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"I like, like, aliens and other worlds and stuff. Like how aliens are different from humans but still, like, people, you know? And how people survive on other planets, because that's just cool. I like Star Trek, I, um, I watched Next Generation with my dad a lot," he said, and there was a moment of melancholy, but he went on, refusing to let it stop the conversation. "Do you like Enterprise?"

"I kind of like the older stuff too, it's stupid sometimes but it's funny. Do you think the scanners could detect, um. The shadow things?" Jordan asked. There was a little hesitation in his voice; he wasn't used to openly talking about the things he saw. He'd learned not to say anything to adults fairly fast, and he'd only talked about it with Andy just enough to confirm that his brother also saw things, and had otherwise avoided the topic.

"Yeah," he agreed. "The ones where there have to be heroes to fight the evil aliens, that's fun too. Did you see Signs? That one was pretty cool. I mean, it wasn't in space but it was still cool."

Jordan quieted and poked at his chip bag to make it crinkle, uncertain if they should be talking about this. "Who's she? I, um, I see things sometimes. There's something under Andy's bed some nights ... "

It was a relief to know that there was someone else who saw them besides himself and Andy. The injury was fascinating, in a weird way, but he made himself not stare too long. It wasn't polite. "I don't think I met her. I always saw them. Ever since I was really little," he said. "Does that mean I'm infected?"

"My dad got really mad if I talked about them," he added, softly. "So I just didn't."

"Andy saw them too. So I knew I wasn't totally crazy," Jordan offered.

He nodded a little. "I didn't get pills though," he said. "When I figured out they didn't believe me I let them tell me I was imagining things and not really seeing them. I didn't talk about it a lot so I think they decided I learned my lesson." He poked a toe at the blanket, watching it wrinkle up. "I told Andy he shouldn't tell anyone what he saw so he wouldn't have to go to the shrinks too."

"I don't like to go out at night, there's too much chance of seeing one. But if I don't get close to them they usually don't follow me." Jordan sighed. "My friends think I'm a chicken but that's okay. I don't mind." He did mind, but it was better than them thinking he was crazy. He didn't say that; he wasn't going to say it when that was what Mel was dealing with.

"That must've been bad," he said sympathetically. He could imagine having to be trapped in the dark with one of the shadows. That was different than the thing under the bed; the thing under the bed seemed to have rules about what it could do, and leaving the room kept you mostly safe.

"I don't like having to lie about it," Jordan confessed. The growing dimness of the treehouse made it easier to talk about this kind of thing. "It's real and pretending it's not just makes me feel like. Like maybe I'm not very real either."

"I know you're not crazy," he said, and reached out hesitantly to pat Melvin's shoulder, a feather-light touch, there and then gone. "It is real."