There’s an awkward silence as she leaves the room, and then Tobias and I are alone. My eyes dart around the room, unsure where to look—and I catch sight of my reflection in the window. I bite my lip—my hair is a rat’s nest, and a month of lying down on the bed has done nothing for my complexion.

He grips my fingers again, and I look back at him. He smiles. “I brought you something,” he says. He hands me the wrapped box.

“Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.” I gently tear open the paper, revealing an old-fashioned wooden toy maze with a marble running through it. I immediately turn it in my hands, directing the marble down to a small hole in one of the corners.

“Didn’t think flowers were your thing,” he says. Then he chuckles. “Seeing that look of concentration on your face is exactly what I wanted! And look, you can adjust the maze at the back, so you can build your own by lowering and raising walls. Thought it was the perfect present for a bedbound engineer.”

The marble drops into the hole with a satisfying clink. I look up at him, unable to suppress a grin. “I love it!”

He smiles, then turns more serious and leans forward, his elbows on his knees. “So, do you remember anything about what happened?”

I shake my head. “I wish I could… Can you help me fill in any gaps?”

Tobias nods. “The doctors said you had some memory loss that they can’t explain…” He lowers his voice. “We were at Moncha headquarters that night. Carter had stolen Jinx from you to give to his dad.”

My breath hitches. Carter Smith. My academic rival. Well, our rivalry is more than just academic—it seems his hatred runs so deep, he’s willing to steal from me. “So we went to Moncha HQ to get him back,” I whisper.

“Yup.”

“And we got him!” I remember that. I remember holding Jinx in my arms. Running through hallways away from vicious security panthers.

Then there’s another flash of memory. This time, it’s of Jinx running away. “Oh,” I say, my voice sounding small. “He bolted.”

Tobias nods. “That’s where we lost you. You ran off after Jinx and got trapped behind some locked doors. I couldn’t follow you.” His voice sounds strained.

“It wasn’t your fault, Toby,” I say.

His hand leaves mine and his fingers tighten into a fist. “Do you remember what happened after you chased Jinx?”

I shake my head.