Free Risked (The Missing ) by Margaret Peterson Haddix

know . . . I mean, what does Anastasia know about her brother’s hemophilia?” he asked.
    Daniella clenched her jaw.
    “We don’t talk to outsiders about Alexei’s problems,” she snapped. “We don’t even acknowledge they exist . . . Gah! It’s like she’s inside my brain, thinking for me!”
    She began hitting the palm of her hand against herforehead, as if that could knock the Anastasia identity out of her mind.
    “Daniella, it’s okay to tell us,” Katherine suggested.
    Daniella kept her mouth shut.
    “Can you at least tell us how long Gavin’s looked this bad?” Chip asked. “Gavin, not Alexei?”
    Daniella squinted at Chip, confusion playing across her face.
    “Only since . . . he and Alexei became the same person?” she said hesitantly. “Like Anastasia and I kind of became the same person? The guards put us in this room, and then, I don’t know, it was like I had to walk into that ghost-person Anastasia, and I did, and suddenly it was like I was Anastasia, and I knew everything she knew, even Russian. And Gavin just kind of fell onto the bed and became Alexei, and . . . that doesn’t make any sense at all, does it?”
    “Yes, it does,” Chip said comfortingly. “I know exactly what you’re talking about. Because I went through exactly the same thing more than four hundred years ago.”
    Daniella just gave him another confused look.
    “Do you think maybe that means it’s Alexei who’s in such terrible shape, and it’d be safe to pull Gavin out?” Katherine asked.
    “I think we have to try it,” Jonah muttered.
    He put his hands on Alexei/Gavin’s shoulders andgently pulled upward. The boy on the bed winced and moaned. But after a moment Gavin was sitting upright, apart from the Alexei tracer. He once again had the black sweatshirt on; his hair was slightly longer than Alexei’s, with a dyed dark-purple streak on one side. He blinked and looked around.
    “Have a heart,” he begged. “Pull me the rest of the way out.”
    Jonah tugged, and Gavin rolled over onto the floor, landing on top of Jonah. Gavin instantly pushed away. He stood up and massaged first his elbow, then his knees.
    “I didn’t know it could feel that bad,” he muttered. “What that kid puts up with on a daily basis . . .”
    He shook his head in seeming disbelief.
    His joints were all normal-size now, no longer swollen, no longer bandaged.
    “You’re not bleeding?” Chip asked. “You’re not going to bleed to death because I tackled you?”
    “You thought I was going to bleed to death?” Gavin sneered. “Do you see any blood on me?”
    He held his elbows out at odd angles, as if inviting Chip and the others to look. Then a flash of fear spread across his face.
    “Is it happening?” Daniella asked. “Are you getting that feeling?”
    Gavin whirled toward Daniella.
    “You know about that?” he asked.
    “I think . . . I think we really are brother and sister,” Daniella said. “It’s like I’ve known you practically my whole life. This whole life. . . . Er, are you okay?”
    Gavin didn’t sneer at her.
    “It’s not that bad,” he said.
    “What are you two talking about?” Katherine asked.
    “If you must know, I think Chip might have started an internal bleed in my hip when he tackled me,” Gavin snarled. “I’m really good at sensing these things.” He punched Chip’s arm. “Thanks a lot!”
    So, it’s a problem for Chip to tackle Gavin but okay for Gavin to punch Chip? Jonah thought.
    He decided against saying that out loud.
    “Oh, well, bleeding inside isn’t as bad, is it?” Katherine asked. “If the blood doesn’t actually leave the body . . .”
    “Idiot, internal bleeds can cause even worse problems, if you don’t get treatment,” Gavin said, sounding even surlier. “So, yeah, I could die from your stupid friend over there tackling me!”
    Jonah stepped up between Gavin and Chip.
    “Stop arguing,” he said. “Let’s just get out of here. So