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"I saw the a step forward, out of the trees As soer than me in that et to work as soon as she realized that I atching, and I didn’t want to go I wanted to tell Moirl neededoff her, like water out of a hose And I started to think that maybe that’s why you like et out of the way"

"I think Dr Cale was right when she theorized that we had a pheromone connection, just like the sleepwalkers do," I said, choosing my words with exquisite care "We’re their cousins, so it makes sense that we’d have some of the same systems in place to make sure that we stayed in contact with each other, and that we looked out for each other And yeah, it was sort of a surprise to ured I wanted you to be safe because I cared about you Now it turns out that there’s also a cheenerated automatically when you’re under stress or whatever"

This wasn’t helping Adae tactics soon, he was going to retreat into the avocado trees and I was never going to catch hi of alar chemical trails for one another We’re not ants We’re not even sleepwalkers We can think We can feel, and we can forirl as a person Yes, when I’m in the rooure that’s probably a good thing from a species perspective, since it’s better if ant to protect each other and not kill each other" I was babbling But Ada anymore, and I’d take that "Only see, I do care about you I want you to be happy I like it e just sit and don’t talk to each other because we’re both doing stuff You’re irl who happens to be the same species that we are"

"Really?" Adam finally stepped out of the shade of the avocado trees, his eyes so wide that I could have tripped and fallen into them "You really think I’m your brother?"

"Only one I’ve ever had" Unless you counted Sherman--and he, like Anna, was just someone who happened to share my species He didn’t deserve to be a part of my family He didn’t deserve to be anywhere nearto happen now that she’s here?"

"I don’t know, but that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about Dr Banks says she integrated while her host body’s consciousness was still present and aware"

Ada all the way around his dark brown irises "She’s a fully integrated sleepwalker?"

Because that’s ere all dancing around: that hy her existence was such a concern If one tapewor, conscious host, so could another, and another, until the entire shape of the eneht that went froainst intellect--and for ainst our own kind

I’d always assumed I would side with the humans, no matter what happened, because the sleepwalkers were destructive and terrible So was Dr Cale, in her oay, but at least she cared about saving lives, while Sher beyond hied everything, and fro for him, too

I looked into my brother’s eyes, suddenly aware of just how deep that fa to do next

Adam was like me--a chih the world by an invertebrate He was also unlike me, because he hadn’t happened naturally, and he had never believed hian, there had never been any question of which side he would be on: the only humans he kneere the ones orked for hisit was sothe way they sometimes looked at us, like ere a probleer, more immediate proble--had been taken care of But I could see it I could see it all too well

For every person like Nathan or Dr Cale, who honestly didn’t care what species ere, there was someone like Daisy, who couldn’t relax around us, or Fishy, who saw us as one more symptom of the world’s devolution into a fantasy We weren’t real to them We weren’t people

"It sounds like that," I said "I think she h I mean, aren’t sleepwalkers what happens when an implant just decides to take over? The way Dr Banks was talking, she happened in a lab setting So I don’t know for sure"

"There’s only one way to find out," said Ada athe seemed He was the first chimera, the oldestto be o meet our sister?"