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still alive.  Still dangerous.  I crashed into Rob, nearly knocking him off-balance.  Never before have I been so glad to see him.  I threw my arms around his torso and held him tight.  My whole body shaking.  There was nothing I could do except start sobbing in his chest.
    “It’s okay.  It’s okay,” Rob whispered gently into my hair.  “You’re with me.  You’re safe now.”  He said the words, but his voice shook a little, too. 
    “How… did you…” I started to say between sobs, but Rob answered immediately, without taking his eyes from the body. “I picked up your book by accident at the end of class.  I came here to return it.  I heard some noise inside. When I came to your door, it was unlocked, so I pushed it open.  I saw the man on you, and just acted on instinct.  Lucky I had my baseball bat with me.  I never thought I would use it like this.”
    “You saved me,” I whispered between sobs.  “Thank you.”  Rob held me tighter.  My heart was still racing, but holding onto Rob made me feel safe.  He was in control.  He had saved me.
    “The door,” Rob said, and I looked back to realize it was still wide open.  “Quick, go close it before anyone sees anything.”
    I jumped to comply without thinking.  He was the one in control.  And I was out of my wits from fear, terror, and a whole plethora of other emotions I couldn’t even name.  I had almost been killed .  Who was the man on the floor? What did he want?  A haunting suspicion started to form in my mind that the attack had to do with the crystals. 
    As I swung the door shut and locked it, I realized, for perhaps the first time, that I had tears in my eyes.  I felt as if I had just run a day’s marathon after an all-nighter on the same week as final exams.  I rubbed the tears away angrily.  I didn’t want Rob to see me like this.  But even my hands were shaking.  I was angry for being so weak, so fluttery.  Angry for not being able to take care of myself.  Angry for being caught unprepared.
    The man’s back suddenly arched. I froze, fear rising in my bones.  Rob hefted the bat in his hands, ready to strike him again.  The man let out a weak cough, nothing more, and fell back down.
    “Is he still alive?” I whispered as I came to Rob’s side.  He had both hands on the bat, but I had to hold onto one of his arms for balance.  The muscles of his arm were tense, and impressively hard.  I felt safe with him at my side.
    “He’s alive,” Rob answered, “and still dangerous.  We need to do something.”
    For the first time, I took a good look at the man.  His clothes were black, from his shoes to his pants to his jacket.  Blood oozed from his head where Rob’s bat had hit.  I looked around my room, to see where he might have come from, and realized that my closet door was open.  Suddenly, everything made sense.  The man on the floor, this attacker, had hidden in the closet while I was out.  He must have gotten into my room through the front door.  That was why I had found the door unlocked!  He had broken in, but not had enough time to get out before I came here.  Even worse – had he come here especially for me?  That was my original suspicion.  But how did he get inside the building in the first place?
    “The security guard!” I said without thinking.  “He’ll know what to do.”
    Rob barked a harsh laugh.  “That decrepit old man?  He let this guy get to your room.  How could he possibly help us?  He’s so old he’ll collapse before he even makes it up the stairs!”
    I flinched at the harshness of his words. Rob must have noticed, because he looked at me and softened his tone.  “Sorry.  I didn’t mean it that way.  I’m just – on edge.”  I realized that Rob, too, was breathing hard.  A large vein in his neck pulsed angrily.  “The security guard can’t help us, and it’s not like there are police on the island.  Even if there were police, we couldn’t just