I open my mouth to answer and then stop. Our goals don’t exactly coincide anymore. Their goal is strictly Karden and the money. Mine includes Raine.

“I thought I saw LeGru go down there—”

“We already told you LeGru goes down there. That’s not news. You—”

“I was curious. I wanted to explore and see what was down there. I won’t make that mistake again.”

“You’re damn right you won’t,” Carver says, but Xavier just looks at me. He knows I’m lying, knows how I hate the darkness. He knows curiosity had nothing to do with it, but he says nothing, at least for now.

I move on, trying to get all their minds spinning in a different direction. “Raine’s group is meeting all week. I’ll be fine by tomorrow. I’ll only miss one day. Notify the Collective and tell them my mother is sick and I’m playing the devoted son. You can manage a flare-up, can’t you Livvy?”

They all see the logic of my solution. There really is no other choice. “By tomorrow?” Carver asks.

I wonder myself at the impossibility, given the damage, but somehow I’ll have to make it happen. “Tomorrow,” I say firmly.

Livvy says she will take care of notifying the Collective and they plan their exits before it gets any later. Right before they all leave, Xavier pauses at the door. “Just what did you run into down there?”

I see the gruesome images again. Human eyes with no lids, human mouths with no lips, discarded monsters of someone’s twisted making, their birthplace a secret lab. Just like mine.

“Half-dogs, just like you thought. That’s all,” I answer.

Overdrive

Jenna doesn’t leave with the others. She sends Miesha to stay at a small apartment she still keeps in the basement of her old brownstone, the upper floors now housing the Clayton Bender Art Gallery. She sends the others, including Livvy, on their way too. There’s no arguing with her. She alone has the experience and expertise to get me back on my feet and that’s everyone’s common goal.

I sleep most of the day, restless sleep at first, haunted by shadowy images of LeGru, packs of creatures in tunnels, even images of Raine, her silhouette teetering on the edge of an endless black abyss, the Secretary behind her edging closer and closer. When I wake with a start, Jenna gives me something to sleep deeply and I finally do.

By late afternoon, I manage to get up and hobble to the mirror. I look at my naked self. Jenna really had her work cut out for her this time. It makes me think of my mother and all the bandaged knees, all the patched-up elbows, the frozen packs of peas on bumps, the sprains, scrapes, and bruises—nearly all of those for my brother. Rarely for me. I didn’t take chances like he did. I played it safe. She’d be horrified if she could see me now. I’m not playing it safe anymore.

I step closer to the mirror and notice the healing has already begun, some due to Jenna’s skills, some due to the properties of my BioPerfect, always programmed for repair. The surface scratches have already diminished. The dozens of lines crisscrossing my face and chest where the creatures’ claws grazed me have gone from thin bloody red lines to pink ones. The gouges and gashes are another matter. The deep gashes on my right cheekbone and over my eye won’t be healing overnight. My right arm, the one I used to shield myself that received the brunt of their attacks, feels like lead. Looking at it now, I’m mystified how I held on to that child creature so fiercely. My hip has a massive bandage over the gaping wound where they tore away my flesh. No wonder I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.

I gently touch my side, feeling the familiar ache of cracked ribs too. I hit the concrete hard when they pounced on me. The ribs are almost the worst, making it difficult to take deep breaths. How quickly can I make those heal? Last time it took me a week, which is fast, but not fast enough for me now. I concentrate, not knowing how BioPerfect works. Can I will it to work at breakneck speed? If only I had a manual or there were buttons I could push, but it’s all a mystery to me. Not unlike my original body.

I look like something out of a horror movie, but I don’t regret my decision to follow LeGru. It erased all doubts I had that Karden was alive. I know it’s based on nothing but a feeling, but it was so strong I felt like I could touch it. I’m not sure what that even means but I know I have to go back, except next time I’ll have to find a way that won’t kill me. An exact location is a good start.

I grab the sheet and wrap it around my waist, limp to the bedroom door and open it.

“Yes, Angel, I’ll be home as soon as I can. Give Aunt Allys a hug for me. I love you too.” I watch her sign off, her eyes lingering on the phone tab.

“Sorry.”

Jenna whirls to face me, startled.

“I didn’t know who else to call,” I say. “I didn’t mean for you to come all this way.”

“That’s what friends are for, right?”

I nod. Friends.

I limp to the closest chair, trying to camouflage my agony with a smile.

“You don’t have to fake it with me, Locke.”

I forgot she was reading faces long before I ever did. I allow myself to wince as I ease myself into the chair. I sit back carefully. I haven’t seen what my back looks like, but by the feel, it probably doesn’t look much different than my arm, something like shredded wheat.

Jenna sits on the sofa near me. “Now that you’ve rested and the others are gone, do you want to finish your story?”