I shoveled one last spoonful of ice cream into my mouth before Grace finished her cup.

"Chocolate doesn't taste as good as Nutella." She pouted as she threw her cup into the nearby trash bin.

"But ice cream is ice cream." I stood up and stretched my arms out. We'd eaten at least three cups each. Grace couldn't find the Nutella flavored cups so she settled for the next best thing, chocolate.

"Yeah, I guess...." She muttered. She scratched her scalp lazily and yawned.

"Someone's tired." I joked.

"Nah uh. I'm...I'm wide awake." She said, yawning again in the middle of her sentence, as if to prove my point.

I chuckled and placed my hand in hers. "Come on, you could use a nap."

I lead her back to her room and she climbed into her bed, pulling up her own covers and relaxing, practically sinking into her pillow.

"You good?" I asked, receiving a nod in response. "Okay. Sleep tight." I said, turning to leave the room.

"Hey, Circe?" She called as I reached the doorway. I stopped and turned to her, humming to let her know I heard her. "I love you." She paused for a moment. "I love all of you."

Love. That word seemed so foreign to me now. No one had used it since...

Since my parents...Since my dad...

My heart sort of swelled to hear it come from Grace's lips, and to know that she was genuine.

"We love you too." I said with a small smile. "Alex, Evie, Victor, me, we all love you Grace."

I saw her eyes shine with some undecipherable emotion for a split second before she beamed back at me sleepily.

I slowly pulled the door closed, being careful to leave it open a small crack. As soon as I let go of the knob, a huge grin lit up my face.

Being loved felt great. And I had missed it dearly.

"Circe! CIRCE!" A distant voice called.

The smile that was on my face before faded and I turned around to see Jesse and Keith running towards me. Jesse's brown eyes shone with fear and though Keith tried to keep an impassive face, I could tell that the young boy was also scared.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking at them in confusion. They were both still wearing their mission outfits and were battered and slightly bloody. They'd just returned.

"It was the mission! We were doing so well! It was great! Then...then..." Jesse stopped and his words caught in his throat. He looked distant, as if he were recalling the events. Reliving them, even.

"Then what?" I demanded a bit impatiently. "What happened, Jesse?"

"Dorian happened." Keith answered for him. "It was an ambush. He knew we were coming. He and his men cornered us. We lost some people..." He muttered the last part, casting his gaze downward and letting some of his jet black hair fall in his eyes.

"What..." My voice sounded soft and whispery. Lost some people? They didn't mean-

"Your friends are okay. Hailey and Skye too. They all made it out." Keith clarified. I let out a breath that had gotten caught up in my throat and almost collapsed right there.

"What about Dorian? Where did he go?"

"He said he had to go take care of something. Some announcement that he wanted to make. He said he was going to 'right some wrongs'."

My head snapped up. Right some wrongs? The gears in my head began to turn and my eyes widened as I came to a conclusion. Was he going to expose himself? All in the name of exposing us?

"No no no no no!" I muttered. I ran a hand through my hair and looked at Keith and Jesse with a fear that mirrored their own. "Take me to my friends." I said as calmly as possible, which wasn't very calm at all. "I need to talk to them. To everyone."

Keith nodded and nudged Jesse who looked even more afraid than when he'd come to get me. I followed the two boys through the winding halls of Eros and my heart dropped a bit as they stopped in the infirmary doorway.