He dropped like a sack of potatoes at my feet after grabbing for the backpack. Eyes closed, mouth slightly open. Dead to the world.

“No way. No freaking way!” I wanted to shake him. Hard. If I thought I could’ve lifted him far enough off the ground to do it, I would have.

I settled for kneeling next to him and slapping his cheeks a few times. “Owen! What the hell?”

He had seemed okay, hadn’t he? I thought back for any clues that he was about to go out on me again, but I couldn’t think of anything. He had seemed normal.

Yes, he had seemed that way. For the few hours we had spent together at that point. I didn’t actually know him, or how he normally acted. He could’ve been completely different from his usual self, and I would have no idea.

It only felt like I had known him my entire life. The truth was, no matter how comfortable he made me or how important it was that he wake up and be okay, he was a stranger.

A stranger who couldn’t seem to stay conscious. No big deal. I wondered if our fighting had done something, like it had stressed him out so much he’d blacked out again.

No. That was dumb. People didn’t just randomly pass out because they were stressed—maybe in extreme situations, but I would hardly have called our argument extreme.

Now, looking down at him, I couldn’t remember why I was ever so angry. There was something wrong with him. He was sick. I only wanted to take care of him now.

“I wish I knew how to,” I whispered, leaning close. “I wish I knew how to take care of you, but I don’t even know what’s wrong. How can I do anything if I don’t know why this is happening?”

“I’m telling you. I heard him down here somewhere. He must have built that fire, though it’s nearly out.”

I sat up at the sound of another male voice, with another Scottish brogue.

“Hey! In here!” I picked up my flashlight and waved it around. “In here!”

It never occurred to me that this might be someone worth avoiding. He was Scottish, and he seemed to be looking for somebody, and that was good enough for me. How many people could there be on this mountain, anyway?

By the time I fought my way to my feet—my ankle was more swollen than ever—a couple were on the approach. The girl held up her hands in front of her face to block the flashlight’s glare.

The man she was with pushed his way past me when he saw Owen lying in the cave.

“What did you do to him?” he barked. I cringed away from the anger in his voice.

“Nothing! I didn’t do a thing, I swear!”

My God, they were all huge. Massive. What did they do with their free time? Did they just hang out when they weren’t lifting weights and bulking up? It was insane. He ducked into the cave and crouched at Owen’s side.

He sneered over his shoulder. “You didn’t do a thing? Why is he unconscious, then?”

The woman joined him after flashing me an apologetic smile. “Dallas, don’t let it worry you. I doubt this girl could do anything to bring him down this way. It must have been something else.” She touched his forehead, his temples, his cheeks.

I bit my tongue before I could tell the skank to get her hands off him.

It wasn’t my place, and she defended me, which meant she might not be a skank anyway. How funny, though, the way I felt so attached to him. Like he was mine, when nothing could’ve been further from the truth.

“This isn’t the first time it happened, either,” I babbled, watching as they examined him. “The first time was maybe a half-hour ago? I don’t know. But it happened when he reached into my backpack, and then when all he did was touch it. I didn’t wanna believe it at first, but I think something in there is making him sick. He said there was, but I thought he was making it up until it happened the second time.”

The guy who had accused me of hurting Owen reached for the bag, but the woman stopped him. “No, Dallas. Don’t.”

Dallas. What a name. A Scottish thing, I guessed.

“Why not?” he asked, then rose and joined me outside the cave, where I stood on one foot with a hand out to lean against the rocks. “What do you have in here? Something poisonous?”

“Yeah. I carry poisonous materials in my backpack and make sure to strap it to my own, actual back, and maybe poison myself.”

“Look—” he growled, but the woman stepped between us.

“All right. Let’s all calm down.”

And the crazy thing was, when she said it, I did. I calmed down. I could’ve taken a nap right then and there. Every muscle in my body relaxed. I even stopped clenching my jaw.

She turned to me. “Let’s try again. What are you carrying in that bag?”

“Water bottles. Food—jerky and granola bars, whatever is left of them. I had a blanket, but Owen’s using that as a pillow. The flashlight and First Aid kit are out of it now. And then…”

“And then, what?” she asked, eyes narrowing. “What else?”

“I brought something with me. Something old that my dad left me. Sort of as a—this sounds stupid—a good luck charm.”

“That’s not stupid.” She even smiled. “What is it, though?”

“This is ridiculous, is what it is,” Dallas grumbled. “He needs our help.”

I glared at him. “I would like to help him, too, but you keep interrupting.”

“What is it?” the woman asked again. She was a lot more patient than her boyfriend, I had to give her that.

“It’s like a diadem,” I explained, circling my fingers over my head like I was wearing one. “It’s gold, with symbols engraved all around it. I have no idea what the symbols say. And it’s way too valuable for me to be carrying around in the woods, I know, but it was always my favorite artifact, and I sort of felt a connection with it, which also sounds stupid…”

I trailed off when I noticed the two of them staring at me. Open-mouthed.

“What did I say?” I whispered, looking from one to the other. “Did I say something wrong?” I went back over my explanation and couldn’t find anything obvious, but these two didn’t seem like normal people any more than Owen did. Who knew what would offend them?

“I was right.” She looked up at Dallas. “Do not, under any circumstances, put your hand in that bag. In fact, don’t even touch a strap. I’ll handle it.”

“Wait. What? At what point did this cease to be my backpack?” I demanded, grabbing one of the straps. Just like that, I wasn’t so calm anymore. “I’m not letting go, and I don’t think you ought to be touching my things without explaining why.”

“I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt right now by saying you don’t know what you’re truly carrying there,” she whispered. “But trust me, this is much more important than you can understand at this time. The diadem you described isn’t a mere artifact.”

“It isn’t?” My pulse throbbed quicker than ever at the intrigue in her voice. What was I really carrying? “I mean, we’ve owned it forever now. Nobody ever came to claim it, and no museum wanted it.”

She snorted. “I imagine not, for none could appreciate its significance.”

Dallas leaned in, almost ignore me in favor of staring at her. “Are you saying what it sounds like you’re saying? Is it…”

“I believe so. I can’t imagine how, exactly, though I suppose we could find the answers we need.”

I held up my hands. “Wait. I’m more confused than ever. What are you guys talking about? What’s so special about an ancient diadem? It’s unusual, yeah, but nobody in my family ever talked about it being really significant.”

Dallas snorted. “How can we believe anything you say?”

“I know how.” Before I could duck out of the way, the woman touched my head—the slightest touch, her fingers brushing my temple.

The funniest thing happened when she did.

I wasn’t alone in my thoughts anymore. There was another presence in my mind. That was the only way I could describe it. Like somebody else was in there.

“I won’t dig into your memories,” the woman promised, her voice coming both from her mouth and from inside my head. “You can trust me.”

“What are you doing?” I whispered. This couldn’t be happening. My heart raced like a speeding train while I tried like hell to move anything but my mouth and my eyelids, which were the only two parts of my body I could control. “What’s happening to me?”

“The less you fight, the easier it will be,” she murmured.

Her voice would’ve been soothing, even reassuring, if it wasn’t for the way she barged into my brain.

“Who are you?” A tear rolled down my cheek. “What are you?”

“You should’ve put her out,” Dallas muttered, staring at me.

He looked a lot like Owen, but with a little bit of dark red in his hair. Otherwise, they shared a sharp profile and a body like a brick house. “It would be easier, and maybe less traumatic for her.”

Traumatic? Yes, that was a word for it. “I didn’t give you permission to do this,” I reminded her as if it made a difference.

“Shh. I’m sorry. It really doesn’t need to be this difficult.” She touched my shoulder, and I relaxed the way I did before, when she first showed up. Even though I hated what she was doing to me, it didn’t seem like such a big deal anymore.

She looked up at Dallas. “I don’t think she knows a thing.”

Just like that, my brain was my own again. I was alone in there.

“Thank you,” I breathed in relief.

“I really am sorry.” She winced. “I had to be certain.”

“Of what?” She was still somehow in control of my body—who was this chick? “Why can’t I move?”

“What should we do?” she asked him, like I wasn’t even there.

He growled. Obviously, the mere fact of my presence was a problem for him. I wanted to tell him it wasn’t such a great thing for me, either, seeing as how his girlfriend had just entered my mind like a virus, sweeping around, looking for information.

“We can’t leave her out here by herself,” he finally muttered. “As much as it pains me to say it, I think we should bring her with us for now. You can always take care of her memory later.”

“Wait. What? No!” It was a nightmare. I had walked straight into something from the worst dream imaginable. “What are you doing to me?”

Tears flowed down my cheeks as I lifted off the ground, hovering a few inches above the leaves and dirt. “I’m really sorry for this,” the woman whispered as Dallas picked Owen up and threw him over one shoulder like he weighed nothing.

“You don’t have to do it! I won’t tell anybody anything—I wouldn’t even know what to say! Please, just leave me here. Let me go.” I couldn’t even wipe my runny nose, and with the way I was crying it ran like a faucet.

“I promise, no one will hurt you. This will all be over soon, and you won’t remember any of it. You have my word on that. I’ll guard you myself if need be.” She turned away from me then, holding my backpack over one shoulder.

When she walked, I followed, floating over the surface of the mountain as we moved closer to the peak.

Would I live through this?