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The three of them wince, and I roll my eyes, something I wouldn’t normally do around an authority figure. “Is there anything else?”

“Have lunch with me?” Ayden asks, giving me a pleading look. The other two glare at him because he’s leaving them out.

“No, thank you,” I respond icily, and Sidney’s brow raises.

“You really are royalty,” he chuckles, but I shake my head.

“I’m no one, and that’s exactly the way I’d like to keep it.” I sigh. “I really just want to take a nap at this point. My attacks always sap my energy, and they’re easier to trigger when they’ve happened in short succession.”

Realizing I’ve given them a lot more information than I wanted to, I rub my eyes tiredly.

“We won’t use that against you,” Ayden says hurriedly, and I smile sarcastically.

“Funny, that’s exactly what Zachary said right before he did,” I snark.

Not waiting to be dismissed, I walk out of the room. There’s a lot of people in the hallway right now, and my fingers immediately begin to unravel my braid. I’m exhausted, my feet weaving through the pockets of space as the crowd moves.

I hope Grayson doesn’t pay attention to the fact that I’m not going to make it to lunch. My stomach cramps again, and I wince. Not for the first time, I wish I could go to the kitchen and sneak out quick snacks, but that’s not the way that things work here.

My eyelids grow hooded from sleep weighing me down, and I yawn. Gods, if I don’t keep moving, I’m likely to pass out standing.

“Silla?” calls a voice and I keep moving, raising my hand to show I heard them.

I haven’t the slightest idea who would be yelling my name right now, though. Moving quickly around the corner, I duck around someone.

“Sorry!” I yell over my shoulder, struggling to make it to my room.

“Hey,” says a voice, and I look up gasping. Realizing Isaac was the one calling me earlier, I give him a tired smile, pushing my hair out of my face.

“Hey, I’m going to my room to take a nap. I think everything is catching up to me,” I explain.

Isaac pulls me to a stop and I blink rapidly. I’m emotional, tired, and hangry. I really just want to go to bed.

“What?” I whimper, and his eyes narrow.

“This isn’t like you, what’s wrong?” he hisses. “I’m about to cart you back to Patricia to fix you.”

Barking out a laugh, I shake my head. “I’m not at all fine, but a nap may help. I’m dead on my feet, Isaac.”

“What about food?” he murmurs, his hand fisting as it starts to move up to push my hair from my forehead.

“I’ll probably fall asleep in my food,” I giggle hysterically. “I’m two seconds away from either sobbing or having another panic attack. I just really can’t do life right now.”

“Another panic attack?” Isaac asks and I shrug.

“Ayden, Andrya, and Sidney ganged up on me, but I’m fine,” I insist.

“The fuck you are, you’re weaving on your feet,” he says softly.

“Adrenaline crash?” I smirk, even though it’s not funny. I mask emotions with humor when things are really bad, and my eyes cross slightly from exhaustion. “Isaac, I have to move or I’m going to fall over. Seriously.”

Growling under his breath, he nods, and I push myself into motion. Following me into my room, I crawl onto my bed without a word and fall on my face, the world already fading around me as I hear him curse.

* * *

I don’t knowhow long I’m out, but I wake up snuggled up against someone who smells like paper and sandalwood. It reminds me of libraries… and Isaac.

“Don’t pretend to still be asleep, Little Hacker,” Isaac rumbles. “I’ve checked three times to make sure you’re still breathing because you sleep like the damn dead.”