Carlos had been in Night Vale long enough to not be surprised when Cecil lead him down the clock tower's stairs. Instead he focused on analyzing what he'd seen and heard before their escape. He sometimes found it uncomfortably hard to tell when Cecil genuinely agreed with the City Council, and when he was subverting them; but Kevin - either he really was Cecil's evil twin, or Desert Bluffs could boast "re-education" methods that were far more effective than anything the City Council had. Cecil must have been pondering on the same subject, as they descended, for he took Carlos' hand in the dark and whispered uncertainly:

"Do you think I ought to have killed Kevin? Until I saw him again I was glad I hadn't. I still don't think I could have. He – I'm not always very certain of my own existence."

"As an outside observer, I think I can vouch for your existence."

"But you always say the observer has to be unbiased. I think dating me is a conflict of interest when it comes to deciding whether I'm real or not."

"What do you suggest – a double-blind test?"

Too many books? Not enough shelves? Where did these books come from? Did someone slip them under the door? Are they actually your wallpaper, peeling off your walls in bundles of flakes that regrow and peel off again?

"I think I see a light. Literally, not metaphorically."

Carlos agreed that there was indeed a door ahead – literally, not metaphorically – with light seeping under it. Cecil turned the handle and they emerged blinking onto the observation deck of the Night Vale Clock Tower. An old man reclined in a deck chair with his hat pulled down over his eyes.

"Cecil – what time is it by the watch I gave you?" Cecil pulled up his sleeve and examined the only real timepiece in Night Vale:

"Ten to Eleven. P.M." The sky was as bright as it had been when the Strexcorps helicopters first swarmed above Old Woman Josie's house. The old watchman grunted and lifted the brim of his hat to peer at them:

"Can't you see I'm tryin' to sleep here?" He yawned. "Aw, never mind, if it weren't you the light would be keepin' me up anyhow."

"Sorry," said Cecil. "We're on the run."

"You're sure they can't see us? Carlos contemplated the deck nervously. It looked visible enough. The watchman chuckled.

"Long as you don't stick anything over the railing, we're as invisible as hay." Carlos wasn't sure that analogy made any sense, but Cecil was nodding. And it was true that he'd never seen any hay in Night Vale. Probably another ordinary thing that was considered mythical around here. "You two fellows mind takin' over for a while? I might be able to catch a snooze inside."

"With pleasure, and civic duty. Oh, there are some cats floating at the top of the stair – can you give them some water?" The watchman nodded and mumbled something inaudible as he shuffled back into the tower. Cecil sighed and turned back to the lurid sky above his hometown, the hot breeze ruffling his hair.

Carlos contemplated his boyfriend. Cecil was indeed neither tall nor short, and neither fat nor thin – if they made it through this, he was going to find some excuse to measure his height and weight; he suspected both were the exact average for the male population of Earth – but somehow he seemed to be more… there, than anyone else the researcher had met. Carlos wasn't sure how to quantify this property or even what to call it. Realness? Even Cecil's trip on the subway hadn't drained it. Whew. He'd better find something else to look at before he forgot how much trouble they were in and pulled the broadcaster's shirtbuttons off. He picked up the watchman's binoculars and strove to focus through them.

"Hm. The Glow Cloud doesn't look too happy about our new management. It just dropped a pod of narwhales on one of their helicopters. Good going, Glow Cloud!" Carlos swept the binoculars across the townscape. "I can see the station, but they've painted it pink. At least -" He dropped the binoculars, retching.

Cecil spun round and caught him before he could flail too close to the railing. There was more alarm in Carlos' dark eyes than he'd seen since the day the scientist had first come to the studio and his sensor devices had made a sound like a nest of baby birds.

"Cecil. Oh Cecil, I thought I saw teeth."