I blinked myself awake and was actually surprised when I didn’t wake up in the basement of Tremor’s castle. Instead, I was lying on a hospital gurney and clearly in an emergency room in present-day Edmonton.

My mom was standing outside the curtain talking to the doctor. I could hear her. Privacy in that sort of place must be a complete illusion. 

“Has this sort of thing ever happened before?” the doctor asked. 

“Of course not.”

“When she wakes up in the morning, she hasn't had difficulty waking up?”

“No more so than any other teenager.”

I was about to interrupt them and tell them I was awake when I thought about my leg. I wanted to check it, so I pulled up my jeans and saw my unbroken skin. That was good to see. I put my feet on the floor and realized I was hooked up to a couple of different things—an I.V. and something was clipped to my finger. Fun. I took the finger one off. Then I tried to walk.

I fell on the floor. “Dang.” My leg was like jelly.

The doctor flicked back the curtain and came in with my mom. They stared at me on the floor in horror. 

“Sarah! How did you fall off?” my mother exclaimed.

“Uh, I tried to walk and it didn’t work so well.”

My mom and the doctor helped me back on the gurney. 

Then the doctor introduced himself. “Hi Sarah, I’m Dr. Harvester. You were brought in via ambulance when you were found passed out in the school library. It was the librarian, Ms. Preet, who called. She said that you came in during the lunch hour and slept all afternoon. She left you alone, but ended up calling for an ambulance when she couldn’t wake you up after school was over.”

“What time is it?”

“Close to seven,” my mom supplied.

My brain convulsed. It was Thursday! I was supposed to be at Emi’s. “Did anyone call Emi and tell her I couldn’t come?”

My Mom pursed her lips in a way that let me know my right to make choices had been rescinded. “No one called her, but I will as soon as we’re finished.”

Effectively silenced, I let the doctor examine me and ask all those adorable, infuriating questions doctors liked to ask. He wrapped up by saying, “You know, I’d let you go in a second if it weren’t for the leg issue you’re describing. Would you mind trying to walk on it again?”

I tried, but it was just as useless as before. 

“See, I can’t let you go home like that. We’ll admit you, run a few tests, and keep you overnight for observation. A nurse will be in to complete your paperwork in a second. Don’t go anywhere.” He smiled at his lame joke and exited the curtained room.

“Like I could,” I mumbled after him. 

Once we were alone, my mom leaned forward and said in a whisper that was barely audible, “Sarah, do you have any idea why you passed out? Was there a reason you didn’t want to tell the doctor?”

“Like what?” I huffed.

“Like… did you overdo it on energy drinks?”

Scoffing, I said, “Are you serious? I hate those things. They give me a headache and cost a fortune.”

“Or,” she continued in an even lower voice, “did one of your friends give you something?”

I smirked and went along with it for kicks. “Actually, one of my friends did give me something.”

“What was it?”

“Is my school bag here? I’ll show you.”

She handed me a white plastic hospital bag that contained everything I had been brought to the hospital with and, sure enough, all my books were there. Shifting through it, I found Evander’s book and handed it to my mom.

“What’s this?” She flipped it open. The way she did it made it seem like she was expecting the pages to be hollowed so someone could hide something inside. “There’s nothing here. It’s just a book.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. It’s not just any book. Look at the cover.”

She turned to the front. “Behind His Mask by Evander Cheney.” Then she bonked me on the head with it.

I shrieked and rubbed the sore spot with my palm. “What was that for?”

“How many nights have you stayed up all night to read this? I knew you had a crush on Evander, but letting your schoolwork suffer, falling asleep in school, and finally ending up in the emergency room. You little…”

Apparently, the sounds we were producing caught the attention of the medical staff, and the doctor came back. “What’s going on?” he interrupted.

“She was reading!” my mom accused me. “She’s been reading all night, every night. That’s why she fainted at school.”

The doctor looked at the book my mother was brandishing, then at me, and then back to my mother. “Ms. Reagan, put the book down. Your daughter is not the first kid to over-read. Regardless of how she ended up here, we still need to keep her because of her leg.”

“Fine,” she conceded. She confiscated Evander’s book by depositing it in her purse. Then she planted a kiss on my head. “I've got to go to work. Call me when you’re discharged and I’ll escort you home.”

“You're going to call Emi for me?” I pleaded.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes.”

“Thanks.” 

Then she left. The nurse came, filled out my forms and I was wheeled into another not-so-private room. They planned to do my tests (the scans) in the morning, but they had no problem taking my blood pressure for the trillionth time and commenting on how strange the numbers were, or taking vial upon vial of my blood. By the sixth stab, it hurt more than when Murmur cut me.

Finally, they left me alone and I got to enjoy the fact that I had a window in my corner of the room that let in some of the city lights. 

Just after eight o’clock, Emi came in.

“Wow,” I said when I saw her. “You didn’t have to come all the way down here.”

She stared at me in horror. “Sorry. I had to see it for myself. Your mom said you fell asleep in the library and they couldn’t wake you up because you were reading that book I gave you.” Emi made a strange motion with her head, pointing toward the door.

I mouthed, “Is Evander outside?”

She nodded and then continued talking. “I didn’t know you started reading it. How far into it are you?”

“I made it to the part where Murmur tries to kill Sarafina and Tremor saves her.”

She lowered herself onto the bed by my feet and gripped the railing. “Really? That must be the end of the first part. The next section you’ll read is a completely different story.”

“I hadn’t even read the title. What’s that one called?”

“The Witch and the Fool.”

“It sounds good, but why did Evander come here?” I whispered.

“Well, he was the one who talked to your mother—she didn’t tell him the name of the book—thank goodness. Anyway, he volunteered to watch Paisley for me when you didn’t turn up. He called me at work to tell me what happened, so I left work and came here with him. I was impressed. He really wanted to make sure you were okay. That’s really rare of Evander.”

“Yeah, amazing,” I mumbled. It was then that I started to wonder if Evander knew what was happening when I was in the book. It would make sense for him to be worried since I almost got my leg bitten off inside his book and then outside the book I was having trouble using it in the real world. “Does he want to come in?”

She shook her head negatively. “No. He’s watching Paisley.”

“Thank him for me.”

“Sure. Is there anything I can bring you to make you more comfortable? I mean, do you want me to get you something from the food court downstairs or something?”

“No. I’m fine,” I quickly reassured her. I couldn’t think of letting Emi (or anybody) spend money on me.

“It’s okay if you want something. You missed dinner, didn’t you?”

“I’m not hungry,” I said, even though I hadn’t had lunch.

Emi turned on her black high heels and pointed herself toward the door. “Well, even if you’re not hungry, I’ll pick up something for you anyway. Who knows? Maybe you’ll want a midnight snack.”

I shook my head and settled into my pillows as she click-clacked on her heels out the door. Emi was really too kind. Then I heard a male tenor voice say, “Knock, knock,” outside my curtain.

“Yeah,” I called.

Two fingers came around the fabric and brushed it aside. Evander parted it and waited until he had made eye-contact with me before he came in.

“Hi,” he said. “Emi and Paisley went downstairs and I thought it would be sad to leave you alone. It’s boring to stay in the hospital even if it’s just for one night.”

“Is it? This is my first time.” I was blushing. I wanted my face to chill out, but I couldn’t help it. One of my fantasies was coming true.

“Yeah. It’s really boring. Here,” he said, pulling out a gold iPod and a set of headphones. “You can borrow this and give it back to me when you come to babysit next time.”

I stared as he placed it on the bed by my knees. 

“I don’t know if you’ll like my playlist, but trust me, even if you don't, having this will be a lot better than nothing come one o’clock.”

“Thank you,” I said immediately.

Then he smiled at me and everything was beyond perfect.

After he and Emi left, I sat and listened to the songs he had lined up. There was one that was pure magic. I wiggled my toes and let the words soak into me. Actually, we had the exact same taste in music.