Caruso was glad for an excuse to discuss the animashroom. As long as he talked about something, it would keep him from thinking about Webber’s fate. He could picture Webber being brought into the compound, bound to the killing stage, while a Forester slowly and deliberately broke his body before a cheering crowd. The thing that sickened Caruso the most was that Webber was going to die alone, with no friends there to have his back. No one deserved that fate less.

Stop thinking about it. Caruso shook away the thoughts and plunged into a thorough recollection of all he had learnt with Mang. He went over the details of the few successful anima experiments—what they had in common, how they differed. He explained how the animashroom worked, how eating the animastem could reverse a merging, and how the two subjects could still merge even from a large range—as long as they were in the same Zone. He expected Eve to shame him for his role in the experiments. She seemed to be following the conversion, but forgot to give him any scathing remarks or insults. A couple of times it looked like she reached for one, but then stopped, as if she couldn’t be bothered.

Caruso described all he had learnt about the anatomy of animas. How the anchor kept their basic shape, yet took on certain characteristics of the passenger. How an anima always kept both sets of internal organs. And how the subjects would have a single fused spine, yet would keep their separate spinal chords; both of which attached to the anima’s brain. When he was finished, he sat back, and let the darkness and the sounds of the nighttime forest fill the silence.

Orange raised a brow. ‘So, you did learn something.’

‘It’s all useless though. It doesn’t explain why some experiments work and others don’t. Whenever I thought I had a theory, there was always some evidence to contradict it.’

‘What were your leading theories then?’

‘I found it hard to ignore the idea that subjects must have a strong bond between them.’

‘Like Daniel and his beloved frog.’

‘Yeah. And Pango…’ Caruso cast a glance at Eve. ‘Pango had a bond with his Pangolin, right?’

She replied with a tinge of sadness to her words. ‘Pango bonded with every animal. But especially his Pangolin. He would’ve done anything to save it.’

‘His Pangolin was dying?’ Caruso asked.

Eve nodded.

‘Same with Daniel’s frog,’ Orange said. ‘Seems like a rather large coincidence.’

‘It does,’ Caruso agreed. ‘But I already looked into that after reading about Daniel and his frog. It was a dead end. There were countless experiments with dying subjects that ended in complete failure.’

‘Perhaps they not only have to be dying but share a strong bond as well?’

Eve shook her head.

‘You’re shaking your head, Eve?’ Orange said.

‘Remember Giles?’

‘Ah!’ Orange exclaimed. ‘The star crossed lovers of Pazat. A romance story for the ages!’

‘He was an Urqaani?’ Caruso asked. ‘Mang told me about a few Urqaani that merged next to the Godshroom from the last world.’

‘Giles was one of them,’ Orange said. ‘And yes, he was an Urqaani. Upon his exploration of Pazat, he met a girl up in the mighty minaret trees of Gyadoor. They fell in love. But Giles couldn’t stand the thought of their love withering to the end that old age brings, so he took her into the Zones to immortalise their bond. However, she never managed to acquire a slimekey. So Giles thought up a bold and courageous plan.

‘They came before the Godshroom upon its ripening, a single animashroom in hand. Standing right on its precipice, they gazed into each other’s eyes. Giles brushed a tear from her cheek and said “May our love—”’

‘Are you just making this up?’ Eve said. ‘You weren’t there.’

‘My flourishes were more for Caruso’s benefit than yours. But fine, I can trim it back… They shared the animashroom right at the precipice. That way, even if the merging failed, and their bodies became horribly—yet romantically—mangled together, they could fall into the Godshroom, and with their shared slimekey, travel forth to the next world.

‘But they needn’t have worried, for their merging was a surprising success. Yet they never entered the Godshroom, they instead turned and ran from the Zones, never to be seen again.’

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

‘Why’d they leave?’ Caruso asked.

‘Because Giles was an idiot,’ Eve said.

‘My theory,’ Orange said. ‘His lovely wife never truly wanted to travel. After merging, Giles must have somehow felt this through her, and granted her wish.’

‘So neither of them were sick or dying?’ Caruso asked.

‘They were as sprightly as any two lovers could be.’ Orange threw a log onto the fire. A puff of sparks escaped into the air as if trying to reach the starry night sky.

‘See what I mean?’ Caruso said. ‘There is no pattern to any of it. Every new piece of information just contradicts what there already is.’

‘Well, it gives more weight to your idea that both subjects need a firm bond. As for the dying bit… Maybe it wasn’t their bodies that were dying, but this bond they shared?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘If the two lovers didn’t merge, Giles would have entered the Godshroom without her. Their bond would’ve winked out, same as if one of them died. Only through merging could their love endure.’

Caruso thought about that. ‘But they could’ve just waited until the Godshroom shot its spore, and then walked out together once all the zones had died back.’

‘Perhaps. Or perhaps Giles wasn’t yet prepared to make that sacrifice. Only by merging with her could he truly understand what he was called to do.’

‘I guess so… You think that’s it, then?’ Caruso asked. ‘You think that’s how the animashroom works? It merges two people in order to save their love or the bond between them?’

Orange just shrugged. Caruso looked at Eve to see what she thought.

‘I don’t care,’ she said. She poked lazily at the fire with her pole.

‘What do you think?’ Orange asked him.

‘I mean, it’s plausible. But it feels a little too…I dunno. Vague?’

‘Well, given what you said, all the rational and concrete explanations don’t seem to stick. Whatever’s left, then, must be vague.’

‘Still, I would’ve expected it to be something that made more sense. Shouldn’t there be some purpose to the animashroom? Shouldn’t it serve the Godshroom in some way?’

‘Who says it doesn’t?’

‘Did preserving the bond between Daniel and his frog help the Godshroom in any way?’

‘Maybe it did,’ Orange said. ‘If Daniel didn’t merge with his frog, could he have leapt up into your tree that day and hand you your slimekey?’

That gave Caruso pause. ‘What are you saying? That the Godshroom somehow knew that would happen, so allowed Daniel and his frog to merge?’

Orange stared up at the night sky. ‘It’s all too easy to draw shapes between the stars.’

Caruso considered Orange’s theory. His mind struggled with it. It was too indefinable. He wondered what Mang would’ve said if he approached her with it. He doubted she would’ve been much help. She had even dismissed the possibility of a bond between Daniel and his frog. Mang cared more for observable facts, ones she could easily jot down and record. Then again, maybe that was why she’d never made much progress.

Caruso was forced to accept that the theory could neither be proved nor disproved. The slow bleating of a nightjar sounded into the night. It was soon silenced by the screech of an owl.

An idea sparked inside him. ‘Let’s say the theory is right—that subjects can only merge to keep their love alive. Then, Eve, wouldn’t you be able to merge with Webber? Since otherwise your love would die when Webber dies. Couldn’t that be a way to save him?’

‘Stop saying “love”. And no, your idea is dumb. I like Webber a lot. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to throw my life away with such a risk.’

‘What about me, then?’

‘What about you?’ she said.

‘I have a bond with Webber. I’ll do it.’ He thought he was just toying with the idea. But after saying the words, he knew they were true. The more he considered it, the stronger his conviction became. He would risk his life to save Webber’s. It seemed almost obvious. He knew he couldn’t run from Webber’s death; there was no escape from that reality. But if he tried to save him, either way it turned out, he would be escaping a life of guilt and shame. The plan began to expand in his mind.

‘Even if it worked,’ Orange said, ‘you wouldn’t make it out of the compound.’

‘What if I wasn’t in the compound?’ Caruso said. ‘I could be right here. Since we are now in the same zone as Webber, as long as Webber eats a piece of the same animashroom as me, he would disappear from the compound and merge here with me.’ The plan evolved further and Caruso rattled it out. ‘Then, I could simply walk over the shroomline into Zone 2, and eat the animastem. Me and Webber would unmerge and separate and we would be free to leave the shroom circles. Then I could be with Miranda and help her cultivate mushrooms for her restaurant.’

A firm breeze blew through the surrounding trees and played with the fire.

‘So you admit it?’ Orange said. ‘You and Miranda?’

Caruso ignored him. ‘This could work, right?’

Eve answered, ‘Didn’t Webber see you kill Pango?’

‘He did,’ Caruso answered carefully.

‘Is your friendship still intact then?’

He hadn’t thought about that. Yet he didn’t quite believe it had ruined their friendship. Webber didn’t give up on his friends that easily. And even if it were true, did that matter? Caruso wasn’t going to let it dissuade him. He needed to do this. He owed it to Webber. And to himself.

‘Let’s think this through, Caruso,’ Orange said. ‘My theory could very easily be wrong. And there would be no safety net of falling into the Godshroom. The merging could easily kill you both before we have chance to unmerge you.’

‘I don’t care. Webber’s going to die horribly if I do nothing. And I know what it feels like to do nothing. I refuse to go through that again. I don’t want to live like that. Even if it's a small chance, I’m taking it.’

Eve nodded. She was sitting up straighter, looking more interested in the conversation. It was a win-win for her. Webber gets saved or Caruso gets killed. ‘It’s worth a shot,’ she said. ‘But how would we get Webber the animashroom?’

‘I suppose I could arrange that,’ Orange said. ‘There are people I trust at the compound. If I leave now, I can get there before Ferris, then I could arrange someone to give Webber the animashroom upon his arrival. No one there yet knows what has happened. So, I could slip in and out without anyone questioning my being there.’

The three of them shared a look around the fire, an energy passed between them.

Caruso knew it was crazy. He could just as easily walk away from all this, he still could. But that wasn’t going to happen. Just the idea of doing something to help Webber exhilarated him. It ignited his soul. It raised him up to a place where the darkness inside him no longer existed. He wondered if this was how Webber felt before a fight.