“What happened?”
Sauda looks to Ashleigh, Adorna, and Malik as they sit on one side of the table. Adorna is back in her human skin but covered in drying blood, her black hair matted to her face. Sauda knows Adorna doesn’t care too much about that. She is used to wearing other people’s bodily fluids. Maddox, however, who stands next to Sauda, looks uncomfortable. The sooner they debrief, the sooner Adorna can shower and they can all feast on the meal Sauda’s mother cooked up.
Ashleigh opens her mouth but Maddox holds up his hand, leaving her looking like a gaping fish. He turns to Sauda and looks up.
“Mrs. Johnson—”
“No. You can call me Bilillee,” Sauda’s mom says in her thick-accented English, “that name isn’t mine, and I didn’t give it to her—your government did.”
Bilillee stands ove
