ‘I am the destroyer of worlds. These people you love will die whether or not you fight. I have killed them already. You fight to free them and find the greatness in yourself.’”