“Hello, Freya.” The words jabbed at her like a blade. Freya could stab them right back. Hello, Samantha welled in her mouth like venom. But this was no time to be a child.

Freya and Dan’s mother were in the waiting room. The stark lighting glinted off the new set of green and gold paintings, the scent of singed oranges wafted from the diffuser as the receptionist carefully ignored them both. Freya tried to remember some of the peace she’d felt after therapy. She needed to get through this. Samantha Gregulus had every reason in the world to be mad at her.

“Hello Mrs. Gregulus. Is Dan okay?”

Samantha paused, surprised at the concern in Freya’s voice. Now, she had to drop the edge or look like a fool.

“I think he’s just shaken up,” Samantha said.

At once, Freya knew he’d told her everything.

“Dr. Garbuglio has been great,” Samantha said, grasping for anything to say.

“He’s wonderful,” Freya agreed.

Awkwardness closed in, the mask slipped, and Samantha looked five years older. She couldn’t have slept more than a few hours last night.

“I’m so sorry about all this,” Freya said.

“You don’t have to apologize. It’s not your fault,” Samantha said, and her face was composed, but her tone was harsh.

“Then why are you looking at me like I’m garbage?” Freya shot back, without thinking.

Samantha made a little noise in her throat, and her hand moved to the back of her head. Just the way he did. Freya gave her back nothing but an unblinking stare.

“I’m sorry,” Samantha said, her voice softening. That was the key. Freya had to bite back, to force people to see her as a human, not a hinderance. No more staring at her shoes. No more lying in the rain.

“Can I ask you something?” Samantha said. “Did you two take something?”

“What do you mean?” Freya asked.

“I mean, if you two smoked pot or something it’s not the end of the world but I would like to know. Dan is saying a lot of things that don’t make sense and I’m worried about him.”

Freya wanted to leap on the question. It was a way out of everything. At once, she knew not only what to tell Samantha, but how to handle Garbuglio, too. Yet, she had to be aware of the trap there also. Dan never lied to his mother.

“Did you ask Dan?” Freya asked, hoping she didn’t sound too cagey. She was about to cement Samantha’s impression of her as the bad girl ruining Dan’s life.

Samantha shook her head. “I just thought of it a few minutes before you arrived. The way Dan was talking wasn’t like him. He’s usually level-headed.”

“The two of us shared an edible before our run,” Freya lied. “We didn’t know things were going to get so crazy.”

She watched Samantha’s face, ready for her to explode. The dark eyebrows tilted.

“Whose idea was that?”

“It was my idea. I had told him it helped with my anxiety. We wanted to try it together. It wasn’t a lot.”

Samantha shut her eyes and let out a deep breath. Critical hit.

“Oh, thank God,” she said. “That explains so much.”

She’d bought it all. It was easy because Samantha wanted to believe her son wasn’t crazy. Any explanation made more sense than the truth.

“Was he having a panic attack or something?” Freya asked, feigning ignorance.

“It’s my fault. We were arguing, and I kept pressing him. You know all about his history, right?”

Freya nodded.

“I know everything. I’m sorry if he got freaked out. It was just half of one, and we weren’t going to drive until it wore off. We were just planning to run and make out in his car.” Freya feigned awkwardness, trying to salvage as much reputation as she could.

“People react unpredictably to drugs. I see it all the time. One person freaking out, another totally fine, same dose. It’s just the stress of the attack that got to him. I smoked pot in high school, it’s no big deal, as long as you’re not doing it all the time.”

“I definitely won’t ever do that again. I mean if he even wants to see me after this.”

Samantha’s eyebrows raised in question.

“He hasn’t texted me since last night,” Freya explained.

“He couldn’t. I took his phone away.”

“Oh!” Freya said. It was her turn to sigh with relief. “I thought I was about to get dumped.”

Unexpectedly, Samantha threw back her head and laughed. Freya watched in confusion.

“What did I say?”

Samantha Gregulus shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.

“Kids.” That was all the explanation Samantha would offer.

The receptionist announced Dr. Garbuglio was ready for Freya. She inhaled deeply, picked up her tote bag, and went inside.

* * *

It hurt to see Dan’s face, so bleak and hopeless. She saw strain at the corner of Dr. Garbuglio’s eyes. There was a third chair, there had never been one before, and Freya couldn’t help but glance around the room, wondering where he kept the other chairs.

“That bookshelf swings out into a closet,” Dr. Garbuglio said, guessing what she was thinking. He was good at that.

“Ah” Freya said.

“It’s a secret to everybody,” Dr. Garbuglio said with a smile, and Dan gave the little half-laugh of recognition, but Freya didn’t get it. Another painful reminder of the distance between them.

“That’s cool,” Freya said, taking her seat. “I guess you must have a bunch more chairs for family sessions.

“Just four total chairs actually. I don’t think a conversation with more than four people is ever productive. It introduces too many dynamics.”

Freya nodded.

“I tried not to tell her,” Dan said, unable to contain the words any longer. “She just kept asking questions, and when I did tell her, she thought I had gone crazy.”

Freya nodded and gave Dan a meaningful look, trying to guide him. “She asked me if we’d taken drugs or something.”

“No way. I wouldn’t ever do that,” Dan told Dr. Garbuglio, who nodded.

Freya’s mouth was tight as she decided how to proceed.

“I told her we did. I said we’d each had half an edible before our run and that was why you’re talking so strangely. She bought it.”

“What?” Dan spoke first, not understanding, and it twisted in her that he didn’t get it. She detested the rift between them.

“But you two didn’t actually take anything?” Dr. Garbuglio pressed. She saw his same desire for an easy answer. Freya considered leading him astray, too, but she didn’t think she could get Dan onboard.

Stolen novel; please report.

“No,” Freya said.

“Why did you lie to her?” Dr. Garbuglio asked, leaning in.

“Because there’s no way she can understand the truth, and she needs some kind of explanation.”

Dan looked uneasy, and Dr. Garbuglio looked at them, processing it all.

“What is the truth?” Dr. Garbuglio asked Freya.

She looked at Dan’s face. Everything was there for her. He nodded in understanding.

“Everything Dan told you is true,” Freya said with quiet confidence.

“Freya, that’s not possible,” Dr. Garbuglio said. “I need you two to level with me, whatever’s going on.”

Freya stared at him, weighing her options. She took the two halves of the meteorite out of the tote bag.

“This is the shell it crashed to Earth in,” she said, setting one on the coffee table between them and handing the other to Dr. Garbuglio. He took it, surprised by its weight.

“It’s almost pure nickel. That’s the first indication it’s artificial. This is the Starball,” she set the orb in the depression at the center of the hemisphere, and it fit perfectly.

Dr Garbuglio moved forward with other half of the shell. He wanted to see the puzzle fit together.

“Don’t!” Dan and Freya protested in unison. Dr. Garbuglio halted, surprised at their intensity.

“Metal stops the transmissions. It doesn’t like being locked up. If we’re disconnected from it, we will suffer,” Freya said, remembering the starsickness she’d felt when the orb was in her locker.

“Can I see it?” Dr. Garbuglio asked.

“If you touch it, there’s a chance it will inject you with something. Lassa did a CT scan. She thinks it put something in our brains. It’s very small, and she can barely resolve it. Both of us got jabbed. I think that’s how it’s doing this.”

“What do you mean when you say, ‘doing this?’”

“Did you tell him about Unity?” Freya asked Dan.

“I tried. He couldn’t understand. I might not have done the greatest job explaining it.”

“What do you think it is, Freya?” Dr. Garbuglio asked. In his voice, she could tell he didn’t believe her. He was only playing along.

“It’s telepathy. Direct mind to mind contact. I think you need to experience it to really understand. It’s like nothing else. The Starball levels out our emotions if we’re getting suicidal or on the verge of a panic attack. It creates an aversion to keep us from showing it to others.”

“Do you feel that aversion now?”

“No. It’s been acting differently lately. It warned us last night about Malcolm. That was the first real direct contact I’ve felt, everything else has been subtle nudges. The warning was unmistakable.”

“What happened last night?”

Freya told him everything, about the attack, about Lassa, Lynn, Hiidenkirnu, and Agent Santonelli. Dan’s expression grew heavy as she described the encounter with the two agents.

“Oh, shit,” he muttered.

“That’s most of it. I don’t know what to do,” Freya said when it was all laid out.

“Well,” Dr. Garbuglio said, drumming his fingertips on the side of his cheek. “That’s understandable. You’re taking all this very well. Now, I want to ask you something. Can you prove any of this, beyond just the orb and the shell? It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just this is a lot to take on.”

Freya knew Garbuglio didn’t believe her. She took out her phone and found the gallery of pictures she’d taken on the microscope at Grayson, along with her pictures of the orb with the readout from the scale.

“That’s the weight. It’s very heavy for its size. There has to be a dense, heavy core in there. Look at the surface here under 400X magnification. Nothing we make on Earth looks like that. I can show you comparison shots of electronics we make at that scale, the difference is very apparent. Our manufacturing processes are nothing like it, and it’s not a natural formation. Crystals look very different, too. I’m certain it’s alien.”

Freya saw Dr. Garbuglio wrestling with the idea, searching for an out. Step by step, Freya lead him through each step of the process she’d used to make the determination. At the end, he nodded, not convinced, just curious.

“Okay. There’s definitely something going on here. What does your mother think about this?”

“She agrees it’s alien, and we should keep it a secret.”

“But she’s also infected, right?” Dr. Garbuglio asked. Freya frowned at his word choice.

“Yes. I understand we may be in thrall. Lassa’s been acting strangely in particular. We were planning to do more tests on the Starball, but she got locked up at Northern Light.”

“What’s the status on that?”

“She’s supposed to be released tomorrow. Santonelli is going to interview her. I get the feeling they may take her into custody.”

Garbuglio’s eyes were fixed on the Starball.

“Tell me more about this Unity. What’s it like?”

The dam burst, and Freya and Dan had to fight to keep from talking over each other. They spoke of Unity as the starving might describe a banquet. They talked about the first time it had happened, the slow increasing intensity of the episodes, the night Dan had suffered the panic attack, and the morning they United in each other’s dreams.

Bitterly, Freya explained the agony of being divided afterward, and Dan spoke in perfect agreement, given the choice neither of them would ever stop.

“And Unity has just been between you two? Never with Lassa?”

“Just us, thankfully,” Freya said.

“Why do you say thankfully?”

“I think if I United with Lassa, it would be terrible for us. Like we’d get into a spiral of just digging at the wound and never emerge. When you’re United and you remember something important, the other person is seeing the memory with new eyes. It somehow makes it new for you again, too. It’s addictive.”

There was a long pause while Dr. Garbuglio considered that.

“I see,” he said, waiting for Freya to go on, though they could both see he was bursting with questions.

“And Lassa knows so much I’m not supposed to know,” Freya said, frowning as she tried to put into words the next part.

“What do you mean by that?” Garbuglio asked.

“Imagine knowing what it felt like to give birth to yourself. Seeing every awful thing you ever did through the eyes of an adult. Having her know everything I ever felt about her and getting the same back. It would be impossibly traumatic.”

Garbuglio had a heavy look, his mouth tight with consideration. He nodded gravely.

“I think that’s a very intelligent appraisal. Is there a part of you that wants those things also?”

“Absolutely. How could I not? It’s all forbidden. I know it would hurt so bad. I know it would drive me insane. But the desire is always there, always whispering.”

Garbuglio motioned to Dan, inviting his input.

“I’ve had the same thoughts about my mother. About seeing Angie again. About a whole lot of people being United. Freya and I are so much more together than we are apart. We’re stronger, better. If we could all manage to join without tearing ourselves apart, it could fix everything.”

“Everything…” Dr. Garbuglio trailed, and all of them were silent, their minds racing further and further into the unknown ahead of them. Their eyes met, and they looked down at the Starball. Freya was ready for Dr. Garbuglio to tell her they were both crazy, that they were under alien mind control, and he was going to inform the authorities.

“Okay,” Dr. Garbuglio said. “I’m in.”

Before they understood what he meant, he reached down and picked up the Starball. He flinched, there was a tiny dot of blood on his thumb. Dr. Garbuglio looked surprised. He hadn’t expected anything to happen.

Freya was stunned. Dan’s face was tight with excitement. He’d wanted this. Dan desired a greater Unity while Freya wanted to hoard it for herself. Feeling betrayed, Freya pulled back. Had Dan planned this?

“No!” Dan blurted. He’d predicted her train of thought as clearly as if she shouted it. “I wouldn’t do that,” he protested.

Dr. Garbuglio’s eyes leapt from Freya to Dan, not understanding. Freya hid her face in her hands, shutting her eyes tightly, blocking them out. When she opened them again, they stared at her, concerned.

“Give it back,” she demanded when she could face them again, hating the childish sound of her voice. Dr. Garbuglio returned the Starball.

“I had to do it before I lost my nerve,” Dr. Garbuglio explained. A ripple ran through the voice normally so smooth and controlled.

“You should have asked,” Freya hissed.

Through Dan’s eyes she watched herself clutch the Starball to her chest, like Gollum clinging to his precious. She felt his concern, his struggle to understand her fierce reaction.

Their eyes met as they heard the distant singing that heralded Unity, the flanging warble as their ears slipped into phase. Dan reached out and took her hand, their pulses beating in tune, and they took a deep breath together.

At last.

Freya let go of everything, knowing denial was useless. He saw her selfish desires to keep Unity for them alone. To close off the world, a shell around them like the halves of the meteorite.

Only us.

She was the one who’d found the Starball. She was the one who’d nearly died for it, the one who’d carried it always. Garbuglio hadn’t been invited. It was an intrusion, a violation. Her thoughts had a strung-out, frantic tenor she could not control.

Dan breathed deeply, bringing her with him. He took these thoughts as part of himself without judgment, offering no counterarguments. Against his acceptance, all those jagged worries became dull and inconsequential. Within the thrum of Unity, there was perspective, these were earthbound fears, and they rose above it all.

When Freya found peace, the wave rolled back from Dan, every fear and doubt he’d carried since they were one. She strove to be the same thing for him, to return that beatific stillness, seeking equilibrium between effort and assent.

It was the strongest Unity yet, an invincible tranquility. For a long time, they were simply present as Dr. Garbuglio observed in silence. He glanced at his palm, then to them with unconcealed longing.

“It takes some time,” Freya assured him, the words rolling off her tongue like perfectly smooth stones. Warmth radiated from Dan. He loved the sound of her voice, and she radiated the same feeling back. They had to stop themselves before they forgot where they were. She couldn’t wait to get him home, and she nearly revealed too much. She saw how difficult it had been for him to hide the locket now and, appreciating it, he fought his own curiosity to assist her.

She wasn’t afraid any longer of Unity with Lassa, or Dr. Garbuglio, or with anyone. This was they answer. They were the answer.

Freya’s eyes raised to the clock.

“I don’t know what will happen to you. Unity may just be us,” Freya warned.

“I have to try. All my life, I’ve been looking for this. I’ll talk with Samantha, try to make this whole thing easier,” Garbuglio offered. “I’m sorry for not asking.”

Freya nodded with her lips tight.

“Can you make Samantha and Lynn understand Dan and I have to be together? I need him more than air.”

Dan murmured agreement, taking her hand.

Dr. Garbuglio had a momentary smile, but there was no melodrama in her voice. Freya spoke with total conviction. He glanced at the door. Lynn Harris and Samantha were out there waiting.

“Okay. Let me see what I can do here.” Dr. Garbuglio rose. He paused before the door and rolled his neck, taking a deep breath before he marched off to battle.

Both hands clasped, Freya and Dan sat gazing at each other, fingers of ascension rippling over them, tugging them higher.

“At last,” they said.