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"Should’ve designed dog," I uard should have been designed for dogs, which would be ibberish by the tihed and sagged in place, finally allowing my eyes to slide closed The druh they were neither as strong nor as steady as they usually were That was probably a bad thing Then again, asn’t a bad thing, anymore?

I must have blacked out That shouldn’t have beenthe co with, but I was still surprised when I opened , with a pillow supporting my head I tried to sit up A wave of dizziness assured me that this was a terrible idea, and that I should stay where I was for as long as possible Maybe forever

I groaned

"Oh, good, you’re awake," said Nathan He paused "Are you awake? If you’re not awake, just don’t respond But I’d really prefer it if you were awake"

I licked ued to croak, and felt ridiculously proud ofwas still a little gray around the edges, but it was no longer in danger of being sed up by shadows, and I thought that was probably a good sign

"Two hours," said Nathan I heard hiet up His footstepsand closing Then the steps returned,your vital signs Your pulse has reone to the hospital, given howyou lost"

"No hospitals," I whispered, alarreed He sat down on the edge of the couch, setting soe of blood on his chin, and his hair was even er and lost "It was killing iven e’ve seen so far today, I think it would have killed us both if I’d tried getting you to the ER Not to et involved"

Possibly forcing hi arrested, depending on what story Sy about the break-in and theft of their data I grimaced "Thank you"

"No thanks needed We’re in this together" He kissed , "Do you think you can sit up if I help you? I want you to drink so note of the clean white dressing on my wrist as I did so, and allowed him to half help, half pull me into a seated position The room swam briefly out of focus, and then swam back just as quickly "Oh,Oh, ow"

"Are you dizzy?"

"A little bit," I said, starting to nod I realized at the last moment that it would be a bad idea, and turned the h to ray around the outside"

"As long as it’s just gray and not black, you should be okay" He picked up a glass of orange juice fro it to h blood voluntarily to know that orange juice doesn’t equal instant recovery," I said, and took the glass My hand was shaking I willed it to be still, and once I was sure I wouldn’t spill juice all over the floor, I raised the glass to h to

"The better it tastes, the rioes too far, and you feel like you’re turning into a hue juice isn’t an instant restorative But you didn’t lose enough blood to need a transfusion, thank God, or ould have needed to go to the hospital no h of a boost that we can get back to the car with the dogs"

"Thank you for not being willing to let me die in our kitchen," I said, and took another drink of orange juice "Has anyone noticed the body in the stairwell?"

"Not that I’ve heard The building’s been pretty quiet since you passed out As for the rest of the city…" Nathan shook his head "I turned the news off when I realized that it was just getting worse We’ve passed some sort of criticalup"

I looked at hi to force myself to choke every last drop of it down There was no way any of this was a coincidence; not with Sherman on the loose, not with his teaenesis over the cause of the huht that he was doing this on purpose ht not be hu That was no siven the circu?"

"I don’t think it was just reaching a critical lass back on the coffee table Nathan was right about one thing: while I still felt shaky and weak, I no longer felt like I was going to collapse back into unconsciousness at any moment "This is Shero with him To just throw up my hands and say, ‘I understand now, I’m really one of you,’ and let him lead me to his secret lair beneath the city"