Phobos hovered close by, face pinched in worry. The simple movement had the sick member of their group sweating and pale.

Romy caught Thrym’s eye; he gave a subtle shake of his head. Deimos’s hospital stay was now at two weeks and counting.

More than anything, she wanted Dei back with them. Things weren’t the same without him. In fact, the dynamics within the knot were a little . . . weird.

Since that day in the storage room, Thrym had been acting odd around her. Different. He touched her just as often; a held hand, a ruffling of the hair. But some barrier lay between them. Her best friend was closed off and felt inaccessible most of the time. Deep down, Romy had an inkling of what his problem might be. However, thinking about Thrym being attracted to her on top of everything else was just too much.

If he was, then attraction could certainly be one-sided.

Thank goodness her relationship with Phobos and Elara hadn’t changed. Though she couldn’t say the same for the relationship between them.

“What’s wrong, Ro? You look constipated,” Deimos joked.

She shook her head as the others laughed, a witty response eluding her.

“Phobos has filled me in on the plan,” Deimos continued.

Elara clucked her tongue. “Really? If anyone hears us talking, they’ll figure out what’s up.”

“Listen to you, sounding all Earth human,” Phobos teased. His smile fell as she glared at him.

Elara hadn’t been as bad lately, but she was still prone to flashes of PMS. Romy actually felt like she’d gotten a handle on the puberty business now. Elara’s prickly fury made her glad this was the case.

“What should we call it then?” Thrym asked.

“Catheter,” Deimos offered.

The group groaned in unison.

“That’s sick, Dei.” Romy grimaced.

“Exactly,” he stated proudly. “No one likes to hear about catheters.”

Romy giggled at the look on Elara’s face, which showed baffled agreement mixed with sheer disgust.

Phobos raised his hand in a fist-pump. Deimos weakly pressed his knuckles to his twin's.

Romy waited.

And ended up cracking first. “So don’t you want to hear about the catheter?”

Thrym’s composure cracked. The hospital room was too small for their laughter.

“Shh,” Elara hushed them. Tears streamed down her face. “Someone will come.”

Deimos looked around the isolation room. “The way I’m going, it will take me a while to regain strength. I don’t want to slow you down.” He hesitated. “If something happens—if they find us—you need to leave without me.”

Phobos stood up from his perch beside Deimos. “Did you really just say something that stupid?”

Deimos rubbed a hand over his face. Is that stubble? Romy wondered.