Golem theory.

"Ross... Ross, oh my God, Ross..." Madison mumbled. She was clinging to him so tightly it hurt. "What happened?"

Andrew was staring at her now too, stunned into silence by her dramatic re-entry into existence. Ross explained that Pat had used a release tablet.

"A release tablet?" Madison choked. "That was a release tablet?"

"I guess maybe it was some special kind of tablet or something..." Ross said uncertainly. "What happened to you?"

Madison winced at the recollection. "I can't- I don't know. It felt like I was being torn to pieces. Not my body, Ross. Me, Madison, your golem, was being shredded."

Ross hugged her to himself and stroked her hair as she continued to weep. Andrew looked at him with confusion and he mouthed I don't know over her shoulder. After a moment her tears petered out and she pulled back to look at him.

"I... Ross, I never, ever want to feel anything like that again. It felt like... I don't know. Never again."

"Don't worry, Mads," he said. "I won't let you. This must be some evil **** device that Chambers cooked up. It's broken now."

"No," Madison said firmly. "It's not a **** device."

"Then what was it?" Andrew asked.

Madison wiped her nose and let out a long, pained sigh. "It was just an ordinary release stone. Don't you see? It's not the stone that's different. It's me."

Ross nodded. "Your emotions."

"Not just that," she said quietly. "The emotions are just one manifestation of something growing inside of me. It's my I."

"Your eye?" Andrew's rage was giving way to concern and confusion. Ross seemed to understand and motioned for her continue.

"Not my eyeball. My I, as in the letter. The nitrates, the irrationality, it's like a petri dish for subjectivity. I'm growing a perspective."

"And now that you have a perspective..." Ross prompted.

"It hurts like hell to be violently ripped apart," she finished. "It's no different from every other time I've been unbound, except this time I experienced it." She shuddered at the memory.

"But why doesn't it feel that way when I unbind you?" Ross asked. "I've unbound you dozens of times since you've had emotions and you never reacted like this."

"Those were expected and consensual," she said. "It felt like slipping away from the world for a nice rest... I suppose like going to sleep. The release tablet felt like dying."

The three lapsed into silence. Madison's final word hung heavy in the air between them.