In the corner of the room, Phoebe and Winston sit closely on the leather couch, his hand on her knee, which he quickly removes upon seeing me in the doorway. "I'm sorry, I should have knocked," I say, unsure of where to look.

They both spring from the couch, and Winston approaches me, leaving Phoebe in the corner to monitor me from afar. Her long, blonde hair drapes over the front of her form-fitted black suit, and even in the dim light I can see she's wearing makeup around her eyes, which make them look even more radiantly blue than usual.

"Where is Alexander?" I ask.

"He's playing Captain now," Winston replies. "He mans a lot of the controls during dinner time. As you could probably tell, he's not much for socializing, which is usually what happens during dinner." He stops in front of me, suddenly distracted from whatever thought propelled him here in the first place. "Is everything okay?" he asks. "What's going on?"

I take a deep breath, but it doesn't help. I start to cry. "I went off on Nathan."

"What do you mean?"

"I yelled at him. He made fun of Declan—Dr. Kunkle—and my mom, and he was annoying me all day. So I yelled at him."

Winston smiles. "What did you say?"

"I told him he was arrogant and stupid. I told him that I was better than him... and then I gave him proof by outsmarting him in front of the whole cafeteria. Oh, and I called him an ape."

Winston throws his head back in laughter and takes a seat at one of the chairs around the table. Phoebe approaches us smiling, though I think it's more at Winston's reaction than my story. "Good for you," Winston says, catching his breath. "Unfortunately, you are scheduled to begin your combat training tomorrow, and guess who is set to train you."

"Oh, please no," I beg.

Winston laughs. "I'm sorry. Our soldiers are at the refugee camp, and Nathan came to us with skills in combat. He's the best we have on the Immortal."

"You're sure there's no one else? No other soldiers? You have to have someone else here. It can't just be Nathan."

Winston shrugs again. "No need for soldiers when you have a fortified tank and as many weapons as we do."

I swallow hard. "He's going to beat me up."

"Don't worry about Nathan," Phoebe says, finally approaching me with unexpected kindness. "I will monitor your training session to make sure he behaves."

I want to tell her that's not exactly comforting, but I keep that thought to myself.

"Besides," Phoebe continues, "you just leveled the playing field. Scientists can be very proud people. We create life where there shouldn't be, we make monsters out of metal, we manipulate space and time. We need to be reminded that we aren't Gods every now and then," Phoebe assures me, placing her hand on my shoulder the way Eleanor used to when I'd get in trouble with my parents.

Finally, this is the woman who pulled me from the Prowler. Maybe she just needed some time to warm up to me, I think; but then she leans toward me and I smell something on her breath. When I see the bottle on the table my suspicion is confirmed: wine. That explains her sudden kindness.

"Feel better?" she asks.

"Yeah, kind of," I say, though I don't tell her it's because I'm relieved to finally catch her with her guard down. "But now I feel like I've completely made a fool of myself."

She swaps away my comment. "Dr. Patel's inflated that kid's ego to the point where he needed to be knocked down a few pegs. Just go in tomorrow confident and strong, and don't show him any weakness. Stay focused on your studies, not on silly boys." She takes my arm and guides me to one of the burgundy arm chairs in the corner. "Now to the reason you're here. Isla, we need to ask you about the soldiers you saw outside your home," she says, and we sit in separate chairs. Winston joins us with a short crystal glass of honey liquid, like Alexander had the night before.

"What about them?" I ask.

Winston clears his throat. "Did you hear them say anything else?"

"No," I say. Both of their faces are filled with worry. "Why?"

Winston frowns. "No reason."

"Well, they mentioned Gunther Quail," I offer.

"What did they say?"

"Nothing. Just that he wanted me alive."

"Alive, huh?" Winston asks. "That's a good sign."

There's a knock at the door before it creaks open. "Sorry to interrupt," I hear Mom say, so I turn around and see her leaning in. "I just wanted to check on my daughter. Isla, are you okay?"

"She's fine now," Phoebe says.

I turn back to the scientists. "Can I head back to the rooms now?" They nod. "Thank you both for your help," I say, standing from the chair and joining Mom at the door.

"Anytime, Isla," Winston replies. "Oh, and Beatrice," he says, stopping us in the doorway. "Dr. Patel said you're cleared to train as long as you take your medicine."

"Yes, I know, thank you," Mom says before closing the door behind us.

We walk back into the cement hallway and toward our rooms. "What medicine?" I ask once we're alone.

Mom rests her arm over my shoulders and pulls me into her side without an answer. We walk the rest of the way in silence until we reach our rooms at the end of the hall, but the quiet is anything but peaceful.

Uncertainty claws at my core, until finally we get into my room and shut the door behind ourselves. "Okay, tell me. Please, I can't wait any longer. What medicine?"

She sits on my bed, and I see that her eyes are red and glassy. "I never told you about what happened before you were born, because I didn't want you to worry about losing anyone. I thought about telling you after the others were taken, but I couldn't. I couldn't think about their faces. About Eleanor and Ben, about your dad. About my parents and my brother."

"You had a brother?" I ask.

She takes her time answering me, as if she's stumbling over the memory. "My brother was still young. He was only four when it happened. He... he started burning up. We tried to lower his fever and give him some of the medicine from my dad's first aid kit, but it wasn't what he needed, and even if it was, it wasn't strong enough and it didn't last."

Mom begins to cry. I know what comes next. My uncle died.

"I'm so sorry," I say. "I had no idea."

She catches her breath. "There was so much you missed out on, because you were born after the blast; but I never wanted you to feel those losses." She takes a breath, and lifts the locket from her chest. For the first time in my life, she opens the silver heart for me, and I see a smiling little boy. Chubby cheeks and springy hair, smiling a baby toothed grin.

"He looks happy," I say.

Mom nods, and wipes a tear from beneath her eye. "Everyone I lost before the Prowlers started coming died from sickness. My parents, Eleanor's dad, Henry. Many survivors have radiation damage, so I wasn't surprised when... when Dr. Patel found a cluster of tumors in my right breast," she says through tears. "Do you know what that means?"

I feel paralyzed, like this is one of those terrible dreams where you try to run from something but you're stuck in the mud. I finally push my voice out. "Yes. You have cancer," I whisper. It's all I can do to keep from crying.

She continues, "The good news is that Nathan and Dr. Patel developed an effective medication that I will receive twice a day every day. This treatment will clear my system of the tumors before we leave for the bunker, but I have to take it for the rest of my life."

I can't really breathe, so when I try to speak, it only comes out as a panicked sputter. "So? Is there any bad news?"

"That I have to take the medicine for the rest of my life," she says. "Not that we have anywhere to go, but now we can never leave the Deathless. As long as they have my medicine, we have to stay." She pauses. "And the other bad news is that Nathan helped make it. I wanted to thank him when he came to the table. I wish he would have been nicer, but... he was just awful, wasn't he?"

I smile and wipe the tears from my face. "He was. Just terrible."

She smiles, but it quickly reverts back to a frown. "I wanted you to hear it from me. But I will be fine. I've fought against things much worse than cancer. And maybe someday, when he's not such a jerk, I'll thank Nathan for what he helped create. Maybe someday you should too."

I nod in silence.

"I'm proud of you, though. If you had looked at me while you were screaming at that boy, you would have seen me smiling. I love that my daughter is the type of person who stands up for others."

I lean over to hug her, and I whisper, "Thank you."

"Are you tired, or did you want to talk a little while longer?" Mom asks once I pull away.

"I'm kind of tired, but we could still hang out," I say before inadvertently yawning.

She smiles. "I'll tuck you in. Are you too old for that yet? I haven't done that in years, but after what happened back home—"

"—I'm never too old for you, Mom."

She sits at the foot of the bed while I change into white pajamas that have been left for me on one of the metal shelves. She lifts the blue blanket for me, and drapes it over my body once I'm lying down. I roll onto my side and listen to Mom hum "You Are My Sunshine" while she rubs my back.

"We're miracles, you know," I tell her. "Out of all the people that existed and all the people who were lost to the blast, we were created from the strongest people, from their strongest genes. You're going to be okay. Our family is going to be okay."

She bends down and kisses my cheek. "I know. Remember what your dad used to say to us?"

I nod my head against the pillow. "You're my light."

She squeezes my arm and I feel the mattress move as she stands. "You're my light, Isla. Goodnight, honey."

I hear her open and close the door, and now that she's gone, I allow myself to cry.