Crash.

“I’m sorry.”

The words couldn’t help but escape my mouth. Quickly I looked away from the rear-view mirror, stared at Jack, stared at Jill, looked back again. “It’s just—I know—look, I’m sorry.”

Tom raised an eyebrow and grinned lopsidedly. “Déjà vu, isn’t it?”

“Yeppers. I could have sworn I’ve heard this before…” Max chimed in and reached over to pat my shoulder. “So I’ll say it again, Doorbell. We’ve made up our minds, and it’s okay. It really is, man.”

Yes, I’d had this exact conversation with Max and Tom at least three times already. The thesis was always the same—they were making the choice to join ARFA on their own. They’d been thinking about it for a while, it seemed, before I even showed up with Jack and Jill and my own stupid story. I hadn’t forced them to consider it, nor would I ever. It was their choice. It was all their choice in the end, and nothing could—or would—change that.

Still, I kept thinking about the apartment they’d just found, after weeks of searching. The studies that they probably wouldn’t be able to continue now that they’d be employed under ARFA. They had lives already, and now they were being turned upside-down by this newest chain of events. Tom and Max had spent so long trying to find a place to settle down and continue their studies, but now…now they were just going to give that up to help the poleepkwa. Hopefully they’d still be able to have semi-normal lives, but if Jake was any example that really wasn’t likely. The knowledge made me admire them all the more, though guilt still twisted in my gut and my thoughts kept turning to maybes. Maybe if I hadn’t mentioned it, they wouldn’t have joined. They would have found other, less dangerous ways of helping my people, but then again we needed all the help we could get. We really did, so shouldn’t I be thankful they would do this? That they were doing this?

I turned around in my seat and faced them. “But are you sure—“

Something must have happened in those few seconds that I wasn’t looking, because a squealing noise came and the car suddenly jerked forward, then back. Metal groaned and screeched; suddenly we were sideways and something collided with the back of my head—my vision went black and stayed black. Nearby I heard Jill warble in fear, and reached out for her. She was fine…no cuts or bruises, but she clung to me along with her brother, voice shaky and warbling. “Olo—what happened? The car’s sideways.”

Tom swore and a slight clicking sound came. “Goddamn seat belts. Hey guys, are you okay? Max? Kids? Olo?” More clicking sounds came and I felt movement. “The fucking car crashed…is everyone okay?” His voice was loud. “I’m going to try to crawl out of the side of the car, okay?” Metal began screeching, and I heard the tinkle of breaking glass.

“Here…holy shit! Oh god. Oh god, oh god—shit!” Max’s voice came from somewhere close to my antennae, sounding hoarse and pained. “Damn. My leg…shit. Shit shit shit.”

“Max?” I turned my neck and ignored the spike of pain the motion caused. “What is it…?” I blinked, first once, then twice. “I can’t see you.” Something wet was leaking into my eyes, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Was there blood in my eyes or engine oil?

“Here—Maxie, stay still. Still, Max. We’re gonna get you out—Olo, I need a hand here, man. Jack and Jill, you’ve got to crawl out of this.” Tom’s voice was steady—well, steadier then anyone else’s—and he guided me out of the car. "Look, we've gotta get out of here."