She rose and went to the washroom to splash some water on her face. She was tired, and she hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep because of Gold’s midnight escapades. She rubbed her temples and considered healing her body of its sleep deprivation, actually going in and replicating all the things sleep did. But that would probably just make her more tired and seemed like a waste of effort.

Instead, she closed her eyes, focused on her adrenal gland, and made it start releasing more adrenaline into her body in an effort to wake herself up. She opened her eyes and immediately felt more alert, but underneath the alertness was a bone-deep exhaustion that had been building for the last week. Something was going to have to give. But not yet.

She made her way back to the lobby and found Kovit eating cold greasy pizza leftovers.

Nita sat down beside him and took a slice. “Gold tried to escape last night.”

Kovit hesitated. “Is she hurt?”

“No more than she was yesterday. I tied her back up with some duct tape.”

“That’s good.” His shoulders relaxed.

Nita sighed. Despite Gold’s hatred, she didn’t think Kovit would ever stop caring for the other girl. They’d been friends once, and Kovit was far too loyal to discard someone he’d once cared so much about that easily. He’d had to be right at the breaking point with Henry, and Gold hadn’t done anything nearly as terrible.

Nita rubbed her temples. “I’ve got her taped to the bed, but something has to change. She’s going to find a way to escape again.”

Kovit shrugged. “We’ll just check her bindings regularly.”

“Kovit . . .”

He rose. “Let’s check them before we leave.”

Nita followed him into the studio Gold was staying in. She was awake and lying in bed, awkwardly pinned by Nita’s sloppy duct tape job.

“Good morning,” she said, her voice still rough.

“Morning.” Kovit smiled softly. “That looks uncomfortable.”

“That’s because it is.” Gold’s eyes were cold. “Which you already know, because you can feel my pain.”

Kovit’s smile fell a little. He fumbled for a moment and pulled his switchblade out.

Gold tensed and turned to Nita. “Convince him to kill me after all?”

Kovit tensed. “I’m not going to hurt you, May.”

She raised her eyebrow at the switchblade.

“For the duct tape,” he explained. “I’m going to redo it so it’s more comfortable.”

He knelt down beside her and carefully cut her bindings, then pocketed the blade. Nita went to Gold’s other side, and they each took an arm and helped her to her feet.

“This way.” Nita pushed Gold toward a chair on the other side of the room.

Gold stumbled forward. She grinned, sharp and cruel. “I feel like I’m on my death walk. You know, right before they lead the prisoners to the electric chair.”