Peace: Dreams

Chapter Twenty Eight

Naomi woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. At first, she was confused on where she was, but when her eyes landed on Atlas' worried face, she remembered everything.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" he asked.

She looked around. Silas was sitting in a chair in the corner and Ezra was sitting in a chair next to the other side of her bed. They were both sleeping.

Atlas leaned back in his chair. There were bags under his eyes, she noticed.

"I'm okay." she said. "I'm a little groggy, but I'm not in too much pain."

He nodded. "Should I call a nurse?"

"No, I'm fine." The shades were pulled tight, and there was only a sliver of light coming through the window. She had no idea what time it was, or what day it was. It felt like she'd been sleeping for years. "Have I been asleep for long?"

"Just a day." he said. "Everyone wanted to be here, but the nurses would only let family in. Besides, the professors made everyone go back to training."

"That makes sense." she said, letting out a small laugh. "Now that I can be hurt in the dreams, the teachers must think that everyone should be working harder and faster."

"That's exactly what Professor Troupe said." Atlas was playing with a loose thread on his shirt, looking anywhere but her. "She also said that, as soon as you woke up, the three of us would have to get back to work."

"I'll be fine." Naomi said, smiling. "I know for a fact that you'd rather be doing something than just sitting in here with me. I think that it's a great idea that you get back to training."

"Yeah, Ezra and Silas said that too." Atlas said. "They said that we should wait to see how you were first."

"It seems you're doing well, too." Ezra said. He'd woken up, and was rubbing his eyes.

"How'd you sleep?" Naomi asked.

"Pretty well. Though, I think I should be asking you that question." Ezra laughed.

He stood up, coming over to stand next to Naomi's bed. He felt her forehead, nodding in satisfaction. She laughed. He always acted so funny when one of them got sick.

"We should probably go then, and meet up with our professors and friends, and give them the good news." Ezra said. He walked over to Silas and woke him up, and then collected some of the things they'd brought over. "We'll be over every once in awhile to see how you're doing."

"Yep." Naomi smiled. "Don't work too hard."

"We know." Ezra said.

"We'll see you later." Atlas said, giving Naomi a quick, but tight hug.

"I'm glad that you're okay." Silas said, also giving her a hug.

Then they were gone, and Naomi was left all alone in the room. There was a dull thump every few seconds of pain that ricocheted through her body.

She stared up at the ceiling. Things didn't feel nearly as right as they should. For some reason, it felt like something really big was about to happen.

Naomi swung out of the bed. She knew that it wasn't a good idea, but she needed to go to the bathroom. Her head started to swim and she felt dizzy.

She shook her head. There was no way that she was going to collapse or be forced to spend any more time in the health ward than she already had to. She made her way to the bathroom, peed, and then went back to her bed.

While she couldn't leave her room just yet, she was determined to still train. She closed her eyes and tried to sense anyone outside of the room. After over an hour of working at it, she finally sensed a nurse walking outside. Naomi beamed her energy on that nurse, and could hear their thoughts.

She let herself rest. Doing that had taken a lot more out of her than she'd have thought. Her eyes drifted closed, and she let them. Training would have to wait until she woke up again.

For her, the biggest task of all would be facing Nock and that room again. She had been pretty proud of how she'd left the room before, in a blaze of glory that she'd never quite felt before. She imagined that, had Atlas or Rina been there, they would have yelled "Slay Queen!" which was still a new saying for her.

Naomi nodded to herself, the ghost of a smile on her face, before finally falling asleep.

The ball is in Nock's court, she thought.