“I feel terrible about what we’ve done to you,” Blanche/Sheryl said. “And I feel sick when I think about what happens next. And I know you probably don’t believe that, but I care deeply for you. We’re family. I’m your grandmother, Charlie. I practically raised you. My empathy is real. When you hurt, I hurt.”
“It’s true,” Mom said. “She was regurgitated before you were born, but I saved her blood and totem and used them to bring her back. She saw you grow up, both of you. I’m sorry but this was the only way.”
How could I believe a word my mom said? Her lies had led me here. She was either a collaborator or a full-blown member of a group that had poisoned her own granddaughter. “The only way for what?” I said. “Say everything you say is true. You were or pretended to be, a heroin addict in order to ruin my childhood? Why? To what end?”
“You should go now, Sweetie,” Blanche/Sheryl said to my mom. “Call when everyone reaches a safe distance.”
I looked to my sister. When I saw she was calm, I felt a little flutter of hope. Maybe she knew something I didn’t. Maybe she had texted Lou and told him where we would be.
“Bye my children,” Mom said, and went to the door. Before she left, she looked back at me, and I looked away. I didn’t know if I should hate her or pity her, if she was evil or insane. I didn’t know what was real.
Blanche/Sheryl snapped her fingers, and the bald Zaditorian pulled out a phone and began filming me and Blanche/Sheryl, as he had at the bakery.
“I have traveled the seven stomachs and conquered death to be here today,” Blanche/Sheryl said, standing and adopting an oratorical tone. “I have toiled—so long I have toiled—to build an arc that will hold every soul in every stomach, not to save them from God’s wrath, but to carry them to God’s door. Today, we begin filling that arc. Today is a glorious day.”
She waved at the Zaditorian, and he put his phone away. Looking down at me, she said, in a more conversational tone, “I need you to understand something, Charlie. I’m not evil. My position in this world, or any other, is precarious. Arawok sees me as a disease, a threat. If I inhabit a body too long, Arawok finds me and expels me. The second I inhabit more than one mobiak body, Arawok finds me and expels me. You have never been vomited into the void, but trust me when I say it is frightening. I am tired of being frightened.
“I need to inhabit Em’s body. But don’t be alarmed. She will have it back as long as you do what I ask. There is a catch, though. Remember the first time we met, when you aroused a mob, and you ran away before I had the chance to explain myself? Because you did that, I was unable to put Em through the Untethering, as I did for you when I put you away in that dark tank full of water. Remember? And now the flood is almost here, and there’s no time to Untether your sister from Em, which means, when I inhabit Em’s body, I will also inhabit her mother’s. I never wanted to kill May. She’s my own granddaughter for Harold’s sake, but you forced my hand, and the Zaditorians can only shield one of us at a time from Arawok’s vomit reflex. And I can’t bring any more Zaditorians into this stomach until you do what I ask. And you can’t do what I ask until I have Em’s body. It’s a sort of gift-of-the-magi deal. I’m so sorry. The guilt you’re going to feel for rescuing them that night is going to be tremendous. Just know that I will feel that guilt vicariously. When you hurt, I hurt.”
“What is she talking about, Charlie?” May said.
I didn’t know if Blanche was trying to scare us, or if she was truly going to kill my sister, but we were at her mercy, and I was desperate. I started yelling, “Help! Help!” as loud as I could, and yanked on the black bubble as hard as I could, but the bubble didn’t budge.
Blanche/Sheryl had a pained look on her face while I yelled. She took a phone out of her purse, looked at it, then nodded at the bald Zaditorian, who pulled a syringe full of dark liquid from his coat and walked over to Em. “Charlie!” May shouted. I yanked on my bubble. I kicked it. May started yelling for help with me. Em squirmed, but the bearded Zaditorian held her firmly by her shoulders. May reached for a table, grabbed a lamp, and threw it at the bald Zaditorian. It bounced off his shoulder and shattered on the floor, but that didn’t stop him from plunging the syringe into Em’s arm. Em yelped.
The bearded Zaditorian released her, but she just stood there, silent. She didn’t try to run. And her eyes were vacant as the Zaditorians backed away from her on either side, spreading their arms. A transparent green bubble eight feet in diameter appeared around Em, glowing, coloring the whole room in green light.
Blue, foamy scrill exuded from my skin and circulated in on itself, shades of it spinning and darting like shadows in a tide pool. I could see it above my eyes, on the verge of falling, but always flowing back in.
May dropped to her knees. “Em, are you okay?” she said. “What’s happening, Charlie?” Her head bowed. A pained expression was on her face. “Help me,” she said. “I can’t see. Help me. Charlie.
