I stumble forward, then catch myself on a wall. I whip around and find a woman in a lab coat and safety glasses behind me. Her veins are black and her eyes glow green. "You," I growl. "You're the thing that's been taking over people's bodies!"

The woman's face spasms and she grabs her head. "I-. Yes. NO! It's not-."

I put my hand out. "I know it's not you. You're being controlled."

The woman calms and nods. "Yes. That's right. You're very bright. The others couldn't understand. I could hear their thoughts. They just thought I was an Infected. They thought I was the disease. They were going to kill my... transportation."

"People."

She grimaces and nods. "I... I don't want to hurt anybody."

"Well, you have. You almost got Jesus killed."

She nods, her face open and drawn with remorse. "It wasn't my intention! They sealed the manhole I went down. I couldn't-I couldn't find a way out. I-I supplied him with enough oxygen to survive, but he... I would've killed him if you hadn't found us. I suppose I would've died too. I wonder what dying feels like."

"Why did you attack me?"

She grimaces and grabs her head. "It-I-we didn't want to. We were hoping to knock you out."

"Why?"

"The transition is always so much smoother when you're not awake," she rasps. "You people always fight back when you're awake. Then we get splintered. And I get confused. Are these my memories, or hers? Do I want to find the tree, or does she?"

"The tree?" I ask. "What tree?"

She shakes her head, making her red curls bounce. "I don't know. I thought I knew, but then it was gone. They were my memories, and then they weren't."

I step towards her.

She lurches backwards, putting her hands out. "Wait- wait. We don't want to hurt you. Don't try to fight us. They always try to fight us."

"I'm not going to fight you. I just want to understand."

She laughs, "understand? That's a first. They never want to understand. They want us dead."

"They're scared."

"You're scared."

"I'm used to the feeling," I whisper. "But this city has been safe from the Infection for decades. You showing up here is-."

"I'm not an Infection!" she roars, her eyes blazing a brilliant green. "That-that was a mutation! A side effect! It never should've happened! I need to find the tree."

I nod. "Okay. What tree?"

She hits her head. "I. Don't. Know!"

"Okay! Okay! That's enough. You're hurting her."

Her hands tremble near her head. "Am I? Or is she? Is she the one crying, or am I?"

I gulp. "I want to help you."

Her glowing eyes flicker to me. "Help me? Help me how? No one ever wants to help me. Especially not you Hunters. They just want us gone."

"I don't want that," I assure. "Something was different about Jesus, wasn't there? You weren't splintered like this with him."

She lifts her lip in a snarl. "That was a mistake. Jesus could not handle me in his mind. He had too much fight in him. The only way we stopped being splintered is when I slunk back to spare his life. I could've failed my mission! Then what would all of this have been for, Mason!?"

I stand straighter. "I didn't tell you my name."

She hesitates. "I read minds. I read minds," she insists.

I take a breath and watch her twitching. "The woman you've taken, she's still fighting you?"

The green glow brightens. "Yes."

"Why do you have to take people that don't want you there? That's not fair to them. They have lives. People that care about them."

"You think I want this? We – I don't want to hurt people! They don't listen to me! They believe I'm malevolent. They fight me in the name of the people they care for. One even ran in front of a car rather than let me 'infect' the city."

I lick my lips, inching closer. "What if you could find someone that would let you in?"

She inches back. "Who? You? I cannot."

"Why not?"

Her face spasms again. "I... don't know. My memories are... jumbled. Your parents-."

"My parents are dead," I hiss.

Her face finds an unusual calm. "Yes," she whispers, in a softer tone. "I recognize you from the news. Mason Crane." Her tone sharpens. "Crane," she hisses. "Crane. Crane. They did this to me. They took me from-." She slaps herself.

"Stop!" I order.

Her glowing green eyes meet mine. "It was not her memory to share," the creature whispers. "You cannot take my voice and my memories from me, witch!"

"Focus," I snap. "She doesn't want to be a part of this." I offer my hand.

She inches back.

"Let me."

She gulps, staring at my hand. "You don't want this," she whispers. "This is a trap. You'll trap me inside you. You have the strength to destroy me."

I shake my head. "This isn't a trap. I want to help. I want to understand."

"Why? Why after all these years is it you? Why is it always you?"

"I don't know what you mean."

She grabs her head.

"Don't hurt her," I order. "Or I walk out the door."

She grimaces and bends over, shouting into her teeth. "I can't trust you! I can't! You'll betray me! I've done this before! We've been here before! Why are you the only one that reaches out your hand!? Why can't anyone else-!?"

I seize her shoulders and force her to stand up. I shake her a little. "Does the woman you've taken want you in her mind?"

With tears welling in her eyes, she shakes her head.

"Then you have no right to be there. I am offering you a space in my mind. I won't give you control to do what you want. But I will help you. I will keep you safe. And we'll figure this out. Together. But you have to let her go. You don't want to hurt her like you hurt Jesus, do you?"

She's quiet for a long time. She closes her eyes, but the green glow emanates from under her eyelids. "No," she whispers, in that sharp tone. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Good," I whisper. "Then let her go. Let's do this together."

She opens her eyes. "How do I know this isn't a trap?"

I shrug one shoulder. "I guess you're just gonna have to trust me."

She takes a shaky breath and slips her hand into mine. "She won't remember you being here. She won't remember any of this. I can give her that, at least. She'll find that man you knocked out, but she won't know either of us were here."

"Thank you," I murmur.

She closes her eyes. "When her eyes open, I'll be gone. I won't be able to erase you from her mind anymore. So, you need to get out of here. Fast."

"I will."

She nods, slowly.

I feel it happen. The shift from her mind to mine. It's like a tidal wave washing over me.

Then she groans, and steps back, grabbing her head.

I take off, as silently as I can, slipping out of the building and into an alleyway. A warmth spreads through me. "Are you there?"

"Yes."

I nod. "Are you safe?"

The voice is silent for a long time. Then they rasp, "I... am."

"I have to return to the Academy. Will anyone be able to tell I'm Infected?"

A flash of white-hot anger burns through me like I've touched an electric fence. "You're not infected! I'm not an infection!"

"The others had black veins. They were infected until you left."

"You're not them. You're not infected. I will not show up on any scans. Your decontamination showers will not wash me away. The only way we can be separated is me switching hosts, or you dying."

"Comforting," I tell it.

"I am not an it. I am a they."

"Can you hear all my thoughts?"

"Yes."

Fantastic.

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated."

I find myself smiling. I slip away from the treatment plant, and back to the transport.

The others took the helicopter back to the Academy, so I get a ticket for the next ferry, heading out right as the sun is starting to peak above the horizon. I settle into a seat and bury my hands in my hair. I don't know what the sunrise will bring.

What happens when the treatment plant doesn't blow up and they arrest that man? What happens when I return to the Academy, alive? What happens to Singh after what she did to the city? Do I have a responsibility as a Hunter to report her careless actions? Or a responsibility to Tarak to protect him from the truth about his mother?

Even if I do report her... even with proof... will anyone believe me?

No one believed my parents.

People let them die for their dedication to the truth.

And I'm still paying that price.