Perhaps, but I didn’t want it. I had things to do. I had to ask Trent what I’d done wrong with that curse. Then I had to find Ku’Sox to give it to him so I could at least go home without being summoned. Home… “What time is it?” I asked, depressed.

Seeming to appreciate the change of conversation as much as me, Al squinted at the clock on the mantel, the lights getting brighter. “Noon?”

Great, I’d been out for hours. Ivy and Jenks were probably worried sick. Maybe come sundown they could summon me back for a couple of hours and we could strategize until the sun came up. I had to get out of here for a while. Al was scaring me.

I flung the covers off, then hesitated, putting a hand to my middle when I wasn’t sure I could stand up yet. Damn, I was dizzy. “I passed out,” I said needlessly, and Al sat back down in his chair to stare at me, one hand on the clean table, the other in his lap.

“Rachel, you made a construct large enough to land a jet in. Yes, you passed out.”

I licked my lips, uneasy. “Thank you for taking the smut.”

He frowned, almost growling. “I didn’t take the smut. Newt did, and I’d give a lot to know why.”

Newt had taken it? Was that good or bad? “I think it was because she wanted to be a part of it,” I said, remembering that she had cried.

“Newt?” Al barked, shifting in his chair, appearing nervous. “I doubt that she wanted to be part of that. She doesn’t like making constructs anymore. She doesn’t trust anyone to watch her while she recovers. That, and she doesn’t want anyone in her head.” Al touched his chin, a nervous tic I’d never seen before. “How do you feel?”

How do I feel? I feel like crap. Hand to my middle, I tried to stand again, changing my mind and huddling under the blanket instead with my back to the large fire. Had that nervous tic been real when he’d asked me how I felt, or was that statement about not wanting me for a girlfriend bull and he was trying to seduce me? He knew everything. What turned me on, what turned me off. What lowered my defenses. What made me vulnerable. It was enough to make someone crazy. “Hungry,” I finally said. “I can’t believe I was out for half a day.”

“Half a day?” Al drawled. “Try the better part of three.”

“What!” This time, I managed to get up, wobbling until Al stood and steadied me, his grip a shade too tight on my elbow. “Three days? I couldn’t have been unconscious for three days!” Crap on toast, I’d missed my brother’s wedding!

“Slow,” he said as I sat back down to get his hand off me. “Newt said you might be dizzy for a while. That’s why I didn’t leave. Can you tap a line yet?”