Fate's Return (Twisted Fate, Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-Five

The beeping machines used to track vitals pulled me into awareness. My mouth felt like I'd swallowed cotton, my nose burned with the antiseptic of the hospital, and my eyes were heavy and hard to open. But above all that, I felt no actual pain. Not even the discomfort that I felt whenever my limbs were immobile for too long.

Pushing my eyes open a crack, I recoiled from the bright, unnatural light of the hospital's fluorescent bulb above my bed. Squeezing them shut until my jaw strained with pressure, I turned my head to the side without lifting it from my pillow and concentrated on my breathing. I felt like ass, like I was suffering a week's worth of hangovers rolling in my stomach.

Still, there was no pain, not in the I-just-broke-my-body kind of way.

A click sounded, and the low hum of the lights disappeared.

I cracked one eye open and then, once I was sure the room had dimmed, I opened them both to look around. Holy flowers. The wall to my right was overflowing with vases. Did I even have that many friends or had I been here long enough to pose an excuse to get out of school for every single one of my acquaintances?

My gaze trailed left. Visitor chairs, table, closet, bathroom—at least I had a private room. On purpose or by luck? I wasn't going to question it but was grateful nobody else was there to watch me or vice versa. Who knew what kind of crazy I could have ended up with? It couldn't be worse than everything I had been encountering, but two wrong definitely didn't make a right. I couldn't handle a roommate with my kinds of problems. Heck, I don't think the world could accept that. No way would the powers that be allow two of us in the same proximity.

I moved my gaze past the main door and fell into an ocean of blue at my side.

"G-Gabe." I pushed my tongue against the roof of my mouth and tried to get rid of the pasties that barred full use of my voice.

"No, sorry."

"Mike." I smiled and then leaned forward as he brought a cup of water with a straw to my lips. I sank back against the pillows after just two swallows. "You guys should wear nametags."

"What? Who?"

"You and Gabe and Raffy. Your eyes are all the same colour."

"You should learn to look deeper, search for the soul so you'll never mix us up again." He sat down in the chair at my side and, leaning forward, smiled. He glanced slowly down to the foot of my bed and then back, sobering. Meeting my gaze, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm..." I sighed. "Tired." I closed my eyes. It was nice to think, but I was too tired to tell him you can't see souls—they were intangible. "Thanks for turning off the light."

"Of course." He glanced around, grim, and then looked back to me with a smile that I knew was false. "It's never dark with you around, Aly."

"What?"

He shook his head, laughing softly. "Nothing." He took my hand and drew circles on my palm with his thumb. "Go to sleep. One of us will be here when you wake up."

"Okay." I was already half asleep again. "I hope it's you."

My next though was that I had to stop wishing for things or nothing good would ever happen.

The next time I opened my eyes, darkness streamed in through the window, but the fluorescent light was still off. The only illumination came from the shaded lamp on the table between the two visitors' chairs placed against the wall across from my bed. My parents were seated with their elbows braced on their knees as they stared up at the face of someone in a white lab coat. Doctor.