Megan and Mira sat next to Jace as he lay in bed. He was still recovering from his shattered leg and almost collapsed lungs.

"How long did they say until you can get out of here?" Mira looked him over in concern.

"No idea." He replied. "Which sucks. It totally ruins my streak."

Megan raised an eyebrow. "Your streak?"

Mira rolled her eyes. "He's been keeping track of how many missions he can go without getting hurt."

"Hey." Jace answered defensively. "There are worse things to keep track of."

"Like how many bones you've broken." Mira gave him a look.

Jace shrugged, which made him wince.

Mira sighed. "You're going to screw yourself up worse than you already are if you're not careful."

Jace gritted his teeth, trying to laugh off the pain. "I'm always careful."

Mira scoffed.

Jace smirked.

Megan tried to hold back a laugh. It was obvious that Jace liked Mira.
                                      <>
Megan walked in on Jace hobbling around the room.

At the sound of the door, he lunged back into bed, cringing and locking his jaw.

Megan shook her head. "I saw that."

He smiled nervously. "Don't tell Mira."

She rolled her eyes and sat down. "Fine. But trust me, knowing Mira, she'll figure it out."

"Yeah." He admitted. "I'd just like to hold off the lecture for as long as possible."

"That'll just make it worse." Megan warned.

He shrugged, wincing again.

Megan rolled her eyes. "This is why she figures it out. You make it too easy."

Jace turned away, pouting.

Megan rolled her eyes.
                                      <>
Megan knocked on the door and heard something crash to the floor. "It's me."
The room went quiet.

Then, Jace's voice sounded from inside. "Come in."

Megan walked in and found him kneeling on the floor, picking up pieces of a broken picture frame.

She sighed and joined on the floor. "Again."

"Hey," he defended. "I was allowed to be up this time."

"Supervised or unsupervised?"

"Technically supervised." He dumped the shards into the wastebasket. "But what's the difference."

Megan sighed. "The difference is that there's someone here to keep you from hurting yourself."

He focused on the floor, mumbling angrily under his breath.
                                    <>
"So," Megan started. "They're letting you out of 'prison' tomorrow."

"Yep." Jace looked very excited to get back out there.

Megan sighed. "Are you really sure you want to keep doing this?"

"I don't exactly have a choice." Jace displayed his wrist with the slave mark on it.

"How many missions do you have left?"

He sighed. "Probably too many."

Megan chuckled. "Don't worry. You're too cocky to let yourself die as a scout."

He smirked and shrugged.

They both laughed.

"How about you?" He asked. "How many do you have left?"

It took Megan a minute to make herself meet his gaze. "Two." She hated that she had shown up long after him and was going to get "promoted" before him.

He whistled. "I've been on bed rest for a while huh."

"Yeah." Megan resounded. "Sorry."

"For what? Being a good scout?" He scoffed. "Don't. This world's too dangerous to care about others. You're moving up in the world - one step closer to freedom. Congratulations." He said it with a smile, but Megan could see the sadness in his eyes.