Are you okay?" I (Cassie) call up to him."Um. Define okay." (Ben)"Okay means you're not bleeding to death.""I'm okay.

You think I'm wasting my time, " I accuse his flawless profile. "You think Sammy's dead.""How could I know that, Cassie?""I'm not saying you know that. I'm saying you THINK that.""Does it matter what I think?""No, so shut up.""I wasn't saying anything. YOU said--""Don't... say... anything.""I'm not.""You just did.""I'll stop.""But you're not. You say you will, then you just keep going."He starts to say something, then shuts his mouth so hard, I hear his teeth click.

For a being more advanced than I am, he sure has a hard time answering a simple question

I confessed I did not have an opinion; I was only thirteen, and this was my very first dismemberment.

I give her my best smile. Before the alien Armageddon happened, I was known for my smile. Not bragging too much, but I had to be careful never to smile while I drove. It had the capacity to blind oncoming traffic. But it has absolutely no effect on Ringer. She doesn't squint in its overwhelming luminescence. She doesn't even blink.

Breathe, Cassie, breathe. He has a good face. Not the face of someone who wants to hurt you. If he wanted to hurt you, he wouldn't have brought you here and stuck an IV in you to keep you hydrated, and the sheets feel nice and clean, and so what took your clothes and dressed you in this cotton nightie, what did you expect him to do? Your clothes were filthy, like you, only you're not anymore, and your skin smells a little like lilacs, which means holy Christ he BATHED you.

Wait a minute," he says, holding up one of his large handa. "A green bomb?""I'm not making this up.""Why green, though?""Because green is the color of money, grass, oak leaves, and alien bombs. How the hell would I know why it was green?

Wait a minute," he says, holding up one of his large hands. "A green bomb?""I'm not making this up.""Why green, though?""Because green is the color of money, grass, oak leaves, and alien bombs. How the hell would I know why it was green?

I'm having a bad day," I told him. My little brother hated me, my human-alien personal security guard confessed he doesn't know compassion from compost, and now my old high school crush informs me he's embarking on a suicide mission to rescue two missing and probably dead people. PLUS I wanted a sandwich that I could never have.-Cassie