I unpacked my bag while Val sat on my bed and filled me in on everything I'd missed.

The tournament. The bracket change. The hearing. Cassian's sudden shift from cold to protective. I listened, laughed in the right places, asked the right questions. I was entirely myself.

I also couldn't account for approximately six days of my memory.

I'd filed it under "exhaustion from the pack emergency" and didn't examine it too closely. Examining it felt like looking directly at something uncomfortable ...