It can’t be seen.
“Good. I’m going to go into the stall two away from the accessible one,” Kaden said softly. “I’ll lock the door, leave your backpack in there, open so you can get things quickly, but then I’ll crawl through into the accessible stall and lock that door too.” He swallowed. “It might seem stupid to leave an empty toilet between us, but if they find me injured, seeing the door open on an empty cubicle next to me might stop them checking the others.”
Joe stayed quiet.
“Pull the alarm cord if I can’t. Once you’re out of me, slide under to get to the backpack,” Kaden went on, his voice breaking now. “Even if you can’t walk straight away, you should be able to crawl. Drag the towel with you if…if you leave a mess.” His breath hitched. “Get dressed. Retrieve those papers. Go to the police. Ask for asylum. Okay?”
I think you should keep the accessible toilet unlocked.
“No. They can open it from the outside.”
Moments later, Kaden had slid under the gap to the accessible stall.
“There’s the alarm.” He pointed to the red cord hanging almost to the floor. His hand was trembling, and this time, Joe didn’t try to stop it happening. “I’ll stay on the floor.” He winced. “At least it’s clean. Once you start, you’ll have to be quick, in case someone comes in.”
Kaden’s whole body was shaking now. Joe had to step in, try to steady him, to at least ease the frantic rhythm of his breathing. Tears slipped down Kaden’s cheeks, catching on his jaw and falling to his hoodie. Joe hated seeing him scared.
You know I don’t like it when you leak.
He’d wanted to make Kaden smile and at least his lips curved for a moment.
“I know. Wait untilyoudo it.”
Joe gave him the best hug he could. The last hug until…
“If it doesn’t work,” Kaden whispered, his voice unravelling, “you have to know I’m not sorry. About any of it. I don’t regret taking you from that tank. I don’t regret you being inside me.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “If I die, then I die. Just…do good, Joe. Be kind. Help the world.”
A sob escaped and Joe carefully began to coalesce inside him. There would be pain, but not yet. He’d do as much as he could before that came.
“You’re more advanced than we are. You can do so much for this planet.”
I don’t want the planet. I want you.
Kaden opened his eyes. “I can’t wait to see you.” Then he smiled and Joe felt Kaden’s heart calm a little.
“This has been the best time of my life. Please don’t let me forget you. Don’t leave me until I remember.”
My first. My best. My true friend. I will never forget you.
Kaden took a couple of shallow breaths, then switched to long, deep inhalations. They’d talked about this, Kaden getting oxygen into his body. Joe hoped he’d sounded confident, but he wasn’t. He didn’t even know if this was possible, but they’d both needed to believe it. Joe was using a combination of his alien DNA, sharing Kaden’s human DNA and taking advantage of his ability to transform to protect hisotherand itshouldwork.
It had to.
Inside Kaden, Joe surged. He pulled inward from everywhere at once, from cells, nerves, muscle fibres, tearing himself loose in microscopic threads. He had to be ready, had to begin shaping himself before he was even fully separate. The human body was complex. Timing mattered. Structure mattered. He began pulling himself out of the spaces he knew so well. Kaden’s body had become familiar in a way nothing else ever had. Joe’s safe place.
Part of him didn’t want to let go, but there was no choice now. It had begun. It was a slow tearing, unexpected resistance in every place he tried to leave, as if Kaden’s body didn’t understand the difference betweenholdingandlosing. Kaden’s heart stuttered. Joe felt it, feltbothof them faltering, and forced himself to work faster. He peeled himself out of living tissue, out of the tight weave of a human body that didn’t want to let him go. Pain flared. His and Kaden’s discomfort was now indistinguishable. Their hearts stumbled out of rhythm together. Joe had one heart now. Part of the other, he left in Kaden.
I’m right here. I’ve got you.
Maybe Joe’s last words inside Kaden’s head because he was already slipping away from Kaden’s mind.
Kaden choked. A wet, tearing sound ripping from his throat as Joe forced his way upward, spilling into the narrow passage of Kaden’s airway. The sound was wet, desperate and terrified and Joe had to fight to ignore it. Kaden’s body convulsed, hands flying to his throat as his breathing collapsed into nothing and panic flooded in. Joe felt it and it hit him too, but he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t soothe Kaden anymore. Nor could he go back. If he hesitated now, they’d both die. All he could do was keep going.
Kaden gagged, his fingers curling weakly against his neck, his body fighting Joe, now rejecting him, even as it had once sheltered him. But it made it easier for Joe. Every instinct in him screamed to ease the pressure, to make it gentler but there was no gentle way to leave someone you loved. Kaden’s lungs spasmed as Joe, both liquid and solid, kept forcing his way up and out, bursting from Kaden’s mouth in a rush until it was done and he was out, lying on the floor. Still not whole. Still not finished. Kaden not breathing.
Joe spread himself over him, pressing his weight onto Kaden’s chest, willing the part of his heart he’d left behind to keep Kaden alive. When he heard Kaden suck in a ragged breath, Joe lunged for the alarm cord. Missed it. Tried again. His fingers barely worked, still only half-formed, slipping before finally catching. He wrapped what strength he had around it and pulled.
The alarm shrieked to life, loud and piercing, impossible to ignore.
