She isn’t done with me. She walks to the other side of the bed and pours me a glass of water, almost simultaneously waving her arms in the air, which is a feat in itself. “Honestly, Locke, you have your limits just like anyone else! You’re only a boy with a few enhancements.”

“And drawbacks,” I add, noting how much I hurt.

“Oh yeah, you have plenty of those!”

I see the worry on her face.

“My God, it was like I was putting something back together that had been through a meat grinder!” She turns to Xavier. “And you have some explaining to do!”

“Stop!” A wave of pain slams me as I pull myself up in the bed. I lean back against the headboard, catching my breath.

Jenna turns to look at me and waits, fury painted all over her face.

I slowly draw air into my lungs, trying to minimize movement. “What I did last night was my decision. My choice.”

“Well, it was a poor choice, wasn’t it?” she snaps, and snatches up a pile of bandages on the table next to me.

I try to get up to prove her wrong, refusing to grimace even though my skull feels like it’s cracking in two, but Xavier easily pushes me back into my pillow. “I’m not picking you up off the floor again. Stay put.”

“I’m alive, so it wasn’t that bad of a decision, and I discovered something if anyone’s interested. He’s—”

“Shhh!” Jenna says, glancing at the doorway.

I hear arguing in the next room. I groan. “Don’t tell me Carver and Livvy are here too. One mishap and everyone’s breaking the rules and showing up?”

“Carver and Livvy are the least of your problems,” Jenna whispers.

“By a long shot,” Xavier adds.

I don’t even have time to worry about what they mean when the door swings open and I’m facing my worst nightmare.

Miesha.

I look at Jenna. “What’s she doing here?”

Miesha stomps closer. “What are you asking her for? I’m standing right here.” And she starts in on one of her tirades. I don’t even try to argue. I let her get it out of her system. She repeats what Jenna said already. I know, I know. I’m not immortal. I have my limits. When she’s done with me she moves on to Xavier, and then Carver and Livvy, telling them all the reasons they shouldn’t have put me in this kind of position and who did they think they were anyway? And then she comes back to me, wondering what I was doing down in the tunnels in the first place, “and what the hell is down there?”

I can’t tell her the why or the what. The others know it and hold their breath waiting for my reply. I turn it back on her. “I’m doing something important, Miesha. A Favor, remember? Something that I think matters.”

“But—”

“How old were you when you ran off with Karden?”

She doesn’t answer. She doesn’t need to tell me. She was eighteen. Technically only a few months older than I am now.

“And how old were you when you were carted off to prison?”

She walks to the window without answering and looks out, squinting her eyes like she’s looking for something.

“You were there for eleven years, Miesha. I’m sure that was no tea party.” I pause to take a breath, feeling winded by just a few sentences. “I’m alive, all right? It’s not the end of the world.”

Her gaze jumps from the window to me. “Just because I made stupid mistakes doesn’t mean you need to.”

“Are you saying what Karden did, what he believed in, was a mistake?”

She blinks. Again and again, like she’s blinking away a question that she can’t answer. She takes a deep breath and walks over to my water glass, takes a sip, and then turns to Jenna. “And what do you say? Is he going to be okay?”

It’s my turn to be caught off guard. It’s the way she says “okay,” a familiar slow inflection I’ve heard before—my brother asking doctors if I’d be okay and their answer was no. No, he’s not going to be okay, words spoken centuries ago and yet they ring as fresh as yesterday.

“I think the BioPerfect he lost will regenerate itself. His vital organs appear to be functioning for now,” Jenna answers.

It’s a better prognosis, but not by much. She’s reaching. Doubt is thick in her voice.

“I’m going to be fine. I’m feeling better already,” I say, adding a touch of convincing annoyance. I roll my eyes for added effect. Even that small movement makes fingers of pain claw across my scalp. But it works. I watch Miesha’s shoulders lower two inches.

“We all need to get out of here while it’s still early,” Carver says. “Before someone sees us.” He looks at Miesha. “It has to do with the Favor and we can’t explain. Too much is invested. We can’t blow our cover. But before we leave we need to talk to Locke. In private.”

Miesha stands her ground and I notice Jenna’s back stiffen. It’s clear they don’t like taking orders in regard to me, but when Xavier steps in and asks them again, Jenna relents and says they’ll wait in the next room.

As soon as the door shuts behind them, Carver lays into me. He’s livid. Security is crawling all over that park today, he rants, not to mention the whole city, checking IDs on everyone. It’s not safe for Non-pacts to be on any street. And even more important, now how am I supposed to go to the Secretary’s house tonight? Xavier and Livvy join in, keeping their voices low, but it’s still all hushed shouting. Why did I risk it? Why did I go down into the tunnels without telling them? What did I see?