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.
will be no pain, Ava. Just wake up. Come back
No way.
in this
This is not where you
darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn't kill
won't die, Ava.
Alive.
Alive means death—
that's enough. Wake up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You
* * *
open. They feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry, shapes indistinct. White.
Ava.
voice is warm honey in my mind, comforting. Grounding. I try to speak but my throat is parched, voice a ragged whisper.
The slight weight of her head resting on my hand. I turn my
Relief colors her
tongue heavy and thick. "What happened?" The words
my arm. I want to protest
my name, but I'm already
* * *
gradually. The steady beep of a heart monitor. The chemical scent of disinfectant. Starched sheets rough against my skin. An
force them open. The ceiling swims into focus—white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital.
and Lisa are here. They're asking me questions, one talking over the other. It's
I rasp, my
whines softly. We were
okay?" Lucas asks, way too close to
Lisa pipes up, from
helps,
process
hanging off it. One of the bags looks like milk, and that one's connected to yet another IV line in the elbow of my
pooled around my waist. My hair
Selene cautions as I waver, dizzy.
I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa.
black hole
"What happened to me?"
his fingers hesitant and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and the urge to
know for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf
with all the strangeness surrounding my heritage, the idea fills me with trepidation. I flick a glance toward my wolf, disguised as a husky for a reason she has yet to explain, and her ears flick as she licks my face, settling into my lap as though she's a
not. She's way too big for
afraid, Selene soothes, sensing my
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