"She's been out for three days. Fleur says there's nothing physical left to heal."

I'd been able to hear them talking for hours now, their words sounding like they were spoken through wet cloth. I peeled my eyes open, wincing at the sudden brightness. Buttery morning light filtered through filmy white curtains touched my face. The sunshine was a dead giveaway that I wasn't resting in my own bed.

"I'm not concerned about the physical. The power that she unleashed was enough to do serious damage to someone trained, and I don't even think she knows what she is."

"While I'd love to continue eavesdropping, I'm hungry and have to pee," I croaked.

He appeared at the side of my bed, his jaw tense and his brows furrowed as he looked me over. In the revealing brightness of the room, he was even more handsome than I remembered, though I still found him unsettling. Boneless arms were no help in my struggle to sit up. Before I could ask for help, thick pillows were arranged behind me, and he slipped his arms around me to pull me into place.

"Why is her heartbeat racing," a female voice demanded. I peered past my stranger, who was still holding on to me, to see a petite blonde woman storm into the room. She pulled the man off and grasped me around the top of my head. Chic black glasses were perched on a nose that was a little too wide, and her hair was cut in a no-nonsense bob. She wasn't dressed like any doctor I'd ever seen. Leather pants and combat boots encased her lower frame, but the pink Hello Kitty t-shirt she wore ruined the badass vibe.

"Excuse me," I interjected, trying to pull my head from her grasp. She was surprisingly strong for such a little thing, but I was getting tired of people just grabbing me. The warm, muscular arms that had just been removed came to mind, and I amended that thought. Denying the attraction zinging through my body was doing little good, and he earned points for saving me from Gavin.

"I didn't even sense you coming to," the woman growled, finally letting me go but staring as if I'd grown an extra head while unconscious. "And your heart is still pounding." She shot the man behind her a dirty look, and he arranged his chiseled features into a look of innocence.

A redheaded man was leaning in the corner, his arms folded across his chest and a frown marring an otherwise handsome face. He must have been the one the stranger was speaking to when I'd awoken. Black jeans and a black t-shirt covered his tall, muscular frame, and heavy combat boots covered his feet just like the doctor. A theme was becoming apparent.

"What do you remember before you blacked out?" the redheaded man demanded in a carefully controlled voice.

"Can you ask me that question without sounding like you're being raked over hot coals," I retorted, attempting to offer up the best version of the ice queen persona. The pillows holding me upright dampened the effect, but a girl had to try.

He growled and slammed his fist on the wall behind him. "Listen here you Fae," he snapped.

"Percy," the stranger warned, "Enough. She just woke up. She'll answer questions as soon as she's capable." He turned his attention back to me, his expression more calculating than concerned now.

"Calum, we don't know who this girl is, where her loyalties lie, or what she's capable of. I'm tired of being one step behind that damn sorceress."

Calum. My stranger had a name, and what a good name it was. I winced and lifted a hand to my throbbing head. How had I gone from wanting to give him the boot to wanting to speak his name so that I could feel it tumble off my lips. "Did you all do something to me while I was out?"

The doctor was scribbling notes down in a chart, but she stopped and shot me a condescending look. "We saved your life. The amount of power you used should have fried you inside out, especially considering the amount of blood you'd already lost. I think it's in your best interest to tell us a few things about yourself."

"I don't even know your name, and you know all my details," I snipped, tired of spilling my life story to complete strangers. Well maybe not to all the strangers. "An even trade would be nice."

"I'm Dr. Fleur Blanche," she answered, her chilly tone expressing her displeasure with my sass. "Now you know my name, so talk."

Calum looked like he wanted to tell her off, but he just ran his hands through his dark hair as if defeated. "Look, we've sent for a tray to be brought up. Perhaps you could answer a few questions now."

Stomach growling in response to the idea of food, I awarded him a few more points. In fact, I may have rated bringing me food higher than saving my life. And then a thought struck, making me tremble in fear. "May I have a mirror first? Please."

No one asked why, for which I was grateful, and a small compact was placed in my hands. Shaking, I flipped open the lid and peered into the looking glass. While I was relieved to see that my skin was unmarred, I wasn't checking for damage. Light blue eyes, alabaster skin, and wild blonde hair. Releasing a breath, I dropped the compact.

"I'm not really sure what you want to know." And I didn't know what I was willing to answer but being combative wasn't getting me far.

Calum sat down on the edge of my bed. "How long have you been working for Gavin?"

This one seemed simple enough. "Three years. I started in the kitchen, but I moved to bar tending this summer."

"And that's all you did for him? You just worked at the Green Knight. You didn't do anything else for him?" Percy demanded, his question implying something sinister.

"Are you asking me what I think you're asking," I responded, my stomach churning with disgust. "Yes, I just worked at the bar."

"Our sources say you've been living in one of his properties for practically nothing. That's a pretty excellent employee package for someone who just tends the bar."

Lips pressed together. Their help had saved my life, but I wasn't going to reveal how I came to work for Gavin. What relevance did it have to their investigation?

"Percy's being an ass. He can't help himself. No one is accusing you of being involved in anything criminal."

"Speak for yourself," the red headed man grumbled.

Fleur placed her hands on her hips. "Percy," she warned.

"Look, you need to tell us what you know so we can clear your name."

"What are you clearing my name from?" I asked.

The three shared a pregnant look. The doctor nodded while Percy looked like he was in the midst of a root canal. Calum took a deep breath and explained, "The Green Knight is just a front. Gavin works for a man who runs a company called Mador."

Visions of test equipment and boxes stamped with the Mador company logo exploded in my mind. The screams of the girls strapped to tables. My own screams mingling in the cacophony. The antiseptic scent of a laboratory. The room tilted, and my vision tunneled.

Smooth hands pressed against my forehead, and I felt a cold tingling slide across my body, easy the dull headache throbbing behind my eyes. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I rasped. "And you've kidnapped me because Gavin has other work interests outside of running a local bar? What is illegal in that?" I knew exactly what illegal activities that company was involved in, but Gavin might be ignorant. I wanted him to be ignorant. Even after everything that had happened.

"She knows something she's not telling us," Percy said. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. I wanted to tell him to calm down before one of the large, pulsing veins in his head popped, but a well-honed preservation instinct told me I didn't want to push this man over the edge.

"On the surface, Mador is a cosmetics company. It partners with a corporation called LeFay Industries. Together, they lead the industry in anti-aging products, and have cultivated a reputation for developing these revolutionary drugs using only the most ethical methods."

Calum's friends snorted in unison, drawing the first hint of a smile from the irritable redhead. Calum appeared to barely stop himself from rolling his eyes before he continued, "As you can probably guess from the reactions of my colleagues, that reputation is a very clever sham. They don't lie when they say they don't test on animals. Not really. They test humans. Special humans. Humans like me, Fleur, Percy... and you."

He whispered the last word, but he might as well have dropped a bomb in the middle of the room. "What do you mean?" I asked, my thirst for information overriding my distrust of these people.

When he answered, his tone had gone from gentle to calculating. "This is really important. Right before you passed out, you released a lot of power."

"Damn near leveled the place," Percy grumbled, earning a reproachful look from Fleur.

"Power?" I infused the word with as much ignorance as possible. I had power, but nothing that could knock a feather over, much less level anything.

"You're exactly the type of person Gavin seeks to recruit, either for testing or employment. We- I- find it hard to believe that you worked there for three years, with those abilities, and never got involved in his other endeavors."

"Look, Gavin gave me a job and a place to live when I had nowhere else to go. And he's never made any inappropriate advances towards me or invited me to join an evil cult. I was an employee. The end. As far as the release of power you're referring to, all I remember is Gavin grabbing me while he said a bunch of words in another language. I was already hurting, but it got a lot worse after that. Then I woke up here with you fine folks." The last words hung heavy with sarcasm, but at this point I didn't care. As soon as my legs could support me, I was walking out of here. I glanced down at the compact still clutched in my hands. I would have to change everything. Again.

"Calum, could it be possible that it was Gavin and not the girl?" Fleur twisted her hands in her lap. "You know he has access to things we can't even imagine since he's thrown his lot in with Morgan."

"We'll discuss this later," he replied as the bedroom door swung open. A young woman with bright pink hair that brushed her shoulders bustled in with a tray. She too wore the full black and combat boots, but with her fun hair, she looked more like a rockstar than a soldier. "Let her get some food and some more rest. Healing can only do so much. Her body needs time to recover."

His dismissal bothered me more than it should have, but the aromas wafting from the tray were too distracting to bother with summoning a sassy retort. The new girl fluffed the pillows behind me before placing the tray over my lap. A large mound of mashed potatoes smothered in brown gravy, meatloaf, and garden fresh green beans adorned the plate, and I couldn't stop the happy hum from slipping through my lips as I placed the first forkful into my mouth. I was actually quite a pleasant person, but I had a real hanger issue.

My three interrogators slipped out of the room while the punk goddess settled in the recently vacated armchair. She pulled out a smartphone and gave me a wink before becoming absorbed in its retina display. As I chewed, okay, let's be honest, inhaled my meal, I wished I was nothing more than a normal young adult of this generation, happily spending my days welded to technology and entertainment news. But nothing was ever simple. Perhaps it had been before my memories had been lost, but every day after that had been spent struggling. I recalled the year before I'd arrived in the sleepy little mountain town that had started to feel like home but shoved those thoughts away. If I'd had to give up memories, why it couldn't it be those?

Hot tears rolled down my cheeks. They'd told me I could never hide. They told me they would find me wherever I went. These new people spoke like they had. They spoke of great power. What were the chances that I'd just handed myself over to my enemy? The food I'd shoveled in settled like bricks in my stomach. I pushed the tray back and turned to my side. You can do this Camille. Just like before. I closed my eyes seeking an escape in sleep.