Chapter 112 Ava: Waking Up
Darkness.
Light.
So cold.
It burns.
My lungs ache.
Something's holding me down.
There are whispers. Prayers, I think.
Chaos reigns in this hazy world. Something beeps incessantly.
I'm sweating. My hands are too warm.
… up.
What's that?
… Ava, you…
Who's that?
… can you hear me?
I struggle to reach the voice that calls me, but something sucks me away again.
Frustration simmers, but I'm too tired to fight it.
Ava, you have to wake up.
There it is again.
I know you can hear me, because I can finally hear you.
Hear me? Hear me what? Am I talking?
Yes.
No, I don't think I'm talking. I'm too tired. My body is crushed beneath the earth. Fire ate every last bit of me. I drowned. The air was sucked away.
You're alive. You're asleep in the hospital. You're just fine. You just need to wake up.
No, no.
No, no, no.
Waking is pain.
I remember the pain.
pain, Ava. Just wake up.
No way.
in this hazy
This is not where
darkness. I
die, Ava. You're
Alive.
Alive means death—
up. Stop feeling sorry for
* * *
like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything
Ava.
is warm honey in my mind, comforting. Grounding. I try to speak but my throat is parched, voice a ragged
I turn my head slowly, painfully.
Relief colors
swallow dryly, my tongue heavy and thick. "What happened?"
into my arm. I want to protest
name, but I'm already
* * *
of disinfectant. Starched sheets rough against my skin. An IV pinches
The ceiling swims into focus—white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled up beside
back. Her relief
Lisa are here. They're asking me questions, one
was I out?" I rasp, my
softly. We were so
okay?" Lucas asks, way
are you feeling?" Lisa pipes up, from
up, my muscles weak and uncooperative. Selene helps, bracing her body against mine, and both Lisa and Lucas rest their hands on my back to lead
an entire process
few bags hanging off it. One of the bags looks like milk, and that one's connected to yet another IV line in
gown, blankets pooled around my waist. My hair is lank and greasy against my
I waver, dizzy. You've been
trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa. Collapsing on the couch.
hole
"What happened to me?"
and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of
thinks your wolf is
long, I yearned to shift, to run beneath the moon. To be whole. But now, with all the strangeness surrounding my heritage, the idea fills me with trepidation. I flick a glance toward my wolf,
not. She's way too big for
sensing my
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