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Did I think of them as people? They aren’t real to me. They’re a parallel species that has nothing to do with me. But if trusting them means that maybe I can stay alive, then I’ll have a sliver of a chance to get back home. A full-body internal scan will detect anything that is wrong with me in seconds.
    If I can make it back.
    Strong arms are carrying me. My eyelids hurt but they open and close like heavy drapes. Within moments, I am back in a familiar room… the airy one with the fan and gauzy white curtains.
    “Caden, don’t stay too long. She needs to get some rest,” June says as she props the pillows behind my head. I manage a weak smile. I can’t even begin to express my gratitude, but something in her eyes tells me that she knows more than she’s saying. Or is it just my constant sense of paranoia?
    Caden brushes the hair out of my face. His green eyes are soft and comforting.
    “You’re awake. How are you feeling?” he asks.
    “I’ve been better.” My voice feels like I haven’t used it in years and rubs against the inside of my throat like gritty sandpaper. Caden pours me a glass of water from the pitcher, and I sip gratefully.
    “Has this ever happened to you before?”
    “No.” Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I’ve never been sick or fainted a day in my life. I wonder if it has to do with the pills or the injector or being here this long. I stare at Caden and then say the words that are playing on the tip of my tongue. “Thanks, by the way. That’s twice now you’ve saved me. I don’t know if I like it.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t like owing people.”
    “You don’t owe me anything, Riven. You needed help and I was in the right place at the right time, that’s all.”
    We are quiet for a moment. The edge of the bed dips under Caden’s weight as he sits next to me and rests his head on his hands propped on his knees. A silky lock of hair curls into his face.
    “I like your hair long,” I murmur. “I mean, I like it short, too.”
    “You’ve never seen me with short hair.” Caden’s voice is quiet, but I can see his eyes narrow. I want to kick myself. In the next moment, I decide that I am done with conversation. All it will lead to is confusion, and questions and doubt when the time comes. Caden is staring at me, waiting for an explanation. I shrug and take a big gulp of water.
    “You look like someone I know. He has short hair.”
    “You mean Cale?”
    I choke and almost spit water all over the room as a wave of shocked coughing overcomes me. “ What did you say?” I whisper after several painful seconds.
    “Cale. You said his name while you were unconscious in the hospital. I think you thought I was him.” He pauses, watching me carefully. “Now it all makes sense.”
    I am overwhelmed by my own stupid carelessness. What else did I say? Did I talk about what I was doing here? About who Caden really was? I can’t process the questions fast enough as ten more pop up in their place. What have I done? I should have just risked it and everted the minute I’d found Caden, and dealt with the consequences later. He was the important one, and he was healthy enough. That was all that mattered.
    You’re thinking crazy, Riven , I tell myself. If you everted from here, without you Caden wouldn’t have half a chance in the Outers before he got to the city. The Outers would have swallowed him whole .
    Caden’s voice interrupts the ominous chaos of my thoughts. “So, who is he?”
    “A friend,” I say.
    Cale is far more than that – he’s my best friend, my brother, my liege – but I know that explaining any of it won’t make much difference. Caden won’t understand our politics, or any of the intricacies of who I am to Cale. I’m bound to Cale in a way that these people could never fathom… one bred of steel and blood and undying loyalty.
    “In the hospital, it sounded like he was a lot more than that, more like a boyfriend.”
    “Not that it’s