I couldn’t tell if the look in Bee’s eyes was wary or embarrassed, but in either case, her gaze slid away from me and she gave a little shrug. “Sort of. There was a room there with these dummies I could kick, but no weapons.”

“Makes sense,” I muttered, then leaned closer to her. “And you never saw anyone but Alexander?”

She shook her head. “That girl who took me, Blythe. She was there at first, but she was gone within a day or two. Other than that...” Trailing off, she shaded her eyes, studying a bright blue bird perched on our privacy fence. “It was just him.”

I frowned and settled back against the tree trunk. “I don’t get it. The Ephors are supposed to be this... group. Like the Illuminati or something. Why is he the only one who seems to be in charge of anything?”

At that, Bee looked at me, resting her cheek on her raised knees. “Maybe he’s an overachiever,” she suggested, and that dimple appeared in her cheek again. “Maybe,” she added, “he’s the you of the Ephors and doesn’t like delegating.”

I bumped her with my own raised knees. “I guess that’s possible, but still, it seems weird, right?”

With a long sigh, Bee leaned her head back, the sunlight and the leaves casting shadows on her face. “What about this isn’t?” she asked.

She had a point.

For a while, we were silent, both lost in our thoughts, and I was actually a little startled when Bee said, “I feel sorry for him.”

“Alexander?” I asked, wrinkling my nose, and she shook her head.

“David. Having powers you don’t really get, people trying to kill you, people trying to keep you safe, and not being able to do anything about any of it. I mean, it’s not easy for you or Ryan, either,” she added, tucking a loose strand of hair behind one ear, “but y’all get to be active instead of waiting for other people to fix things.”

Stretching out my legs, I let my head drop back against the trunk, too. “I never thought of it like that, exactly. Is that what y’all were talking about earlier?”

Bee unfolded her legs, mimicking my posture. “Kind of. He was apologizing for asking me to do the Peirasmos. Said he’s spent a lot of time trying to come up with solutions, and that one just occurred to him before he really thought it through.”

I definitely felt better about that, but it was still a little weird to think of David and Bee, like, sharing confidences and stuff.

“I don’t think there is a solution to all of this,” I told her, and Bee looked over at me.

“That’s... depressing.”