"Please!" "Please!" "People are dead." "Rachel's dead." "My mum, she was paralysed in a car accident." "Our teacher here was the Quills' leading terrorist." "Freedom fighter." ""We're just little arses of smart" ""who don't even know what evil looks like."" "We were so busy fighting amongst ourselves, we never saw them coming." "Why aren't you trying to make me talk about it?" "My dad died almost two years ago." "A stroke." "Daddy?" "It isn't you." "It is." "I've reached out to you across all time and space." "Because dead people are doing that all the time." "I mean, you hear about it constantly." "The stroke came so suddenly." "One moment I was here..." "And the next you were gone." "There's so much that I wanted to say to you." " You're not him." " I am." " I'm a part of you, Puddle." " I'm out of here." "I'm your father, Jasper." "I married your mother, Vivian, and then two years later, we had your brothers." "You died two years ago today." "I was at your grave with Mum..." "I know that Puddle, but I'm here now." "I know how much pain you're in." "I can help with that pain." "Why don't you take my hand?" "No." "No, I don't think I'm dealing with this very well." "Alien invasion or teen angst?" "Teen angst is a pejorative phrase." "He's upstairs." "What's wrong?" "They've... thrown me out." "Oh, come on, Tanya." "Where are you?" " Hey." " You seen Tanya?" "No." "She's not been around today." "It's the anniversary of her dad's, um..." "I know that." "She's more my friend than yours." "Why does it have to be a competition?" "Did you understand the physics homework?" "What?" "Oh." "Don't 'Oh' me." "Fine." "Although, I didn't understand all of it either." "Is that a keyboard?" "You play that too?" "Yeah." "I write sometimes." "You write songs?" "No." "Nothing." "Um..." "let's get to physics." "It was an argument, one we had many times, about boys, then it became about you." "It was almost OK I liked boys, but my father... if I don't have a boyfriend, he doesn't have to think about it." "But you... you exist, you are a real person." "Did this really happen?" "Because of course I'll get it." "I once led an army." "Yes, alright." "You know, you aren't supposed to just drop by in this country." "She's the worst teacher I've ever had." "I don't know how nobody notices." " She does barely anything." " I don't know." "So, what I did on question three was..." "What was that?" "Someone just knocked on the window." "And that's weird?" "I'm on the first floor." "Hello, Andrath." "No-one knows that name." "No-one alive knows that name." "Therefore..." "Therefore you're a dead woman, or you're going to be." "Come, come, Andrath, the fight." "Then again, maybe that would be the best greeting." "Mum?" "I'll see you in the morning." "I hope." "Ram, you have to see what that is." "Oh, screw you, I don't have to do anything." "I've done plenty already." "Ram..." "Oh, come on!" "Ram, what's happening?" "!" "That's just not fair." "Holy mother of Kanye." "Rachel?" "Ah!" "Why me?" "Why not Mum or your sons?" "We go to the strongest pull first." "The one who misses us the most." "You were like a siren song when we stepped into this world." "But how can I possibly miss you more than Mum does?" "Because she's already let me go." "It's the shape, I know." "Some morphic resonance thing I don't understand." "One has to make allowances for other planets." "Surely, though, even in this skin, that you yourself wear so well, Andrath, surely you recognise your own sister." "How?" "How are you here?" "That's a story and a half." "I ain't going nowhere." "You AREN'T going ANYWHERE." "The correct words aren't always the right ones." "Well, that's true, isn't it?" "It's what I always used to say to you." " That's what my dad used to tell me." " Fair enough." "Alright." "We are..." "The Lankin." "Aliens." " So you're not him." " I am." " You just said you're..." " The universe is so big." "So big, you wouldn't believe it." "Yes, actually, I would." "So, who are the Lankin?" "They gather souls, Puddle." "They gather our souls, or they can if we let them." "Quill don't have souls." "We do." "We just believe they die with us." "We're wrong about that." "The Lankin look after them." "They shepherd them." "Aw..." "Where to?" "Heaven?" "If Heaven is being with the souls of everyone you've ever known, then, yes." "Sounds like hell." "That too." "What do you get out of it?" "Souls give off energy, a perpetually renewing power source." "It is mutually beneficial." "The more souls they gather together, the more energy the Lankin have." "So... why are you here?" "If you take my hand, I can ease your pain." "Our souls will connect, so that when it comes to your time, many years from now... you'll be able to find me." "Dad, I know we talked about the weird stuff..." "Dad, call me as soon as you get this." "Ram!" "You can stay here as long as you need." "What if that's forever?" "Then it's forever." "You know, these weeks with you," "I knew you were different, but now that I know why, it doesn't matter, because you are still you, in all your strangeness." "Same here." "Charlie, I would like to say something, but I don't want you to think it's because of this situation." "OK." "Do not laugh at me." " Is it funny?" " No." "Because sometimes I miss the human sense of humour." "I mean, have you seen that show, Take Me Out...?" "I love you." "Do you... have love where you come from?" "What about Miss Quill?" "I told her never to intrude unless the world is actually ending." "We've never gathered the souls of this race." "Not until cracks in the universe started appearing here." "We found a few souls we could help, but we'd like to help more." "Right, so this is a sales pitch and you've chosen a human picture of my sister to be your mouthpiece." "Tell me again why I shouldn't kick your arse right now." "The Shadow Kin attack happened so fast, sister." "No-one knew it was their last day." "I know we've rarely seen eye to eye." " You tried to kill me in the nest." " All Quill sisters do that." "It's how we know the survivors are strong." "We allow you to properly say goodbye, and thereby ensure you'll find one another in the hereafter." "Oh, this is sounding suspiciously sentimental." "Exactly the sort of nonsense that would lead one of these ridiculous humans into a trap." "It's symbiotic." "You give to me as I give to you." "Why does it have to be a bad thing?" "I've had bad luck with aliens recently." "Oh, we're not all evil." "And there's so much good in the universe, SO much good." "You're hesitating, you're wondering, "What if?"" "There's so much I wanted to tell you." " There's so much I wanted to say." " I know, son." "Take your mother's hand and tell her, hmm?" "Mama." "Son..." "Aah..." "What was that?" "A soul saying goodbye." "Not as clean as we'd have liked." "A lot of anger there." "We're kind of a messier species than the Lankin is used to." "So sad... when we can't let go properly." "On my world, love is a practical term." "It's almost a business one." "It means to combine what you have with what someone else has." "It's the combination that means love, not... the wish to do it." "The wish told you where love might be found, but... it wasn't love itself." "What are you saying that my wish isn't love?" "No." "Because if not, then I've given up very much for a pointless wish." "No, no, no." "That's not what I'm saying." "Here you have so much choice." "I mean, if your family is wrong for you, you can choose a different one." "My family... they never saw me as someone they needed to bother combining with." "I was a valuable piece of property to be used for the good of the country." "The wish, my wish... had nothing to do with it." "I wish for you." "You wish to combine with me?" "Yeah, is... isn't that what we just..." "Sometimes I think you play stupid." "How about that fight?" "Matrons rules." "No mercy." "That would get in the way." "It's our limitation." "We have to stay attached to the great trunk." "It's how the souls connect." "I can only come this far to you." "You have to come the rest of the way." "Why?" "Because souls never be forced, they can only be persuaded." "What can I say to make you believe me?" "Oh, Puddle." " Won't you take your father's hand?" " Won't you take your sister's hand?" "Tell me why you call me Puddle." "We were watching the regimental horses at Hyde Park." "One of them did an absolutely enormous wee and you, not knowing what it was, jumped right into it." ""Puddle, puddle, puddle!" you said." "Horse wee everywhere." "That doesn't mean that..." "That just means you can read my mind." "It doesn't mean that you're actually you." "I suppose that's true." "Yeah." "There's no way to convince you." "You just... have to believe me." "I really want to." "I want you to." "I've missed you so much." "Dad?" "April?" "I think the world's ending." "How do I know that you're not just some chameleon?" "Chameleon?" "An animal they have here." "It changes its skin to match its background." "Useful for camouflage." "Have you made contact with their leaders?" "Chameleons hide themselves, so what I'm wondering is... what is it you're hiding?" "Maybe you should ask yourself, what am I offering?" "What are they?" "I don't know, but it was connected to Rachel." "Yeah, I saw." "That's just not on!" "That's not even the third weirdest thing I've seen this month." " You're shaking." " Well, the world's ending!" "The dead have come back for us." "Maybe..." "Maybe there's another explanation." "Do you always out to be so goddamn sensible?" " Yes." " What?" "Yes, I do always have to be so goddamn sensible." " Why?" "Why do you say that?" " Because the world isn't sensible." "Haven't you noticed?" "Yeah, I've noticed." "I decided a long time ago that I could either let that break me into pieces or make sure that it never got the chance." "You just think I'm nice or sensible, but really, it's war." "I'm always at war." "Can we please get out of here before we become one of those?" "What are you offering?" "Do you remember what you said to me the last time you saw me?" "That if I ever saw you again," "I'd rip your heart out with my bare hands and make you watch." "Good times." "Well..." "I'd like to see you try." "That's interesting." "Wait a minute!" " I need to breathe." " Did you mean that?" " Mean what?" " Being at war all the time." "My dad." "He was a folk singer." "He played the fiddle." "And made people cry with it." "OK, he made me cry." "He was always away on tour, so we didn't him very much, but it was nice when we did." "And then it got less nice." "He drank." "A lot." "And, um, then he drank more." "When I was eight years old, he purposely drove off a motorway with me and my mum in the car." "My mum was in the passenger seat and, uh, that's why she's paralysed." "I was sitting in the back, but..." "I didn't get hurt." "He said it was a suicide attempt." "He wasn't thinking straight, but..." "he still went to prison for it." "I got lots of therapy." "Loads of it." "People were really nice." "So nice, but also careful." "Like me and my mum were just glass figurines." "I'm not made of glass." "What he did... it's important, but if it's the thing that rules, then he gets to keep doing that to us every day forever and I won't have that." "I play folk music because I love it." "I won't let him take that from me." "And that's why I'm so goddamn sensible." "You're still shaking." "Did..." "Did you see that?" "It looked like my... parents." "Do you often see your parents after sex?" "What's wrong with the sky?" "Why is no-one answering their phones?" "It's like olden times or something." "Probably 'cause they're all already dead." "A little optimism wouldn't kill you, Ram." "No." "Alien shadows will kill me." "Alien tattoos will kill me." " Hey..." " It's coming from the tear." "Why is there only one?" "I'm not sure, but that's the way to Tanya's flat." "There's something you need to know." "Something I didn't tell you." "Um... my dad was a policeman." " I know that, Puddle." " My mum used to worry every night." "Worry when he'd work shifts." "That he wouldn't come home." " "It's not America," I'd say." " And... every night, he'd go out... and every night, he'd come home and... even if it was really late, like... even if it was, like, three o'clock in the morning..." "I'd look in on you." "You'd look in on me." "And I'd always wake up." "Do you know why I did that?" "Because I used to do it to, when I was little." "Like, little, little." "I'd, um... get out of bed and come to your door and look inside." "And I would ask, "What are you doing, Puddle?"" "And I wouldn't say anything." "But you knew." "You... knew." "You were making sure we hadn't gone anywhere in the night." "Because... how could something so good..." "ever last?" "And it didn't." "I hated you for leaving." "Everything was perfect and we were all so happy and then you just left." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry, Dad." "It just..." "Please." "Puddle." "Come to your daddy." "Let him listen to your pain." "Let him tell you how he'll still watch over you." "Do you want it?" "Come and take it." "It has to be your choice." "My choice." "That's how the Lankin works." "I can only reach out." "You have to reach back." "I thought you were just giving me time to say goodbye." "And this is how you'll do it." "Hey, have you seen the sky...?" "Who's this?" " Oh, finally." " Finally, what?" "Finally, you've come down from your little love nest and are therefore implicitly under threat." "Which means I can finally find out who this infuriating wolverine actually is." "What?" "Get a very big knife." "No, wait." "Get two." "Why her?" "She never hurt anybody!" "Night visiting." "What?" "Night visiting, it's a genre of folk song." "Oh, my God, I've heard more about folk music in the last half an hour than in my entire previous life." "There's been songs for centuries about people coming to your window at night." "Usually ghosts of people you've lost." "Like Rachel." "What do they want?" "Sometimes it's a warning." "Sometimes?" "Sometimes they want to drag you down with them." "You have no idea what you're giving up." "Oh, do shut up, sis." "Sis?" "Oh, and I got a screwdriver and some secateurs." "I specifically asked for knives." "I don't..." "I don't like knives." "I can't use weapons, remember?" "Right, stab that in its hand." "Uh..." "Go on, you take your time." "Come on." "What..." "What do you think this is?" "Really bad phlegm?" "Aargh!" "Good." "Move." "Now, let's have a little chat." "There's, like, 100 missed calls from April." "We're at Tanya's." "What is going on?" "I think we're about to find out." "Is Tanya in danger?" " Well?" " We came to offer you release." "Yeah." "Go get her." "We'll be there as fast as we can." "It's bad." "Then we're gonna save her." "No, Ram!" "You made one mistake." "That's not how the Lankin works." "The Lankin aren't a people." "You're a person." "Aarggh!" "You are a chameleon, I'll give you that taking these shapes." "You see, the other thing about chameleons really long tongues, which shoot out to catch their prey." "You're just the tip of the tongue." "Such a succulent species." "Your grief is so large." "It will not matter what you do to this limb." "I've found a grief that will make me stronger than you little worms can imagine." "Ooh." "What a drama queen." "She must have meant Tanya." "April said the main strand of it goes into her flat." "Let's kill it." "You're with us?" "No-one disgraces the memory of my sister by making her nice." "By the way, Matteusz lives with us now." "Whatever." "I've missed you so much." "I've missed you." "Take it." "That's how it works." "Two streets up, then left." "They re-form as soon as you cut them." "Aarggh!" "What's it doing?" " My guess is it's gathering strength." " To do what?" "Like veins of a heart, it all leads to one branch." "Where's the rest of her family?" "What happens when I take your hand?" "You become free." "Free from pain." "Free from worry." "Free from this grief that haunts you." "Like, how?" "Can you please just listen to your father for once, young lady?" "!" "Tanya!" "Don't go to them." "Why didn't Mum open the door for them?" "Oh." "I feed on your release." "Where are my brothers?" "I've never felt a species so in love with closure." "The sweetness of the taste..." "Hi." "What the...?" "You are my heart in this world, Puddle." "I'm not letting you go." "Puddle?" "And once my heart is rooted, oh, how I shall I feed." "You're going to have to go through us first." "Very well." "April..." "This will not be enough." "Give me your hand or I will kill your family." " Will you let my friends go?" " Tanya, don't." "Can't you see?" "Then your mum would have lost you without saying goodbye." "Then it gets to feed again on HER." "It's a cycle." "I will let them go." "There's only so much even I can consume." "You'll take away my pain forever?" "Forever." "No!" "Tanya, NO!" "Something's happening!" "Nearly..." "Oh, the release." "Tanya!" "No!" "What are you doing to me?" "You are not my father!" "What have you done to me?" "You know, us humans ARE a messy species." "I told you I hated my father for leaving." "My grief made me strong, but my anger is stronger, and that's what I gave you!" "You poisoned me." "You don't get to have my closure, so how does that taste?" "Bitter." "You have weakened me." "But not enough." "She didn't..." "Huh?" " Where did she get that?" " She's... resourceful." "No!" "No!" "NO!" "I'm so glad that worked." "My mum!" "Oh!" "What on earth is this mess?" "Oh!" "What's going on?" "I've spoken to a few none of them seem to remember anything, which seems really convenient." "The Lankin probably does it so it can come back and feed again." "Yeah." "It'll think twice before coming back here." " Hey!" " Oh!" "Are you alright?" "Oh!" "How did you know to wing it?" "Oh, thanks!" "My mum doesn't remember anything." " Yeah, I just said that." " Did you guys see anyone?" "I saw Rachel." " Ram..." " Tell me about it." "My dad's the wrong kind of lost." "I saw my parents, but only briefly." "Our bond was not strong." "I've got different ones that are stronger." "We all do, we beat it together." "Finally, we did something as a team." "Oh, my God, I'm going to vomit." "Where'd you get a bus from?" "I should really be walking you home." "Ram, don't you listen?" "Not glass." "April... any time you want to come night visiting." "That's not how I meant it." "I will see you at school, Ram." "'Cause of the folk music." "That's all I meant." "Hey, as long as you need." "I mean it." "We'll make it work." "Thank you." "Uh..." "Thank you." "I am a warrior of the Quill race." "And a warrior needs a gun." "The water was so cold." "He knew it too." "Made a fool of himself, just to get my attention." " He was quite handsome." " He was really handsome." "With that smile, that's how I want you to remember him." "Me too." "Goodbye, Dad." "Dorothy Aimes, new head teacher." "Oh, my!" "Somewhere there... this heart beats." " Aah!" " April!" "Aarggh!" "April's in trouble." "Ah!" "Aarggh!"