I woke up in a comfy bed with a heavy down comforter over me and my shoulder bandaged along with a huge band-aid across my left hand. I felt safe. And like death.

Groaning, I managed to curl myself up into a sitting position, but as soon as I had achieved that, an unseen force pushed me back down.

Now, why was that force 'unseen'? Because I had failed to realize the basic principle of waking up: opening your eyes.

When I finally pried my eyes open, I saw Iggy standing over me holding me down. "Morning," he said. "You really shouldn't move just yet." He kind of patted me shoulder, probably to check on it again. "Fang," he called over his shoulder.

"What happened?" I asked, sounding very clueless.

"After you were basically knocked out, Fang and I cornered Ari but he shot this needle thing into your hand. We kicked his butt, and sent him packing. We probably would've gotten around to killing him if Rose hadn't chosen just that time to finally see you lying unconscious on the floor. She started wailing and we kind of just hurled him out the window and ran to her. You must've looked dead to her because she was seriously upset. Like, massive waterfalls falling from her eyes. Think, Niagra Falls times two."

"Where is she?"

"In the kitchen with Angel," Fang said, stepping into the room from the doorway. I instantly tensed, which he saw, and he cast his eyes down, looking guilty.

"What did he inject me with?" I asked, returning to the most important matter at hand since Rose was safe. "How did he find us?"

Fang shrugged. Well, guess he didn't change much. I'm sure people still wonder if he's mute.

"You seem fine so it's nothing that would've caused an immediate reaction," Iggy said. "But we don't know anything beyond that, really. As for how he found us, I don't know. You don't have your chip anymore and Rose hasn't had any interaction with anyone from the School until now so we know she can't be planted with anything."

Fang nodded, agreeing with Iggy.

"Mommy!!" Rose ran into the room screaming, leaped up onto the bed, and jumped on top of me. I grimaced in pain as she hit my shoulder, which Fang saw, whilst Iggy probably heard my intake of breath, seeing as both of them instantly started towards me. I shook my head to let them know I was fine.

"Hey, sweetie," I whispered into Rose's ear as she clung to my neck with her little chubby arms flung and clasped around it.

"Mommy, are you okay?" her voice was muffled from her pressing it into the crook of my neck but her meaning was still clear. She'd thought I was dead.

"Of course I'm okay. I'll always be okay."

"I thought you'd left me."

"I'll never leave you. Nothing can make me leave you," I promised her. Both Fang and Iggy were urgently mouthing 'no' in the background, knowing that at any moment, any of us could be snatched away and lost forever among the sea of whitecoats at the School.

It was a dire thought. So I didn't think about it. Never ever wanted to.

"Why is there a party going on in here without me?" Total trotted into the bedroom and hopped up on top of the bed, snuggling right beside me on top of the comforter. "First, you barely even acknowledge my presence. And then, you don't invite me to spend any time with you. And then, you go and insult dogs in front of me. You are certainly turning into a terrible person." He ended his dramatic tirade by nuzzling his head against my leg and curling up.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm so sorry, Total. It's completely my fault why everything is going wrong. It's all my fault that you were grafted with human DNA, all my fault that the School exists, all of my fault that I don't understand just how lovely dogs are, and especially my fault that Akila isn't here right now."

"Don't say that! We're going to visit her soon! Right?" he looked pleadingly at Fang who just nodded while his eyes were glazed over and unfocused. He probably had absolutely no idea what was going on and was just aware of Total looking at him. How typical.

"Of course we're going to visit her soon! She with Ella and Dr. Martinez and we're going to visit them soon because they should probably find out about Rose," Iggy helpfully supplied. I shot him the bird but it was sincerely a wasted effort. "But Max still has to rest up and heal before we go anywhere."

Oh great. I was going to have to sit on my butt and not do anything and rest. Then, after I was completely healed and hopefully not dead from whatever Ari shot me up with, I was going to go and visit my mom and sister and tell them how they're a grandmother and an aunt because their daughter / sister had a child at the age of fourteen because her best friend raped her.

Just wonderful.