He flipped over easily. His body was a rag doll. Something inside him had snapped, something fundamental. His eyes were too wide and his blinks were far too long.

But still, he moved to sit up.

His spine crackled and popped, his back bending at an unnatural angle as the parasite took over. The parasite did not know that his arms and legs were paralyzed. It did not know that blood had begun to flood his lungs measure by measure. Aunamee was no longer muscle and bone, but a bundle of invisible energy wearing his flesh like a glove.

He grinned through broken teeth, manic.

"No," he said. "You can't."