The Underworld Crown (Series)

Chapter 5

When I woke up, my first thought was of how heavy my eyelids were. I tried to open them, to see where I was and what was happening, but it was too difficult. I could hear a soft murmuring of voices in the background and the gentle beeping of machines, but my body was screaming for me to return to sleep.

Someone was standing so closely I could feel their breath run across my face, yet I didn't have the energy to try to see who it was. Something was touching my left arm and I didn't bother attempting to swat it away. There was a soft pinch on my wrist and then coolness flooded into my body, calming me from head to toe. I embraced the sensation, ignoring everything around me and letting myself fall into a deep sleep.

~~~~

The second time I woke up, I felt significantly more well-rested. Two thoughts came to me; firstly, something smelled strongly of disinfectant and secondly, something was touching my face. My eyes popped open wide to the sight of Camilla leaning over me, her hand on my forehead. Her mouth dropped in surprise.

"You're awake!" she exclaimed with a smile, then looked sheepish. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you; I was just testing your temperature."

I was in a hospital room, lying with my head propped up on a patient's bed. A tube was connected to my left arm, reminding me of the soft pinch I'd felt earlier. Camilla and I were alone, but I could see doctors racing back and forth in the hallway through the open door. Camilla murmured something about going to find someone and darted out the door.

How did I get here? I searched my brain, trying to find any hint of how I'd ended up in hospital. From how I looked and felt, it didn't seem like I had any broken bones. But mentally, it felt like I'd been thrown through a war zone–

Oh God. I placed my face in my hands as the memories came rushing back to me. I'd imagined ghosts and passed out in the middle of class. What had happened? Did I scream out loud? Terrify everyone else in class? I couldn't help but release a groan. They're all going to think I was crazy.

But maybe I was crazy. After all, I could still feel the lingering touch of the shadows' death on my skin. I hadn't been able to feel them directly per se, but it was their sense of coldness that had washed through me and clung to me with an undying permanency. It made me want to jump into a hot bath and try to scrub it all off.

I drew a shaky breath, hardly containing the shivers that rocked me. Whatever they were – ghosts or shadows – my instincts told me they had been real.

I peeked through my hands to look around the hospital room, thankful there was at least no sign of any paranormal activity here.

Camilla entered the room again with a male doctor trailing behind her. When she returned to her seat, the doctor came up to my side.

"My name is Doctor Raymond," he said, smiling softly with pearly white teeth. "It appears you've had a bit of a rough day, Serena."

Rough day was an understatement. "Did I...what happened?"

"Your school called the ambulance after you had a fit and passed out in the middle of class. We had to give you calming medication when you arrived, you were experiencing a seizure."

My heart dropped. Well, that solved it then – clearly no one else had seen what I did. This only confirmed my suspicion that I was completely losing it. I could hear myself laughing as if from a faraway distance.

"You may have to stay in hospital for a couple of days while we run some tests to find out what caused your seizure," he finished.

"Do you have any guesses what it could have caused it?" I asked.