My eyelids felt like boulders. I could hear people furiously whispering near me.

First, I recognized Mr. Savage’s voice. “I did what I had to do to protect your kid. You saw how it was coming back around! It could have killed her—or another crew member.”

Next, I heard my mother, her voice terse and low. “We do not shoot animals for behaving the way they naturally do. You and I both know that if the crocodile had wanted to kill Adrianna it very easily could have.”

“So, you’re really trying to tell me it didn’t want to kill her?”

“Crocodiles have the most powerful jaws of any animal, Rick,” my dad answered. “You saw her leg. Puncture wounds and bruises—but she still has a leg. Thank god. As terrifying as this was for us, the crocodile was just doing what crocodiles do. This was an exploratory bite—it was trying to figure out what she was.”

“What I want to know is what happened with her microphone and why her safety diver didn’t stay with her,” I heard mom say.

“Miguel and I have been questioning the safety diver. I believe Connor is looking into the mask and what could have happened—a wire may have come loose,” Mr. Savage responded.

“I think the croc probably got twisted around with all of our bright lights,” Feye interjected. “It bumped into Adrianna’s leg and took a nibble to see if she was food. Clearly she tastes bad.”

“Feye, basta. Your sister is injured. This isn’t time to make jokes,” Mom said.

I had had enough. I finally managed to wrench open my eyes—it took so much effort! I was in my bed in the boat hotel. My throat felt dry, but I needed to speak. “I do taste bad,” I managed to croak out. The four people in the room turned to look at me, and they all smiled. And there was Duke! He sat near the foot of my bed, tongue wagging.

“Good to see you awake, kiddo. I’ll ask Miguel to come take a look at that leg of yours.” Mr. Savage winked and left my room, closing the door behind him.

“Mija, how do you feel?” Dad asked.

“Sore,” I managed. “And I’m angry with Mr. Savage. He shouldn’t have shot the crocodile!” My hands bunched into fists under the blankets. I wanted to ask about what they had done with the crocodile, if it had really died. I made a motion to get out of bed, but my dad gave me his famous “Do not try me right now, Adrianna Villalobos” face. I stayed put, frowning. Walking might not be in the cards just yet.

“I’m okay, Dad. Really. My leg doesn’t even hurt that much,” I said, trying to convince myself and him. I lifted the blanket to look at my leg for the first time. Under my knee was a kaleidoscope of bruise colors—black, blue, green, yellow—and a set of round puncture wounds in the shape of an arc. This was where the teeth of the crocodile had gone right through the wet suit and into my leg. I shuddered. It felt like a bad dream, but seeing it there meant it had all been real. I ran my hand lightly over the bites and flinched at the touch.

“I wouldn’t touch that just yet if I were you, Adrianna,” Miguel said as he entered the room and saw my hand near the bruises. “It’s a nasty bite, but thankfully we have everything we need to take care of you right here on the boat hotel. That’s why you aren’t in a hospital.”

“Can I try walking?” I asked. I was never one for sitting still, and I had no idea how long I had been sleeping. Just a night? A few days?

“Let’s start by just standing up, little warrior,” Miguel joked. “But first, I need to clean everything out again.” He leaned over my leg and began to pour some kind of liquid over it. “This is going to sting a little bit,” he said.

A little bit! This was more painful than actually getting bitten!

“Do you remember us washing the bite when it first happened?” Miguel asked.

Suddenly, my mind flashed back to a lot of bright lights—and a lot of pain.

Miguel had used a bleach-and-water mixture called Dakin’s solution in my bite wound. I remembered now that it had felt like my leg was on fire.

I nodded at Miguel. “I remember bits and pieces of the night the crocodile bit me. I remember it hurt a lot when you cleaned it. How long have I been out?”

“Just two days,” Miguel said while he was busy looking at my leg. “Well, it seems the Dakin’s solution worked, even though it hurt, because I’m happy to say you don’t have any signs of infection!”

“Can she try standing now?” Feye asked Miguel.

“Are you in pain?” Miguel asked.

I touched my bare leg and winced.

“It hurts when I touch it. But it doesn’t feel super bad if nothing is rubbing up against it,” I replied.

“Well, let’s see you give it a try, then.” Miguel motioned for me to try to stand. I took the hand he offered and put my right foot down on the cool tile floor. I slowly moved my left leg off the bed and lowered it down to meet my right leg. I took a deep breath.

“Is it always going to be this painful, Miguel?” I looked up at him, nervous.

“It’s perfectly normal if it hurts for now. We’re going to keep taking care of it, and you’re going to feel a little bit better every day.”

I nodded and then stood up. The leg felt sore, like I had been kicked hard, but I didn’t cry out in pain.

“Hey! You’re standing!” Feye clapped. Everyone else clapped, too, big smiles on their faces.

I took a few steps, walking slowly toward the door and my family.

Miguel laughed. “Whoa there! You can’t go off running a half marathon!”

I looked back and grinned at him.

“I don’t want you doing too much work just yet. So, you’re to take it easy for a few more days, okay?” he said.

“Look, I’m fine!” I insisted. I took a few more steps toward the door. But suddenly, I felt flushed and light-headed. Unsteadily, I turned back around. Miguel and my dad each took one of my elbows and guided me back into bed. My stomach flip-flopped as Miguel began to rebandage my leg.

“That was a good start, Adrianna,” my mom whispered, smoothing the hair out of my eyes. “For now, you just need to get some rest.” I looked over at my dad and Feye, who were now at the foot of my bed near Duke, who let out a little bark.

I looked at my parents and gave them a cheesy grin. “Surprise, I got us a pet!”

“Oh, Connor told us,” Dad said. He sat on my bed and looked at Duke. “The dog hasn’t left your side this entire time while you’ve been sleeping.”

I smiled at Duke. “Good boy.”

I turned back to my family. “Did he get on one of the boats? I heard him barking, after I got bit.”

Feye shook his head. “No, Adrianna. He was here the whole time.”

Huh … so I had been hallucinating.

“Can we keep him?” I asked my mom.

“We can’t keep him, Adrianna. We travel too much for work to keep a dog,” Mom explained.

I sighed.

Mom saw my face and came to kiss my forehead. “We can discuss it more later. Duke can stay, for now. You’ll need him to entertain you during these next few days of recovery.”

“I can stay with you tonight, A, if you want. So you aren’t too bored,” Feye offered, and I nodded. “Although I can’t imagine you being bored with this stowaway dog.”

“What about the injured croc? Don’t we need to get it back to the zoo?” I asked, suddenly worried. I didn’t want my injury to make the croc’s situation worse!

“She’s doing great. We were able to stabilize her with our equipment here. We may have one of us head back with her and the other stay here until you’re healed enough to travel. But don’t worry about that for now,” my mom said.

“And the show? Is it going to be okay?”

“That’s to be determined,” my dad said. “We don’t know if the network wants to air a young girl getting bitten by a croc, or the aftermath of Mr. Savage’s choices. But all that matters right now is your health.” He tried to sound calm and reassuring, but I could tell he was worried.

Duke then snuggled up against my good side, and it took so much effort to put my hand up to pet him. Through heavy-lidded eyes, I watched Miguel hook me up to an IV.