“Isaac!” Lena nudged Jason out of the way and grabbed my arms. She was moving a bit stiffly, and I could see the edge of a bandage peeking out from the neck of her T-shirt, but she was alive. The mere sight of her lightened the tension and anger I’d been carrying since I woke up.

“Damn, I’m glad to see you.” I pulled her into a hug, careful to keep my arms low and away from where she’d been shot. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how fast Kiyoko was. I didn’t—”

“Shut up. I’m all right.” She ran a hand over my scalp. “I’m not sure you can pull this ruggedly bald look off. You’re cute, but you’re no Vin Diesel.”

Smudge crawled from her shoulder to mine. The slight irregularity of his gait broke my heart. “I’ll fix you up, buddy. I promise. I’ll regenerate that leg as good as new, and if that fails, I’ll make Charles build you a new one. A bionic leg. What do you think? Is the world ready for a bionic fire-spider?”

Jason reached past me and shut the door.

I forced myself to stop babbling long enough to ask, “Where’s everyone else?”

“Sleeping,” said Lena. “Talulah and Jeneta were both exhausted after hacking into your head. Especially Talulah. She spent more than a day lost in her laptop, and none of us knew what was happening until they were ready to break you out. Nidhi finally raided the medicine cabinet and started handing out melatonin and Nyquil to make people sleep, but I couldn’t.”

“Wait, Nidhi’s here? She’s okay?”

“She’s fine,” said Jason. “I talked to Agent Steinkamp, and he confirmed that Nidhi was only supposed to be brought in to be interviewed. It sounds like there was a mix-up in the system, and she was put into detention by mistake.”

His face wrinkled. He didn’t buy the “mistake” bit any more than I did. “Thank you, Jason. You may have saved her life.”

Jason blushed and turned away. “Shower is down the hall on your left. First door. I’ll get you a towel and some real clothes.”

Lena traced the curve of my ear with her right hand. “Grab two towels, please.”

I shook my head. “I need to talk to everyone before—”

“Let them sleep,” said Jason. “You’ve been gone almost three days. Another hour won’t hurt anything.”