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might eat the bowl, too, but he controls himself.
    Lindsey, meanwhile, has taken only a few hesitant bites. Small ones. She chews with obvious relish, though she keeps looking at the stew suspiciously. She pushes it away. Then she pulls it back and takes another little bite.
    “If you don’t want it,” Michael says, “I’ll be happy to finish it for you.”
    “It’s hard for anyone to eat with you acting like a vulture ready to grab their food,” Lauren says to Michael.
    I’m surprised Lauren’s defending Lindsey. Michael looks hurt, but Lindsey looks relieved. It’s not like she digs in, though. She continues her tiny bites and her ritual of pushing the bowl away and pulling it back.
    Michael studiously looks away. He’s pretty obviously still interested in her food. If she pushes that bowl too far once, I’m not sure she’ll get it back.
    Lauren tells us that she helped make the stew. She tells us Addyen talks to her about stuff, like her religion and how she wants to open her own restaurant one day. Like before, Lauren talks like the alien is a friend, which is irritating.
    “She’s not your friend,” I say.
    “I never said she was. She’s just not like the others, that’s all.”
    Lindsey pushes her bowl away. “She’s an alien. She’s one of them. They ruined everything. I was about to get in a Victoria’s Secret catalog. You know who I was going to have dinner with this month? Donald Trump.”
    Lauren’s eyes narrow. Their truce is obviously over. “This whole invasion has been one big inconvenience for you, hasn’t it?”
    “As a matter of fact, it has been,” Lindsey snaps. “It’s the biggest inconvenience in the history of the frickin’ world.”
    “That’s probably true,” I say.
    Michael snorts and Lindsey gives a small laugh. Even Lauren smiles.
    As we bus our trays, Lauren says, “Addyen asked me to stop by the kitchen after dinner. Why don’t you come with me? I want you to see what she’s like.” I see she really wants me to meet Addyen, so I agree. We sneak back to the kitchen. Addyen is sitting at a table. She’s not taller than most of the female aliens, but she is wider.
    “Lauren,” she says, surprised.
    “You told me to come by,” Lauren reminds her.
    She looks at me. “Not him. If one of the Handlers finds him here, there will be trouble. Anchise is watching this part of the house.”
    Anchise is the worst of the Handlers. He likes hurting people.
    “Maybe we should leave,” I say.
    Addyen stands. “Stay,” she says. It’s not like she says the word in an unkind way or anything. It’s just that it sounds a lot like the way I used to say “stay” to my dog.
    In a few seconds she’s back with bowls and a container. She scoops something into the bowls and passes them to us with spoons. We eat. It’s cold like ice cream, but it’s not ice cream. It’s impossible to describe because it’s like nothing I’ve ever eaten, but it actually makes me feel good.
    “We’re not all like Lord Vertenomous or the Handlers,” Addyen says as we eat. “You may have good masters when the settlers arrive. You may have lives that are not so hard.”
    Good masters. That’s the best we can hope for now. I’m about to say something when another cook comes in. She looks horrified to see us. Not looks. She doesn’t look any different, but I feel what she feels.
    “Perhaps you better go,” Addyen says.
    “Thanks for the dessert,” I say.
    I admit on the way back to the library that Addyen isn’t so bad for an alien. We find Michael and Lindsey and talk for a while, almost like friends at school. I feel almost, I don’t know, normal.
    Lindsey and Lauren even agree that women shouldn’t wear fur. Lauren is a dog person and Lindsey is a cat person, but they both think the idea of wearing animal fur is wrong and gross.
    “It’s like that commercial where the actress says you wouldn’t wear your dog.”
    “Or your cat,” Lindsey says. “A lot of famous people