Two weeks later, Sylvia was cleared.
She was no longer required constant surveillance, but she would still be checked every other day, monitored during scent fluctuations, and immediately reported if she developed a fever, uncontrolled output, new pain around the gland, or what Seven called "unusual behavioral changes."
Sylvia asked whether threatening a physician counted.
Seven said, without looking up from her chart, that in her case it was baseline.
So she was almost free.
Her parents visited often but never stayed too long. Her mother brought clothes and practical questions. Her father brought approved food and looked at Thomas as if slowly deciding whether the large, dangerous man could be trusted permanently with his daughter.
Thomas endured it.
