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A loud bang followed by some fierce cursing jolted me awake. I caught myself just before I could fall out of my bed, and since I was on the top bunk that would have been a painful fall.

Blinking the bleariness from my eyes, I impatiently searched the room for the cause of the ruckus. I laid back down with a huff of tired laughter when I realised it was Urman. He was trying to get ready in the dark and had somehow stubbed his toe. Currently, he was hopping around holding it while cursing up a storm under his breath.

When he looked up and saw me watching him, he sighed in defeat and placed his foot delicately back on the ground, testing it before putting his weight on it.

‘Sorry, Dorian. Didn’t mean to wake you.’

‘It’s fine,’ I waved his apology away, my voice croaky from sleep. ‘I’ll just head to the gym. I’ve been slacking the past few days anyway.’

‘Yeah, same. It’s been too chaotic to find a spare minute to do anything other than wipe tiny butts and sleep,’ he groaned out.

With a strained grunt I heaved myself out of bed to get ready. Urman waved goodbye as he headed out, a slight limp tilting his gait from his injured toe. I had no doubt it would face even more abuse by the end of the day.Children had an eery ability to smack, grind, and twist an injury even if they didn’t know it existed.

Before I knew it, I was dragging my feet out the door and trudging through the hallways towards the gym. Working out was the last thing I wanted to be doing, my entire being screaming at me to go back to bed, but I really needed to keep in myself in shape and I wasn’t going to get a better time than now to do it.

As the gym doors slid open, I was surprised to find that it was mostly empty. Only one individual was currently utilising the weights, but other than that it was just the two of us in here. As I moved closer I realised I recognised him, too.

Reece was just putting back one set of weights and grabbing the next size up when he noticed me. He dipped his head in acknowledgement before going back to his sets.

We hadn’t actually had a real conversation, at least one on one, since before he’d been arrested. It was strange to see him here, too. His previously muscular form had diminished significantly, and I wasn’t sure I wanted the details that explained why. I could surmise enough myself without forcing him to relive it to sate my curiosity.

Instead, I watched on as he tested out the weights, stopping after one rep with a shake of his head before he replaced those, too, and upgraded yet again.

He saw me watching and motioned me over, settling himself back on the bench. ‘My strength is changing,’ he explained. ‘Started out with lighter weights a couple days ago and now I can’t find any that work.’

‘The nanites are making you stronger?’

He sighed. ‘Yeah. You’d think that would be a good thing, right?’

‘Well, yeah…’

‘The problem is that I’m gaining strength without gaining any muscle. I wanted to get back to where I was at before, but I don’t know if that’s even possible now.’

I frowned, concerned about how he was taking all of these new changes. It wasn’t just his physiology, but his entire life and I couldn’t begin to imagine how hard it must have been to process.

‘Have you talked to Artemis about it?’ I asked.

‘No, and I don’t intend to,’ he snapped out.

I backed up a step at his tone, hands raised placatingly. ‘Sorry…’

He exhaled a long breath, his shoulder slumping as he set the new weights down at his feet. ‘No, I’m sorry. I just don’t want to add to her plate, you know? She’s got a lot going on, she doesn’t need to take on my problems, too.’

‘When was the last time you talked to her?’ I asked tentatively.

His only response was to shrug.

‘You were pretty close back on The Carina. I know a lot has changed since then, but I don’t think she’ll mind if you go to her. She’s still your friend, right?’

‘I don’t know what we are anymore,’ he admitted glumly.

Slightly uncomfortable with this conversation, I sat beside him and awkwardly patted his arm. ‘If you don’t mind me asking, but why?’

He bit his lip as he contemplated his answer. ‘I don’t know. Things just aren’t the same anymore. She’s a different person.I’ma different person. I don’t know where to even begin bridging that gap.’

‘I think the bigger question is, do you want to?’

He nodded slowly. ‘Yeah, I think so.’