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.
Ava. Just wake up. Come
No way.
in this
to come back. This is not where you should
I'm here, in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn't kill
won't die, Ava. You're
Alive.
Alive means death—
sorry for yourself. You never died. Wake.
* * *
sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry, shapes indistinct.
Ava.
comforting. Grounding. I try to speak but my
palm. The slight weight of her head resting on my hand. I turn my head slowly,
awake. Relief colors
heavy and thick. "What happened?"
She nuzzles into my arm. I want to protest but exhaustion drags me under
my name, but I'm
* * *
of disinfectant. Starched sheets rough against my skin. An IV pinches the
them open. The ceiling swims into focus—white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is
relief washes over
and Lisa are here. They're asking me questions, one
was I out?" I rasp, my throat raw
Selene whines softly. We were so
Lucas asks, way too
feeling?" Lisa pipes
to the gut. I struggle to sit 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 me up until I'm
an entire process that leaves
hanging off it. One of the bags looks like milk, and that
pooled around my waist.
as I waver, dizzy. You've been through a
to piece together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa. Collapsing
black hole in
"What happened to me?"
against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and the urge to press my cheek into his hand, nuzzling
don't know for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying to emerge. Do you
But now, 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
She's way
my unease. This is
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FdXy6I2WTeW+ikGKm6GDXkzsLxufL9ao81rhEFWgti2DGzL8agw7GQ0hvZeQ9ItFOnoKo8RRzBc/2bx1YKB+NJOL7qtoMIOHtqWLQD2yGE1PyUbeKpRqu8dcZjPvTKWik98czOGWaXvmR/RIpVz1kHSy1c3Qm+iO3NkQMn3BRUvZPLvJ+oadhyF65DxxTSJduHDlb80frpBhVH04wrwq6+AG9AgaY4GHF2MgVZbJusqtRFTjl6xL3xmUQtW3ZzX1VQ7w+KKfX/X6knbbPmRzPJaDSLZrPJ5QgoA9FYwAYe9vCdF8zXmda+Y+NoabLvOw1Zt/scZtGJO6kuNigVEO4a12M0cAn8uhNpCROnsQG0C2RfniyGFhzL/VPGltIaH+W4a/5vsu3kPTgGnSo7JQXMwGfA1QpTQ1igkzsvj8YgLsUo4w8ItuVgObFgprvIQc8CjN1QFVde4RyvvF+SjEoyl/RfjpY10Z+4T8WQaSnJ5DJUugrmREscutULafCJd2LB9btSqn53nPkRMfLBGara3RJIVhFzH7NC7cSIig3GSTzCix5aXbcU+ke9kYaeGdMqMOp7i9GDGeZmIWn+nJez1lfldyKu18oPBwBGE9ERxJoJiLJzwFtWNn8mTXpypa/GoxLpKMrg4ol7fB01Q=
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