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“After we’ve run all our evaluations. We’ve never had one like her. Doc will want a look inside.”
    I rise to my feet. Their faces sway as I stagger my way toward them. Unable to stop myself, I strike the glass with my fist. It shudders beneath the force but doesn’t give. Not that I expected it to.
    They smile, amused by my outburst.
    “I think she understands us.” Sandwich Eater nods as though convinced and then sets his sandwich on the bottom half of the clipboard so he can scribble a note of my behavior. “The doctor will be pleased. He always credits them with intelligence.”
    The other lab coat snorts and shakes his head. “They’re just animals. Fascinating creatures, sure, but they understand about as much as my Labrador.”
    They move away then.
    I pace my prison and try to reach Cassian again, desperate, unable to shake off the panic that I’ll never be rescued from this cell.
    I drag my hands through my hair and fall against the wall. Hot tears slip down my cheeks. Sliding to the floor, I release a great gust of breath and close my eyes, fighting back the emotion. No tears. I won’t let them see me weep so they can write that down in their reports.
    Cassian. Help me. Help Miram .
    Dropping my head onto my knees, I sink into the dark shell of myself, not expecting the scene awaiting me there.
    A hazy image fills my mind. It’s daylight. Outdoors. I see my sister and Will. He’s pacing near the van.
    I open my eyes in a flash and find myself still in my cell. Even hazy, the image had seemed so real.
    Lowering my head, I close my eyes again and I’m sucked back into the misty vision. With Will and Tamra. But where’s Cassian?
    Will charges toward me, his face tight and anxious, his chest taut beneath the T-shirt that he’d been wearing when we parted. My heart swells, overcome at the sight of him.
    “Do you feel her? How is she? Does she want us to come?”
    Then I understand. I’ve succeeded in reaching out to Cassian. Beyond my wildest imaginings, I’ve connected to him. So much so that I’m in him right now. I can feel and see everything he’s experiencing.
    Cassian’s voice rises up from inside me—or rather inside him. “Yes. I feel her. She’s not … managing it very well.”
    “Are they harming her?” Will demands. His skin pales, eyes strained and unblinking as he stares at Cassian.
    “I don’t think so,” Cassian answers. “Not now, anyway. I don’t sense any pain. But …”
    “Is she scared?” Tamra asks.
    My vision bounces as Cassian nods.
    Tamra moistens her lips. “Then do something for her. You can reach her. Comfort her …”
    Will’s expression is wild. “We need to go in. We can’t wait.” Before anyone can answer, he curses and moves away, prowling out of Cassian’s sight. My sister starts to follow him but pauses and turns back to Cassian.
    The connection begins to fade, but I’m comforted. Relieved. It can’t be much longer. They’ll come for us.
    Exhausted, I fall asleep again and dream of Will.
    It’s not the first time he’s filled my dreams, but it’s the first time he’s flying beside me as a draki. His eyes are the same but for the fully vertical pupils. They glow with delight as we soar and dip, cutting through the wet kiss of clouds. His skin is iridescent, flashing from gold to brown to green—just like his hazel eyes. His wings move fluidly on the air, great sails whooshing beside me. When I wake, I feel the irrational urge to cry as reality slams down on me.
    Tears burn the backs of my eyes. Because Will flying—that can never be. The sweetness of those moments found in sleep will never happen. He and I can never have that, be together that way, as two draki. Even if he’s proven to be something else, something more than human, he can never take to the skies with me.
    And does he have to? a small voice whispers inside my head. You never cared about that before .
    I pull my knees to my chest and chafe my supple skin with both