expecting to find here?” asked James.
“Too many,” said Annie.
“That’s not a number,” he said. “I know you think you sound cool when you say things like that, but actual information and tactical plans are much, much cooler. I promise you.”
“I’m a big fan of actual information,” said Annie. “Unfortunately, right now, we don’t have any. We know Sarah was somehow able to transport us across the country to Iowa. We know there isn’t time for backup to get here before we deal with the literally world-destroying cuckoo situation. We know that they’ve forced Sarah into her fourth instar, which is apparently a big enough deal to make even other cuckoos say ‘wait, maybe this is bad.’”
“We know we might have to kill her to make this stop.”
My words fell into a sudden silence that yawned like a pit in the middle of our stolen car, seeming to steal away all sound. I glanced at Antimony. She didn’t meet my eyes.
“That’s what you’re not saying, isn’t it? We know we have two anti-telepathy charms and the weapons we were carrying when we fell through the hole in space, and we know I just stole a car, and we know that maybe we’re about to have to kill our cousin.”
“Artie—”
“And you know I’ve been in love with her since we were kids, and you know she’s my best friend, and you know that these last five years have almost literally killed me, so maybe it’s only fair that I should actually literally kill her.”
“You know I don’t want to have to do this,” she said, and her voice was very small, and very tired.
“I know.” It was easier if I didn’t look at her. If I treated this like it was . . . like it was the cutscene in a video game, maybe, something distant from me. Something removed. “I do. And I know none of us got to pick who went to Iowa and who stayed home. And the worst part is that I also know that I won’t be able to shut you out when this is over, because apart from Sarah, you’re the person I trust most in the whole world, and I’m going to be pretty messed up for a while. Maybe for a long, long time.”
“We gave Sarah five years to put herself back together,” said Annie. “We can give you at least that long.”
“I’ve seen Annie achieve the impossible before,” said James. “If half the stories she’s told me about your family are remotely true, maybe between the two of you, you’ll be able to find another way through this. Something that doesn’t end with blood.”
“Oh, there’s gonna be blood,” said Annie. “It doesn’t matter what else happens, there’s gonna be blood, because I need to punch some cuckoos until the clear stuff comes out. And then I need to set even more of them on fire. It’s going to be a fun, horrifying, violent day.”
I kept my eyes on the road. I needed this to end in a way that I knew it wasn’t likely to end. I needed it to find the one path that led to me and Sarah walking away, her back in her right mind, the two of us finally able to be together.
I needed us to win, and I didn’t see any feasible way for us to be able to do it.
The motionless roads blurred by as I pushed the old Camaro’s engine to the absolute limits of what it could handle. It wasn’t like there were any other cars to worry about, and seeing a human police officer would almost have been a relief. It would have been proof that there were a few people resistant to the cuckoos’ collective thrall, at the very least. But there was nothing. I drove, and the scenery changed, and no one came to stop us, not until we were pulling up in front of the university.
I stopped the engine just in time. The collective weight of the entire hive’s cool regard slammed into my brain with all the stress of a wrecking ball, sending sudden, intense pain lancing through my entire body. I shouted, as much in surprise as anything else, and clutched the sides of my head as I tried to make it stop.
Dimly, I could hear Annie shouting for James to grab my head and keep me from slamming it into the steering wheel. That was nice. It was real good of her to look out for me.
There was