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Malakai was pallid. He sat in the lone chair beside her bed, his throat working with a swallow.

“It felt like that really bad Surge I had when I was thirteen—remember that?” she said to her brother. When Malakai managed a nod, Jewels added, “Only this was worse… A thousand times worse. A thousand times more painful.”

Malakai opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Loren had never seen him so upset. So speechless.

“The most important thing is you’re alive,” Ivy offered gently. She stood near the cubicle curtain, arms crossed. Malakai—shockingly—gave her a grateful look. “You’re going to be okay.”

Jewels looked like she had a lot more she wanted to get off her chest, but instead she sighed and settled with a simple: “Yeah.” She swept her poker-straight hair—an icy shade of lavender—over one shoulder, exposing the fruit bat Familiar cradled in the crook of her neck, and stroked the fuzz between the animal’s pointed ears. The bat was very cute—soft white in color, with pale purple eyes that looked as drowsy as the Reaper’s.

“You scared the shit out of me,” Malakai confessed, his voice gruff with emotion. He reached across the space to grasp Jewels’s forearm, thumb stroking. “Thought I might lose you.” He cleared his throat.

Jewels fought a smile. “Don’t feel like being an only child yet?”

“Not yet. Annoy me for another few years, then ask me again.”

The smile she was attempting to stifle broadened, but the expression didn’t reach her eyes. “Where are the others?”

“In the waiting area,” Ivy said.

“Everyone?”

“Everyone,” she confirmed. “Travis tried to come in and see you, but Malakai wouldn’t let him.”

Malakai winced, now looking anything but grateful for Ivy’s presence. “Thanks a lot,” he muttered, glaring over his shoulder.

“Are youserious?”Jewels hissed, spearing her brother with black eyes.

“Don’t get mad at me—he was pissing me off!”

“Everyonepisses you off! And don’t even try to deny it.”

He huffed out his irritation, crossed his arms, and slumped against the backrest of his chair.

“When are you going to grow up?” Jewels demanded, still scowling.

“The minute you stop having shit taste in men.”

“Oh really?” Her tone dripped with a warning.

Ivy said, “Travis is a way better choice than a lot of the men out there. I can vouch for him—I’ve known him since we were in diapers.”

“Thank you,” Jewels said vehemently.

“There’s not much competition in the way of good men, that’s why,” Malakai grumbled.

Jewels rolled her eyes. “Oh, for gods’ sake! What has poor Travis ever done to you?”

“He asked my baby sister out on a date, that’s what.”

“I’m not a baby.” She added, “You, on the other hand…”

The bat cuddling her neck was giving Malakai a heavy dose of side-eye. Until today, Loren had never seen Jewels’s Familiar, and the only other white one she’d seen in person—apart from Singer in the spirit realm—was Shay’s seal pup. They tended to feel more comfortable staying in their person’s shadow,likely due to always being gawked at. White Familiars were so rare, they accounted for less than three percent of Familiars worldwide.

“Whatever you’re thinking, Critter, don’t try it…,” Malakai warned, glaring down the bat whose response was a sassy snort of disapproval, her eyes narrowing into slits. “This doesn’t concern you.”

Critter merely shut her eyes and yawned, tiny teeth glinting like shards of pearl in the bright light.

Jewels sighed, then offered Loren an apologetic smile. “Sibling squabbles. Do you and Dallas fight?”