I open the door to find Daniel sitting in the center of the bed, surrounded by papers, books, and loose sheets of paper filled with notes. He's wearing thick rimmed glasses I've never seen him wear before, but he slips them off as we enter, as if the glasses were supposed to be a secret. As if being farsighted were a crime.

The first few buttons of his black shirt are undone, exposing his bony collar, and the sight of his caramel skin makes me want to shrink beneath his buttons and hide there. At least I know I'm safe there.

"What's going on? Isla, what happened?" Daniel's face is wide with confusion and fear.

What must he be thinking? I can only imagine. "What has Isla done now? What are they going to do to her?"

"Isla was attacked by one of the other Comforters in the bathroom," Dr. Wilkes says, leading me into the room. Nina shuts the door behind us with my dress in her arms. "I am bringing her back here due to safety concerns. It's better this way," Dr. Wilkes explains.

Daniel pushes his papers and books away from him and leaps off the bed. He throws his arms around me, and pulls me into him. "Can't you just be normal?" he whispers into my hair.

I smile. The books, the papers, the playful jabbing comment: It all reminds me of our old life.

"I'm trying," I whisper back.

"She may have a concussion," Dr. Wilkes says, and we separate to face him. "So I will return later on to check on her. At around midnight."

"Why midnight?" Nina asks, and I'm sure I can hear her heart beating from the space between her lips.

"At around midnight the drones start buzzing up here. I am usually still in my office. I like to work late... with the door open, so the drones don't get suspicious. I'm not stupid. I began to notice a pattern. You girls are up to something."

"Nonsense," Nina laughs, but Joe gives her an all-knowing look. Nina shifts her weight. "So... what are you going to do?" she asks.

"Nothing. I'd just like to know exactly what I am lying to Gunther Quail about."

"Lying?" she asks.

"He lied for me this morning," I say. "He told Gunther I was sick last night, because he was suspicious."

"Thanks, Joe," Daniel says, his tone hinting at disbelief.

"Don't mention it. Just let me in on what's going on at midnight."

Nina and I examine each other's faces, both of us unsure of what to do or say next. I stall. "First show me your arms," I say.

He rolls up the sleeves of his white coat, and shows me he is still human, so I decide to tell him. Not because I trust him—I still have no idea what to think—but because he hasn't shown me any reason I shouldn't trust him yet. In this world, that's the best I can hope for anymore.

"We are going to escape," I say. "The girls have collected enough equipment for a lab down there. We are meeting tonight to get a plan down before we leave."

I take a breath and as I exhale, it seems like time expands. I wait for Dr. Wilkes to react for what feels like an infinity. A twitch or smile or frown or anything, but nothing comes in the eternity between my heart beats.

"So... that's it," I say, and find myself curling into the curve of Daniel's arm for support.

"You don't have any plans yet?" he asks, and I can't tell if he's investigating for a future report or if he's genuinely interested.

"No...," I mumble.

"Do you need help?" he asks, his face brightening.

"You want to help us?" Nina nearly chokes on the question.

"Of course," he scoffs. "I hate it here. I should have left with General Sato. I should have left again with Phoebe, Win, and Alex, but I didn't. I should have been there when Rumi was killed, it should have been me instead, but I was a coward. I didn't want to escape with Rumi, my friend, but now I know I need to. I'm not going to be a coward again."

"How do you know all of them?" I ask.

"I was the doctor who unfroze everyone," he says. "General Sato told me what was going on before they left, and offered for me to come along. But back then, you trusted your government. Sure, maybe they misused funds and maybe they bickered in congress, but only radical conspiracy theorists would have believed what Sato told me. The government purposefully destroying the world? Never. Before he left, he asked me to get that poem for him, the one I quoted when you were in my office. I didn't know why, so I read it over and over again to figure it out, until I realized it was his goodbye. I hid for the attack against the leaders, but I don't want to hide anymore. I want out."

Nina smiles at me. "Great," she says, "I guess we'll see you at midnight. Isla will show you the way."

"Wait," I stop them. "I don't get it. If you're on our side, why are you performing all the surgeries? Why won't you give simple medications to the Caregivers?" He swallows hard, and I remember Gunther's words: Everyone has their job. "What does Gunther have on you?" I ask.

Dr. Wilkes bends his head in shame and takes a deep breath. "I refused. I didn't want to do Phoebe's surgery. She was screaming at me, begging me not to, and I knew that I would never forgive myself if I did. Gunther had this tape recorder, though, and he played me a conversation he had on it. There were gun shots in the background, and at first, all I could hear was groaning, but then Gunther's voice came on. He said, 'I'm here with Rumi Patel, Deathless doctor and soldier.' I heard Rumi asking him to hold pressure to his wound, to help him." Dr. Wilkes has to stop for a moment to regain composure. "Anyway, the tape went on like that until Rumi finally died. You know how long Gunther sat there with him without helping, watching him suffer? Ten minutes. It took Rumi ten minutes to die, and I heard it all. Gunther told me if I didn't perform surgery on Phoebe, it would take her even longer to die, and when it was over, he'd convert me anyway for being insubordinate. What was I supposed to do? So I converted her. I know how that makes me seem, but—"

"—everyone has their job," I mumble. "I get it."

We agree to follow the plan at midnight, and Nina and Dr. Wilkes—Joe, he told me to call him—leave. I don't move from where I'm standing as Daniel cleans his work from the bed. As I watch, the adrenaline from Tanya's attack and Joe's interrogation fades, but the repercussions remain. Ava is still gone, and now that my body adjusts to the calm, tears begin to well up. All I can do to keep from crying is watch Daniel.

"I didn't know you needed glasses," I say, trying to think about anything else.

He smiles. "Yeah, yeah, they're just for reading, so, you know... calm down."

He's expecting me to make fun of him, but all I can think about is how handsome he looks, especially with the glasses. A wave of comfort rolls over me. Of all the things I have seen today, of all the loss I have experienced, Daniel is the one person who can always calm me down. He's the one person who can see how many pieces my heart is in right now and has any idea how to put them back together.

I gather the last of my strength for the day and will myself to his side. I curl up behind him, sitting on our pillows, and wrap my arms around him.

"I like your glasses," I say, resting my temple between his shoulder blades.

"Thanks," he says, and his voice echoes in his chest. I close my eyes and pretend like his voice and his heartbeat are the only sounds in the world. It makes me miss home, when he was my only plan for the future. It's a deep, painful missing that only changing the past could fix.

"I want to go home," I say.

"Me too."

"I want to go back to the house, before it was destroyed, before I knew about all of this. I want our parents to all be here with us and I want my slingshot."

I hear his lungs let out a small laugh. "Oh man, our slingshots."

"I want to go back to all the times when you wanted to kiss me," I continue, "and I want to let you."

For a few moments, we hold each other in silence, wrapped in each other's safety and warmth. Then Daniel whispers, "We could look up at the stars.... Pretend like we're back home on the roof."

"Sure," I say. I take his hand as he leads us to the floor beneath the window, where we lie with our heads in the small square of moonlight. Even if we wanted to, we wouldn't be able to see the surrounding wall or the Prowlers patrolling the yard from this angle. Only the stars and the moon.

"Is Laughiticus out?" I ask.

"Nope. He's a summer constellation, you know that. We're looking at the autumn sky now."

"So where's the dancing bear?"

He squints. "We're facing the wrong direction. We used to always face the east. We're facing west now."

I snuggle up to his side, and wrap my arm over his chest. He kisses my forehead, pulling me closer to his heart, and I turn my head to look up at the starry sky.

"Let's make up a new constellation," I say, "like we used to."

"Is this your way of distracting us?"

I nod.

"Good, because it's definitely going to work." He smiles, and some of the darkness brightens.

I wiggle closer to him so he and I can see the same patch of sky. "That cluster there," I say, pointing upward. "It kind of looks like two sitting birds. Maybe they're getting ready to fly off somewhere?"

"Which cluster?"

"That one," I smile, pressing my cheek to his to direct his gaze.

"Two birds? No way, that's definitely a couple."

"Of people?"

He laughs. "Yes, of people. A couple of supremely attractive people. And that little speck of light between them, do you see that?"

"Yep."

"That's... um...."

"That's the string that connects their souls," I say.

"Right," he whispers, "and if that string snaps, they'll cease to exist."

I turn and smile at him. "What's with you and destruction? First Laughiticus shatters and now these poor people cease to exist?"

"Well, if you want them to continue existing, don't cut the string."

"All right, backstory. These two were lovers—"

"—of course—"

"—and one day, the woman died."

"And you say I'm obsessed with destruction."

"No, wait, it's romantic, I promise."

"I'm listening," he sighs.

"So the woman died, but the man missed her and loved her so much that he went to Hell to bring her back."

"Okay, Eurydice," he chuckles.

"Hold on, give me a minute. So the man got to Hell, and the Devil said, 'You may return your lover to Earth on one condition. You must never let her out of your life. This must be a forever commitment.'"

Daniel laughs at my Devil voice, deep and gravelly.

"The man agreed, as did the woman," I continue. "But just to make sure they never parted, the Devil tied a string between their souls, so that if either of them broke the string, their souls would shatter and they would cease to exist."

"Why not just send them back to Hell?"

"Because then they would still be together, and the Devil wouldn't want that. He's a pretty evil guy, you know."

He scoffs. "Alright, so how'd they get up there?"

"They had to go somewhere when they died, and they proved themselves to be too true to go to Hell."

"So now they're up in the heavens. Smart, Isla. Very smart. You always come up with the best parts of our stories."

"That's what happens when you read as many books as I do."

"I guess I should read more fiction, less history and science."

"Never. We balance each other out. You show me the stars, and I'll write stories about them. And then, since I also love science, I'll help you find more stars."

"And I'll provide the morbid twist," he says. He turns to me, his smile falling, then returns his focus to the stars. "That will be us up there one day."

"In the very distant future, since we won't be apart ever again, and neither of us will die any time soon. Do you understand, Crowley? Neither of us are dying." I mean to keep the mood light, but after today, my words take on a darker tone.

Luckily Daniel hears this, and jokes, "Never. In fact, that's one of the weaknesses of mankind: death."

"Ugh," I groan, "Cooper pitched that to you too? Good thing he's on it. Wouldn't want us to be weak."

"Good thing."

I lean in to kiss his cheek. "I love you, Daniel."

"What did you just say, Blume?" he asks.

I smile. "I said I love you."

"I'm sorry, I'm having a really hard time hearing you," he says with a wry smile.

"You're obnoxious, you know that?"

"Yes, I'm aware."

"I love you," I say.

"I love you, too," he replies.

***

Just a quick personal note: I LOVE this scene between Isla and Daniel. It's maybe one of my favorite scenes between the two of them in the whole series.

"You show me the stars, and I'll write stories about them."