“I'm fine,” he replied.

I went to the closet and dug out a bright red sleeping bag. “I’m going to sleep on the floor in here. If my sisters come in, I don’t want them to see you and get scared or anything.”

“Do whatever you want.”

The bag crunched and squealed as I rolled it onto the carpet. It still smelled like bug spray from the last time it’d been used. “Did you find the bathroom?” I hand ironed out the wrinkles and unzipped the side.

“I did. Nothing quite like brushing your teeth with your finger. I don’t suppose you have any toothpaste that isn’t bubblegum flavored?”

“The mint kind makes Selena gag.”

“Good to know.” He maneuvered his legs onto the bed. “Can you get the light?”

“Not yet.” I stuffed my own legs into the bag and sat with my arms crossed. “I think we have a few things we need to talk about.”

“Like what?”

“Like, I dunno, what the hell? Might be a good start.”

His mouth pulled to the side, but he didn’t resist. “Like I said before, I work for a branch of the military called the Orbital Protection Grid. It’s an exclusive team of highly skilled individuals, handpicked by the world’s highest-ranking officials. Only the best-of-the-best are selected to serve.”

“So, how’d you end up there?”

“Oh, ha-ha. I was recruited out of the US Naval Academy. I’ve been in service as a pilot for the Grid for the past twelve years. So, about as long as you’ve been alive.”

It was nice to be referred to as “alive,” even though Lucas knew what I was.

“Most of our technology is built by Genesis,” he went on. “So, naturally, we work very closely with them. Blaise has been affiliated with the Grid even longer than I have. We never expected to see him again, though. Not after he was arrested for misuse of robotics. But yesterday, he showed up out of the blue. He told my squadron that protecting the Earth meant protecting all of its inhabitants, including androids, and asked us to stand with him and fight back against the recall.” His voice went croaky. “When we refused...” His breath caught and his hand covered his chest. He coughed, wheezed, and then excused himself from telling the rest of the story, “I think you can figure it out from there.”

“You should go to the hospital,” I suggested.

“I’m fine. I’ll talk to the Grid medics when I get back.”

I didn’t want to ask, but I couldn’t help it. “What happened to the rest of your squadron?”

He pretended he needed to cough again and turned away, but he wasn’t a good actor. I hated to see him that way. No wonder he was in such a bad mood all the time. On the other hand, it made me feel slightly less guilty about Blaise.

“We’ll contact the Grid first thing in the morning,” he said, “and let them know what happened at Genesis if they haven’t already heard. They’ll come to pick me up, and this whole thing will be over.”

“You don’t think Blaise could have survived?”

“We’ll have the Revelation shut down, just in case. But I think the absence of the security bot is a pretty good sign. Now, can you get the light?”

I reached up and smacked the switch. The room went dark, putting a period on a particularly stressful past two days.

Or, so I thought.

Lying on the hard floor aggravated my bullet wounds. Getting to sleep would be a challenge. My sleeping bag crinkled and crunched and squawked as I rolled back and forth to find the sweet spot. Although I wasn’t confident there was one.

“You have to stop,” I heard Lucas from above.

I shifted, and the bag continued to crunch. A pillow would help. I scrunched up some of the excess material to form a bundle to rest my head on. Squeal. Crinkle. Crackle.

“Christ,” Lucas complained. “I will literally murder you if you don’t let me sleep right now.”

“Sorry.” I forced myself to lay still, but my sleeve bunched up and the zipper from the bag felt cold against my forearm. Weirdly cold. Distractingly cold. I had to roll over again. Crinkle. Zip. Snap.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Sorry.”

I kept as quiet as I could, for as long as I could, but despite laying there for hours, sleep never came. In every shadow, behind every piece of furniture, under the bed like a child’s nightmare, the security bot might have been lurking. It couldn’t have vanished into thin air. It was still out there. Somewhere. If Blaise had died and his commands were overridden, it might have gone back to its normal duties. But that was only an “if.” Sleeping would leave me, my family, and my home vulnerable to attack. Knowing that, I couldn’t get my eyes to stay closed.

At least, I told myself that was the reason. The truth was that I hadn’t slept in weeks. Either way, I got up. I wandered the house, searching every nook and cranny for any sign of anything. All I found were a few spiders asking to be squashed.

Around six in the morning, I shifted focus. Lucas would be up early to fiddle with his radio, and the girls wouldn’t be far behind for school. Since I was up, I might as well be productive and make breakfast. I knew what the girls liked—waffles doused in enough butter and syrup to give someone a heart attack—but Lucas was vegan. I didn’t know what foods he could eat. Waffles had eggs. And milk, come to think of it. Could I even use butter spray to keep the pan from sticking? He certainly couldn’t eat bacon. Almond milk! I discovered a carton in the fridge door. That would be safe, right? We also had spinach, rolled oats, and some bananas that were starting to brown. Smoothies it was.

The blender roared and hollered through the house. Mia made her appearance first. “Are you making breakfast?” she asked through a yawn. “What’s the occasion?”

“No occasion,” I said. “I’m allowed to make breakfast if I want.”

“Mama!” Selena and Sophia materialized together. They ran to give me a hug but diverted their attention at the last second to fight over who got the first glass.

“What’s up with the gloves?” Mia asked over their shouting.

“Just trying something new.”

“You think it looks good?”

“Hey, I didn’t give you crap when you dyed your hair pink. Remember that?”

“Yeah, but that was cool. Those gloves are stupid.”

“Gee, thanks.”

I poured the first blender-full into two equal glasses and handed them to the twins at the same time. That shut them up, but the sound of coughing replaced the sound of them arguing. Lucas arrived at the bottom of the stairs as I prepared the next blend. He’d helped himself to a pair of my jeans and a blue sweater.

Selena choked, and Sophia’s eyes went wide. “Who is that?” they asked simultaneously.

“This is Lucas,” I answered. “He’s a friend of mine.”

“Did he sleep over?” Sophia asked.

“Yeah, he did.”

“Ugh,” grumbled a gruff voice from the living room, “how’d both my boys end up being a couple of,” and the hateful slur that followed need not be mentioned.

“Excuse me?” came out of Lucas’s mouth automatically, as if he hadn’t even thought to say it.

“You’re going to want to rephrase that,” I said.

“Or what? What are you going to do? Beat the shit out of me again?” My father’s scruffy, graying head poked into the room. “Bet you think you’re the shit now, don’t you? Kicking in the face of an old man.” He leaned against the wall and belched to clear his throat. “Pour me a cup of that green crap while you’re at it.”

I slid the blender across the counter to Mia. “I have a better idea. You leave now, and we’ll all forget you were ever here.”

“I think you might want to reconsider, seeing as I’m here for your benefit.”

“I don’t want whatever it is you’re peddling.”

“Genesis Robotics’ recall says you do.”

All that searching throughout the night, and I’d missed one hell of a threat to my safety. It had been sleeping on the couch the whole time. I grabbed him by the collar and shoved him out of the kitchen.

“Mia, whatever happens, make sure the twins stay out of it.”

She was already ushering them away.

I cornered him against our coat rack, as far on the other side of the house as we could be. I hadn’t asked him to, but Lucas came along. He stood by my side, his arms crossed against his chest like a bodyguard. Even on crutches, I could feel his intensity. He didn’t say a word, but his posture shouted, If this goes south, I’m taking over.

I could handle my father, but I appreciated the sentiment.