He almost looked like a different person when he smiled. His worn, tired face lifted, and his tawny-brown eyes sparkled. I didn’t miss the dimples that formed beneath his sharp cheekbones, either. It made him look softer, younger… more like his age.

Perhaps the meeting with Safi had helped lift his mood.

I was surprised by how thrilled I felt at managing to evoke a smile from him.

As I stood in the water, the waves lapping around my ankles felt so soothing. Therapeutic. Without asking for his permission, I rolled up the ends of his pants before pulling his chair deeper into the water until the waves lapped against his feet.

I looked to him again for a reaction, but his smile had faded. If anything, he looked slightly awkward, uncomfortable even.

Then I felt like an idiot as I remembered.

“You can’t feel that, can you?”

He shook his head.

Grace

I drew him out of the water and placed him again at the edge of the waves, where at least he could enjoy the view. We spent almost an hour on Sun Beach, breathing in the fresh air. I did some more water tricks for him and he even attempted to push his wheelchair across the sand. That was definitely too strenuous for him. That was hard work for anyone.

Then I supposed we ought to return. I pushed him all the way back to the hospital, and as we returned to his floor, I was surprised to see Shayla and Safi outside his room, talking in hushed tones.

On noticing our approach, they turned to face us.

“You’re back,” Shayla said, giving us a broad smile. She was holding a thin glass vial, containing a light transparent liquid. “Safi has brought this already.”

“Oh, awesome.” I’d been expecting to have to wait until tomorrow.

Shayla walked over to Josh and unscrewed the lid. “You ought to take half of this now, to prep your system, and then the other half in three hours, after which the cure should complete. Open your mouth, please.”

He acquiesced even as he eyed the vial curiously, allowing her to tip the half of the liquid into his mouth. He swallowed, grimacing.

“Now you should lie down,” Shayla said.

Safi took her leave—evaporating from the spot—while Shayla and I returned Josh to his room and helped him back into bed. I re-bundled him with blankets.

And then we had nothing to do but wait. I thought that he might rest his eyelids again, but he appeared to be too tense, too full of anticipation to sleep. I couldn’t concentrate on much else either.

Although I had packed some books in my bag, and had even pulled one out to read, I couldn’t concentrate on the words.

Josh glanced at me. “What are you reading?” he asked.

The fact that I had to check the cover to answer his question showed how much I’d been paying attention to the book.

“Uh… Oliver Twist,” I replied with a grin. This was technically my English literature homework.

I showed him the cover.

“Would you read to me?” he asked. “It would make the three hours pass more easily.”

“Oh, sure!” I hadn’t been expecting him to ask, but I was more than happy to oblige. I cleared my throat before turning to the first page. It was a strange feeling to be reading aloud to someone. I could hardly remember the last time I’d done it. Maybe it had been to Benedict, when he was around six years old. Rapunzel, I thought it had been. He’d always loved those fairy tales—I was sure my cousin was a closet romantic… One day, when I got my chance, I would out him.

I did my best to make the reading for Josh entertaining—more of a performance than a reading—although I came across quite a lot of words that I didn’t understand. I’d made a fair bit of headway through the novel by the time Shayla knocked on the door with the second dose.

“Do you feel any different at all?” I asked Josh.

He shook his head.

“Well, Safi said that the cure doesn’t take place until he’s had this second dose—within another three hours,” Shayla said. She fed Josh the last of the liquid, then stepped back from the bed.

She smiled as she glanced at the book in my hands. “Safi also said that Josh should go to sleep as soon as he’s taken it.”

“Oh, okay…” I felt surprisingly disappointed to pause the reading. I realized just how much I’d been enjoying it. I could have sworn that disappointment crossed Josh’s face, too.

“Well, see you later,” I said to him, before turning and heading out of the room with Shayla.

“See you later, too,” he replied.

I realized as I shut the door that that was the first time he had said goodbye to me.

I knew that this wait would be agonizing. But now that I was released from caring for Josh for the next three hours, I decided to go and pay Victoria a visit. I found her in her home, poring over a pile of history books. Apparently she had home study leave.

“If you’re busy I can come back later this evening,” I offered.

“Nah, take a seat,” she said, pulling me down to take a seat in her bedroom.

The last time we’d had a proper conversation was when we had been sharing a bunk in Nightshade, while waiting in the Philippine jungle. That seemed like an age away now.

As she sat down on her bed, she confessed to me what I had suspected about her and Bastien. That they’d developed an attraction, and even shared a kiss, before everything had spiraled downhill.

She gave me a pained smile. “Don’t mean to drag your spirits down, though,” she said. “I had a talk with Saira. I’m feeling a bit better now.”