"I'd donate your body as a cadaver after I was through with you."

I smiled. "At least your sense of humor is returning."

"But you're still gonna hook me up, aren't you?"

"Ah, so you can see the future, Farfalla."

"Great. Timothy is gonna see the needle mark and know something happened."

"I'm sure your second degree burns will be more troublesome to him."

"Fever can cause brain damage," she argued. "Or worse. I've always been scarred."

I left for a moment to find saline and when I returned her eyes were closed. My heart leapt.

"Everly Anne?"

"Relax. I'm tired, not dead."

I hung the saline bag by anchoring it to a decorative oar above the headboard. She of course didn't flinch as I inserted the needle into her arm, but her eyes were open, watching me with a million hidden secrets.

"You better not ever tell on me, Callum Andrew," she whispered.

"Timothy is going to find out."

"I meant the nurses," she said. "Don't ever tell them I let you do this to me without a fight."

I smiled. "My lips are sealed. And thank you."

Everly closed her eyes again. "Aren't you going to ask?"

"I'm not allowed to cheat, remember?"

"No one is going to diagnose me correctly. No one ever has. I've been doing this differential since I was thirteen. The only thing that has changed is the boldness of the male students with the increase of my bra size." She looked at me. "It's meant to make you fail. I'm not the real test, Callum. Don't you get it?"

"Then what is he looking for?"

"That's the test."

I watched her for a moment. "Has anyone ever passed?"

"Well, they've become doctors. Has my father ever hired them? What do you think?"

"I think . . . " My hand reached for hers. " . . . using you is unfair. That's what I think."

"It's the only way I get to attend to college."

"But you don't like the questions," I argued.

"It depends who's asking them." Her fingers pressed into my knee. "You ask all the right questions, and you tell me stories in return. Figuring out a mystery goes both ways with you, and in that, I feel whole."

We were clouded in star dust as our eyes locked.

She looked at me for a moment longer, before slowly closing her eyes.

"Read something to me," she finally said.

"I don't know if I have anything . . ." I rifled through a drawer at the bedside. "Unless you want me to read from the Bible," I laughed.

She didn't laugh. "That's perfect."

"What story do you want first? The part about the rivers parting or the part about turning water into wine?

"The sea," she whispered. "Moses parted the Red Sea."