“Minji, are you sure about this?” Alec asked.
“Yes, Alec. I’m sure. The three mesmerized at The Venetian this morning called me ‘Mommy.’ Then the entity using Ava brought me Bailey and said ‘baby’ and ‘Mommy.’ At first I thought it was describing Bailey and me, but now I’m certain that the entity is actually a child itself. I think in a limited way it was trying to tell me it’s a baby like Bailey.”
Simone nodded. “Which might be why it brought you Bailey.”
“I don’t get it,” Alec said.
“If it’s a child, Alec, and it has identified the mother/child bond between Minji and her daughters, it may have felt compelled to reunite the girls with Minji the same way it wants to be reunited with its mother. You’re just lucky it didn’t decide you were the bad guy who lured the mother away.” Simone gave Ava a speculative look. “Because we all know what that baby is capable of.”
“But a baby is an innocent. Why would it do all of this?” Alec pointed toward the gruesome remains of a jetliner strewn across a field.
“It’s not about innocence, Alec.” Minji glanced at her sleeping baby at her side, her heart aching. “Imagine a very frightened, powerful child that was taken from its home and trapped in terrifying surroundings. Children have such a limited understanding as it is, but imagine taking Bailey and putting her into a world where she’s the ultimate power. All she wants to do is get home, but these weaker things are preventing it or even hurting her. What do you think Bailey would do?”
“Lash out.” Simone crossed her arms over her breasts, nodding. “Children do have temper tantrums.”
“All this is caused by a baby?” Twisting about in his chair, Alec rested his arm on the back and studied Ava. “You honestly think it’s a baby staring out of her eyes?”
Minji nodded. “A small child of its species, yes.”
“It can hear us right now, you realize.” Alec nervously rubbed his bottom lip. He was obviously trying to wrap his mind around this new premise.
“Yes, it can. But I don’t know if it actually understands us.”
“So why did it imprint on you?” Alec’s blue eyes studied Minji thoughtfully, his gaze sweeping from her dreads pulled into a bun on top of her head to the colorful tattoos visible beneath her collarbone. “What makes you unique?”
Tenderly, Minji stroked Ava’s hair with her fingers. “First off, I was immune. I was able to resist it. Maybe that’s why it initially noticed me. Then I believe it started to view me through the eyes of the mesmerized. It saw me trying to save my girls. Most likely that’s when it identified me as a ‘mother’ or at least as a parental figure. So it watched me, then tried to communicate.”
“All that mouth stuff, the noise.” Simone lifted her fingers to her mouth, flexing them in imitation. “It was learning to talk so it could communicate with you.”
“I do believe so.”
“Which would explain why the mesmerized only acted like that when they got close to you. It makes sense,” Simone decided, visibly impressed with this conclusion.
“So you just won huge brownie points when you beat the hell out of Arthur, didn’t you?”
“Not on purpose, but yes. Now it sees me as a protector. It wants to go home, Alec.”
“Those visions we’ve seen when we’re under the attacks, is that its home?” Simone shivered at the memory. “Because that place was terrifying.”
“Yeah, I think so. And if its world appears that bizarre to us, then what does our world look like to it?”
“Hell,” Simone sighed. “Sheer hell.”
“So you think the attacks are defensive?” Alec rubbed at the scowl on his face with his fingertips, obviously attempting to come to terms with what she was saying.
“No, I don’t think they’re attacks at all. I think it’s just crying out. It’s like Bailey having a tantrum. I know this sounds crazy, but I don’t think it’s trying to hurt us.”
“But it has, Minji. It has killed so many already,” Alec pointed out.
“Not on purpose.”
“Maybe not, but my orders are clear.”
Simone gave Alec a sharp look. “Orders?”
“Yes. To close the door to its world and to...eliminate the problem.”
“Kill it is what you mean.” Simone regarded him with utter disgust.