“What’s going on?” I ask. Birds chirp in the trees surrounding our house, and I’m momentarily distracted by them. They seem too loud, the light too bright beyond them.
“I need you to know something,” Raven says seriously, drawing my attention back. “When I was looking inside Annalise’s programming, there were … problems.”
My heart skips. “What do you mean?” I ask.
“There’s damage,” Raven says. “Physical damage. I’m guessing it’s related to whatever happened to her face.”
“You couldn’t see her memories?” I ask, surprised she doesn’t already know that Guardian Bose is what happened to Annalise’s face.
Raven is stunned by the question. “Seememories?” she asks. “I don’t understand.”
Anton could see what we were thinking when he would give us impulse control therapy. Did he have better equipment? A better understanding of what we were? Maybe Raven isn’t as smart as she claims.
“Never mind,” I say quickly. “Now what does this damage mean for Annalise?”
“I’m not sure yet,” she says. “And to be clear, it’s entirely possible that you all have problems in your programming. It’s just … hers was prominent due to the gaps and dings in the metal and wires. As of right now,” Raven says, “I don’t see any behavioral issues. But”—she tilts her head from side to side—“we might want to consider reconstruction. Down the line, as her organs age, she’s going to need a fully active brain to keep her systems running.”
“Is it dangerous?” I ask.
“The reconstruction?” Raven sighs. “Yeah,” she says. “It would be. So think about it. Discuss it. Let me know what you decide.”
“Thanks,” I say, glancing up at our apartment window. I’m protective and obstinate.
I won’t let anything happen to Annalise. We’ve saved her before; we’ll do it again.
Raven starts to leave, but I call her name. She pauses on the bottom step.
“Can I ask you something? Something private?” I say.
“Of course.”
“When you said you could adjust certain things … ,” I say. “Can you fix fear?”
“Fix?”
“Take it away.”
She watches me before nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, I could determine what’s acting as your amygdala. Then I’d restructure how it interprets fear. That might do it. If you’d like—”
“No, I was just curious,” I say quickly. I’m not ready for Raven to mess around with my brain just yet. I’m still hoping it’ll just clear up on its own once we get out of this town.
“How are your headaches doing?” Raven asks.
“Fine.”
She laughs. “Liar,” she says. She climbs back up the steps to pause in front of me. “Let me see your phone.”
I hesitate for a second, but then I hand it over. She searches it, and I realize she’s making sure it hasn’t been compromised. There’s a small bit of relief.
“Looks clean,” she says, and then starts tapping the screen.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Putting in my number,” she says. “In case you change your mind about the firewalls. Or … if you want to talk about anything else.”
“Thank you,” I say, “but I have the girls.”
“Sure, I know.” She finishes typing in her number and hands the phone back to me. “But sometimes it helps to have an outside opinion,” she says. “Especially an opinion that understands your default settings.”
