That falling sensation suddenly snapped her back to her own reality and she was once again on the rooftop where she had her rendezvous with Bellamy. To her horror, Rose realized she’d fallen asleep up there. Bellamy had left her? Then, with a start, she accidentally toppled over the edge…

She screamed.

“Rose?”

Hearing her mom’s voice confused her and relieved her all at the same time. She sat straight up in bed, covered in a thick sheen of sweat and immediately felt for the bullet wounds in her back and chest, then for the splinter wounds in her shoulder and thigh.

Nothing.

“Rose? Is everything okay?”

Her heart jack-hammered against her chest bone and reverberated back through her lungs. She glanced around her old room, mentally clutching at the fixtures and the colors and the ambiance…anything familiar that she could use to anchor herself to this reality.

“A bad dream?” Her mom poked her head around the door, leaning in further and looking concerned. Rose couldn’t remember the last time she’d been asked that question by anyone. How long since she’d had such a vivid nightmare? Not since childhood. Rose rarely remembered her dreams, but she knew she’d never forget this one. Not in a million years.

“The Battle of the Nile,” she said, sipping from the glass of water someone had kindly placed on her bedside table. “I took a bullet for my ship’s captain, then I…died.”

“Oh.” Her mom stared at her. “Then you’ve just earned yourself an extra pancake, sweetie. Get up and collect thy prize.”

She forced as mile toward the old woman. “Be right out.” Rose thought back to the rooftop. “Uh, Mom?”

“Yes?”

“How did I…?” On second thought, she didn’t want her mom knowing that she’d gotten so shit-faced the night before that she’d had to be carried down all those flights of stairs to her bed. “Never mind. Pancakes sound good.”

“And orange juice. Should help take the edge of that hangover.”

“Oh, great,” Rose replied sarcastically. “That guy still around?”

“He’s in the kitchen, gorging himself on maple syrup. I’ve never seen anyone swallow a whole bottle of the stuff. You’d better hurry or there’ll be none left.”

“I’ll kill him if there isn’t.” She tossed the bed sheet off, cringed a little when she saw that she only wore her underwear. How many drinks had she had? Bellamy had to have carried her down in quite a state. Maybe she’d been babbling in her beer, saying things she shouldn’t have. Perhaps she’d continued with the game of Truth or Dare long past her responsible limit and had gotten…annoying. Who the hell knew? She couldn’t remember a thing after he’d promised to tell her something about himself.