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“What are you doing?” I asked, coming closer.

“Looking for injuries. Making sure she didn’t her head on the side of the pool.” She paused and looked at me. “Why don’t you and your friends step out of the room while I finish my exam.”

“No,” I said. “You have cameras everywhere. How come you didn't see this? How come you didn't do something? Isn't that your job?”

“We have to get Miss Bennefield out of her suit and into some dry clothes,” she told me, ignoring my question.

Pippa stepped up to the bed to help, and Wesley gave me a quick but firm shove toward the door. We shut it behind us and fielded questions from the students who were still standing around. They speculated all sorts of scenarios from possession to Alex causing hallucinations.

“I didn’t do anything,” Alex defended. “I’m the one who told Cael about her in the first place.”

They wouldn’t stop discussing it, even after Wes and I told them to leave it alone and go away. Brodie blamed it on the test. Val said her mother was a nurse, and she knew medicines could cause strange behavior in people. Devon suggested Iggy had slipped and hit her head.

Ibram began physically herding everyone away. “That’s enough. Everyone needs to go back to their rooms or do something else. There’s no more information to find out. Iggy’s alive and she’ll be okay. End of story.”

Reluctantly, they peeled away one by one and sauntered down the hall. My urge to punch someone subsided. Wes called out ‘thanks’ to Ibram before he, too, left the scene. And then it was just him and me, waiting an interminable period of time.

When the door opened, I rushed inside. “Are you going to call a doctor? I want to talk to Jensen. I want to know what medicine she’s had.”

The nurse shook her head. “Iggy is fine. She resting, but she’s fine.”

“She’s not fine,” I snapped. “She’s acting weird. She’s not herself.”

“There’s no need to notify Dr. Jensen unless there’s a life-threatening emergency. This is not an emergency.”

“It
is
an emergency,” I insisted.

“Calm down, Mr. Bellamy, before I have you locked in your room.”

I glanced at the guard hovering nearby. If he tried to keep me away from Iggy, I’d kill him. I looked at the nurse and compromised. “Fine. I’m calm, but I’m not leaving her side until I’m positive she’s okay.”

“There are cameras in her room. I’ll be watching her constantly.”

“And so will I.” I walked up to Iggy’s bed and took her hand in mine. “You sure weren't watching the cameras when she drowned. There's no way in hell I believe you'll watch them now. So I'm not leaving her.”

Wesley planted a lingering kiss on Iggy’s forehead before pushing Pippa out of the room. The girl swiped her eyes with the back of her hands and headed up the hallway. The nurse shook her head, but she stepped out and closed the door behind her.

I kissed Iggy’s cheeks, her forehead, her nose. She seemed cold. Her hands were cold despite being covered with a comforter. Like I’d done several times before, I decided to lie down next to her. I lowered one side rail and settled in beside Iggy, burying my nose in her wet hair and wrapping one arm across her.

When the horn blast and announcement for lunch didn’t cause Iggy to stir, I rested a hand on her stomach to make sure she was still breathing. Though I was hungry, I wasn’t about to leave her. The nurse came in shortly after. She gave me an irritated look and then ignored me as she got vital signs and used her stethoscope to listen to Iggy’s lungs.

As Iggy’s hair dried, I combed my fingers through it, separating the strands and spreading them out across her pillow. Except for the slight, rhythmic rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, one wouldn’t even know Iggy was alive. She didn’t move a single muscle. I had never seen a person in a coma, but she was what I imagined one might look like in that state. But she was lovely, like
Sleeping Beauty
instead of someone who’d just drowned and had to be resuscitated.

I refused to believe she’d tried to kill herself. It would have been in direct opposition to her mood; there were zero indicators. Besides that, Iggy would never try something like that. She had toughed it out through much worse than this. Wesley had told me some stories about the events he and Iggy had weathered, and I had every confidence she was too strong willed to give up. Ever. I did understand that suicide attempts could be the result of a chemical imbalance or the side effects of certain medications, but Iggy didn’t take medicine. Unless the medical doctor on Jensen’s staff had started her on something during the days she’d been gone. But that idea didn’t seem logical if they were studying what she could do with her power. They could never get an accurate understanding of her abilities if they’d doped her up.

But maybe they’d deliberately induced this behavior. Maybe it was another kind of test. What the hell did I really know? I had been beginning to think Jensen wasn’t as bad as Iggy had made him out to be, but after throwing her to the wolves the other morning, I realized how naïve I had been. Just because we’d had several conversations and Jensen had given me some information and showed me things no one else in here had seen, it didn’t mean he was suddenly a nicer, better human being. Perhaps he’d only been trying to get me to trust him, which had worked to some extent.

I sighed and traced the scar on Iggy’s forehead. I wondered if she was still angry with me for reading her files. I still wanted to study them, to at least try to help and be useful in some way, but I would wait for her permission before opening them again. In the meantime, I had tucked the papers away in my closet beneath some folded clothes because I didn’t trust that some of the students here wouldn’t root through the drawers of my desk. The only person I trusted was Wesley. Pippa was definitely on my good side, and I was glad she and Iggy were friends. But that was it. I wouldn’t put it past Alex to try hurting Iggy or to use information against her, which was another reason I hid the files. Gavin and Brodie, both friends with Alex, were also people I didn’t want near Iggy. But this wasn’t a very big place, and it was impossible to avoid running into every one of them.

I missed my parents and Cody. I wished we were all sitting around the table in Iggy’s kitchen, talking and eating food that Cody was clueless about. I’d give anything to go back to chopping firewood and riding four wheelers with Iggy. I’d even let her convince me to ride Black Jack. And mom and dad would love her. They’d be surprised at how she had changed and grown into a beautiful, young woman – still headstrong sometimes, but also kindhearted. My parents would expect to see a mischievous troublemaker who was tough as nails. But like me, they’d be surprised to find that Iggy had a heart, she had a softness born not from weakness, but from having risen above the painful experiences that would have pushed others past the breaking point. I wanted them to experience Iggy’s infectious laughter and the way she made you believe you could accomplish anything you set your mind to. I wanted them to understand that just sitting on a bed watching movies or playing cards while sharing MREs and a jar of Jif with Iggy was an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.

I had fallen asleep. The single horn blow to announce dinner woke me up. Iggy’s eyes flew open as if she’d been startled, but she didn’t move. Her eyes darted around as if trying to soak in her surroundings.

“Cael,” she breathed.

I wrapped my arms around her, relieved at the strength I felt in her arms as she hugged me back. “How do you feel?”

She scowled. “Like I’ve been asleep for a week. What day is it?”

“It’s Saturday evening.”

“Why am I in bed?”

My eyebrows drew together. “Don’t you remember drowning?”

“I didn’t drown, Cael. I went swimming.”

“Do you remember breakfast this morning?”

She looked lost in concentration a moment. “I’m not sure. I think so. But the memory isn’t right in my head.”

“Then do you remember being all friendly with Alex and drinking her chocolate milk?”

“That would be a stupid thing to do. She already hates me. Unless her milk was poisoned, I can’t imagine her letting me share.”

“Iggy. Your memory is screwed up. What happened after you were taken to the infirmary?”

“I was really thirsty. A nurse started an IV.” She stopped, as if that was it.

“What else? What about the days after that?”

She gave me a worried look and shook her head. “I don’t know.”

I sat up and dragged a hand through my hair, sighing with the frustration of the whole situation. “Are you hungry? It’s dinner time.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think you can walk okay?”

She threw her legs over the edge of the bed. “I’m not an invalid, Cael. I just overslept.”

“You should take it easy, Iggy.” I stood beside her, arms out in case she got dizzy.

She pushed my hands down. “What are you doing? I don’t have a broken leg. You don’t have to act like I’m going to fall over.”

“You drowned in the pool about nine hours ago. I shoved on your chest to get the water out of your lungs while Wes breathed air into you. I’m sure you can understand that I’m a little concerned.”

“You’re kidding.” She looked stunned. Then she pushed against her own ribs and arched her back a little. “That’s why I’m so sore?” When I nodded, she stepped into me and my arms automatically went around her. “This is so strange, Cael.”

“It sure as hell is. You can bet I’m going to demand answers from Jensen on Monday morning.” Remembering we were on camera, I whispered in her ear, “I understand some types of tests, but if he pulls another stunt like the last test, or if I find out he’s fucking with your brain, I’m going to kill him.”

“Fucking with our brains is the whole point of this place.”

The daytime lights switched on, and we squinted against the brightness. Then the nurse walked in with her machine on wheels and insisted on another set of vitals and a quick exam before saying Iggy could go to dinner.

We were late, so when we walked into the cafeteria, everyone was already there, and they stopped and stared. Iggy immediately leaned into me, wide eyed. “Why are they looking at us like we might go psycho on them?”

Wesley was giving me a questioning look, and when I nodded at him, relief washed over his face a split second before he put his usual mask in place. Then he left the table and walked up to give Iggy a hug. “You all right?”

She said softly, as if embarrassed for anyone to hear, “Yeah. Just a little sore. Apparently I have some memory loss. But I swear to you that I didn’t try to kill myself.”

Pippa peeked around Wesley’s shoulder. “Hey, you. Glad to see you’re up and at it.” Her smile was wobbly, as if she was unsure of Iggy’s reaction. “Are you, uh, normal now?”

“I’m fine, Pippa. I don’t remember much, so all this drama makes me feel a bit weird.”

“Okay. Just one last piece of weirdness before you go get dinner.” Pippa pulled Iggy to her for a hug and whispered, “You’re never going swimming by yourself again.” Then she released her and walked back to her table.

Iggy and I filled our trays and then sat down at a table by ourselves. She glanced over at Wesley several times. I knew it bothered her that he spent time with Alex, but I knew Wesley had an ulterior motive. He had a theory that Alex either wanted Iggy out of the picture or wanted her to use her power. And it had nothing to do with him, but it might have something to do with Jensen. At first, he’d thought she and Brodie were collaborating on some kind of revenge plot, but now his attention was on Gavin, and he wasn’t sure revenge was the motive anymore. If there was one thing I’d learned about Wesley, it was that he was very astute at picking up on other people’s behaviors and motivations. When Alex had first started hitting on him, he hadn’t shown much interest. But after the incident at the pool, when Iggy had accused Alex of lying and using her power on Pippa, Wesley had decided to get closer to Alex so he could keep an eye on her. He thought he might catch an idea or overhear a slip of the tongue regarding any plans the girl had that might hurt Iggy, Pippa, or anyone else. He’d made me promise not to tell Iggy because he didn’t want to worry her; she had enough to deal with.

Ibram came over to our table to ask Iggy how she was feeling. She gave him that shy, I-don’t-know-what-I-did smile and told him she was fine. I could see she felt more awkward the longer we sat there, and before she was even half way done with her food, she said she was going back to her room. I insisted on going back with her.

I sat at one end of her sofa, and Iggy lay down with her head on my lap, looking up at me as we talked about anything that didn’t have to do with why we were here or what had recently happened. I played with her hair, twisting tendrils around my fingers. She held my other hand against her stomach, idly tracing patterns across the back of my hand. I loved the simplicity and casualness of the situation because it made me feel closer to her.

We stayed that way for a long time. I didn’t want the moment to end. I was perfectly content to stare at her beautiful face and cave into her requests to hear about my adolescent years, which she thought was quite funny. Maybe it was difficult for her to reconcile the kid she once knew with the man I was now, and that’s why the stories amused her so much. Or maybe it was because most of her teenage years were traumatic, and she wanted to know what normal early-teen torture was like.