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Roark squatted beside me and steadied my teetering shoulders as I released my bladder.

“Shea and Darwin are downstairs with Paul and Eddie.” His thumb stroked over my arm. “We left everyone else in Arkendale this morning.”

“What?” My head snapped up. Oh fuck, I felt dizzy.

“Back to bed.” He tore off some toilet paper and made a move to wipe me, obviously accustomed to performing this task.

I swatted at his head and grabbed the wad, my fuzzy head muddling through this alternate universe of toilet paper and flushing water.

That done, I glimpsed a toothbrush on the counter, the sight of it prompting my tongue to drag over my teeth. The enamel felt smooth. No grit.

I licked my lips and tasted mint. “Did you guys brush my teeth?”

“Aye.” Roark lifted me and carried me back to the bed. “And daily baths.”

It was probably insignificant compared to all the things they did for me while I was out of it, but something about the simple gesture in cleaning my teeth and washing my body filled me with an insane amount of warmth.

I lay on my back, my gaze locked on the bulb in the ceiling. “Does Arkendale have electricity and running water?”

“Yes.” Jesse climbed in bed beside me, pulling the sheet over my chilled skin. “The scouts Link had sent ahead negotiated a partnership with the existing residents.”

“There were men there?”

“Forty or so.” Roark sat on the edge of the mattress. “And a handful of nymphs. The men kept them confined on the peninsula to protect them. They’d already constructed a wall where the cape connects to Virginia.”

I could guess the rest. “Link offered to cure their nymphs as he barged his way in and took over their sanctuary?”

“He’s a brutal one right enough.” Roark pushed his fingers through the curly waves of his hair, such an odd thing to witness having never seen him without knots. “Can’t say I agree with his methods, but they’re fecking effective. Over two-hundred cured women now reside on the peninsula, and there was a rake of nymphs still marching in when we left this morning. They’ll run out of room soon, if they haven’t already.”

Holy fucking shit. My mind scrambled through all the issues that would come with that many people. Water, food, medicine, housing, sewage, protection… How could Link manage it?

“Why aren’t we there?” As soon as the question left my mouth, I knew. “Because of me?”

Jesse placed his hand on my breastbone, his fingers curling against the thin sheet. “Evie, you struggled for every breath for two weeks. Seizures. Screaming. Vomiting blood. All those nymphs in one place was killing you.”

Thank fuck I couldn’t recall any of that, though the rawness in my throat and aching weakness in my muscles whined in memory.

“We had to get ye out of there.” Roark braced his elbows on his knees and stared at the carpet between his bare feet. “We drove until your breathing normalized.”

“The other women didn’t have the same reaction?”

Jesse watched me in that way he did, his eyes not just seeing me, but assessing me. Measuring the pace of my breaths. Gaging how much muscle I’d lost. Estimating my current pain levels. “Some of them complained about nausea and chills, but you took the full brunt of it, darlin’.”

The women didn’t suffer. I let my head sink into the pillow and breathed deeply. “I didn’t lead any of the nymphs away from Arkendale? Those that still needed to be cured continued toward the larger congregation of women?”

In a way, every woman alive was my descendant. They would give off similar signals, like the scent trail ants left for their buddies. Assembled together in one place, they formed a boosted signal, a powerful beacon that no doubt muted mine.

Of course, Michio would call all this hypothetical, but he wasn’t here, which left me to operate on instinct and guesswork.

“Yeah.” Jesse picked up the blonde lock of my hair that lay across my chest, watching the strands fall around his fingers. “When we drove past a few nymphs on the road, their heads tracked you. They knew you were in the car. But they continued in the direction of the peninsula.”

“A few stragglers came by today,” Roark said, gently. “Shea healed them, and they’ve been taken to Arkendale.”

Jesse closed his eyes. “Had we known not all the nymphs would follow you, we would’ve taken you away immediately. We just assumed…”

“Hey.” I curled my hand around his. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”

I didn’t remember the ride to Arkendale or the two weeks I’d spent there. I remembered nothing except the dream about my home and the Drone and the light bulb.

Jesse and Roark had taken care of me all that time. If I really thought about what that meant, it was difficult to accept. I’d been vacant, helpless, and unable to defend myself. They’d hauled around my dead weight, feeding me, cleaning me, and searching for a way to ease my pain. But who took care of them?