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

No way.

in

This is not where you should

of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn't kill

die, Ava. You're

Alive.

Alive means death—

that's enough. Wake up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You never

* * *

sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry,

Ava.

Grounding. I try to speak but

presses into my palm. The slight weight of her head resting on my hand. I turn my head slowly, painfully.

Relief colors

swallow dryly, my tongue heavy and thick. "What happened?" The words scrape

I want to protest but

calling my name, but I'm

* * *

heart monitor. The chemical scent of disinfectant. Starched sheets rough against my skin. An IV pinches the back of

eyelids are heavy but I force them open. The ceiling swims into focus—white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is

relief washes

me questions, one talking over the

was I out?" I

softly. We

you okay?" Lucas asks,

Lisa pipes up, from my

like a punch to the gut. I struggle to sit up, my muscles weak and uncooperative. Selene helps, bracing

entire process that

take stock. My limbs feel stiff, atrophied. A needle pinches my hand, connected to an IV pole with a few bags hanging off it. One of

in a hospital gown, blankets pooled around my waist. My hair

cautions as I waver, dizzy. You've

trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa. Collapsing on the

yawning black hole in my

"What happened to me?"

us, a feeling of comfort, and the urge to press my

thinks your wolf is trying to emerge. Do you feel

all the strangeness surrounding my heritage, the idea fills me with trepidation. I flick a glance toward my wolf, disguised

She's way

be afraid, Selene soothes, sensing my unease. This is

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