The feeling of choking was excruciating. I tried to breathe, but something was stopping me, making me gag and choke.
"Rose, I need you to keep calm. I'm taking out the intubation," Dr. Olendzki said firmly, two other nurses circling the bed. I tried to keep calm, but it was terrifying. I felt the tube being pulled out and I gagged as it was removed, coughing and sputtering as Dr. Olendzki wiped the corners of my mouth with a cloth.
"Welcome back," she said as she folded up the disposable towel and supplies, tossing them into the garbage.
"Thanks," I whispered, taking the straw as she extended the cup of water towards me. I took a slow sip and sighed quietly as I rested my head back on the table. Dr. Olendzki nodded and whispered that she would be back in a few moments.
Once she was out of the room, someone stepped closer to the bed.
"Hi," I croaked.
"Hey," Abe whispered as he pulled a chair beside my bed, running his hand over my blanket legs.
"How long have I been out?" I whispered.
"A few days," he said, "I thought your mother was going to have a bird."
I blinked a few times and let my head rest back against the pillow again, blinking tiredly.
"I feel like I've been asleep forever, but haven't slept enough," I groaned.
"You weren't really asleep. We monitored your brain waves, it was as if you were awake the whole time."
I sighed and nodded. "Is everyone else awake?" I asked.
"Not sure," Abe said but whispered that he would find out. He stood up and slipped out of the room toward the nurse's station. I rubbed my face and pushed the button on the side of the bed to sit up. There was a clicking noise in the hallway and I smiled tiredly when Dimitri rounded the corner, no longer on crutches but using a cane.
"Hi," I whispered tiredly. Dimitri sighed and smiled at me tiredly, but I could see that he wasn't very happy.
"You took care of everything?" he asked quietly, mindful that my mom was asleep.
I nodded. Dimitri nodded his head and walked further into the room. He sat on the edge of my bed and licked his lips.
"Do you have any idea how furious I am with you?" he asked tiredly. There wasn't any anger or venom in his voice, just exhaustion.
"I know," I whispered and rested my hand on his, "I did something reckless."
Dimitri sighed heavily and shook his head. "If you were able, I'd have you running laps on the track until you puked."
I could tell that he was upset, but at the same time, he understood why I did what I did. I squeezed his hand and looked up when Abe walked back in. He nodded politely at Dimitri and then smiled at me.
"Everyone else is awake. You were the last to wake up," Abe said. I nodded and started to sit up, swallowing thickly and rubbing my face.
"Who found us? When Adrian came and told someone?"
"He came to me first," Dimitri explained and went to stand but Abe gestured for him to sit back down.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to have a fit over your relationship," Abe said as he sat down on the chair. He loosed the scarf that was around his neck and rubbed his jaw.
"Now; tell me everything."
If we thought the board game was bad, the dream world was worse.
I thought we'd be finishing the game together, but we were separated. We were all forced to face this alone.
I was in what looked like a library but like Tim Burton had conjured it up in his mind. There was a stack of cards on the table in front of me, a replica of the board beside it. All of our pieces were there. Mia's was already moved ahead on the board. I had to answer each one out loud, and I had to be truthful. I couldn't lie my way through this.
I picked up the first card and licked my lips, sighing heavily to myself as I read the card.
Is going insane for Lissa worth it?
I swallowed thickly because as much as I didn't want to admit the truth, I had to. I would live my last breath for Lissa, but after witnessing what happened when Jesse tormented Lissa, the idea of going insane was terrifying.
"No," I whispered out loud as I set the card back on the table. My piece slid forward on the board.
I felt guilty to say it out loud. Who knew if everyone else could hear my answers?
I watched Lissa's piece move across the board too and I breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn't hear her answers.
I rolled the dice and picked up the next card, wanting to vomit as I read the question.
Does your disdain for the Moroi outweigh your duty to them?
I took a deep breath. "No. But it doesn't mean that I don't hate how they treat us," I said as I set the card on the table. I repeated the steps, each time answering a question that I didn't want to answer. It wasn't the fact that anyone could hear me, but simply saying it out loud.
Are you relieved to be the one that survived in Spokane?
That question hurt my soul. I felt so much regret over that day, and the worst of the guilt was that I was happy I survived that day. My best friend died, and I was relieved that I survived.
"Yes," I whispered and swallowed thickly. I picked up another card after rolling the dice.
Do you hold a grudge against your mother for not being a better mother? For not being there or letting you know your father?
For a long time, I held a grudge against my mother, sometimes it was to the point where even if she had died in the field, I didn't think that I would care. And now that I got a chance to build somewhat of a relationship with her I felt guilty.
"No. Not anymore," I said.
"That must have been very hard for you to admit," Stefan mused and I looked up and gritted my teeth.
"Says you," I gritted.
"He has to tell the truth. He can't lie" I heard Adrian's voice whisper in my head.
"If I answer these questions, does that mean I'm allowed to ask you questions?"
Stefan looked over the board in front of me and a smile grew on his face as Christian's piece moved back two spots.
"I guess that would only be fair," Stefan said and I thought hard about what I wanted to know. What could I ask him that would give me any benefit?
"How do I win this game quickly, without letting you out of your cage?" I asked after a moment.
Stefan's face turned to fury. I knew in that instance that I asked the wrong, but the right question.
"I mean, there's got to be an easy way out. You may not be able to use it, but there must have been one built in for the other Spirit users to use to get out. So, where is it?"
He looked like he was trying his hardest not to speak, pressing his mouth together. The room around us started to shake, an earthly groan filling the room. Stefan didn't say anything aside from pointing towards the bookshelf. I bolted towards the bookshelf and started looking over the different titles.
None of them made sense to me, either in languages I didn't recognize, or were simply so old that I could barely see them. But one made me stop.
Sackett's Land.
I sighed and pulled the book off the shelf. As I pulled it off the shelf, there was a flash and I barely had time to gasp.
I grunted tiredly as Dr. Olendzki stretched my muscles.
"How is it that my muscles feel worse than Dimitri's?" I moaned.
"Because even while he was in a cast, he was still using some of his muscles. You were in a coma for five days. Your muscles aren't used to being still for that long. Not to mention, after a certain amount of time, your brain lost oxygen," she explained as she rested my leg back on the mat.
"How is it that you are the only person available to do my physical therapy?"
"Because I know that you won't hit me because I'm not going as fast or as aggressive as you'd like," she said glibly.
I rolled my eyes and turned my head at the sound of a cane against the floor.
"Here to gloat?"
"I'm partly here to watch your own punishment, but now I feel bad at how miserable you look," Dimitri said as he leaned against the door jam, "How is she?"
"She's better than I had anticipated. If it were any other Novice, I'd be concerned, but you have more muscle mass than your peers. You can afford to lose some," she explained to me and helped me sit up. I grunted as I sat up and then climbed to my feet.
"I came by to let you know that the Queen arrived. She'll want to see you shortly," Dimitri said just as someone approached from behind him. He looked over his shoulder and frowned sympathetically.
"I guess that means no shower," he whispered before stepping to the side for the Guardian to come into the room.
"Novice Hathaway?"
I nodded and wiped my forearm over my forehead. "That's me."
"Her Majesty has asked for an audience with you," he said, "And you as well, Guardian Belikov."
We both nodded and followed the Guardian down the hall. My body was tired after the exercise with Dr. Olendzki, but I didn't expect it to be this sore. It felt like it did when I started working out with Dimitri. I was a little jealous that he wasn't struggling as much as I was, but I wasn't going to let anyone know it.
Dimitri hung a few steps back, keeping the same pace as me. I smiled at him weakly and gripped his arm briefly before righting myself. Her Majesty was waiting for us in Kirova's office. I was waiting for someone to yell at me, to reprimand me, for Kirova to tell me that I was out on my ass.
Adrian was sitting in the room too, and Lissa, Christian, Eddie, and Mia already waiting for us.
"Thank you for joining us," Tatiana said as I sat down.
"My apologies for our delay; I was in therapy," I explained, trying not to groan as I settled into my seat.
"No worries. Are you feeling well?"
I blinked. "As good as can be expected," I said and waited for her to speak. There was a reason why we were here.
"Headmistress; please step out of the room," Tatiana said after a beat. It took everything in me not to let my eyes bug out of my head. Kirova looked put out that she was being asked to leave her own office, and I knew that she saw me trying to repress my smirk. Once the door was shut it was just us and Alberta left in the room.
"Which one of you found the emergency exit in the game?"
"I did, ma'am," I said clearing my throat. I felt that I needed to be a little more formal with her.
"How?"
I shrugged. "I…asked him?"
"You asked him?"
I nodded. "He can't lie. I was tired of playing the game. We'd been playing the game for too long. We were waiting for the other shoe to drop constantly. So when we were inside the game, I point blank asked him the quickest and easiest way to get out of the game without letting him out. He just pointed to the bookshelf. He knew I would it out."
"What made you figure it out?" Tatiana asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.
"There was one book that stood out. Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour," I explained quietly.
"You don't strike me as the type to read L'Amour," she mused and I shook my head.
"When Guardian Belikov was leaving to for surgery in Missoula, he asked me to pack a bag of his things. That was the book that was on his nightstand. I put it in his bag because I remembered him getting it for Christmas," I said, peeking a glance at Dimitri.
Tatiana nodded again and her hand rested on the box on Kirova's desk, her lips pursed as she looked at it.
"How this ever got out of the Palace, I will never know," she whispered and then looked at all of us, "I hope that the traumatize was not too severe for you all. This is not something that I would wish on anyone. Being able to speak with Stefan is bad enough, but having to be inside the game…That's terrible."
We all nodded our heads solemnly before Dimitri spoke.
"I'm sorry, your Majesty, but did you say being able to speak to Stefan…you're a Spirit user as well?"
Tatiana smirked; she actually smirked.
"You're observant, Guardian Belikov," she said, "I've masked as an air wielder, but Spirit runs in families. Unfortunately, Stefan is one of the few bad seeds in my family's lineage."
"Ha! He and Uncle Randle are two peas in a pod," Adrian laughed from where he lounged in a chair across the room, "But at least he didn't burden his kids with this. He had a bunch of Dhampirs from what I've heard. Not that he acknowledges them."
Tataiana cleared her throat and her eyes flashed towards Dimitri for a moment before she regained her composure.
"Spirit can still affect Dhampirs, Adrian. Look at Rose, for example, she experiences it secondhand. Spirit can still alter genetics in ways we cannot begin to understand. Hopefully, in the next few years we will be able to explore that," Tatiana said before standing up. We all started to stand, and Dimitri fumbled with his cane. Even to stand, he needed it for the weight.
Tatiana waved a hand at him, gesturing for him to sit back down.
"I will be back at Graduation, hopefully, we will be able to speak more at length then. However, I know that Headmistress Kirova is waiting for her office back. And nobody is going to be penalized for what happened. If she tries, tell me," she said before leaving the room.
I sighed quietly to myself and rubbed my eyes.
"I hate to be a buzz kill, but I'm exhausted. And sore," I said as I stood up. Lissa smiled at my sympathetically. She was sore too, but wasn't feeling it as bad as I was. I wasn't sure why I stayed under longer, but I did. Dr. Olendzki said that my brain may have just needed more rest, which made sense. I had been under a lot of stress and that was the longest amount of time I had slept in weeks.
We all went our separate ways after leaving Kirova's office. I was slow as I went back to my dorm and jumped when a hand brushed my wrist.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Dimitri whispered with a small smile. I smiled at him, and he rubbed my shoulder gently.
"It's okay. I just feel off, that's all," I said tiredly, "How are you feeling?"
Dimitri shrugged as we walked. "I'm feeling better. Antibiotics are working, my incision is healing, and the infection is gone. I'm somewhat weight-bearing," he explained.
I smiled and brushed my fingers over his wrist softly.
"My dad's here," I mused quietly, "My mom and my dad are both at the Academy, and I'm avoiding them."
Dimitri chuckled as he opened the door to the dorms.
"I'm not at all surprised. Your father was quite pleasant while we waited for you to wake up," he said. I laughed as I started to climb the stairs, turning to face him where he stood at the bottom step.
"Good to hear. But I'm not going to make you climb two flights of stairs to walk me to my dorm," I whispered softly. Dimitri stepped closer and breathed slowly and tucked my hair behind my ear.
"I'd still climb them for you," he said and I giggled, resting my head on his shoulder for a minute. I lifted my head and my smile faded for a moment.
"Hi," I said after clearing my throat. Both of my parents were standing in the doorway behind us. Dimitri turned to see who it was and I watched his ear pinken.
"Good night," he whispered as he left the dorm lobby, leaving me alone with my parents.
"Jerk," I whispered to myself before putting on a brave face for my parents. Janine sighed quietly as she stepped closer, her face difficult to read.
"Did you guys want something?"
"We were hoping to take you for dinner," Janine said, "Well, brunch in the real world but either way. But if you're too tired?"
I looked between the two of them. "No, that's fine. Um, I just need to freshen up."
Janine nodded and Abe smiled. I nodded to myself and started to climb the stairs, gripping the railing as I climbed. I felt a hand grip my shoulders gently and smiled at Janine as she helped me up the stairs.
"There is nothing wrong with admitting your body is tired," she whispered and I nodded, letting her support me as we went up the stairs. Once I grabbed a clean pair of clothes and got in the shower, I felt a bit better. The hot water felt amazing and helped wake me up a little bit.
Now I just had to make it through the first dinner with my parents.
I had hoped that our dinner would have been smoothed, but really it was awkward. We didn't know how to talk to each other. There was idle talk about school and preparations for the trials, but other than that, we sat in somewhat silence.
I played with my food and pursed my lips as I looked out the window, not sure what to say to them. I had never shared a meal with the people who brought me into the world, and I had no idea what to say. There were too many questions and I couldn't put my finger on one.
"I see Guardian Belikov is healing nicely. I heard that he ended up getting a nasty infection," Janine mused as she sipped her tea. I nodded and my brows furrowed.
"Yeah, it was a little scary a few days. He was almost septic because he had an infection that broad-spectrum antibiotics would fix. He had to have surgery to correct the break," I said as I pushed my hashbrowns further around my plate.
"That must have been a nasty break to require surgery," Abe mused and I nodded.
"Yeah. But he's getting better now," I said as I speared a piece of bacon.
"I'm sure that makes you happy," Abe said. I paused for a moment before I ate my bacon.
"Why do you say that?"
"We were born at night, but it wasn't last night, Rosemarie. We saw how the two of you interacted. It reminded me of me and your father, honestly," Janine said. I tried not to choke on my food as I processed what she said.
Abe drank his coffee as he watched me, almost like he was trying to gauge my reaction or my next move.
"And you aren't angry?"
"You're an adult," Janine said with a shrug.
"Exactly, and neither of us has the right to be angry. While the circumstances aren't great, we both saw how natural it came. All I care about is that you're happy," Abe explained with a smile, "And if you don't eat your bacon, I'm going to steal it."
Got my mojo back on this :)