Maxine floated on a river of ink, occasionally bobbing to the surface, catching intermittent and increasingly sparse glimpses of reality. She saw the monster standing over her. Her body felt less and less present, as if she drifted apart, the pain slowly becoming a part of the darkness creeping up on her vision. She saw the chittering teeth, glistening in the light of the sunset, Malice stood triumphant, until they didn’t. 

 

Maxine didn’t want to believe what she saw, of course. Like a dark angel from a dream, two black wings descended on Malice in a flurry of dark claws and white teeth, crashing into them with a sound like thunder. 

 

The darkness pulled at her again, and she fell out of focus. Malice was nowhere to be seen. Rue sat over her, crying. Max tried to frown, Rue should be resting, healing, but her face didn’t move the way she wanted it to. In the distance, she heard Victoria yelling, but she couldn’t make out what she was saying, as if the call came from under water. What came through clearly was a roar that made the ground shake. She wasn’t sure it came from Malice.

 

She was losing her grip, now. The river was dragging her away, until a shock sent her hurtling back to the surface. She was pulled up, and as she opened her eyes she found herself face to face with an expression she hadn’t seen in a very long time. 

 

Two pupil-less eyes, milky white, catlike, on a purple black face, above a grin that was all teeth. 

 

“Penny?”

 

Hey babe.

 

---

 

Penumbra and Zoe hit the creature below them, their large wings unfurling at the last second only to break their fall. Their bulk collided with Malice with a crash. 

 

Stay calm and let me do most of the work, Zoe

 

“Okay!” Zoe squeaked inside them. She’d never been in a proper fight before. Even when she’d been taller and bulkier, she’d avoided conflict wherever possible. Jumping out of a plane’s cargo hold, falling several thousand feet, fighting a spider-like monstrosity, this was far beyond what she was capable of dealing with. Even while they were falling, she’d only once before experienced Penumbra materialising around her, and that was in the safety of the therapist’s office. She was far out of her depth. She stepped back, and Penny took over. Immediately, she felt her limbs move with a certainty she hadn’t felt before. 

 

They lunged forward, swiping at the armored creature with claws that grew and stretched. Zoe felt Penumbra move more like an animal, moving on instinct. Her own limbs seemed to get in the way, even though she’d fully given up control. 

 

The monster swiped at them with several claws. Penny dodged two and tanked a third, their tough skin largely stopping the attack. Their own right hand swiped at the creature’s face, but found their attack blocked by a chitinous limb, barely scratching the surface. A blow from below sent them flying. They landed gracefully and caught their breath for a moment, looking around. Maxine lay on the ground, in a pool of blood. Sam sat kneeling, clearly trying to get back into the fight but finding the wound in her shoulder to be too much of an impediment. Rue was wearing what looked like a glowing blue collar. Through it, they saw a dirty wound that was held together by Rue’s own construct. Zoe felt Penny recoil, snarl, in rage. 

 

“Seedling!” Malice cried out at them.

 

Something in Penny shuddered. They avoided the creature’s gaze, locking eyes on Victoria, who stood a ways off, held back by Lisa and Ceecee. She was clearly upset, probably because of Maxine, but she’d also finally recognised Penny, and was starting to calm down.

 

Good.

 

“Do not ignore me, Seedling!”

 

Penny and Zoe turned back to Malice and said nothing, gauging the situation. 

 

We’re not fast enough, Zoe. 

 

“What can we do?”

 

Against them? I don’t know. They’re… pulling at the edges.

 

“I don’t understand.”

 

You don’t have to. But that creature has power over… not me. But it has power over my instincts. If you weren’t my host, it would have torn me apart already.

 

“That’s… good, right?”

 

It is. But it’s not enough.

 

“So what do we do?”

 

Keep fighting. I have an idea.

 

They broke into a sprint, charging the creature. They weren’t looking to avoid getting hurt, or getting a good attack in. The creature seemed to wait with glee, watching their approach and preparing to deflect their attack the way they had the last one, but Zoe and Penumbra weren’t trying to hurt Malice this time. Not directly.

 

Three of the sharp talons buried into their shoulder and back while several others protected Malice’s body, but it wasn’t enough to slow them down. They moved forward, keeping low, their momentum and not inconsiderable mass enough to push the creature back and up. They realized too late what was happening when the last of their claws scraped at the floor and lost footing. Still running forward with effort as Malice scratched and stabbed at them, they moved to the edge of the Lilypad and tossed with a roar. Malice screeched as they were thrown overboard.

 

“What did that achieve?”

 

Bought us some time.

 

They turned, and sprinted over to where Maxine was lying. She looked so small, so vulnerable. Her eyes were glassy, unfocused, but she was breathing. Very faintly. Not wasting time, They lifted her up by her shirt and brought her face up to theirs. It seemed to shake her awake for a second. 

 

“Penny?”

 

---

 

Malice crawled back onto the Lilypad, their talons slamming into its surface with loud, angry thuds. It had been amused. It’d had prey to play with, prey that fought but didn’t scream. Good prey. Fun Prey. But this? This had been… annoying. Being tossed into the water by the seedling? It was an insult, and not even a good one. Dripping with salt water, they once again sought the dark purple form of the seedling, who was standing near the others. 

 

“Seedling! Come here and fulfill your purpose!”

 

The seedling turned around and its eyes narrowed. Before, it had seemed unsure, but its movements now were different. Direct, in control, and completely and utterly full of anger and rage. Good, maybe it’d make a mistake now, Malice thought, as it approached them. Then, for the first time, the seedling spoke.

 

“We’re not your seedling, buddy.”

 

What.

 

“We are Spite.”

 

What?!

 

“You are SO fucked.”

 

---

 

Maxine felt consciousness flood back into her body along with… something she’d gone without for more than a year. Something she’d missed, like a piece of her soul that had been carved out. But now she felt whole again. She felt herself heal, her wounds closing as Penumbra resumed their rightful place. She felt as if she could breathe again, for the first time in much, much too long. As if stretching after being ill for weeks, months at a time. 

 

Hey babe.

 

“I’ve missed you.”

 

I know. Thank you for waiting for me.

 

“Thank you for coming back.”

 

Always.

 

“What’s going on, Penny?”

 

That thing wants me to create more of it.

 

“What? Why?”

 

Same species.

 

After a horrifying second, Maxine realized how terrifying Penumbra could have been, had they not bonded with her, had they not developed the symbiotic relationship they’d had. The creature that had attacked them was truly monstrous. Penny could have done to her what that thing had done to their own host.

 

I never would have.

 

“Thank you.”

 

No you.

 

“So what does it want with you?”

 

They can use me to make more. 

 

“Are you saying you’re a girl?”

 

I could be a girl if I wanted to!

 

“Wha?”

 

I’m not. Not quite. I was never supposed to be… a person

 

“Why tell me now?”

 

I’ve had some time to remember things. Realize things about myself.

 

“I mean, I’m glad. Now what?”

 

We separate them from their host, somehow.

 

Maxine swallowed. She opened her eyes again. Only a second or so had passed while they’d reconnected. They stretched out to their full length as Penumbra enveloped her. As things should be. She looked down at the host Penny had used to bring themself here. 

 

“What the fuck, Penny.”

 

I can explain

 

‘No seriously, what the fuck!?”

 

It’s a long story. This is Zoe. Be nice. 

 

“Why does Zoe have my face, Penny?”

 

She’s borrowing it

 

“You are such a disaster.”

 

I learned from the best

 

“Go fuck yourself.”

 

I missed you too, Maxine.

 

“Fuck.”

 

Fuck

 

Maxine realized she was still looking down at Zoe. 

 

“Uh, hi. I’m Maxine.”

 

“Hi Maxine,” Zoe said with a very small, very scared voice. 

 

One moment.

 

Max felt Penny speak through her mouth, an experience that was always a little weird. Nothing quite like it.

 

“Zoe, I’ve left you with a gift. Go over to the wounded people over there, and put your hands on them. Instincts should do the rest.”

 

Zoe nodded, Penny’s voice reassuring her, and jogged over to the others, awkwardly putting her hand on Sam’s shoulder where she’d pulled out the quills. She seemed to convulse for a second as her body did things it never had before, and Sam’s wounds started to heal. 

 

“You gave her our healing?”

 

Among other things.

 

Penny sounded extremely self-satisfied, and Max was enthused and curious. Malice scaled the edge of the Lilypad. They seemed incredibly pissed off. 

 

“Seedling! Come here and fulfill your purpose!”

 

They turned to face the creature and started to walk towards them with grim determination. This thing would get no further in their quest than right here, right now. 

 

“We’re not your seedling, buddy.”

 

That seemed to shake their resolve. Out of the corner of their eye, they saw Sam stand up, stretching her shoulder. 

 

“We are Spite.”

 

Malice seemed genuinely disturbed now. Rue, too, was getting up, and joined Sam in her approach of the creature.

 

“You are SO fucked.”

 

They formed a line in front of Malice. The creature looked back and forth at them nervously. Spite looked at the others, and spoke, just loud enough for them to hear. 

 

“Buy us some time to get in close.”

 

They both nodded. Rue constructed a suit of armor around herself, and Sam got back into her fighting stance. Malice skittered back and forth, their head weaving back and forth. Suddenly, they charged, directly at Rue. Their carapace grew quills again as they galloped at full speed towards her. This time however, Rue was entirely ready. As the spikes fired themselves from Malice’s exterior, Rue’s armor ignited and she fired straight up, the quills passing underneath her harmlessly. She began to fire a multitude of rockets and guns that popped out of translucent blue hatches all over her suit, peppering Malice with a variety of small arms fire. They weren’t doing damage, as far could be seen, but they recoiled at the barrage of explosions in front of them. It was enough for Sam to close the distance, leaping forward with incredible speed, before slamming her fist down onto Malice’s head. 

 

It was like Malice’d had a truck dropped on them, their face slamming into the ground with enough force to dent it, their hindquarters lifted up cartoonishly. Sam followed it up with a downward kick, trying to keep Malice eating dirt, keep them from getting up and getting their bearings.

 

Several of Malice’s feet dug themselves into the floor and they pushed forward, slamming their head into Sam’s abdomen and sending her flying and, after a second, bouncing. Malice raised themselves up to attack, once again, but it was too late. 

 

Spite stood in front of them, grinning, upright and proud, but it wasn’t their posture or attitude that stopped Malice in their tracks, frozen in place. It was the fist buried into Malice’s chest.

 

Malice shuddered for a moment. Spite grinned. They felt the four identities, their nervous systems entangling. It was a gamble, but one they were willing to make. 

 

Kicking and screaming, they dragged Malice and their host into their own head.

 

---

 

The four of them stood in something that wasn’t quite a space. If it could be said to be a space, it was dark and infinite. Maxine looked down and a mirror of glass, of black water, rippling gently. There were no stars, no moon, above them. She looked at the others. She recognised Penny immediately. A purple-black humanoid shape, about her own height and weight, with no distinguishing features other than two white, catlike eyes. Their posture was confident and relaxed. 

 

Opposite them was… what she could only assume was the creature. A formless, writhing mass, filled with sickly green hues and swirling patterns, at one moment chitinous and the next gelatinous and viscous, oozing in and out of shapes of the various creatures it had devoured. It looked like a living oil slick attempting a cruel and hideous imitation of life. She wasn’t even remotely surprised.

 

What actually peaked her interest was the woman, sitting on the ground with her arms wrapped around her knees, her head against her legs. 

 

She looked back at the creature. It wasn’t moving. Somehow, in this space - where were they? Inside of Penumbra? Inside Spite? A combination of all four of them? It didn’t matter - she knew it couldn’t hurt her, not really. She went over to the woman, and knelt down.

 

“Hey.”

 

“What the fuck.”

 

“Nice to meet you too?”

 

Melanie looked up at Max. She looked like she’d been crying. She looked like she’d been crying for weeks. 

 

“Are you real?”

 

Maxine looked down. She looked like herself, thankfully. 

 

“Pretty sure I am. My name is Maxine. What’s yours?”

 

“Melanie. Where are we?”

 

“I think we’re inside our heads.”

 

“I thought you said this was real…”

 

“It… is. What is… that?” Max gestured at the raging form.

 

Melanie glanced with a look of utter disdain and disgust.

 

“Malice. It’s… using me.”

 

“You didn’t agree to any of this, did you?”

 

Mel looked at her like she’d grown another head.

 

“Would you have?”

 

Gesturing at Penumbra, who waved awkwardly, Max replied. “It was different for me.”

 

“You’re… also…?”

 

“Like I said. Different. Penny and I are partners.”

 

“That thing is called Penny?”

 

“Yeah, they are.” Maxine was a little hurt at Melanie calling Penumbra a Thing, but considering her only experience with similar entities, she could hardly be blamed for having some negative associations.

 

“Why do you help it? Them?” 

 

Quick learner, Max though. 

 

“Penny helps me, most of the time? We’re a team.”

 

“So they’re not, like, trying to kill everyone?”

 

“They’re not… What? No!”

 

“Oh good. Okay. Cool. Yeah. Where are we, Maxine, like, really?”

 

Max sat down onto the black glass next to Melanie and looked at Penny and Malice, who seemed to be having a staredown.

 

“Penny and I, we’re working with our friends to stop… Malice?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“So yeah, we’re trying to keep it from doing the whole taking over the world thing.”

 

“Fuck yeah.”

 

“You want to help?”

 

“I mean, fuck, like, of course. How?”

 

“I think we can overpower them. Penny and I are stronger together. I think Malice is only strong while they’re bonded with you. But if you fight back at the same time…”

 

“You can tear it in half. Fuck yeah.”

 

“I think we’re almost out of here, Melanie. Are you ready?”

 

Melanie nodded encouragingly. She looked like a woman who’d been kept down for a very long time, looking forward to a chance to finally take back what was hers. She looked fragile and powerful, in that moment.

 

Slowly, the blackness faded into light as reality came flooding back. 

 

---

 

Malice screamed. Spite still had their fist jammed into the beast’s armored chest, and they weren’t letting go. Malice’s front legs, their talons, all raised to bear down on Spite, but blue manacles materialised around them, chains held by ethereal angels pulled taut as Rue concentrated. She wasn’t going to hold for long, but perhaps she didn’t need to. Sam jumped onto the creature’s back and wrapped an arm around their neck, pulling the head backwards in what she hoped was a chokehold. She applied enough pressure to pop a fully grown man’s head clean off, and it held back Malice, momentarily. 

 

Malice grew quiet as they strained against its many attackers, and found a new opponent coming from within. Their own limbs began to rebel, twitching. Malice was losing control. Spite grinned even wider and slammed their other hand into the creature. They found the creature, wrapped around every cell of their host, and pulled, extracted it. Like a poison, Malice was slowly drawn from their host. Penny and Maxine both felt Malice get absorbed into them. For a second, she feared they would fight, rage, forever, but slowly Malice began to dissolve under the pressure of not two but three identities pushing back against it. 

 

Malice unraveled, fraying at the edges as its silent screams echoed inside of their heads, going from undignified roaring to terrified screeching, until, like a drop of ink in an ocean, it dissolved into nothing, and Malice died with it.

 

Spite held the form of Melanie, who opened her many eyes. Spite saw her form, and held her face in their hands. 

 

“Look at us, Melanie. We are Maxine and Penum-- Penny. Don’t look down. Just keep looking at my face.”

 

They weren’t going to make Melanie look down at what Malice had wrought of her body. Nobody should have to look like that against their will. So slowly, much more gently than they had before, Spite merged with Melanie’s nervous system, and began to reshape her, drawing from her own memories, reducing her limbs and eyes to the expected amount. Melanie looked around panicked but followed their instructions, didn’t look down. She would only feel a tingling sensation as the carapace became human skin and the dozens of limbs became the usual four. 

 

After a minute, the figure of a naked woman slumped down onto the deck of the Lilypad. Spite picked her up and held her close. She’d fainted but she’d be okay. Physically, at least.

 

---

 

Everyone had been shepherded into the only furnished room on the Lilypad, Melanie had been wrapped in a blanket, and was asleep on the couch. Penumbra had retreated and everyone sat around the table. Most eyes were on Zoe, who looked exactly like Maxine.

 

“So…” Victoria began. She was sitting very close to Max, who she’d almost lost earlier, and also happily close to Penny, who she’d missed dearly. They had an arm wrapped around each other. Zoe looked at them sheepishly.

 

“Zoe right?”

 

She nodded. “Zoe Price. I think I was… Penny’s host for a bit?”

 

For the benefit of the others, Penumbra used Max’s mouth.

 

“She was a good host.”

 

Maxine raised an eyebrow quizzically.

 

“Any reason she looks like me, Penny?”

 

“Um.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“She was in an accident, and I uh… healed according to the… blueprint I still had in my head?”

 

“Okay, fine. I can buy that. Why does she still look like me?”

 

Zoe fidgeted nervously. 

 

Her original form made her feel the way Sam made you feel, Max.

 

Max heard Penny’s voice resonate softly inside her head. Ah. Max felt a pang of… sympathy dysphoria? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and turned to Zoe.

 

“Okay, I get it. I really do. But… Like…” She looked over to Sam. “I’ve done this song and dance once already…”

 

Zoe nodded. “Can I at least… look a bit…”

 

Max rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I don’t care if you look like my sister or my cousin, I just…”

 

“That’s good enough for me!”

 

“Oh thank fuck. So…”

 

She paused. Victoria took over.

 

“Who are you, Zoe? Where are you from?”

 

“The midwest. Um.” Zoe chewed her cheek for a moment, as if collecting her thoughts.

 

“I was a software engineer for a uh… a charity organisation. And um… I had… Issues.”

 

I’ll say.

 

Zoe, who hadn’t heard Penny, continued.

 

“One day, a big black bird flew in my window. That was Penny. Although I think they might have just… merged with me. Accepted me as a-- a host? And the bird was there to help me think? I’m not sure. Anyway…”

 

“Take your time.”

 

“I was kinda aimless. But I wanted to do good, you know? In the way I could, you know. If that makes sense.”

 

“I see what you saw in her,” Max smirked.

 

“What?”

 

“Talking to Penny.”

 

“Oh… Okay… I um… I had a question.”

 

“Yes, Zoe?”

 

“If you and Penny are reunited…”

 

“Hmmm?”

 

“Why do I still hear someone in my head?”

 

There was a silence around the table. Everyone looked back and forth between them. Then, Zoe opened her mouth again.

 

“Hello everyone. Zoe is my first host. My name is Lumen. Hi.”

 

Probably should have told you about that first. Penny echoed in Max’s head.

 

“What the FUCK Penny?”

 

---

 

After the initial confusion, Victoria was making some tea to calm everyone’s nerves, her own not least of all. Zoe had been sat on the sofa. She looked as distraught and confused as anyone. V handed her her tea. Now she was confused and distraught and she had tea. 

 

“Explain.” Maxine was trying to look sternly at the person inside her own head. Penumbra managed to sound a little bashful, at least.

 

“So… I told you I needed a specific kind of host now, right?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I needed to… grow. Evolve.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I think I was pregnant.”

 

“Um?”

 

There was a pause. Nobody really knew what to say.

 

“E… laborate?” Rue hazarded

 

“Not like… the way a human is.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“I had an… instinct. A feeling I needed a safe… place… host? Person. I only found out why after we reunited and I left something behind.”

 

“Okay. And that’s…”

 

“Lumen. Hi.” That had come from Zoe’s mouth.

 

“Hey Lumen. Um… Zoe, how do you feel about this?”

 

Zoe cradled her tea.

 

“I’m… okay with this, honestly. She keeps asking for permission to speak. She’s very nice.”

 

“She?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Cool.”

 

Ceecee piped up. “So, Lumen, you’re… Penny’s…”

 

“Daughter!”

 

Rue, Ceecee and Remy all went “Awwww” simultaneously, and then looked at each other sheepishly.

 

The voice was very soft and gentle, like little bells, and clearly had an overtone of… youthful enthusiasm. Max leaned back into the recliner. This was a lot to take in.

 

“So… what now, Zoe? Lumen?”

 

“We just want to figure things out, I think. Figure out who we are. I only… I’m only…” she began to stutter, finding it harder and harder to get the words out. Then she seemed to listen to a voice the others couldn’t hear, and took a breath. “I’ve only been Zoe for a few days. We need to figure out what that means.”

 

Max smiled empathically.

 

“If you want to, you can figure it out here. Most people here know what you’re going to. Better than you think.”

 

Sam, Victoria and Rue all nodded in sympathy. 

 

“You’re not alone here. And… You just went through a lot of change. I know… I know what that’s like. Several of us do. We can help you.”

 

Zoe looked around at everyone and tucked her feet underneath herself, trying not to disturb Melanie, who was still knocked out.

 

“I think I’d like that.”

 

“Lumen?”

 

“Me too!”

 

“Billy and Ellie gonna have a fucking field day,” Rue sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically.”

 

“Who are…”

 

“We’ll introduce you to them when the time comes.”

 

“I get to stay? Just like that?”

 

Maxine and Victoria looked at each other and nodded in silent unison.

 

“We’re gonna say yes, Zoe, Lumen. Welcome to the team.”

 

Maxine stood up and offered Zoe a hand.

 

“Welcome to LIT Inc.”

 

---

 

Life happened. Time happened, as it is wont to do. Zoe found herself fitting well within the organisation. Penumbra and Max helped them figure themselves out, as best they could. She had several more revelations, hatchings and coming outs as time progressed, and slowly began to blossom into her own. She was, for all intents and purposes, and for the first time, happy.

 

Melanie was given then psychiatric care she needed, but eventually she went back home to California, where it became very important to her that nobody ever take away her bodily autonomy ever again, and decided to resume her education, hoping to be a grief counselor some day. 

 

The project continued, of course. Dozens of Lilypads were built as governments found themselves joining hands with LIT Inc just to save face, a small organisation that was doing what they couldn’t. 

 

After two years, the Transatlantic Railway was almost completed, a sixteen-track railroad from the Northeastern United States all the way through to Europe, splitting to go both East and West. The plans were in place to extend the rail to all corners of the globe. Global transportation at the price of an hour’s wage. The power systems were a well kept-secret, and nobody knew about Ceecee’s involvement in any way.

 

The Project was halfway done, and it was not going to be the last by far. 

 

Ceecee, Rue and Remy lay on the couch in the late afternoon, cuddled up to watch the movie. Billy and Ellie both had their own recliners. Zoe was snoring softly, leaned against Lisa who was trying very hard not to fall for her, pretending to watch intently. She pretended to yawn and put her arm around the smaller girl. Billy shot her a knowing look. Lisa stuck out her tongue.

 

Maxine and Victoria were in Cape Town, last they’d heard, doing a press tour for the coming railway. Everyone had questions, of course, and Max and Victoria had gotten very good at answering them. V had always had a knack for languages, and so did Penny, who helped Max wherever they could. The past two years had been hectic, traveling all over not to clean up small messes but to set up infrastructure. To begin real change, on a global scale. 

 

Something like a space elevator seemed like a distinct possibility. They were picking up steam, and they weren’t slowing down. 

 

Billy took another slice of pizza, and looked out the window just in time to see a shadow drop over the city. It was moving. Fast. 

 

“Guys?”

 

There was a soft murmuring from everyone as they looked up, which turned into a frantic bustle as everyone moved onto the balcony to look at the rapidly darkening landscape. 

 

“What the fuck…” Rue mumbled. They were all awestruck. Behind them, the television turned to static. There was nothing in the air, no giant space-ship, no angry cloud. Just… black. Deep and void of any light. It passed across the sun and then everything went pitch black. 

 

Some lights shone in the distance, pinpricks, but the sky, usually filled with stars when it was this dark, was simply an impenetrable darkness. They heard the sounds of cars suddenly crashing, veering off the road, as the city below them lit up with more and more people turning on their lights. The sky had turned to absolute darkness. Not a light came from above, nothing bounced off the clouds. 

 

They turned on the flashlights on their phones, all of which had lost signal, until someone found a light switch. There was a lot of mumbling, but nobody knew what to say. Nobody knew what to do. It wasn’t until the sound came, reverberating inside their skulls, that they even knew what was happening. But when it did, it shook them to their very core. Children cried. Some people threw up. Others screamed in panic or jubilation. But everyone was affected. As the six of them stood on the balcony, a feeling of complete and utter terror washed over them as the words burned themselves into their brains. 

“EARTH. I AM FAMINE. THIS IS REAL. YOU ARE MY NEW HOST.”