My eyes fluttered open. They felt gross. They must've gotten crusty while I was sleeping. Ali was laying on our bed with me. He looked like he might've been half asleep.

"Ali..." My voice sounded terrible. Did I accidently swallow some nails or something?

"Kaze!" Ali had tears in his eyes. He gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

"Is she awake?" This was Ellie. She looked straight into my eyes. "Thank Kayleigh, Tia! I was worried."

Ali rubbed Phoenix's back. He'd been sleeping on my other side. "Eni..." His voice was soft. "Wake up, bud."

Phoenix sat up. He had some bedhead. "Huh?"

I reached for my baby brother with a heavy, trembling hand. "Phoe..."

Phoenix buried his face in my stomach. He was crying. "I missed you, T!"

"Here." Annie wiped my eyes and mouth with a damp washcloth. "That feel better?"

I couldn't talk, so I used my telepathy to tell her that it was.

"Kaze." Ali ran his fingers through my hair. "I'll be right back, alright?"

I gave him a smile. I wasn't worried. I know he would be right back. He probably needed to go to the bathroom or something.

Annie smiled at Phoenix. "I need a little space, alright? You don't have to get out of bed, though."

Phoenix buried his face in a pillow. The poor kid was still crying. I didn't blame him, but there wasn't a lot I could do about that at the time. He seemed to be scared.

Annie gave me some of her psychic energy. I sighed when she did. It made my body feel lighter.

'Annie?'

'Yeah?' She looked in my eyes. 'Need something?'

'How long was I asleep for?'

'A few days. You used too much of your psychic energy.'

Ali came back into our room. He had a plastic red bowl in his hand. It looked like food. That made my mouth water.

"You must be starving."

I was. I hadn't been able to eat while I was sleeping, after all.

Ellie sat me up and moved my pillows, so I wouldn't fall back.

Ali then fed me some noodle soup. Not having eaten for a few days, it was amazing.

***

I went back to sleep after that. It wasn't something I liked, but I knew I needed the rest. Psychic powers were taxing. That was sort of a fact of life. I felt awful the first time it happened.

I slept for at least a good few hours after that. I felt better than when I first woke up. My body felt lighter and my hands weren't shaking as much. Those things were a big win on their own.

Ali brought me more soup. I wanted to do it myself, but I kind of didn't... I didn't want to accidentally get broth in our bed. It wouldn't feel good to sleep on that...

Ali was as okay as could be expected when I'd slept for a few days. Recah had poked her head in a few minutes ago and she seemed to be alright. What about Marshall? He had been a part of that battle, too. Had he gotten hurt?

"Ali?"

He looked up at me. "Yeah?"

"Can I see Marshall?"

Ali flinched when I asked that. He grabbed Phoe's wrist. "Come on."

Why did Ali grab Phoe like that? Something felt off...

Marshall came in a few minutes later.

"Good to see you're awake."

"You doing alright?" I asked.

That was when I noticed.

He sat on the bed. "You noticed, didn't you?" He looked down at his arm. His wrist was covered in bandages. "It's just a broken wrist. I'm fine." He couldn't seem to look at me after that. "Compared to you, I got off easy."

I was slow about it, but I placed the tips of my fingers on his bandages. "That's all relative, I think."

"I guess it is," Marshall said. "Sounded like Alain and Phoenix worried you'd sleep a lot longer than you did. Thankfully, you didn't."

I smiled slightly. My brothers sure were a pair of worrywarts.

"What about you and your sister?"

"Pretty sure she's about as okay as she can be for my wrist being broken."

I turned my head. "You make it sound like this has happened before."

A laugh escaped his lips. "You know how I took off after Becca and I lost our parents?"

I nodded.

"In the year leading up to that, I broke my wrist." He looked at the bandages again. "This same one actually. My mom fussed over me so much when that happened."

My jaw dropped. "The others don't know, do they?"

He cracked a smile. "Becca might remember. The others have no clue."

"You sound like my little brother..."

Ali probably didn't realize I knew about this. He had an accident when he was eleven or twelve. He was on crutches afterward, so he couldn't walk as well as he usually did. That kid was so stubborn. Even when he visited us, he still had the injury. He wanted to do everything he still could himself. Made me glad he wasn't that much bigger than me at the time so I could help him walk if he needed it.

"Probably do." He laughed. "He sure never liked taking our help."

"Did he always fight your help?" I asked.

Marshall shook his head. "He didn't fight us a whole lot when he was evolving."

My jaw dropped. "Seriously?"

"Nope. Only fought me once. Even then, that was because he was disoriented and not feeling well. Probably because he just came out of evolving."

"Yeesh... Wish I could've been there when that happened."

Marshall shrugged. "Noelle and I managed. It's not like you wouldn't have been there if you could."

"True..."

"Is there anything you need?" he asked.

"I'm fine."

I wouldn't ask Marshall for it anyway. He needed to take care of himself and his injury. I could ask Noelle for anything I needed whenever I needed it.

Ali came back into our room. He laid on the other side of our bed. "You alright, Kaze?"

"Yeah." I squirmed to roll onto my other side. "You know you have to get back out there soon, right?"

Ali nodded. "Don't want to, but I know you don't want me to fuss about you all the time."

"Don't take Marshall."

"Yeah. I wasn't planning to. Not with his wrist like it is." Ali turned his head. "Lie wouldn't want him to either. She'd probably throw a tantrum if she had to."

I wanted to laugh but held it in. The kid probably would. He was like a brother to her. It didn't take much to realize she loved him.

***

Yay! The princess woke up! Thoughts on her interactions with the rest of the cast? Theories? Predictions?

~Shino out!